Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Silliness

Here they are as we know them -- siblings, friends and serious goof balls! We can't wait until the day we look at the back seat and Evan's service dog hamming it up too!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

CreateSpace: Member Spotlight


Evan has been featured this month on the CreateSpace Member Spotlight page. This is the company we selected to self-publish through and it has been a great experience.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Vote 4 Evan!

Evan is a finalist in People Magazine's Readers' Choice Hero Award!

Please vote for Evan as many times as you want and help us spread the word! Voting ends October 13th so there is lots of time to vote often and pass it on.

Vote for Evan for Readers' Choice Hero Award

Thanks for your help, our fingers are crossed!

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Dog Swim!

We went to the Landsdowne 7th Annual Dog Swim on Saturday and we had a blast.



















It was a little chilly, but the kids had a great time watching the dogs jump in the pool. They both had the chance to throw balls to eager dogs who would swim out after the balls as many times as the kids would throw them!




Aria loved all the dogs and said she couldn't pick a favorite because they were all great. She divided her time between all the dogs, making her way around the perimeter of the pool so she could meet each one.

For Evan, the star was Nara, a beautiful German Shepard with a gentle nature and eyes that smiled. Nara swam after the ball countless times for Evan and I'm not sure who was happier.

We can't wait until next year when we will have a dog participating too!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Strangers or Neighbors

The last couple months have taught us a lot about what it means to be part of a community, even in someplace that seems as large and impersonal as the Metropolitan D.C. area. People here move at a fast pace and count themselves fortunate if they drive less that an hour to get to work. We leave as the sun rises and come home late, pulling our cars quietly into garages and driveways and are often strangers to our own neighbors.

My family has been in the unique position to see a different side of our D.C. friends and people across the country. The side that brings people together, unified in a cause with the goal of helping a child. It's been an amazing experience and we are honored to have met so many people who are supportive of Evan and other children working toward getting service dogs. As of right now we, as a community, have raised over $42,000 for 4 Paws for Ability and Evan has met his goal and helped 7 additional children complete their fundraising.

Tonight as I write this, I can't think of a better place to live or nicer people to be surrounded by -- even if I don't always know their names.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

People Magazine

If you missed the People Magazine, you can read the story here:
Boy Writes Book to Save Money for Seizure-Sniffing Dog


I find myself really drawn to taking photos of what goes on behind the scenes. The photo shoot with Andrew Brusso was a great experience and he was super cool. We found out he was a fellow RIT grad and laughed about how in the first year at RIT they tell you the two hardest things to photograph are kids and animals.

I love this because it really gives a sense of how many people are involved -- there were actually more! Evan was great, a real trooper! The puppies were adorable and very well-trained but easily distracted. They loved giving Evan kisses too!

Andrew spent most of his day at ground level and at times his camera was just too interesting for the pups to resist!

Aria was in heaven hanging out with all the dogs. It was a hot day and these two enjoyed the chance to cool off in the shade. When we went back into the 4 Paws for Ability facility, Aria and Evan both went and said hi to as many dogs as they could and played with the Papillion puppies.

What an amazing experience!