Happy Easter

We are Roman Catholics. We celebrate Easter the way many Roman Catholic families do... We kick off Holy Week with Palm Sunday and spend a lot of time at Church..., symbolic washing of the feet, stations of the cross, Holy Thursday, Good Friday until finally the Lord IS RISEN... Easter Sunday! This Sunday our parish had a special treat. Our Bishop, the Most Reverend Dennis Sullivan, said the Easter Mass. My daughter was thrilled and insisted we HAD to attend the bishop's Mass. We fought the crowds and attended the Mass. Afterwards, she got the opportunity to meet the bishop and she was thrilled. I grabbed a quick snapshot.

Easter Morning and feeling good enough to smile for the camera....

Having a visual impairment can have it's advantages... While the other kids were enveloped in a sea of colored plastic eggs, JP's eye went to the shining spot. There he found the golden egg. He only got one egg in the hunt, but boy, what an egg!

JP with his "Golden Egg" prize from the community Easter egg Hunt.

2 Letters (Please excuse the shameless mom brag!)

This past week I received 2 letters. The first came home in JP's backpack. He was selected by his teachers as the most improved student in his classroom this year! Way to go JP! Even more exciting is that he'll be recognized at a Riversharks game (our local minor league baseball team) where he'll get to participate in special pregame activities and enjoy fireworks after the ballgame! I am so proud and I know JP will enjoy his special night. He truly deserves it!

The second letter came from VSA The State Organization on Arts and Disability in New Jersey. A painting submitted by JP's teacher was selected for the Art Par Excellence 2013 Statewide Touring Exhibit of Student Artwork... My son, my blind son, the artist... no boundaries... no limits. We are doubly proud this week!

So you just never know... Our kids can do some really incredible things... no boundaries, no limits... just LOVE.

Something so small, but such an important "inch-stone"

Tonight, Mike read a book a to JP. It was a familiar book. One they've read together many times before. A book about Ernie. One of JP's favorite characters from Sesame Street. But this time we tried something different. We switched books. We gave JP Mike's braille only copy of the book to follow while Mike read from the Braille-Print-Picture version of the same book. I want to say the results were amazing... to many, they may be simple... but to us, these these simple images mean so much... JP used his finger to follow along with the braille! He may not yet be actually reading it, but he "gets it". He gets that he uses his fingers to follow the dots to make the words and that is AWESOME!

Classic Perkins Brailler

Here's a little clip of JP using his regular Perkins Brailler to write the letters "A" to "E"... he can do it, but it's not much fun... and it provides little feedback... there must be a better way... hmmm....

Oh, Please, oh, please, oh please!!!

I don't usually beg for things... but this is something I really, REALLY want for JP... REALLY! It would be a HUGE opportunity for him... For us as a family really! It's the Backpacking SMART Brailler Event hosted by WonderBaby... a wonderful blog... There is no way for you wonderful readers to vote for us to be chosen to participate (though I wish there was!) The website simply has to chose us, or rather JP... and I hope they do! He really needs this... and deserves it. Please Wonderbaby! We won't let you down! :)

If JP is selected, Wonderbaby will send the SMART Brailler to JP for a couple of weeks to give it a try. In return, we'll blog about his experiences. They'll then select one lucky participant (out of 6) to keep the SMART Brailler. It's a very good tool for young blind children.

So please post a comment to show Wonderbaby how much JP deserves the opportunity to give the SMART Brailler a try! Thanks so much!

New Braille Books

We're always super happy when new Braille books arrive from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library... Thanks Dolly!

Casts

JP got casted today, for new Cascade DAFOs. It was our first experience since his first orthotics were Sure Steps... they did not require casts, just measurement... They helped him a lot, but apparently, not enough. We love John S. at Orthologix... and we're so grateful he comes to the house!



Not too sure about this...



Hey! This started out cold... now it's warm...

Ok dude... Do your thing!

Finished casts (good Lord, child, your feet can't be that big!)

We'll have to wait about 2-3 weeks for the finished product... We're all excited that they'll be a big help!

Mugging for the camera