Last day of school....

Today is the last day of school for our daughters. I am so glad Faith was able to go to school in the afternoons these last few weeks of school. She gets to share in the excitement all the children in the neighborhood are feeling and showing. She is so excited to go meet Cass in California and bring him home. She also found out this week who her 5th grade teacher will be.....and it is one of her favorite ones from her school who also just so happened to be her second grade teacher. She has such an awesome school and I am so grateful for their support and understanding. They truly care about her and want her to succeed. We are still trying to raise funds for Little Angels Service Dogs ....so if you can pass on our info to all of your friends I would appreciate it. Kris

not updating...

ok..so I got a complaint this weekend that I have not been updating lately. I apologize. We have our dates to go get the dog for Faith. The 5-19 of July are the training dates for Faith and Cass. Yep, we do have a dog and it is a two year old boy, yellow lab, named Cass. Faith is so excited. We are most likely going to ask to stay with Renae's brother. The cheapest we can find a hotel with a suite is over $100 per day. Definitely not going to happen on an Army paycheck. Faith has been going to school for 2 hours per day. It is working great and she is really enjoying it. We are hoping it will make her transition back into school a little easier. I will keep doing daily updates as we get closer. Please keep passing our story around to others. Kris

wonderful week...

So I go to the field for the week and I come back to some amazing news. Faith, with a lot of help from the school and a few very special teachers, was able to go back to school for two hours each day. She did not do class work, but she was able to have very positive experiences. We finalized the IEP for Faith on Friday, and as the team sat and spoke it was amazing how much Faith opened up to one particular teacher this week. Some of the stuff she shared and showed was hard for me to believe. Faith has never opened up to someone this fast and this much. The school also got to see the different side of Faith which is so important for them to understand and experience. The school is super excited about the service dog, and there is no doubt in my mind that they care about Faith and want her back in school as bad as she wants to be in school. They are an amazing faculty. There is nothing better than leaving for a week and knowing that there are people out there that care for my daughter, my wife, and my family as much as the EFMP and school staff at our daughters school. Thanks everyone. I know next year is going to be a special one for Faith, I just know it. Kris

IEP meeting....

The IEP meeting yesterday went great. As a matter of fact we have to continue it next Friday because of all the interaction and idea sharing we had it actually ran too long. The "team", the school officials and us, both came to the table with the same ideas and goals as we had. We are working for an aid that will eventually be slowly fazed out as Faith learns to overcome her anxiety with school and her a the dog become more of a team. Faith actually went up to the school for a couple hours yesterday afternoon to help out with some first graders so that we can end this school year with some positive experiences. She was so excited. So for the last few weeks she will attend school with her little sister in the afternoons so that she can assist some of her former teachers with classroom work and slowly get her back into a school routine. It is so awesome to know that there are some wonderful teachers and administrators that want our children to succeed regardless of the work or special needs that may be required. I do not know how they do it each and every day with such passion but they do. I have no doubt, even though it will be a long and hard road, but I have no doubt that Faith will get back into school and be successful in the future. We live in a little house in an old neighborhood, one that should be twice it's size, to stay at this elementary school, and this is one of the best decisions Renae and I have ever made. Do not hesitate to ask any questions about the IEP process. We actually have a few people that are familiar with Faith, and who are experienced with IEPs, in there helping us. So do not be afraid to ask. Today we are doing a bake sale during the post wide garage sale, it is fun and I will post a picture on here of it. We are donating all the money from the garage and bake sale to Little Angels and so are our neighbors. The military is so amazing in that we are all family, yet we have little in common except our serving in the Army. Yet no one ever hesitates to do whatever it takes to help each other out. Amazing what can be accomplished when we all suffer together through low pay and long times away from home. Kris

1 May....

This weekend Renae and I got away for the first time without kids. I really think it was the first time for more than a night. It was a great and refreshing time for us. It was one of those weekends I will remember forever. It was also the hardest weekend on Faith. I think the other two daughters actually enjoyed the time away from us. Faith told us on the phone that she just could not understand how they did not miss their mom as much as she does. Renae spent some time each night on the phone with Faith. Our young daughter did it. She really wanted us to take this weekend away, and she really worked hard to make it happen for us. I was very proud of her. This week we have another IEP meeting. Hopefully this week we get the final dates for the handler training for her also. Tess is doing great with her horse. Abbi, well, she is a little bit of all of us wrapped into one loud, happy, obnoxious package. This week is the post wide yard sale. One of our neighbors is putting together a big bake sale. We have some great friends here. Kris