We met a hero this weekend

I know I havent blogged in a while but things have been so crazy here with the end of school approaching and Teresa graduating !

I do want to share something exciting that happened over memorial day weekend. We had the wonderful opportunity to meet and talk with Craig Blackburn. If you have never heard about Craig, he graduated from regular classes from a school in Louisiana, he holds a job and the grocery school, he is a member fo the knights of Columbus, he helps run a program called best buddies which matches special needs students with typical peers, he is a Motivational Speaker who travels around the world speaking, and he is engaged to his girl friend, Heather. And if all those things are not impressive enough- Craig has Down Syndrome. Take in mind, that I am a GODA- Grandchild of deaf adults- am are aware of some of the limitations of special needs. But I have never met an adult with special needs to the extent of someone with Down Syndrome. I was very impressed with everything that Craig has accomplished. He had just come back from a speaking engagement in Qutar and has been asked to speak in England, Iceland, and Bangladesh. To say he is limited is a misinterpretation- he has done more and traveled farther then most people I know who don’t have “limitations”. Craig had also travel to Las Vegas with his step dad, who was there for work. Craig traveled the strip and even took public transportation. On his own while his step dad was working. Something I don’t even know if I would be willing to venture. My girls all sat and listen to Craig and his mom talk. Caitlin said she felt really good after meeting him- she is so soft hearted you could tell it touched her. And then I spoke with Teresa about everything Craig has on his resume and what could she say. I know that Craigs presentation “We Can” talks about special needs, his new power point is “Don’t Judge a book by it’s cover” . But after spending time with Craig - it gives you a new perspective on your own life. “If he can do it, I certainly can” Not only does Craig show you what people with special needs are capable of, but it motivates anyone without special needs and limitations to apply themselves. Craig is going to be back in town hopefully this summer, where we can actually watch him gives his speech- I can not wait !

We gave Craig Robert’s police baseball cards and Caitlin included a sticker- you could see Craig get lite up over the police sticker ! Boys will be boys ! Any of us who are married can tell you that our husbands are little boys at heart so.... We got the keys to the police car ... yes you know where I am going.... Daddy was upstairs asleep (of course Daddy wouldnt mind)..... We let Craig sit in the police car and Teresa showed him what everything was- but we didnt turn on the lights cause we didnt want to accidentally turn on the siren (didnt think Daddy would like to be woken by his police car going off) And we took his picture in the police car ! LOL Hopefully we were able to give Craig a little “feel good”in return for the one he gave us.