Thank You, Everyone!

It's a really humbling experience to realize that when you want to do something really great for your kid you will have to ask for help in order to get it done.  Especially humbling is when that help needs to come in the form of money.  Let's face it, no one really likes to ask anyone for money.  But life is expensive and people have bills and in houses with one income sometimes those bills can seem like gigantic weights constantly pressing down on you.

So when you finally come to the place where you know that if you want to accomplish something for your kid you will have to ask for financial help, yes, it is humbling.

And you have to just let your pride go and make the move to ask.

And that is exactly what we did.

James 1:17

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

When I stepped out in faith to ask people to help us get an iPad for Bug never in my wildest dreams did I think it would happen so fast.  In less than a week we have raised enough money to get his iPad - can't you believe it?  I am still in a bit of a state of shock over it.

Equally as humbling as asking for help to begin with is realizing that people are kind and generous and very willing to help when there is a need.  People I have known for years donated to help.  Acquaintances from Twitter and other social networking sites donated to help.  And then people I didn't even know donated to help.  It is an amazing feeling to realize the goodness that is in people's hearts.

And while it took the donations to make the money be enough, it also took the care and kindness of people who tweeted out and shared on FaceBook and Google+ and in emails and on websites - people who took the time to tell the world about our need - those people helped us to reach our goal.

I told a few of my closest friends that I was "trusting God to do this" and I did.  I asked God to bless it.  I asked God to bless my boy.  And I waited and trusted that He would make it happen.

The Bible tells us, as you read in that verse up above, that every good and perfect gift is from the Father.  I believe that God used each and every one of the people who helped share and who donated to send my family a blessing.  The amount of gratitude I feel for them is more than I can really put to words.  I found myself crying earlier just out of pure joy and gratefulness and the realization that there are truly some amazing people out there who care about us and our family.

Maybe it seems like small potatoes to some, but an iPad for Bug is a HUGE deal for us - Vibrant visual schedules, social stories at instant access, behavioral apps to help, visuals for schoolwork - and so much more!  This is going to change our day to day in a big way!

So friends, family, acquaintances, and people who just found it in their hearts to help in any way they could - my family thanks you.  We want you to know that you have made a huge impact in our lives both on the technology front and on another level that goes deep into our hearts.

We seriously can't thank you enough.

We are truly blessed.