More awesome ways the dog will help Atticus

So the dog will be trained to go anywhere and everywhere with us. In fact, we have to take a public access TEST before we are able to take him out in public. This shows that we are certified to handle the dog and that the dog has been fully trained to be in public. There will be lecture classes, hands on training and tests that we will take during our 7 days of training camp.

Legally a service dog is allowed in any location or place of business. The only places that can legally refuse entry are a personal residence or a religious organization. Our dog will be outfitted with a special jacket and harness showing he is a certified service dog. We are hoping we don't encounter any issues with taking him wherever Atticus goes.

Here are some more awesome ways the dog can help Atticus... In group situations Atticus gets overwhelmed sometimes and the dog will be there to comfort him. In just one command you can instruct the dog to ignore all other children. You can also instruct him to comfort and love on Atticus, give him hugs, shake his hand, anything that might put our little man at ease. In addition you can instruct the dog to play with other children, encouraging Atticus to interact with them as well.

Atticus also has a great deal of sensory issues and the dog can help comfort him when he becomes overloaded. His body can't handle all of the different sensory input (think sounds, touch, sights, etc.). This often happens at bedtime and our bedtimes can sometime  2 hours. And please believe me when I say we have tried everything. You name it we've tried it over the past 6 years. And i must say it has really gotten better and he has improved greatly when it comes to getting settled down. I remember times in the past where he would be awake from 1 a.m. - 5 a.m. and you couldn't leave him in his room to fall back asleep. He would climb and fall and get into trouble if left unattended for even a few minutes. Thankfully, now we are able to settle down him down and get him to sleep in less than two hours, usually 1 on a good night. My amazing and incredible husband usually takes bedtime duty. We're hoping that maybe the dog will help Atticus settle down and maybe we can slowly fade our presence out of the room and he will be able to go to sleep on his own.

There are many other ways the dog will be able to help, we will continue to post those as well as other tidbits of information about our special friend as they are made available to us.

As always - thank you for reading and God bless!

So when will we get the dog???

That has been our most frequently asked question to date. And believe you me, we are ready for him whenever he is ready for us!

The process to train a service dog can take up to 2 years. As soon as we sent in our contract in June, they started training a group a dogs, one of whom will hopefully become Atticus' dog. We had to fill out numerous personality assessments regarding Atticus as well as long questionnaires that will help the trainers know exactly how they need to train the dog in order to best help Atticus. In addition, we have to send videos periodically of Atticus doing things he enjoys as well as things he finds challenging. We also have to periodically keep a 3 day journal of every single activity and any behaviors/challenges/issues we experienced.

They require families to raise their money in 9 months because there is a chance that a dog in a previous group could be a match for your child. So the earliest we could get a dog would be March of 2014. However, the latest could be late spring of 2015. we are definitely hoping for the earlier date! Some of the specific things the dog will be trained on are: TRACKING. We have had some concerns about Atticus wandering off or running into a situation (traffic) without realizing the imminent danger. The dog would be trained to chase him and take him down in a careful manner. He also gets very curious and if he were to wander off and come into contact with dairy or egg (which cause an anaphylactic reaction for him) - it could be fatal. So if he were to wander off, we could give the dog a command and he could locate Atticus in a very short matter of time. Another helpful thing the dog will be trained to do with a simple command: take/knock something out of his hand that he is not supposed to eat. This will be really helpful in those times where we are across the room and he starts to eat something that isn't safe to eat (food allergies, etc.).


There are a million more wonderful ways the dog will help Atticus, I will touch on more next time.

Thank you for reading and as always -- thank you for helping us reach our goal!!! God bless you!!!

Getting settled in.

Happy fall everyone! I am sorry it has taken us so long to post a blog update.We have been getting settled back home. Home school has been in full swing and we have been busy! Unfortunately this past week a nasty stomach virus paid a visit to each member of our family but thankfully we are all better now!

About 2 weeks ago, I got the "official-official" word from the non-profit that we have met our financial goal for Atticus to get his service dog!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! I know I have said this probably 100 times... but I can't begin to tell you what an emotional and spiritual journey this has been for our family! Each time I recount the story to a friend and/or stranger - I am again overwhelmed by God's power and glory. 

As you may remember we had one fundraiser scheduled when we realized we had already met our goal. At the strong urging of the friends who sponsored it - my precious friend Kora and her equally precious friend Shelia - we kept the date set. The full amount we've raised so far all goes to the non-profit to help cover the cost of raising and training the service dog. None of that covered any costs we will incur when traveling for our training and/or initial costs for the dog (supplies, food, vet bills, etc.). Kora and Shelia felt that it was important to keep the date and for all of the proceeds to go toward those costs.

So, Kora and Shelia sponsored a Premier Jewelry party held by Premier dealer, Allison Efimenko. I honestly had the most fun I've had in a very long time. And I must say - I was so overwhelmed and so touched at the generosity and kindness from each lady at this party - and even those who were not able to attend but sent a donation anyway! I still get emotional when I think of the Premier dealer, Allison. She is a mom just like me except to 4 sweet kiddos, 3 of whom have rheumatoid arthritis. She herself suffers from the disease in addition to Celiac's disease. She started selling Premier Jewelry to help pay for the major medical costs associated with her sweet children. Just listening to her speak, I felt like she herself could use a fundraiser and here she was donating 100% OF HER PROFITS to my child. I cannot begin to tell you the emotion that came over me that night and still does. AND - she insisted on donating 10% of all of her sales for the next 6 months to Atticus and his dog. Needless to say -- through the generosity and kindness of all of these wonderful people, our travel costs are covered as well as any initial costs we should incur with the dog.

When we are matched with our dog (it could be as early as  April 2014 or as late as April 2015), we are completely prepared to pack up and head to Maryville, TN where we will stay in a hotel for 7 days while we undergo intense training to handle our new companion. We feel so incredibly blessed.

So many of you have reached out to us wanting to help in some way. Many had been planning to wait until Christmas or later to make a donation. Please know that we know how much you love Atticus. Also - please know how much we appreciate your generosity and kindness. At this time we are no longer accepting any donations. We feel that God has blessed us beyond belief. However, it you would like to make a donation in Atticus' honor to another child at Wilderwood, you can contact them directly at 865-660-0095 or through their website at: www.wilderwood.org.


Until next time, God bless each of you.

Home Sweet Home!

 If you've been keeping up with our journey, our home was damaged pretty bad by the storms that swept through our area on March 18, 2013. We've been in a rental home since the end of March but last week the repairs were complete and WE MOVED HOME!

It has been the most heartwarming welcome - I just can't begin to tell you how wonderful and precious our neighbors have been!! We've had meals brought to us, a chocolate pie, chocolate cake, cookies, flowers and more brought to our door. We've also had neighbors stopping by to tell us welcome home -- and we are so happy to be home. And you would not believe how very happy they ALL are that Atticus is going to get his dog. They are all so happy that we have already reached our goal. They've all said how they can't wait to see Atticus walking his special dog around the block.

Ever since we moved to Gadsden 8 years ago we've taken walks around our neighborhood. And over the years neighbors have watched Atticus grow up from an infant in a stroller to a big boy walking with his Mom and Dad. And what a wonderful feeling it was tonight to take a walk in the old neighborhood. Our sweet next door neighbor has a precious little dog named Scooby. Atticus adores Scooby and last year we started taking him on our walks. After some practice, Atticus has gotten really good at holding onto Scooby's leash and stopping to let him go potty when needed.

So tonight when we took our walk - Scooby came with us too and Atticus was on cloud 9. It was such a sweet moment that I took a picture to share with those following our journey. I am so eager to see how Atticus responds to his special dog. 

We've had lots of questions about when we will get our dog, how he/she will be trained for Atticus' needs, etc. I hope to write a post later this week with all of those details. Please bear with me for a few more days... We are still getting settled and unpacking right now from our move, still processing lots of paperwork with the insurance and there is still the rental house that needs to be cleaned (fun times!). It will all get done though and I keep thinking how incredibly blessed we are that the burden of fundraising has been lifted from our shoulders. And how blessed we are to be happy, healthy and back in our home.

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 
Philippians 4:19

Thank you as always for the love, prayers and support for our family.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!

Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things [are] possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23

Wow that is such a poignant scripture from the Bible and it moves me every time I read it. It just resonates with me the importance of faith in God. Looking back at this past year I can see how my faith has been tested and grown in numerous situations. But out of everything we've gone through this year - I have honestly been blown away by our journey fundraising for Atticus’ service dog. As I’ve mentioned before, a great deal of prayer went into making that leap of faith. We kept asking God that if this was not the right path for Him to close all of the wrong doors. We have yet to find a wrong door. 

I have been dreaming of the day when I would be able to write this post. I had thought it would be at least February or March before I could even start composing it in my mind. So here we are… a mere 5 weeks after we started fundraising to get Atticus a service dog. And I am so ecstatic but still in mild shock that WE HAVE REACHED OUR GOAL. Yes – you read that right and if you’re like me you may need a Kleenex!! As of last night we have $11,093.75. 

All of this has occurred in a matter of days. We’ve had several generous donations online and through the mail that helped boost our total. But in the last 5 days the most incredible things have occurred. First we received a $1,000 donation from a wonderful individual who wishes to remain anonymous. We were blown away by their generosity! Then a day later we received a card and check for $500 in the mail from the Dorcas Ruth Ladies Ministry at St. Paul United Methodist Church. The card said

“For your little angel. We would like to donate a portion of the amount you need to get a service dog for your son. Please accept this with the love and the prayers we send it. Your friends and family in Christ.”

This one really touched me because this is the church that I grew up in. My parents joined this church when I was an infant and they are still members. Many of these women watched me grow up and have known me for over 30 years. It really touched my heart that they thought of our family and wanted to help our little man with such a generous donation. 

The last incredible thing was like the other two – a complete surprise. We have known the Rice family for several years and think the world of Dana, Carol, Christian and Connor. Dana’s wife Carol said that he has always had great respect and admiration for service dogs. He also loves Mr. Atticus. Dana is an attorney in Gadsden and several weeks ago he contacted several of his friends and business contacts in the area. He announced that he would be pledging $250 to Atticus’ service dog fund and asked others to match his pledge. Tuesday night Carol handed me an envelope with $1,500. I was so blown away that I was crying too hard to even say thank you for several minutes. She said that Dana had taken this upon himself and hadn’t even told her what he was doing. He wanted to make sure that Atticus was able to get his dog. We are so thankful for this wonderful family.

Friends, I cannot tell you how much the last 5 weeks have impacted our lives. To see dear friends, family and even complete strangers go out of their way and give so generously to make sure that Atticus is able to get his service animal – it has been the most moving experience of our lives – Justin, myself and our parents. I mention our parents because they have been so supportive from day 1 when Atticus was diagnosed. And when we began our journey for the service dog – their response was no different, they were on board 100% - he was going to get his dog. They too have been touched by this experience. 

So Tuesday night we were ecstatic, thankful and in a little bit of disbelief! We said a prayer of thanks and I’m so glad God knows what’s on your heart because I’m not sure anyone else could understand the prayers being said through the sobs and tears of joy. 

Since we have now reached our goal, I contacted my dear friend Kora about our jewelry party fundraiser. We talked at length about canceling it. After much discussion and prayer we decided to keep the party scheduled as is for those that are already attending. Kora felt that the proceeds from the party should go toward our training camp costs when we receive the dog (7 days hotel, food and gas) as well as initial costs for getting a dog (leashes, dog bowls, vet bill, etc.). I was so torn on all of this as we have reached our goal. But – she pointed out that these women really wanted to help Atticus and even though our goal had been met that this was still helping him with his service dog. She also had the beautiful idea of donating what is left to a child at Wilderwood who is also in the fundraising process. I love this idea of paying it forward. If you have already signed up to attend the party we just want you to know how the proceeds will be used. But, these donations will not be tax deductible. What has surprised me the most though is that no one has been concerned about the tax deduction they would get – they just want to help Atticus. And Kora asked me to pass along this note: “Please still plan to attend the party. It will be a girl’s night celebration with pretty jewelry to play dress up with.” I love that girl and I am looking forward to our celebration as well. 

When we started this process we were constantly brainstorming on all of the fundraisers we could do. We thought about a chili supper and silent auction, a rummage sale, and Justin also had plans to do a 5K run. But now – FIVE weeks into the fundraising – we are finished! So, we will not be doing any future fundraisers and we no longer need any donations. But we do want to send a huge thank you to those that had offered to help with these fundraisers. And thank you everyone for your love, support and most of all your prayers. 

We had no idea that people would respond the way they have responded. Again – I cannot begin to express how amazing this has been for our family. We met our goal in FIVE WEEKS!!!!!!!! Can you believe it? We are still trying to wrap our heads around this revelation. If there was any question in anyone’s mind that it was not God’s will for Atticus to get this service dog – those doubts should be gone now.

 In our tearful prayer of thanks the night we realized we had reached our goal we thanked God for our sweet Atticus who has taught us so much and made us better people and better parents. We thanked Him for our amazing parents who made us who we are today. We thanked Him for all of the amazing friends, family and strangers who gave selflessly and with total love. We thanked Him for this amazing journey and for growing our faith and reminding us that when we give our cares to Him in total faith, He will provide. 

⁵ Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

⁶ In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.  Proverbs 3:5-6

Our Next Fundraiser...

Hello everyone! A few weeks ago I heard from a dear friend of mine from my college days. We have kept in touch over the years and her friendship means a great deal to me. Recently, she reached out wanting to know what she could do to help Atticus get his service dog. She made a generous donation and I explained to her how we had gotten to this point (Atticus' needs, how he had asked for a dog, etc.).

Later that week she contacted me again. She had spoken with a co-worker about our situation and she too wanted to help our little man. It still amazes me how people that don't know our family or our sweet little child want to help. I can't begin to tell you how wonderful that feels. Anyway, together they have decided to sponsor a Premier Jewelry Party. They approached another friend that is a dealer and she was very excited to help as well! And -- 100% of the proceeds will go to the service dog fund!

The Premier Jewelry Party will be held on Friday, September 6th at 6:30 p.m. in Harvest, AL (a suburb of Huntsville). My friend Kora Davis and her friend Shelia are sponsoring the party. Alison Efimenko is the Premier Jeweler who will be conducting the party. The party is going to have a "mystery hostess." The hostess of a Premier party gets 30% of the total sales in free jewelry. And neither of the two sweet women who came up with this idea wanted to host because the whole focus is to raise money to help Atticus (Kora's exact words). During the evening, the guests will earn tickets (wearing Premier gets a ticket for each piece, asking questions gets one, buying Premier gets one for each piece, bringing a friend etc) at the end of the evening, either the person with the most tickets wins, or we might draw for the winner. If you are interested in attending, please email us at servicedogforatticus.yahoo.com. Please send your address and we will be sure to send you an invitation and directions to the party.

I am so excited about this event and I plan to be there! I am looking forward to a girls night and I can't wait to meet the sweet folks that want to help our little guy.

The picture I attached to this post was from last week at the park. Atticus loves a playground/park. What you can't see is his Daddy on the other side of the seesaw tirelessly pushing the seesaw so Atticus would go up and down super fast. He is the best Dad and loves his little man so much. We will do anything for those sweet giggles and smiles! Thank you as always for reading and for your prayers, love and support!

Kind words... Kind letters...

As we've mentioned several times already - we have been so amazed at the outpouring of support from friends, family and even people we don't know. This not only includes monetary donations but also tremendous encouragement, love, and prayers. The most common thing I hear from these wonderful folks is: "He's going to get that dog." It's amazing how 6 little words can be so encouraging! We've also enjoyed little notes from friends who've expressed how our little man has touched their lives and how they want to help him. I'm not sure he realizes how much of an impact he's had on others' lives in his 8 years of being on this earth.

Yesterday we received a beautiful letter from a couple that had already made a generous donation 4 weeks ago. Another generous donation accompanied this letter. I got permission from them to share their letter with you - it really touched our hearts. I've changed the names and location to protect privacy.

Dear Justin and RaDonna,

Jeff and I have decided to make another donation in memory of a dear friend, Sam Jones. Sam was one of the most thoughtful and giving person we have ever known. He was the main window clerk in Clarksville and died of cancer in late June. He loved children and volunteered at the schools his grandchildren attended. He also volunteered along with his wife at the Pregnancy Crisis Center in Clarksville. Once when my MS was giving me problems he brought a reclining chair for me to use in my office along with a small table to use to hold my afternoon tea. I think he would be the first to make a donation to help Atticus. 

Please send Atticus' thank you note to his widow, Jane. She would love to know we have helped a child in memory of her beloved Sam. Her address is xxxx. 

We are praying for your family! 

Blessings, 

John and Jane Doe


Not sure if you made it through that letter without wiping away some tears - I called and read it to our parents over the phone and even after the 4th time reading it out loud I still got a little weepy. What a sweet way to memorialize a wonderful friend. It's amazing the people that God brings into your life. I am looking forward to writing Jane to tell her how her sweet husband 's actions spurred another individual to help my child.

We will be posting later this week with another update on our total. We are feeling so blessed and so grateful for God's many blessings. As always thank you for reading and for all of the love and support on our journey. 

Incredibly amazing.

 I wanted to make a quick blog post to update everyone on our fundraising total. This is nothing short of incredible and amazing. It is incredibly amazing.

On July 13th we officially started our fundraising with a yard sale. Since then we have had a car wash and we've also been overwhelmed with online donations and checks from friends. We feel so truly blessed. In that 4 weeks we have raised $4,549. And this is truly incredible.

But -- this week we received an email from Wilderwood Service Dogs. Apparently 3 anonymous individuals gave $1,000 EACH to Atticus' service dog fund. That is $3,000!!! How amazing is that? And with the amount we have raised so far that brings our total to $7,549!!! That my friends is incredibly amazing.

Thank you so much to everyone that has helped us get this far. And thank you especially to the very generous and kind anonymous donors. We can't write you a personal thank you note, but if you are reading this, please know that you truly touched each of our hearts. We had tears of joy after we read the email from Wilderwood. And we promptly called our parents - Atticus' grandparents who have been involved from the beginning. They too shed tears of joy and were so happy that our little man is on track to get his service dog.

I thought the picture above depicted how we are all feeling right about now. I snapped this one of Atticus riding a simulator game in an arcade recently. It was simulating a roller coaster ride. That child loves a roller coaster - real or simulated. He's our sweet little adventure seeker.

Why we chose Wilderwood for Atticus’ service dog

There are several nonprofit organizations that train service dogs specifically for children with autism. We decided on Wilderwood Service Dogs for many reasons and have been happy with our decision thus far. The initial application process was brief. We filled out a short form describing why we felt our child needed a service dog. This was followed up by a phone interview in which we talked about Atticus, his medical needs, his abilities, his challenges and a typical day in our lives. We made it past the first round fairly quickly, but the second round took a lot more time. The second round included the following information: 

1.       A MUCH longer application

2.       2 letters of recommendation (thank you JCS and CBJ for writing our letters!!)

3.       An essay about Atticus that described his activities, struggles and why we felt a service dog should be a part of our lives.

4.       A personality profile assessment test

5.       Pictures of Atticus doing things he enjoys

6.       Letter of recommendation from our primary care physician as well as a prescription for a service dog for the management of symptoms associated with ASD (thank you JA!).

7.       Signed notice of 7 day training camp in Maryville, TN for our family when Atticus receives the service dog.

As you can imagine it took us a little longer to gather all of that together and get it mailed to Maryville, TN. But we did it and we found out in mid-June that we had been approved for a service dog! We also found out that we had 9 months to raise $12,000. That in itself was extremely intimidating. But as I’ve said numerous times, God keeps opening all of the right doors. So with a tremendous amount of faith, later that week, we signed our contract and submitted the $1,000 deposit to start our journey. 

This has been a great learning experience for Atticus as well. He has been helping me keep up with the donations and the total amount we have raised so far. He has also been writing a thank you note to every single person that has helped our family. And I must point out; he is not a fan of writing. But, he has written every note with zero fussing and great concentration. I know he knows that these very nice people are helping him to get his dog. 

The picture attached to this post is one that I included with our application. Atticus LOVES to go exploring and we had spent the entire afternoon at Noccalula Falls hiking the trails. We have to keep a close hand on him though to keep him from falling and getting hurt or getting himself into a dangerous situation. It is worth it though to see the joy on his face. 

We will write more about how the service dog will be trained specifically to Atticus’ needs in upcoming blog posts. I know it took 3 blog posts to explain it all, but I wanted to give a really in depth description of the process thus far. Thank you for reading and for all of the love and support during this journey.

When Atticus asked for a dog

On March 18^th a terrible storm came through Rainbow City/Gadsden and caused significant damage to our home (along with many of our neighbors). In fact, our home is still being repaired. We are hoping to move back around the beginning of September. I can’t begin to tell you the amount of love and support we received during that very difficult time. Our world was flipped up on end, but we knew that God was in control. It still amazes us to look back at the events from that afternoon. Justin was safe in Huntsville teaching a training class. On a normal Monday afternoon, Atticus and I would be doing school work. However, I had a wild hair to go get the oil changed in the car so we took a quick break from school and drove 3 minutes down the road to Express Oil. Five minutes after our arrival the storm materialized from almost nothing and we were rushed into the oil pits. As we were walking down the stairs, I could see the wrath through the small rectangular garage window. I watched as the tin roof of Zippy’s Car Wash was being peeled off piece by piece and I could hear it slamming into the building we were in. Long story short, we were safe in the oil pits while the balcony and roof were ripped from our home and 4 large pine trees landed on it. I thank God every day for putting that bee in my bonnet to go get the oil changed. I shudder to think of what could have occurred otherwise.

 

Let’s fast forward to 3 weeks after the storm. We had received help from our insurance company and found a nice rental home in a very nice neighborhood in Rainbow City. Thanks to help from friends and family, we were able to get all of our things out of the damaged home and into either a storage facility or the rental house. Atticus and I were in the back yard at the rental house playing one day (there is a very nice pear tree in the back yard that Atticus loves to climb) before he started climbing, he looked me right in the eye and said “I need a dog.” For those that know our child, he is somewhat verbal but mostly for his immediate wants and needs (bathroom, food, etc.). He is a very intelligent child, but his expressive language is limited. So this was a very significant moment for Atticus and I was speechless. At this point a dog was the furthest thing from our minds. In fact, we hadn’t even talked about a dog for months. And later that day, when Justin got home from work, Atticus let Justin know as well that he wanted a dog. After a lot of discussion (and more prayer) we decided that despite everything that had just occurred, maybe now was the time to pursue a service dog for Atticus.

Update on fundraising efforts and why we are doing this

We have been so amazed at the outpouring of support that has been shown to our family and especially to our little man. When we announced that we were fundraising for a service dog for Atticus, we had hoped there would be an enthusiastic response but we were not prepared for this type of response. It has only confirmed that we are doing the right thing for Atticus. We have prayed from the beginning that if this was meant to be for Atticus that God would open all of the right doors. Wow, what an answer to prayer. 

If you are keeping up, our current total is now: $3,994!! That means we will need $1,506 by the December 1 deadline. For those just joining us – we applied for a service dog through the nonprofit Wilderwood (www.wilderwood.org) earlier this spring. After two application rounds, we were approved for a service dog. The actual cost to raise and train a dog is about $25,000 and the non-profit asks the families to raise $12,000 to help cover the cost. We paid an initial $1,000 with our contract and $5,500 is due December 1 and the other $5,500 is due April 1.

A few more details on our journey thus far: We have been praying about this for over 6 years now. When Atticus was initially diagnosed (April 2, 2007), we researched anything and everything we could find in order to help him. During that research process we discovered how helpful service dogs can be to a child with autism. There are so many benefits, but I will save that information for a later blog post. When he was first diagnosed there were so many therapies that he needed and insurance paid for very little. So we decided to wait until a later time to pursue a service dog.

 Over the past 5 years Atticus has made tremendous progress through Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, but most of all ABA Therapy (a scientifically proven method to help children with autism). Unfortunately, insurance only pays for 30 visits a year of speech and OT (combined) and zero for ABA therapy. So we have incurred a lot of out of pocket costs over the past few years for therapies alone. Thankfully we have had tremendous support and help from our families. We’ve been so busy with therapies and school that a service dog really wasn’t on the priority list. But, I think God had another plan for our family. 

More to come on this in a couple of days....