Good Church News

So in a short amount of Time our Church has raised a nice amount of money which is AMAZING and a blessing. We still have a Long way to go, but I just wanted to Thank anyone who donated.  I do believe in Miracles, whether for our Children, our lives, our Church community of the world.  Miracles happen.....keep on truckin, our prayers will be answered some way or another. 

Below is the original video from My Pastor, Brian McMillan...

Special Announcement from CenterPoint Church on Vimeo.

If you Still would like to Donate to Center Point Church Click Here

Photoshoots and the ASD child

From Birth to about 18 months old my son took the most beautiful pictures.  He looked straight at the camera, hammed it up big time....I photographers dream. 

Then we hit the quintessential 18 month mark where it starts hitting the fan.  I assumed it was separation anxiety or stranger anxiety, I have no clue.  I paid $40 for a Christmas pic i never used because his eyes were red and swollen as he stared into space....not a great Christmas card if you ask me.  I ended up taking a picture at home....which went a little like this.....

Very GQ, this took forever....and he is not even looking....but still this is one of my favorites :)

There are no professional pics of Frankie after 18 months......for a while there were just pictures i took of him when he wasn't paying attention.  I would get one good picture in a batch of staring off into space and nasty face.  I'm not sure what made me think at 2 when Lia was born that he would take pictures better.  I thought maybe with an on site photographer he would bet better......not so much.

Its not a bad picture, its just the only one we have from that shoot because he was completely noncompliant.  Here is Failed attempt at Christmas 2010....He was so Pissed....

And now to the greatest blessing that could happen to a photo crazed parent of an Autistic Child.....the ABA therapist who is ALSO a Photographer!

I suppose this will only help you if you are in the Long Island area, but seriously if you are here and you need pictures, check her out.  Kim started out as Frankie's ABA therapist though early intervention around the same time she began pursuing her passion for photography.  She started taking pictures of Frankie for me as little surprises during sessions, photographs I could never get.....Apparently she told me her secret...she asks him Social Questions lol.

With Christmas Card Season approaching, i knew who I had to call.... Kimberly Jean-Photography :)  Like always, with positive reinforcement, yummy reinforcers, patience and some social questions she did an awesome job.  It takes a special kind person to work with our kids and I don't know if she realizes the advantage she has to other photographers lol.

So if you are in the Long Island Metro area or know someone who is and would like to have photos taken by a professional, kind, patient reliable, awesome, very reasonably priced person who works with Autistic children daily...... Check out Kimberly Jean- Photography on Facebook or at her Website

I never thought I could get a cards this good....THANK YOU KIM!!!

 

*EDIT*

For Some Reason Kim couldn't Comment on here so here is her response:

Kimberly Jean-Photography

Hello there...I thought I was a bit over due for a good cry.... Thank you is all I can say... It has been my pleasure to work with Frankie & teach him how to get through a photo shoot or just a quick snap shot.. He is a remarkable little boy who just keeps surprising me every time I see him! When I first took a few pictures of him to surprise you for Mother's Day, I had no idea how he would react.. However, my plan worked.. I took him outside and gave him simple directions, just as I would in therapy.. then began to ask him social questions to keep him engaged.. It worked!! With some reinforcement, I got beautiful shots that I knew you were struggling to get..
Fast forwad a few months later and It's now Christmas time.. Time to send out those holiday cards.. but knowing that you have a child with special needs, especially one on the ASD, I knew difficulty was an understatement for how Frankie might respond to a typical studio set up photo shoot.... I can't take all the credit though... Yes, I was the one behind the camera, checking my settings, angels, etc. but credit must be given where credit is due.. Keri, my sister assisted me that day and thank goodness she did.. With simple commands again and models given, she was able to help me get some of the most beautiful shots of Frankie & his sister Lia.. Happy Holidays to all! And thank you again for all of your kind words!! Kim

To Tobay......or To Bay? The Beach!

I live on Long Island, and being from here you encounter many off named towns and such.  I live in Massapequa Park.....can you say that,  a village inside the Town of Oyster Bay.    Its a native American Group I'm told. We rent, I could never afford to buy here, but honestly, I would stay in this apartment forever if It meant I could stay in Massapequa Park.  In regards to the funny names, I live a few towns over west is Wantagh and to the east Copaige , Setauket, Ronkonkoma and some other names you can only pronounce correctly if you live here.  Which brings me to Tobay.

Tobay is a small beach directly south of our house, which takes forever to get to because you have to drive west, then south and then east because that is the only route.  It has 2 restaurants a spray park, access to both the bay and the Atlantic Ocean and tons of Little fish and crabs for kids to collect.   Its actually about a Mile from Gilgo beach.....you know the one where they found 10 dead bodies, mostly prostitutes.....splendid.  Hasn't seemed to effect anything, still don't know who killed them all.  I asked my husband this morning if he thinks Tobay got the name because someone messed up a sign and it meant to say "TO Bay".....considering its a BAY beach this can be the only answer.  I don't think there was a native American tribe called the TOBAYS. 

We got to Tobay Beach at 9:30 am, tide was out beach was empty....PERFECT!  We had brunch, which was basically just wraps from 7-11 and the kids got ready to run around.  Now this time last year my son was still scared of sand and not big into water.  He would tip toe on the sand and either cry or whine the entire time.  He would only sit in the water if he was on top of me........pardon my physical appearance in this picture I was about 7 months pregnant :)  But yea, he would sit on me like that and make me dig, make me do everything.

 

Fast Forward a year and my child is dumping sand on his own head.....as well as his sisters.  He is also running full force into the bay.  Today he went out so far that i had to get my husband in the water to go get him because he wouldn't listen to us and get his butt back to shallower water.  I mean honestly the water does not get very deep but i had visions of him tripping.  I can only think that making him touch weird things and making him walk on sand and grass etc. payed off.  At the time it seemed harsh to make him uncomfortable, but to see how happy he is now, its all worth it.