Good Things Are Happening

We are making a return trip to Island Dolphin Care next week. We leave tomorrow and starting Monday - Katie will have five days of Dolphin Assisted Therapy.

She went in June of 2005 and Gran went with us. It had only been seven months since my grandfather passed away and it was the last "big" trip she ever took with us. She frustrated me so many times that week but we also made some wonderful memories and it meant the world to her to see Katie do something so special.

It was that time that Katie had with those two dolphins in June 2005 that made us realize that animals are definitely Katie's real passion. She is happiest, full of joy, wonder, true focus and determination when she is working with animals.

Here is a short video clip that Don did. Couple of things - I weigh 140 pounds LESS than I did in this video... 150 if you believe that the camera adds 10! ;) That's embarrassing to admit but I'm proud of my accomplishment even though I can't seem to get this last 30-40 pounds off!

Also, he did this before becoming a professional certified Final Cut Pro editor. It will be fun to see what footage he gets this trip. Hopefully it will be some footage Island Dolphin Care can use.

Click here for the video.

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When we return from our trip - he's meeting with STAR to work with them on doing a promotional video for fundraising and marketing purposes.

Also, he's going to be working with my trainer, Mike Branch, to do some videos of him working with wild mustangs for the Bureau of Land Management.

Mike is WONDERFUL!! I can't tell you the things that I am learning from him. I thought I was loving Sunny and Belle before... it's amazing now. Sunny is still at STAR but it's remarkable the connection I have with Belle. I can get her to do things by just projecting my energy at her... natural horsemanship is the most incredible thing I've ever learned how to do... but I still have a long way to go.

Katie is doing well in school. She is working hard every day! It's a struggle and she's not really working on grade level for anything other than science and social studies but she is making a lot of progress and at the end of the day - that is what matters.

My dad and Marilyn were just here for a few days and my dad is BACK. When I saw him this past August, he was weak and frail and his personality was non-existent. His personality is back! He's feeling good! He's got a lot of energy again!! It's been a rough year for him but his last PET Scan in September still showed no signs of the cancer having spread which was THE BEST news!!

We spent a lot of time with Gran while he was here. That was good but also very hard. Her memory is continuing to decline at a rapid rate. It's like Groundhog Day, over and over again. Same questions, same statements every five minutes. She actually didn't recognize us at first when we got there to pick her up. A week ago she was calling me her niece and couldn't remember my name. But, she is happy in the moment and she is being VERY well cared for. Like with Katie, at the end of the day, that is what really matters for now.

Overall, like I said, good things are happening! Life is good and we are very blessed!

LA :)