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.

Give the video a few seconds to load.

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 :)

A Game of Meme: Scattegories Edition

Wanna Play? Here are the rules:

* Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following questions.
* They have to be real places, names, things. nothing made up!
* You can’t use your name for the boy/girl name question.
* Tag at least 5 people to play along

1. What is your name? Leeann
2. A 4 Letter Word: Love
3. A Boys Name: Liam
4. A Girls Name: Lily
5. An Occupation: Lobbyist
6. A Color: Lilac
7. Something you wear: Lipstick (but not on a pig)
8. A Beverage: Long Island Ice Tea
9. A Food: Lasagna
10. Something found in the bathroom: Lights
11. A place: Lexington
12. A Reason for being late: Lounging
13. Something you shout: Laugh out loud (often)!!

Here are my buddies that I’m tagging…

1. Don
2. Sheila
3. Lisa
4. Lynne
5. Rose
6. Jen
7. Kathy
8. Kim
9. Richelle
10. Pam

And anyone else who wants to play. Don’t feel like you have to post this on your blog. It might easier to just cut and paste the questions and leave them as a comment. Also tag others only if you want to. :-D

I Love STAR

Here is a promotional video demonstrating the benefits of a child with special needs being at STAR.

I can't tell you the difference it's made in Katie's life. Mine too!



LA :)

My Dream Home

I could live here... if I could just figure out how we could swing a $465,000 mortgage.

LA :)

Can You Do It In Six Words?

Describe your life, that is?




For me: More blessed than I ever deserved!

Give it a try!! Fore more, check out Larry Smith's book.

LA :)

Mending Hearts & Moving On

This weekend was a wonderful weekend. Don's mother and his Aunt Joyce came down for a visit and we had a lovely visit with them on Friday night and then they went with us to take Katie to STAR on Saturday. It's been so long since we'd seen Mom and it was great being with her. Katie loved every minute of it...



I think they enjoyed seeing Katie in action with the horses at STAR. She was pretty tired on Saturday morning but still did very well.



We lost a close family friend this past week and Katie took it very hard. It affected her at school and at home and the result was she was very tired yesterday - but it was still a great day.

Once Mom and Joyce headed home, we went to visit Gran and had a nice visit with her. Her memory continues to deteriorate but she was in good spirits and it was a good visit. Katie continues to grow taller - she's 4'6 and Gran continues to shrink so they are about the same height now...

Fun At The Fair

We went to the TN Valley Fair last Saturday and had so much fun! Here are some of the pictures. Katie and I were pretty excited that there was a PINK roller coaster! How funny - we had a great time riding it until I realized it was on wooden blocks! Ack!!!