Utah Explosion

Quinn, Lewis, Herschel, Chris, Marty and Nick

The team got the silver medal at the tournament in American Fork. They lost in the gold medal game 7-4 to Florida. All 3 of Florida's team will be on the paralympic team going to BeiJing this August. Go USA!

US Nationals

This week Utah hosted the 2008 National Goalball Championships. The Utah Explosion went undefeated until the Gold Medal Match. They earned silver after losing to Florida 7-5. They really wanted to earn the gold in "their house." Maybe next year.

It was a great experience for Herschel. He scored 4 goals for the team on Friday to help get to the gold medal round. The play won't be nearly as intense in Oct. for the Junior Nationals. He will continue to improve as he will be getting alot of practice time at USU starting this fall.

Goalball is a club sport there and the rest of his team all attend as well as other blind or impaired students. They have about 12 men who come to play.

The team is great at encouraging him. They are impressed with his enthusiasm and hard work. They also think it's great that he continues to play even when he gets his nose broken. (3 times this year) The picture is of Chris and Marty. I love the shot. Great teamwork stopping a 45 mph throw. Thanks to all of the family who supported him by coming to the games!

Testing

Herschel has just finished 3 days of testing to see if the Rehabilitaion for the Blind will be willing to help pay for some of his college. The first day of testing was all done blind folded to see if he would be adaptable if he does go totally blind. He did great. He was faster and scored higher than most of the blind people, so that is good news. They also said that for him to do so well his vision is a lot worse that he lets on. He actually "feels" like a blind person, not just impaired. Most partial vision people don't do very well on this test, so he was pretty excited.
They also found him to be smarter than they expected. His grades were not that great, but considering that he did the first 3 years of H.S. without accommodations, what can you expect?
They were a little surprised at how heightened his other senses are. They weren't expecting that with partial vision. We think that because he has multiple vision in addition to limited, this has caused the senses to compensate. They say that he would have no problems getting a doctorate if he would like to. Yippee! You can see his jersy for the team photo.

Quilt

June 19-21 is the National Goal Ball Tournament.

I wanted to do something to help. I am so greatfull for all of the help Herschel has been given. They have really opened the world to him and changed his life.

I asked them if I could do a couple of quilts to help earn money. It isn't much. I feel like I should do so much more. This is the first one that I did.

They are having a silent auction for this hoping that they can raise alot of money. Don't know how it will do.

They were getting stuff for raffles. I thought this would go there, but they decided on the auction. I think that they think it can bring more money that way.

I did another quilt that was all batiks. I love it. I did one for me as well. The 3rd one is a texture quilt. Blind people see with there hands, so I tried to do alot of texture fabrics as well as embelishments. There is embroidery, ribbon, buttons, tufting, ruffling etc. I hope it is okay as I haven't really done textures for blind people.

I am planning to continue these tactile quilts as there is a real need to help children learn and stimulate their tactile senses. I am hoping to donate the remaining ones. Hopefully through UFB I will be able to find those who most need them.

Blind School

Hershcel recently went to LA for the Jr. Blind Olympics. He was great with all of the kids, so some of the councelors offered him a job at the UWIN center. It is a place for blind and visually impared people to go live to get training for independent living. They also have classes in the summer for elemetary and Jr. High students to learn skills.

Hersh will start part-time there working with the little kids as he is very mobile. He will also receive some of the training for independent living to get ready for college. Mostly cleaning skills, money management etc. He does well at cooking, shopping etc. When he finishes the program, he will be hired full-time and then he can work there in the summers untill he gets his degree.

He is planning to be an IEP teacher and also get certified as an O&M instructor. (Orientation & Mobility) He wants to work with the blind and visually impaired. He does a great job now. I always thought that he would be an excellent teacher.

Pergola

A couple of years ago I found that the power company was planning on replacing some of the power poles on my road. When they started their work, I went and talked with the foreman and asked about what they do with the old poles.

He told me that they cut them up into 4' lengths and then chunk them smaller and they end up in the dump. I asked him if he would like to save some time and just bring them to me whole. He said, "You can't burn these lady."

"They're too valuable to burn," I said. So he brought me poles and I let him have produce from my garden. I think I got the better end of the deal. I went to work and Scott and the neighbors all thought I was crazy. 17- 30 foot poles and 17 trees later, I finished it. Scott loves it and so do we all. In this picture, it is not quite completed. There are benches and each pole has a viney plant growing on it.

The thing is that we will be moving to St. George soon and I have been dreading leaving my pergola. So over Memorial weekend, we went to St. George and they are replacing poles on Dixie Dr. We are on a side road just off Dixie Dr. and the vacant lot where they are putting all of the old poles is just past the turn to our road.

I couldn't resist and Scott was again willing to let me go with my hair brained scheme. So I should be getting more poles soon. I will save them for when I can start a new pergola down there. I have the spot all picked out and am started the plans in my head. Very exciting. Splitting the poles is the hardest part but very satisfying!