Becky's Going for Her 1st Independent Adventure into the World!

Well, it's happening!

 Becky is going to NYC with the help of Hammer Travel from Oct. 2 - Oct. 6, 2011.  She'll be touring the city with a group of new friends that have various disabilities and several very capable, well trained staff members from Hammer Travel. 
Becky's dream is coming true due to the help of several key people and many other new friends. The donations all began with my nephew, Becky's first cousin, Matthew Roessler. He donated money after reading Becky's blog and got us all excited about the possibilities that we could actually make this adventure happen.  My first cousin, Scott Robison, was very creative & playful in his generous and surprising donations. And the brother of Becky's godfather who passed away years ago, donated to her efforts. One of my very good friends from Field Kindley High School, Lynn Bastian Morrow, made a large donation and encouraged my other friends on Facebook to do the same.  
Becky's brother, James Wilkinson and her sister, Corey Taylor gave large amounts to help their sister in her efforts to be independent....they have never let her down and have always lifted her up!
My heart was moved deeply when a very special friend of mine who also has a chronic illness, Brenda Jones, made a large donation. Her donation was just one of many made by people who have chronic illnesses such as Lupus, Fibromyalgia and MS. It moved us greatly that people with health problems of their own were often the mostly likely to help Becky.  


Then a very special person surprised us all. Rory Albanese, executive producer and writer of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart contacted me and asked for more information about Becky. He then donated the remainder of the amount needed for Becky's New York City trip.  His generosity simply overwhelmed us. Becky has been watching the Daily Show and clips of Mr. Albanese's comedy online every since!  

We are extremely thankful for these people and the many others who have helped us financially, encouraged us with their own efforts, and those who have pledged to continue helping Becky.  Becky is planning on completing her cookbook project and selling the cookbooks so that she'll have spending money when she hits Manhattan!  

Again, THANK YOU ALL!

Bowling, Becky Style!

Becky and I had a wonderful weekend together!

On Friday night, I met Becky at the Sun Lanes bowling alley where she and her Special Olympics bowling team practice every Friday. She is always so proud to show me her latest tricks and skills! Becky bowled a score of 183...which is about 100 points more than I've ever bowled. Becky uses an adaptive ramp when she bowls. She places the bowling ball on the ramp, points it down the alley at the pins she wants to knock down and then pushes the ball down the ramp.  It takes lots of strength, coordination and a better sense of visual perception than I possess!

 Between her turns to bowl, Becky races from one place to another in her electric wheelchair. She goes to catch up on the gossip with one friend, gives another friend a big hug, then goes to give encouragement to yet another friend. She has such a full, happy life. Becky has one friend in particular, Sophia, who just loves helping her. Sophia helps lug the ramp on/off the alley-way. And she finds great pride in allowing Becky to use her personal bowling ball.  It's purple...Becky's favorite color. They both just glow as big smiles spread across their faces when they lift the purple bowling ball onto the ramp.  Then Sophia happily backs away and cheers Becky on as yet another set of pins falls.  Of course, since they are young ladies, there is lots of screaming, high-pitched squealing and giggling. 

After bowling, Becky has the tradition of going out for supper. We always tease her that she is never tired and last night was no exception. She was in the mood to play so after a trip to McDonald's she went home and played on her Wii for hours! No wonder she slept in late the next morning!!!

She's Cooking Up Something Fun!

Becky LOVES being in the kitchen. She likes being there alone, quiet and sneaky as she opens drawers and snoops, discovering what treasures have been stashed inside.  She's done that since she was a very little girl.  In fact, one of her wonderful, creative doctors recommended that to help Becky's cognitive and fine motor development, we should take drawers and put them on the floor, dump them out and have her put all the stuff back into the drawer.  It was one of Becky's favorite things to do as I cooked or did other household chores.  To make it even more fun, we'd pretend that she had gotten in trouble for making such a mess on the floor and she had to pick it up.  Her brother enjoyed that part of it. Becky would break out in a big grin and happily pick up her "mess".  She used to maneuver her wheelchair up beside a drawer to snoop inside.  But now, in her new wheelchair accessible kitchen, she can wheel right up under the cabinet and pull the drawer out over her lap.  She's in heaven!

Becky also likes to cook. One of her annual goals is to cook more for herself. But, of course, this requires quite a bit of assistance. Her caregivers help her prepare the meals, but encourage Becky to do as much as she can. For instance, her caregiver Claudia held Becky's right arm as Becky sliced through cucumbers with a sharp knife. To be honest, I'm glad I didn't have to witness that as I am afraid of my kids cutting themselves...yes, even my adult kids.  Becky likes to stir pots, set tables, serve food and clear the dirty dishes now that she has full access to the stove, counters & sink.  But, like her mom, her favorite kitchen task is baking. I wonder if that's because we love brownies so much?

Becky's next big project is gathering recipes from her friends, family & caregivers in her life and compiling them into a cookbook. Not only will this give her a wonderful resource for the food she will help prepare, but it will be used as a fundraiser for her trip to New York City!  A very special friend of the family came up with the idea and is donating the copying and binding costs.  Becky is the primary force behind the creation of the cookbook and is very excited about seeing it become a reality.

Whew!

We've been getting ready for another big yard sale. It's been a pretty constant pace of gathering and pricing and today will be all about getting it organized, scrounging up tables to put stuff on.  I'm certain that people with wads of money will be on my driveway waiting for the garage doors to open up!

I had a yard sale for Becky about a month ago and raised $250 to go toward her big trip.  We had several big ticket items which made it go faster.  That yard sale was at Becky's old house in Las Cruces, NM.  It couldn't have been timed better as she was moving to her newer, smaller apartment and needed to get rid of extra furniture, etc.

This yard sale is being held in El Paso at my house.  My boyfriend recently moved out of town and donated several items to the sale and my oldest daughter has also put in a bunch of items.  We have enough to almost fill one side of a two-car garage.

This will be my last big fundraising effort that requires actual physical exertion! Since I have Lupus, physical activity is often very challenging for me.  I'm definitely feeling the effects of all the exercise I've gotten getting ready for the sale.  That's how I came up with the idea of using the internet to help me raise $ for Becky.  I can sit and be on the internet all day...or even lie in bed like I am right now!

Wish us luck!