Meet Pinkey

Papa Cheney built Sam a rocking horse, Pinkey. He was shipped via Greyhound from Charlotte to Salt Lake.

Sam loves everything about Pinkey

Sam climbs all over Pinkey

Sam rides Pinkey

Thanks Papa Cheney!

Christmas was Merry

Christmas this year was spent with my family in Salt Lake. It was a short celebration, but it was fun. Santa brought us lots of great stuff!

Sam got lots of toys; cell phone, laptop, cars, etc... He loves them all.

He also got a couch and teddy bear which he continues to enjoy. He frequently sits down just like this and smiles.

Trisha got a Kindle. She's already read several books on it and loves to surf the web on it as well.

I got a new camera and Five Finger shoes. I've tried them a few times (Sam has worn them more than me) but not enough yet to make a solid opinion about them. I'm excited to keep using them and hope that they do me well!

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well!

A Child's Journey Out Of Autism

My first time meeting Clay was in the summer of 2008 while Trisha and I were still dating. We had both planned to be on vacation in Utah at the same time. Trisha had not seen the Whiffens in a long time and really wanted me to meet them. As we walked up to the front door I was really nervous about the meeting. Trisha loves this family like they are her own and she has a deep connection to them. I have never met them and at the time I am not sure how I feel about their story.

While we were visiting with Leeann and her boys, she was talking about a book that she just recently finished, documenting their family struggle and eventual victory over autism. She had just chosen the picture that would become the cover of the book. She walked us down the short hallway to this picture of Clay running out of the water with his shirt above his head and his pants soaking wet up to his knees. He has a look of pure and innocent happiness in his eyes.

Some time passed and Trisha got the notice that the book was finally completed and available for purchase. She immediately went out and bought it and read it quickly as she does with every book. When done reading she tells me, "This is really well-written, Leeann did a great job!"

Ever since then, the book has sat on our bookshelf. Several times as I have walked in and out of that room, I have seen this book and thought to myself, "I should really read that book." Trisha also urged me to read it on several occasions. Finally, I picked up the book and started reading...

Clay was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 years. As the concerns start to arise and the diagnosis finally comes out, the family was thrown upside down. Leeann especially seems to suffer through denial and pain. As a result, she becomes very isolated socially and spends much of her time obsessively researching the disorder and the many treatments for it. She is drawn to certain treatments and decides to put it all on the line to use a treatment called Applied Behavioral Analysis, or ABA, along with some other diet changes, vitamins, medicines, etc... She needs to hire instructors that will be responsible for a lot of hours of one-on-one time with Clay teaching him skills that will change his behavior.

We had already withdrawn our ad from the paper, since we thought we had the slots filled. So we either need to run the ad longer or find another candidate among those we've already met. Then, about an hour later, a young woman by the name of Trisha calls. She's very interested in the position. A friend of hers had given her a copy of the ad, and she had held on to it for a week, wondering if the job would be right for her. We ask if she can come to interview the next day.
Trisha is a breath of fresh air. Her cheery smile and upbeat personality are contagious. She's very genuine, with no fluff or cheesiness about her- just real, down-to-earth, and very caring. Her brown short curls bounce as she laughs. She is warm, friendly, and being from North Carolina, full of Southern hospitality. We bring Clay into the room to see how well they interact. She is very patient with him, and pursues him even when he seems uninterested. She flops down on the floor in her skirt and plays with him like he is her little brother. He half-smiles while still looking at the floor, and starts responding to her persistent gestures. She hasn't even left our home when Sean and I look at each other with that look of, "Yep, it's her."

From that day she was hired as an instructor for Clay. She would work with him for the next 3 years.

There are so many things involved with this program that Leeann and Sean are trying to run in their own home. Financial burdens, feelings of personal inadequacies and family balance are constant stressers. Leeann spends hours trying to stay up to date on all the latest research and treatment options. Consultations with doctors are constant. All behavioral sessions are recorded and reviewed by Leeann and Sean. Meetings with the instructors also review the progression and regression from week to week. It is overwhelmingly exhausting, but they adopt the moto, "Never Give Up," and they stick with it with 100% dedication and commitment to healing Clay. For them there seems to be no other option, Clay will get better. It's hard to believe at first, as Clay is non-communicative and tantrums most of the day. Progress is slow and steady. Milestones are reached and hope starts to creep in with each small success. As Clay starts to learn normal behavior and how to use that behavior appropriately, burdens are lifted and life seems to creep ever closer to the life the Whiffen's had before autism.

I hear music blaring from the schoolroom. The thumping of Trisha and Clay dancing above shakes the light on the ceiling. I run up to my bedroom to watch. They are dancing to the song "Funky Town." Clay yells into the fake microphone, "Wonchoo take me to funky toowwwn?" Trisha runs and takes the microphone and sings, "Won't you take me to funky town?" on cue. She shakes her hips back and forth. Her hands shimmy in the air. Clay hops up on the table. He stomps his feet to the music, and then sticks out a leg and twists it around in the air with his hands on his hips. Then he jumps down and hops around the room.

This was one of my favorite paragraphs in the book! I read it and it made me laugh as I pictured Trisha doing her famous shimmy that she makes fit into any genre of music. After I finished laughing, I just thought to myself, "That is Trisha. That is the reason that I married Trisha. That is the Trisha that I love."

It is 3 years after the treatment started that Clay goes to see a neurospecialist and get his behavior analyzed, only to find that he no longer meets the DSM-IV criteria for autism. He has improved to the point that he will no longer be labeled as autistic. His life will be different now. All of the stress, grief and pain are gone and hope shines brightly for the Whiffen family. It is shortly after Clays 5th birthday that the program is faded out. Trisha says goodbye to them, no longer needed as an instructor but the bond that she has created with Clay and Leeann and the whole Whiffen family is as strong as ever and the relationship remains to this day.

We met up with Leeann and Clay again a few months ago. He is now an 11 year old young man. We met them at a little book store in Salt Lake City at a book signing party. He loves to read. We walked into the bookstore and found him and his mom standing in line. We greet them and embrace them. It is a little chaotic for a minute, but we find ourselves alone with Clay, his mom standing a few feet away. He says to Trisha and I, "So, how you guys been?" We look at each other and giggle a little bit because of his adult natured question and then proceed to have a conversation with him. We continue on to another part of the bookstore and Clay wants to hold Sam, who is still pretty young. He sits on an antique chair, holds out his arms and says, "Serve 'im up!" We all start laughing together. Some of the affects of autism still linger in very subtle mannerisms and behaviors. However, it is very hard to believe that this same kid was once diagnosed as autistic.

Clay is a different person. Because of some of the interactions and the many hours that Trisha spent with him, he is a differnt person. She impacted his life. I could not be more proud of her! I could not be more happy for him! It is humbling for me to read about my wife in a book. It is inspiring to know that she has changed a life for the better. I am filled with faith in her abilities. I am honored to be a part of her life. Most of all, I am proud of her!

I don't think the book changed my views on the causes of autism or it's diagnosis, but it did open my mind to the more personal effects of having a child with autism. It helped me realize that it doesn't matter what I think about what does or does not cause autism. The suspected causes are so various that it is hard to prevent it and once your child has it, there is little worry about how they got it. The only thing you can do at that point is whatever you have to do to help your child reach their full potential. If that means a second mortgage or any number of other personal or family sacrifices, it is worth it in the end to do everything you can for your child.


I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for an inspiring story of faith and hope!! It was a fantastic book!

The book is available at amazon.com and more information about the Whiffen's is availablet at http://www.leeannwhiffen.com/

A Growing Family

The blue jelly bean was a good car but a growing family requires an upgrade from a 2 door mini car

To an SUV that can accomadate a few kids.

Introducing our new ride, the Nissan Pathfinder

It's been 1 week and we still love it. We bought it in Salt Lake and Trisha drove it home as I followed behind her in my car. I couldn't keep up with her going up the mountain passes at 90 mph. She kept calling me saying, "I love this car, it's so powerful!"

November Project

Trisha left town for most of the month of November to visit her family. And it just so happens that I can get a lot done while the wife and kid are gone so I set out to accomplish something that has been on my list for a long time. I really wanted some storage space in our house and I really wanted shelves in my garage. I figured I would do both. It started with many hours of planning out what I wanted to do. I know that many people can just do this without really thinking about it or drawing anything up. However, I am the kind of person that needs to draw it up with every detail or I won't be able to do it. I have about 10 pages of notes on the project.

Next, I had to compile a list of what I needed to get. I soon realized that all of the supplies would not fit in my car, I had to enlist the help of my neighbor and his truck. His whole family accompanied me to the local Lowe's and helped me get a lot of lumber and some random other things. I would also make another half dozen trips back to the store, so maybe my initial planning wasn't even worth it. My plan also changed a few times over the weeks that I worked on it but now it is done and I think it turned out really well.

Before picture. Dirty garage full of cardboard boxes from when we moved to Vernal over 2 years ago.

The first little project was a shoe storage bench. It took me about 3 hours to build this, mostly because I have never done anything like this before and it took me a minute to get the hang of what I was doing.

I continued on with the next small project which was building a workbench/craft table that could roll away from the wall so that it is multifunctional. My original plan was to build it with 2 shelves near the bottom and then have a space to put 2 drawers at the top. However when I built it and realized that it was up to my chest already, without the wheels on it, I realized that I need to modify my plans. I ended up cutting the top drawer part off and just leaving it with the 2 shelves instead. I put a solid wood top on it and attached the wheels for mobility.

This is a picture of it before I cut the top off.

The next part was a food storage cupboard. It was more complicated because I wanted it to be 8 feet tall and have 7 shelves. I started off cutting the posts and then assembling the 2 sides seperately. After both sides were done I stood them up and started building the front/back crossbars and putting the shelves together. After everything was done, I encased 5 shelves with plywood and will eventually put a door on it.

Next, I built my last coponent. A four shelf unit (3ftx8ftx5ft).

Then I placed it all up against the wall according to my plans. I don't like it at all. So I decide maybe it will look better if it is arranged differently...

Arranged differently, and I still don't really like it.

So I went back to the drawing board and figured out my options. I decided to add another full size shelf unit against that wall and move the craft bench to a different corner of the garage where it would fit better. That means another trip for more lumber and a few more hours of work.

For this other full size shelf unit, I decided to make it 5 shelves and build it the same length as the craft bench.

That looks much better! Just had to mount it all to the wall and then I moved on to the workbench. I wanted to build shelves around it and also have some peg board to hang things on. So I wrapped it around the corner to give us more shelf space and make it look a little better.

And then it was time to take all of our crap from various parts of our house and garage and start filling up the space.

THE FINAL RESULT:

I am really proud of myself for building these all on my own and it makes me want to build lots of other things because I enjoyed it so much. I am also happy to have some storage space.

Specs on the project:

Hours:

Planning- 8 hours

Building- 52 hours

Organizing/Cleaning- 2 hours

Lumber:

56- 1x4x8

18- 1x4x10

35- 2x4x8

17- 2x4x10

2- peg boards

3- plywood

2- 2x10x8

Tools:

1 miter saw

1 table saw

1 new drill

4 driver bits

2 drill bits

Coloring Contest

I decided that my work needed to do something for halloween that involved the community. So I set out to do a coloring contest for all kids ages 0-12. I didn't realize what a project it would become but it was really fun by the end. I got 1500 coloring pages and handed them out to the two elementary schools in town. I printed an additional 300 copies and we started giving those out to customers when they came in for prescriptions. The kids had 4 weeks to hand in their entries and they started trickling in the day after we started giving them out. By the end we were running out of room to display them. We ended up with just over 200 entries which is about what I anticipated.

Employees from the store judged them and we had 10 winners. 3 grand prize winners from 3 age categories and then winners for things like 1st entry, most creative, most halloween themed, etc... All of them got some pretty cool prizes/toys (purchased from Oriental Trading) and lots of candy.

The kids were so excited when they came in to get their prizes!! It was like seeing little kids at Christmas. The whole thing turned out to be a huge success and it made work a little less mundane for a few weeks.

Halloween Party

I don't know what happened to the last month but I have to post a picture of our halloween costumes, cause they were sweet!

Mary Poppins, Bert and Bert Jr. with his chimney sweep (a toilet brush spray painted black).