Third day of school...

So far so good. Faith and Cass are doing awesome. She is having a hard time with Math because she feels like she is so far behind everyone else in her class except that she really isn't. I try to work with her at night but after holding in all her emotions all day...well lets just say she is bouncing off the wall at night and then is out within a few minutes all of the sudden. She loves school and she loves being able to go. I think sometimes that Cass has finally validated her disability to herself. What I am trying to say is she has spent the last four or five years trying to be normal and to fit in. Now that she has Cass she can finally walk around in confidence knowing that she is different and it is ok. She would not have a service dog if she did not need him. And people now look at her and cannot say she has nothing wrong with her. The may not be able to see it, or feel it, or hear it....but it is there. And Cass just proves it to them. I have gotten emotional the last few days as I look back at how hard the last couple of years has been on our entire family. It has wore Renae out both physically and emotionally. It tears a mothers heart out when she cannot help her child and it breaks her down when she can never get any rest. Tess and Abigail, her sisters, have had to deal with being on the back burner too many times to count when Faith was not feeling right. They have had too many special or important events missed because Faith could not go, and it took both of us to try and control her. They understand, they love her, but they have missed out on some things that were important to them. They also have to spend so much time alone when the Army takes me away. Cass has had such a tremendous impact on Faith that we decided they both deserve their own dog to have as their best friend and someone they can talk to and be with when they are lonely, scared or sad. I think you have to be a military family and a family with someone who has a disability to truly understand what I am saying. Some people think we are crazy or wonder how can we afford two more dogs when we are still raising money to pay for Cass. Well I say back to them how can we afford NOT to??? Tess got a border collie/lab mix names Blu. She is beautiful and loves Tess so much and spends all of her time with her. We are treating Blu like Cass. Wherever Tess goes, while at home of course, Blu goes. Blu sleeps with her also and her kennel is in her room. We rescued Blu from the kennel on post, if we did not do this she would be put down. Abbi is getting a Chihuahua ( I have no idea how to spell it) from a dear friend of ours that was an aid to Faith when she was in first grade. It is one years old and loves to be dressed up and held all the time. Something Abbi really needs since her older sisters don't always want to play with her or be nice to her. Abbi will be responsible for her new dog also and it will stay in her room with her. Neither one of these dogs are puppies. Blu and Cass have become best friends. When Cass comes home from school we take them out to the field behind the house and they run together with a rope in both of their mouths and roll around for the longest time until they are exhausted. It is so great to see Cass be able to play and be a dog when he gets his "take a break" command. I created this blog to share our story. To help raise awareness of our daughters hidden disability. We are so open with our lives that it seems to backfire on me sometimes. Sometimes people have to give us their opinion on how we run our household or the decisions we make. Just as with the comments we receive with Cass, we have to ignore these and just keep on going. I am better than this than my wife is. It hurts when it comes from someone you love, even more when they are not around to experience what we do or walk in our shoes. I hope you all are enjoying this blog and I hope it has taught you something or even gotten you to maybe help someone else. Keep it going friends. Kris