Special Needs Children Responding to Special Needs Children

Gathering up our things after my presentation in the Passavant Retirement Community auditorium, an older man with special needs came through the door.
"What are you doing?" he asked. My brother-in-law, Dutch gave him a flyer from one of the seats and explained that we had just heard about this young man called Jeff. Dutch showed him the six posters of Jeff's life hanging at the front of the room, and the man seemed excited to match the photo in his hand with the ones on the posters. "I'm John," he said, and pointed enthusiastically to Jeff then to himself, back and forth, back and forth, until I understood that he wanted me to introduce them. So I said, "John, this is Jeff. Jeff, this is John." He grinned a wide, "Hello!" Then he thanked me. Thus, Jeff has made another friend!

Caregivers at Retirement Community

We did it! One of the women at the Passavant Lutheran Retirement Community bought the 500th copy of "Journey With Jeff." She was very surprised when I told her she had won the prize -- my 5CD package of "Journey With Jeff." So, she can read the book or listen to the CDs in her car or in her home, or pass it on. She was pleased, and so was I! ~~~ Other great moments for me were the women who came forward to where half a dozen posters hung of Jeff's life -- from his 3 month-old photo with his big wide-open eyes, to the photo of him sitting in his favorite innertube the last summer he went to Camp Joy. One person shared with me how she worked with children at a Lutheran Institution for Children with Special Needs for 25 years, another shared the years she lived with a son who didn't speak until he was a teenager, and a mother of a Down Syndrome girl shared her joys and challenges. These are the things I treasure! It was an awarding trip!

"Journey With Jeff" IS Out There

Oh, my ears and whiskers! Have you ever entered your own name for a Google search?!? When I did that I found 42 entries of my name as author of "Journey With Jeff." This included a website for the United Kingdom~~~ Amazon.co.uk! Jeff is in England! Some websites were in another language, German, I think. Do you suppose Jeff's over there?!?" Journey With Jeff" is listed in a Pennsylvania County Down Syndrome Interest Groups website, and on the National Accessability website. I was especially touched by the book being mentioned on Dads4SpecialKids.com ~~ that was a serendipitous find! Every couple of months I receive royalties from BookSurge/Amazon.com for books, and I have no idea who has ordered "Journey With Jeff." However, now I am aware of the wide width of possibilities!!

Support From Family and Beyond

Never would almost 500 copies of "Journey With Jeff" be broadcast from sea to sea without the help and support of my husband Bob, Jeff's sister Jennifer, and her husband Jim. Their encouragement, and technical and financial expertise have been inestimable! Before the book was published, Jim's mother, Jeanne, helped make a collage of Jeff's photos and a Table of Contents to fit into the 5CD package of "Journey With Jeff," which I read from the original script. There are approximately 100 copies of the CD 'Out There!' ~~~ This week Bob and I will travel to Zelienople, PA, to visit his sister and her husband who live in a Lutheran Retirement Community. I'll take CDs and copies of the book to accompany my presentation for the Women of the ELCA. Perhaps I'll make the last few sales for the total of 500 copies of the book!? Hope springs eternal!

Differently Abled

Jeff loved to be busy, to be helping people. And, the people around him found jobs for him to do, enjoying the wide smiles he gave so generously. I was very thankful for the wisdom, support, and encouragement of those wonderful persons! Today I learned of another
mother whose 43 year-old differently abled daughter is living in an LAI Assisted Living apartment, going to a work program, and eager to help plan lots of activities for her group. This mother says, "I enjoyed reading Journey With Jeff. It reminded me of the difficult times I went through with my daughter, and made me feel successful for having met those challenges! The book gave me some ideas of what's available. It inspired me." I am inspired by remarks such as this mother's, as I watch the ripple effect of Jeff's story.

Easter Hope!

Jeff loved the drums...all drums! He was fascinated by the tympani that one of our students played at the end of the Good Friday service, imitating the sound of a huge rock being rolled across Christ's tomb. It often made him sob when he heard it. We don't use fragile tympanies anymore, but Bob and I always think of Jeff's reaction at the end of that service. So, Friday came again this year, then quiet Saturday, and, finally, the joyous Easter morning we're hoping for! Our church was Easter-full, and visitors stayed to visit over coffee. I'm always glad when one family living out-of-town comes, because she and I can talk about our love of writing. She has just finished reading Journey With Jeff, and told me she had no idea of all that our family had gone through. "I liked your honesty," she said. "You told it like it was!" I'm hoping she will write a review for Amazon.com. There are 9 reviews on that website so far, and I'm always seeking for more. If you, my reader, would consider writing the few words you might tell me directly, into an Amazon.com review, I'll appreciate it immensely!! Thank you!!

Inspirational Community Support

Tonight at a Fire Department banquet Bob and I renewed our appreciation of the inspirational community support of the Hamlin Fire Department. Bob was active for many years, and still is invited often to give the invocation and bendiction at banquets. A woman I had never met before said her mother had given her Journey With Jeff to read because she has a 32 year old daughter who lives with Down syndrome. Jeff sure gets around! Beyond any distance I can imagine! (So far there are about 500 books out there!! That is absolutely wonderful!!) One of our best long-time friends remembered she had bought a CD package of Jeff's story when that was produced in 2005. She said she'd listen to it again on the way to and from her work with children with special needs at school. I asked another long-time friend if he would write a review on Amazon.com of Journey With Jeff. He replied that his answer was too personal because now he understood why Bob was who he was. Wow! Profound! But I think his wife might persuade him to tell her what he wants to say on the readied website page. The community inspires me when I hear how Jeff's story has blessed others! (Photo is Jeff and his dad at the Hamlin Fire Department Carnival.)