Jewell Loves Dogs!

Jewell and King.

This is Jewell with her older brother's dog, King. King is a Bullypit, which is a cross between an American Bulldog and an American Pit Bull Terrier. He is a few months over a year old and still very much a puppy.

This picture was taken a couple weekends ago and is rare in that Jewell has only ever had the chance to pet King once or twice before. King gets excited pretty easily and will chew on fingers. He doesn't do it to be mean, it's just him being a puppy. Because Jewell flaps her hands so much and also gets excited so easily, it is hard for King to stay calm enough to let her pet him and love on him. On this day, I worked with him for several hours and rewarded him for good behavior. By the time this picture was taken, he figured out that I was giving him treats for exceptional behavior! The picture that we weren't able to get was Jewell giving King two kisses and telling him she loved him! She was also able to put her face right up to his without him getting to excited.

Lola

This is my husband's cousin's dog, Lola. She is a Shih Tzu and is almost 7 years old. Lola would be the exact opposite of King, in that she is very calm and laid back.

The surprising thing about Jewell's interaction with her is that Jewell is normally really nervous around smaller dogs. Once she realized that Lola wasn't going to start barking or jumping on her, she fell in love with her right away. Lola even tolerated Jewell putting bunny ears and hats on her. Jewell was so impressed that she told Lola that she loved her.


Jewell also regularly interacts with my brother's German Shepherd, Shasta, and my sister-in-law's Chocolate Lab, Charlie. She adores both of them, and Shasta has also tolerated Jewell's desire to play dress up with her.

I can only imagine what type of interaction and bond Jewell will have when she gets to meet her very special service dog that is picked specifically for her!

Week 4 of Fundraising for 4 Paws Complete

4 Paws for Ability logo

Today marks the end of 4 weeks since I opened our fundraising efforts for 4 Paws for Ability in honor of Jewell. Currently we have raised $770 towards our $14,000 goal. I have complete faith that we will make that goal and that it won't take us an extremely long time to do it!

All donations to this point have come through our Razoo site and from donations made directly to 4 Paws for Ability, either on their website or through the mail. We have some events that are still in the planning phases, like a "Cut-a-Thon" and a Yard Sale, and I will be sure to release those details once we get all the kinks worked out. We are also looking at doing something with Jewell's school, and maybe some of the other local schools, during next school year.

What I have accomplished this week:

• Compiled lists of local organizations that I want to contact for donations or assistance in fundraising
• Created packets to hand deliver and mail out 
• Mailed out several packets to local organizations
• Discovered I already had a contact (or two) with the local Lions Club and hand delivered a packet, per her request to assist with fundraising

4 Paws for Ability has an amazing community of people that have already received their child's service dog, people that foster and train the service dogs, people that are currently in class for or awaiting class to start to get their dog, and people that are in the fundraising process (like us). These people are turning out to be a wonderful support system and full of ideas that worked for them. I truly appreciate their help!

I've had several people questioning when our fundraiser will be over. We will continue to raise funds for 4 Paws for Ability until we reach that $14,000 goal. There is not a timeline. Some people are able to raise the funds faster and others take a little longer. From what I hear it ranges from 3 month - 8 months for most people. Once we hit that goal, we will probably be doing another fundraiser to raise funds for our trip to Ohio for training and for doggie supplies. That fundraiser will be completely separate from this one and cannot be started until this one is completed. I will post details closer to that time and once I figure out the details involved.

Service Dog Quote

"Assistance dogs are an effective way to break open the social atmosphere wherever they go with their children, and this is a somewhat hidden benefit of an assistance dog partnership with a child as it is not widely understood how cloistering our tight fitting cultural skin can be to someone who is not mainstream. Everyone relaxes in the presence of an assistance dog, and in this way the dog’s function can include soothing John Q. Public’s fear of relating to people with developmental differences in order to allow them to relate to someone who really needs them to be included in the fabric of the community in which he lives." --Patty Dobbs Gross

4 Paws for Ability Autism logo

Jewell struggles with social communication and interacting. One of the benefits we hope to see, from getting her Autism Assistance Dog, is the social aspect.

If you would like to help us in raising the funds to support the mission at 4 Paws for Ability, and get Jewell her dog, you can get more information on how to do that here: http://www.razoo.com/story/4-Paws-For-Jewell

Fundraising: Working on Packets

"In Honor of Jewell Staples" and address labels for envelops for packets

Today I am working on the packets to be sent out and/or handed out for our 4 Paws for Ability fundraising efforts. I've made lists of people to send them to, and I have copies of the donation forms being made. Currently I am working on addressing the envelopes for donations to be mailed to 4 Paws for Ability. I think they turned out pretty good. 

Finished product

Tomorrow is Fun & Fitness Day at Jewell's school, so I probably won't get much done besides going to her school. Thursday, the plan is to get color copies of the press release made, pick up the donation copies, and get some other errands done. Hopefully I can start mailing the packets out on Friday!

Mother's Day and Sprained Ankles

Jewell and Mommy

My Mother's Day ended with a visit to Patient First with Jewell. She had slipped on an area rug at my parents' house and sprained her right ankle. Thank goodness it wasn't a break!

Jewell normally has very little reaction when she gets hurt. She might fuss over having a "Boo-Boo" and want some "medicine spray" on the injury, but there are never any tears or dramatics. She shocked and worried us when she let out a loud yell when she slipped. I kept waiting for her to jump up and continue on her way to the playroom with her cousin, Shakira. I waited for 30-45 minutes before deciding that she definitely needed to have it checked out, just to be certain. The deciding factor was when she started crawling around and refusing to walk.

Jewell in wheelchair at Patient First

As you can see in the picture on the right, she was fine once we got to Patient First and especially when they offered her a wheelchair ride. The x-rays didn't show a break, so after wrapping her ankle with an Ace bandage and fitting her with a boot we were done.

As of today, she is wearing her regular shoe on her right foot. She still says the area near her little toe is sore and she is walking on the heel of that foot, but it appears to be getting better. She didn't have any bad bruising or swelling, so that is also a plus!

I hope everyone else had a less exciting Mother's Day!

She Makes My Heart Smile

I'm looking through my iPod and find this. Jewell made it all on her own on Friday.

Picture made by Jewell on my iPod using the PhotoGrid app.

Dutch Apple Dinner Theater Trip

On Thursday, Jewell and the rest of the 1st grade at her school went to Dutch Apple Dinner Theater in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I accompanied them on the trip, and we had a buffet lunch and saw a musical adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. It was a wonderful field trip and everyone had lots of fun.

My girl, Jewell, did absolutely AMAZING! I packed a backup lunch, in case she wouldn't eat any of the buffet offerings, and I packed the iPod and a bunch of fidget toys. As we were walking out the door, Jewell added four of her favorite beanie babies to the mix.

The bus ride was about an hour each way. Jewell only gets to ride the bus on field trips, since we walk to school. She was excited about the ride and spent a lot of time looking out the window on the way there. She did share her beanies with the three boys in the seat next to ours and the girl in front.

At the theater she chose chicken nuggets from the buffet. She ended up eating two of them! It was a good thing I had her backup lunch because she ate some of that too (and the Smarties I brought)!

During the show she was completely enthralled with the performance. There was no eloping. She did come sit on my lap and the Special Educator's lap a few times, but for the most part she was in her seat happily flapping away. She clapped, cheered, and even laughed at appropriate times.

The magic truly happened after the show during the Q&A session. Some of the cast members came into the audience to assist with getting questions from the kids. The blue fairy, Minerva, (played by Lisa Coday) was in our row getting a question from a girl sitting behind us. Jewell told me "hug", but I didn't immediately get what she was asking. She wanted a hug from "Minerva" and the wonderful woman happily obliged! She also indulged Jewell's curiosity and allowed her to inspect the costume! Then Jewell looked her in the eye and said, "I love you." Yup, she totally made this proud momma tear up, which earned me a hug from "Minerva" too!

Picture taken by Jewell's Special Educator and is Jewell and "Minerva", played by Lisa Coday at Dutch Apple Dinner Theater's performance of Sleeping Beauty.

We are now also on Causes.com!

I just finished setting up a campaign on Causes.com to help our fundraising efforts for 4 Paws for Ability. The upside is getting the information out there. The downside is that I could only set the campaign to run until May 22, 2014 due to Causes.com changing providers.

https://www.causes.com/campaigns/77421-raise-money-for-4-paws-for-ability