Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my first blog! Those of you who know me well know that this is a big step for me!  My intention is to post many things from my arsenal of great ideas that work for raising children who are blind or visually impaired, including help with cooking, gardening and other ideas for independent living, IEPs, helping you with communication with your child's teachers and school, and many other things.

I am currently the President of Michigan Parents of Children with Visual Impairments, a position I have held for over 10 years,  and am a board member of Opportunities for the Blind, the organization which has run Camp Tuhsmeheta - a camp for blind and visually impaired children near Greenville, Michigan - for the last 9 years.  I have two children with my husband, Jim.  Greg is nearly 17 and has retinopathy of prematurity and has only light perception, meaning he is blind, uses Braille and a cane for mobility. Krista is 15 and a lovely person in her own right.  We live in a rural community, have a huge garden, raise angora goats and have a few miscellaneous dogs and cats.

Raising Greg and being involved with Michigan Parents of Children with Visual Impairments has given me so many great opportunities.  I have observed carefully, thought deeply, exercised all my creative ability, and learned more than I ever wanted to know about blindness and blind children.  It has been a tremendously rewarding experience!  I have deeply appreciated all the friendships with parents, teachers, mentors who are blind, and children and students I have been privileged to know.  Greg has traveled to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama with a friend when he was 12 - and no parents!  He went to Costa Rica on a service learning project with his school when he was 14 - and no parents!  He recently traveled to Harvard University for a national debate competition with his debate team - and no parents!  He makes bread for our household every two weeks or so.  He knows how to pit cherries, make salad, and roast a chicken.  He is a great kid, a good student and very likely to succeed in a sighted world.

So I hope you will join me on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for new posts on raising children with visual impairments!