Friday, July 27, 2012

Mid-Summer Update

Hello again, everyone!


I hope you've been enjoying your summer so far. The first few weeks of break were quite busy here, with lots of visits to family, the county fair, and picking berries for jam, among other things.


We've seen a couple of donations come in this week, and we'd like to thank you all for continuing to check in with us, and share our story, and our blog, with your friends. This truly is one of those 'it takes a village' things.


A week ago we happened to be hitting up some garage sales, and met a lovely young woman named Heather, who kindly offered to help spread our brochures around to her group of friends and acquaintances. It's always so touching when we meet someone new, and they feel called to help out in this way. Thank you, (((Heather))).:)


If anyone else would like to share our story by placing brochures in their community, please just drop us a line at raisethewoof4rachel@gmail.com. We will get those shipped out to you in a jiffy.


It seems like school was just out, and already we're seeing ads for back to school sales, and Rachel's online school has shipped her supplies for this year.  As anxious as we all are for her to finish high school, we'll have a lot of planning to do this year, as Rachel turns 18, and that brings up certain legal issues and paperwork that will need to be taken care of, in order to ensure that we can continue to make decisions for care, in the event that Rachel isn't able to.


These are the kinds of decisions, and concerns, we never thought we'd have to consider when Rachel was a little girl. It's amazing how one's life can change in the blink of an eye. Now every plan for her future is filled with what-ifs, and we can't predict from one day to the next what might be happening with her. So, for now we simply work on getting through the day, week, or month, and then take it from there.


Our next adventure this summer is the annual family BBQ, and we're all looking forward to seeing our extended family, and spending a fun day, just being all together, eating, and playing in the sun. We hope that you are making the most of these good days, too.


-Kelly

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Ahhh, Summer!

I hope you've all been enjoying your summer as much as we have. We recognize that a lot of folks have been suffering under massive heat waves, and high temperatures, and hope that they're getting a break soon.


Summer in Western Oregon really begins in July, and we're having a lovely streak of days in the 80s. Brett has been bitten with the fishing bug, so we've been doing a bit of scouting for likely fishing holes, and he's been trying out a few different lures, baits, and techniques, hoping to hit on the 'the thing'. So far no fish, but hope springs eternal.


This weekend is the Marion County Fair, and my cousin will be having a booth promoting her rescue; Goodfellas Pet Rescue. Rachel and I will be volunteering a few hours each day, so come by the Americraft Building at the Oregon State Fairgrounds, learn about how to adopt a wonderful dog, and say hello.


I decided that I wasn't completely thrilled with my custom window paint, so changed it today, and now my back window looks like this:




If you see us out and about on the streets of Salem, be sure and give us a honk and a wave.:)


Rachel's been having a good break so far, though there was a week in June that had more seizures than we've been seeing for awhile. Still, the panic attacks haven't been as impactful, so that's something to be grateful for. School will be starting again before we know it, and this is her last year of high school, so it will be busy. We're trying to cram as much fun into summer as we can, and hope you are, too.


-Kelly



Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th Everyone!

Happy US Independence Day, everybody! I hope you all have a fantastic day, no matter how you choose to celebrate.


I was thinking today that it's been just over a year now that we learned Rachel was officially a client of Paws With A Cause. What a year it's been. We've had so much support, and met some wonderful people. Even so, we're really hoping to get funding wrapped up by the end of the year, so that Rachel will have her dog next year.


We've had a long, wet spring in Oregon, but this week the weather really turned to summer, and I was finally able to wash the car, and do a little enhancement to her appearance:



With luck, we'll continue to have dry weather, and the paint won't come off for some time. We plan to stick brochures under the wiper when we park the car in public, and really hope to get some good feedback that way.

Thanks so much for your continued support and encouragement, and please continue to share this blog with your friends.

-Kelly