A new member for the “H” family!

Meet Ian

My 21-year-old brother Ian recently moved in with us! Here is little background on my little “big” brother. Ian has autism and is on the lower end of the spectrum. He is a sweet boy and he loves his routine. Ian had been living in a different state in a group home for children with disabilities. The residents age out of this home at the age of 22. Since Ian will be turning 22 later this year, the time had come for him to move. Since my dad who also lives near where Ian had been living, is hoping to move when he retires, he decided it would be good for Ian to move closer to where I live. This way Ian will have me and my family, plus our mom lives near by too. The long-term plan is to find him a nice group home nearby, (he will never be able to live on his own.) but for now he will be living with us!

Here we are with Ian and my dad outside of Ian’s house on moving day. It was a bittersweet moment. My eyes teared up and so did my dad’s. The staff here has done such a great job with Ian and we are very thankful for them and everything they have done. Ian, of course didn’t seem to be worried or upset about the move.;-) After this, it took a two-day road trip to make it back home.

Of course we made sure to stop and have a quick visit with mine and Ian’s brother Kyle (pictured above) and our other brother Alex, sister Maria and our Aunt and Uncle. It was a short but special time because my dad and his 3 children have not all been together at the same time, for a long time!

We have been home for almost 2 weeks now. Things are going well. Ian is adjusting. He has only had one meltdown so far. It is a change for everyone at our house and I know there will be challenges ahead, but we love Ian and are ultimately happy to be able to do this for him, as well as for my parents.

Here we are getting ready for family movie night. (The other little boy is our cousin Gordo.) We were watching the scenes before the moving began and there was a glimpse of one of the home alone movies and Ian did his home alone face. You can also see his two transformers toys over in the corner of the room by the door. Ian put those there on the first night he got here and that is now their permanent home….ya know what I mean? 😉