Once upon a time.......

There was a God-sent family living in Opelika, Alabama, the Little's. Ms. Dena Little spends all of time time raising her family and running Storybook Farm. (click for their official website)



For anyone I have talked to recently, you know I just started volunteering at Storybook Farm. It is a requirement for one of my classes to volunteer, and I was kind of dreading it (forgive me for sounding like a horrible person). To my surprise, I absolutely love it. Storybook Farm is in Opelika and a really awesome family runs it. It is non-profit organization that allows children with a wide variety of disorders and disabilities to come out and spend time riding horses, making crafts, and other fun things. It takes about $250,000 to run it a year but every penny of that is given by donations. My first day helping the kids was one of the most emotions days I've ever had. We had 4 groups from nearby schools, with kids with Down's Syndrome, autism, mentally challenged, and several other disorders. I have been kind of sheltered when it comes to being around kids with disabilities, so Storybook Farm is my first real experience. The first week was very shocking, because I had NOOO idea what to expect. I held myself together until the very last group came. It was an Autism Learning Center from Columbus, GA. There were five little boys who were all severely Autistic. One little boy, about 13 years old, was hilarious. Instead of saying "cheese" when taking pictures, he said "tax deductible." I'm guessing he picked that one up from home, but nonetheless I had to think of my sister who is about to graduate with an Accounting major. There was another little boy who has really bad sensory issues. He doesn't speak unless it's counting or saying the alphabet. After having a really bad tantrum, he his head in my lap and grabbed my arm and wrapped it around him. AHH! I wanted to start balling. It was so touching to know that he felt secure and safe with me. We were sitting there and a bunch of kids ran by and it scared him. His first reaction was to grab my arm again and squeeze as tight as he could......and bit me. That little boy has one strong set of teeth! Thank goodness he didn't break the skin. After he realized what he did, he rubbed my arm where it was red like he was trying to say he was sorry. I'm so happy this was my last group because as soon as I got in my car I balled my eyes out and didn't stop for THREE HOURS! AH! It was so emotional. The second week I had with the kids went a lot better, no tears. It is going to be such a great semester out there!! I can't wait to see what all God has for me to learn through this experience!!! I'm so excited! Just a little heads up though....if you talk to me on Thursdays around lunchtime, I may be an emotional train wreck. Ok so you have a fair warning now.......
Here are some pictures I took from Week 2!!