What's Up!!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

It has taken awhile for us to decide how to best go about sharing a few things about our family and in particular about K.J.  Over the past five and a half years we have spent a lot of time trying to figure out what the cause of his ever increasing struggles where.  In the last year it has come to our attention that  K.J.’s  birth mother drank and used cocaine while she was pregnant with him.  We believe that the prenatal alcohol exposure is the root of the problems he is experiencing.  We are working with those in the medical profession that are competent in aiding us with a diagnosis. We believe when all the testing is done he will be diagnosed with an FASD (fetal alcohol spectrum disorder) or more specifically ARND(alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorder).  In the course of this process, K.J. has picked up a multitude of other diagnoses and we have been looking for ways to help him cope with the multiple issues he is facing. One way that we have come across that has been successful in helping children like K.J. is the use of a service dog.  We have been accepted to receive a dog for K.J.  However, these dogs are expensive to train and we need to fund raise for a portion of the expenses in training these service dogs before a dog can be placed with K.J. We have contracted with the non-profit organization  “4 Paws for Ability “ to fund raise $13,000.00 toward the training of these service dogs.  We are asking for your help in this effort. If you have an idea that might make a good fundraiser please let us know or if there is another way you feel you could help we would appreciate your help in making this happen for K.J.  Please feel free to contact us with questions,  to give suggestions or for volunteering to help.  You may also be interested in learning more about our journey on the FASD road by visiting  http://asmallpebbleinapond.blogspot.com/  .  Thank you for your help.

The “B” Family Buzz

Ann Michelle, Del, J.D. and K.J.