Team Me: Guiding paws from Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation and Newman's Own

This week has been awesome. Some of you may have helped me with my application to Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation just a few weeks ago. Well good news, Jesse and I just got back from Conneticut where we were able to go out and see how Fidelco works. We arrived late Monday night and Tuesday went right to work. The morning started off with introductions to some of the staff and the three dogs they wanted me to try out. We went out on the town and I was able to take all three of the dogs out and walk around a few blocks. I cannot even describe the feeling of walking with a dog as a guide. It is amazing. I have not walked at a normal pace like that in so long. I am sure that it really wasn't very fast but to me it felt like it was almost running.

As many of you know the road to receiving a guide dog can be a very long one. I do not know how these great things keep happening to us but we have flown through the process with Fidelco.The company does home training which is by no means the norm when it comes to guide dogs. Most companies will fly the client out to where they are located, train the person and then send them and the dog home. Fidelco actually sends someone out to the clients home and does the training where the guide dog will actually be used. The thing that really set this apart was the opportunity we had to head out to Fidelco and try out some dogs and see how everything works at a place like this. I must say, these people have one of the coolest jobs out there. We met so many dogs, including some six week old puppies and hang out with the staff. I have not been around a group of people that are all so happy. They are always having a great time and they all love their jobs and it shows.

Later in the week we had a little obstacle course set up for me and the dogs to try out. We had heard that there was a possibility that a news crew would be there to film and talk a little about the dogs. Next thing we all knew there were camera men and reporters all over the place. There ended up being four different stations there to cover what was going on. We did interviews, shook hands and Eric and I even played a song for everyone on the guitar. It was such a great week.

Newman's Own has made contributions to Fidelco and made it possible for me to receive one of these guide dogs. I had no idea that the Newman's Own has donated over 300 million dollars to charities and non profit organizations all over the country. Because of the generosity of this foundation as well as Fidelco I will soon be the owner of an amazing German Shepherd. I can hardly put into words how exciting this all is for me and my family. We are now awaiting a phone call from Fidelco in the next few weeks to tell us when they will be here to train me and bring out one of their guide dogs. We can hardly wait. I tried to talk them into letting us take all three of the dogs we tried out home with us. I promised that I would work all three every day. I don't think that is possible unfortunately lol.

I want to thank Newman's Own for their contributions and I especially want to thank Fidelco for everything they have done and will continue to do for us. We are truly blessed.

As far as other things going on...

We got home yesterday and already I am packed for the flight to head to California tomorrow. The surgery will be happening on Monday and everything is all set to go. Jesse is staying home with Kae so my mom and I will be reuniting again to head back to Palo Alto. This is one of two surgeries I still need to fix my face hopefully.I am sure certain people out there are right now rolling their eyes thinking "No ammount of surgery can fix that" but rest assured, they say when I come out I will look just like Brad Pitt....just shorter. Well folks thank you all for reading and I hope you all have a very happy holiday season. Thank you again Fidelco! God bless.