We are the Fischers! Matt and Katie have been married for 18 years. Matt is a Director of Family Ministries and Katie has been a stay-at-home mom (although she is going to attempt a part-time job this fall at their boys’ school). They have three boys (Caleb – 10, Alex – 8 and Jacob – 6) who joined the family through foster care and adoption.
Two of our boys were born drug and alcohol exposed and have been diagnosed with fetal alcohol related disorders. While they often behave like neurotypical children, we live life on eggshells because they are easily overwhelmed and quickly escalate into rages. We have to evaluate every word, every action, basically everything, to ensure that we will not trigger a meltdown (which can last several hours on a bad day). To make life even more exciting, they don’t have specific triggers; they change daily. This makes it difficult for Katie to work; we need to be ready to pick them up if there is an issue at school or take them to appointments. It also makes it challenging to find babysitters, and keep them. When we do find them, our limited budget means that we have limited opportunities to hire them.
We recently moved across the country (Las Vegas to Nashville) and lost our support system. We had a great team of friends and family who knew our boys and understood their needs. We are slowly building that up here in Tennessee, but it takes time. This move has been a blessing for our family, but it has also created new challenges for our family and within our marriage. We are working hard to find ways to stay connected as husband and wife in order to best serve our children. Any opportunity for us to spend time together without the kiddos (even if it’s just a night at home once they are in bed) is such a blessing.
Favorite Respite Activity
Go to restaurants, hike, and do activities with my husband (we went axe throwing once and it was amazing).