Moving Forward

I never imagined last October when we started down this path to get Jeremy a Service Dog all the twist & turns we would have along the way.  Days of pure joy, days of non-stop tears not knowing how we where going to  manage. But so far God has answered every prayer that I have laid before him when I lay in bed at night asking the question "what now, how do I get this done?". We love Oregon Assistance Dogs for matching us with our super handsome smart Banyan. They did an amazing job with him for the first 7 months of his life and I am so grateful. Then we where blessed with All American Dogs here at JBLM who stepped in and said here is a local trainer at No Cost to keep moving forward. With out Jean & Ursula - Banyan would not be as well behaved and super smart as he is today. I know I can take him anywhere in public with out worry. That would not have happened with out the hours spent with Lead Me On training & All American Dogs.

Then we hit a crossroads back in May where AAD needed to find a trainer to meet Banyan's specific needs to help Jeremy in the future. They did their best to find someone local but at this time life has happened and we need to move forward as Banyan is getting older everyday. Thankfully a friend as well as The Hutchison Foundation recommended that we call http://www.noellesdogsfourhope.com/ in Colorado. I sent out an email at 3AM because sleeping was not happening as I worried over how we would pay whomever did have the trainer we needed. As well as I knew in my heart we had to move away from AAD whom we have grown to love. Tina the owner of Noelle's called back immediately this morning & said how can we help? How do we make this work so Jeremy can have the best Service dog available to you all? We talked in length about the needs Jeremy had she even brought up training I never thought we could obtain that she can get for Banyan.

Then I asked about cost.....I actually shed a few tears when I learned I just needed to pay for the plane tickets to get Banyan, Jeremy & I out to Colorado in mid-October to meet her staff as well as the trainer .  Paying for two plane tickets verses the thousand's of dollars I had been quoted was such a relief the tears came.
They will work with the Hutchison Foundation and use only our Grant money to finish Banyan's training, nothing more. He will live with them for five months which will be sad for us but exactly what he needs to be the best for Jeremy. Which has always been our goal from the beginning.

He will learn Search & Water Rescue since we live on a lake ( I never even thought of this as an option)

Splitting & Blocking since Jeremy can't see out of his right eye should someone approach from that side.

Seizure Alert specifics

Scent tracking in case Jeremy decided to wonder off- which has happened on occasion.

Mobility should Jeremy have a stroke from a seizure and be unable to walk by himself.

He will be CGC & ADI certified when we get to his graduation in hopefully January. I am beyond words with how relieved I am at this moment. We are excited to use the next 6 weeks to so his refresher course at Lead Me On with Ursula as well as a couple new exercises they would like him to learn before he goes to Colorado. We have some work to do but we are more then happy to put in the time to get the best dog possible for Jeremy. Thank you to all our friends who keep helping us along the way. I am sure you get tired of my constant chatting about this- but it consumes my daily life & will until Banyan is back home with us in the new year.

Now we will put up the Service Dog Quillow that is done in Americana Style Handmade by Jeremy's Grammy as an Auction here on Facebook. ALL MONEY raised will go towards our airfare to Colorado. Any of our Fur-Friends who would SHARE our Quillow Auction on their page we would be forever grateful. We know we ask a lot sometimes but we do hope you hang in there a few more weeks of fundraising then we will be all done! What a glorious thought to know we will be done with paying for expenses for Banyan's training. I can barely believe it!

I know that some of our BLOGGY friends aren't on our Facebook Page in order to BID on the Quillow you have to "LIKE" Jeremy & Banyan " Our Journey"  on Facebook. Then place your BID in the Comment sections under the note Titled " Moving Along in a GREAT Direction" . If you have no Facebook account but would like to place an Auction BID I can do that for you if you leave a Comment on THIS Blog Post. I will COPY & PASTE it into the Facebook page with your BLOGGY username. 
Here are the pictures of the Quillow which has Golden Retriever Pups hand sewn all over. It took Grammy over an hour on each pup! We sure love her <3 Please know that we would love any help spreading the word about our Auction. You can share this BLOG Post or you can go to our Facebook Page   and share the note with all the details.

Philippians 4:13 :" I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me."

Kick Off to Summer

We've enjoyed a nice family weekend even though the weather has been cool & rainy. Paul left with two of the boys last Thursday to go on a camping & fishing trip. It was a belated birthday trip now that he is home. They came home Saturday night soaking wet & cold but with huge smiles on their faces. They where just happy to have dad's undivided attention for a couple days.

On Sunday we woke up & held our breath as we looked outside to see if the rain was gone. We had a Welcome Home Bar-b-que planned as well as the first lake day of summer. Thankfully it was only partly cloudy with a few sunbreaks here & there. We got all the food together and headed to the lake. 

We took Banyan along for the first two hours so he could play & swim in his new custom vest that Ommie made . He loved it! As soon as he realized we where going to let him swim with his vest on he had so much fun! He still is not the best swimmer so we laughed, but he could care less. He listened to Jeremy really well and came almost every time Jeremy called for him in the water. He actually listened to Jeremy's commands better then mine. I wonder if it was because I was on shore watching & not in the lake with him like the younger boys  ? 

Banyan was also  taken on his first boat ride. Jeremy goes on the boat some in the summers to fish with his dad. We wanted to see how Banyan would respond to being in a small boat out on the lake. At first he was a little anxious to be away from shore.

Soon he settled down & enjoyed the short boat ride with Jeremy. We only kept him out for about 10 minutes so he wouldn't be to frightened. We will repeat this again in a few days so he can continue to get use to the boat & lake.

After awhile we enjoyed some great food & the kids played all afternoon into the early evening. They even swam in the still cold lake while us parents hung out. Paul enjoyed visiting with old friends as well as meeting a couple new friends.

By early evening the kids where tired & cold so it was time for me to head back to the house. Paul stayed down at the lake with a few of his fishing guys . I made it home with one extra teen but Matthew went to stay with a friend so it all evened out. We all enjoyed a quiet evening watching movies and fell fast asleep from all the activity. Now we can't wait for July 3rd when Paul can sign out on leave for a month. We have some camping trips planned, a visit from my parents who are flying out , as well as Hawaii for Paul & I. It looks to be shaping up to be a good start to summer for our clan & I can't wait to share it with my whole family.

Where Does It All Go ?

Today after doing the books I realized we are already super low on funds for Banyan's training, uggg. It seems like we have the fundraisers & all the generous donations, then it just evaporates so fast. Where does it all go you ask? We spent $192.33 just on dog food alone in February. No he didn't eat that much in one month-lol He'd be one fat pup! But our Blue Buffalo coupons where expiring so we had to use them. Then the puppy treats, they do add up. Just this week the last trip to Pet Smart we left $48 lighter. Banyan still get's treats a lot for his rewards. Every new task he learns requires affirmations & treats. Plus you add in training sessions & gas to get to those sessions, yep folks it all adds up fast!
With that being said as much as I hate to do it we have to start fundraising again now before something comes up we can't afford. I set up an easy link for friends & family to be able to donate even $5 helps. I can now understand how the average service dog costs $10,000 dollars if they come fully trained. We are blessed with amazing trainers from All American Dogs  as well as the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation who are currently raising funds for several special children to get seizure alert dogs. But like anyone else they all rely on donations & if the money isn't there then we must help raise funds ourselves. So all I am asking is if your called to help then by all means please go to the link above to donate any amount you feel placed on your heart. But if you aren't able please help spread Jeremy's link & story so that if anyone out there is looking for a great way to help or donate they have options. They can choose to donate directly to the Chelsea Hutchinson Foundation or to All American Dogs , or to Team Jeremy & Banyan . Any of these great choices all lead down the path to helping our family & many others who are working tirelessly to provide a safety net for their child. Banyan is not only Jeremy's constant companion but he one day could save his life. To me that is priceless & I will find the way to make it happen. Thanks for checking in & please help spread the word.

We won't Give Up.....

Dog-Gone Cold Easter Egg Hunt

All American Dogs that helps with Banyan's training attended the annual Dog-Gone Easter Egg hunt in Lacey, WA. They asked if we could join them to show off our handsome boy & explain how they have helped our family. Here are a few fun pictures. We really froze to death with the wind it felt like it was 20 degrees instead of the 43 my van reading showed. We stayed about four hours before we had to call it a day so we could all warm up- our fingers where numb! But we had fun & Banyan did a great job hunting for eggs!

 

This was as we where leaving- the only sun all day.

 

Me with Banyan - Liberty & Jean. Jean is one of our  AWESOME Trainers.

Our great poster about Banyan & Jeremy that we made.

Jeremy fell in love with this Handsome guy who came to see our booth.

Jeremy's other friend.

The kennel the boys stayed in while we talked with people .

Setting everything up for our booth.

We did have fun hunting eggs & seeing all the beautiful dogs. But the cold finally won out & we left very cold. Banyan is worn out & has slept the whole time we've been home. We hope to be able to attend future events for All American Dogs 

Jeremy & Banyan "Our Journey" 

This is where you can find us on Facebook to keep up with all our daily activities.