Carpet is in!

The prep work for the therapy room is 95% complete! I just need to get some shelving put up and then the room will be ready to go!

The carpet was installed Wednesday morning before we left for vacation and it looks fabulous. Mr. Ray even let lj help staple it down.

Room progress

The walls are complete in the rooms. I'm going to add some trim eventually, but I'm not rushing to do it right now. I still have to move things out of the room that were being stored in there so the carpet guy can come in with the carpet. Hoping I can get that done before Wednesday. I will post new pics once the carpet is in. Thanks for everyone's continued support.

I will still be taking orders. I still have equipment to purchase for the room.

Walls in the works

Just a few progress pics. I'm worn out and heading to bed. Insulation was completed today and more than 1/2 of the paneling was put up. Just have the right side 12' wall and the right front wall (just half a wall because of the door). Great progress. Thanks to Ben Mays and Taylor McNutt for their help today.

Update on the room progress

Here are a few pictures on the progress of the room. The electrical work was done on July 1 and the insulation is 90% finished. Tomorrow the insulation will be completed and the walls put up. I've decided to go with wood paneling instead of drywall. The paneling is a stained wood color, but I'm going to paint over it.

A Good Read

Someone posted this poem on a special needs forum I frequent about a year ago and I think it's perfect! I thought I'd post it here for everyone to read.


WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley
©©1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley.
All rights reserved


I am often asked to describe
the experience of raising a child with a disability
to try to help people who have not shared
that unique experience to understand it,
to imagine how it would feel.

It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby,
it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy.
You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans.
The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice.
You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives.
You pack your bags and off you go.
Several hours later, the plane lands.
The stewardess comes in and says,
"Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland??
I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy.
All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan.
They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you
to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place,
full ofpestilence, famine and disease.
It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books.
And you must learn a whole new language.
And you will meet a whole new group of people
you would never have met.

It's just a different place.
It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy.
But after you've been there for a while
and you catch your breath, you look around....
and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....
and Holland has tulips.
Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...
and they're all bragging about
what a wonderful time they had there.
And for the rest of your life, you will say
"Yes, that's where I was supposed to go.
That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...
because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life
mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy,
you may never be free to
enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ...
about Holland.

******

Progress on the therapy room

Remember to check here for information and updates about the therapy room project.

I thought I'd post a little update on this blog as well. The profits from my June orders were $250.00. YAY! Thanks to everyone who ordered and supported this fundraiser. Remember, if you missed your chance this month, another order has already started and will run until July 18.

The initial money raised was to pay for the basic prep of the room. The electrical run and lights put in, a window a/c unit and flooring. The flooring was donated for the building and also the installation is being done free of charge! A huge thank you to Dr. and Mrs. Carroll Hughes for the carpet donation and to Mr. Don Ray of The Remnant and Rug Shop in Thomson for volunteering his time to install the carpet. Your generosity is greatly appreciated! The electrical part of the prep is being started on tomorrow and will be completed by Friday.

My next step is insulation and drywall for the building. I have contacted someone in regards to a possible donation of insulation and I am awaiting his response. If a donation is not possible, we're looking at about another $250.00 for the walls.

I am so excited that this fundraiser got off to a fantastic start. This is going to be such a great thing for LJ. I will post pictures at the end of the week showing the progress on the building.

Provided byFundraising Ideas Center

More Writing

When I pulled out this new easel to show LJ, he decided he wanted to try out the chalkboard. (He's loving chalkboards these days) First, I wrote his name and he copied it. Then he said he wanted to write TRAIN. So I called out the letters and he wrote them. Notice how he formed his R? Silly, but he's got the idea down. Notice his backwards N at the end....it's kind of hard to see. N and M are hard for him because once he starts, he just wants to keep drawing the peaks. But on this N he did just the right amount...he just did it backwards.

I'm just so proud of how much he's gaining with his handwriting skills.



He also wanted to write MOM. A few days ago when we were doing chalkboards, I asked him to write MOM. His response was "M--O--M?" I was surprised that he knew how to spell MOM. Another proud mommy moment. He didn't do so well forming his M but did much better tonight. I wish I had snapped a picture of that as well.