july blessings

I've been blog-neglectful during July... I hope this abbreviated recap will do justice because it was absolutely an important month.

For starters, the NFXF held their 16th International FX Conference! This one was in Cincinnati as it was hosted by the NFXF Tri-State Chapter of Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. They had an awesome superhero theme! This is me and Paula with Superman: 

She is a dear friend and has been both a blessing and a mentor to me. While we will greatly miss her leadership here in NJ as she has just recently moved one state over, we are all very lucky (& relieved) that she is continuing her other roles within the NFXF-- not only as Northeast Regional Leader, but also as an NFXF Board Member. As I said at our June MNO she is just moving over, not moving on. Thank goodness! 

At the last night of conference, during the Saturday Banquet Dinner and Auction, the fx community also had the pleasure of honoring Sarah "Mouse" Scharfenaker, MA, CCC-SLP who is one of the co-Founders of Developmental FX in Colorado. For many decades, also alongside Tracy Murnan Stackhouse, MA, OTR/L, she has helped countless families within the worldwide fx community. In simple terms they are speech and occupational therapists, respectively. But in more accurate terms they are fragile x experts who have presented at more conferences than probably anyone could guesstimate. So ahead of Mouse's upcoming retirement this was an unforgettable moment for the fragile x community to bestow even a fraction of our gratitude for her commitment and contribution. As an added surprise which only a few of us knew ahead of time, the also-famous Mrs. Rogers from Colorado flew in just for the Saturday event! Cindi is a dear friend to many of us and although she won't like me saying so, she is like a young matriarch to the fragile x community. It was such a special treat to see her, albeit entirely too short! If you ever want to follow along on her family's journey you can visit them here.

I also had a chance to visit our poster that I get to see once every two years. It's always cool having my family with me while I'm at conference. Surreal how big Hayden is now, and that Dan would never be able to hold him like that anymore! Our Fragile X World is a research community and online registry of families affected by fragile x. Years ago when they were first launching (I think) they had reached out to the fx community for photo submissions and long story short we got lucky. 

On another personal side note, a NJ family in our fx community suffered quite a scare almost immediately following conference. I believe it was the day after they returned home when my friend Kristin had an accident (not motor vehicle related). She was in the ICU for a number of weeks. She slowly but steadily regained strength and finally just today was transferred to a rehab facility. She is a loving wife and mom of two incredible teenagers, including one with fragile x. I know I speak on behalf of the entire fx community when I say we all continue to pray for her and root her on! She is persevering like a warrior and is truly one of the most kindhearted people I know. This photograph was taken just a few Saturdays ago while we were at the Conference. I am in disbelief how much has happened since then but I know she is going to continue to pull through like a champ! 

In more fragile x news, Hayden, Dan and I also had our annual FX Awareness Walk on July 22nd! It was raining up until minutes before our walk started-- still-- we were joined by two dozen people (and the group would have been even more if not for a few families who couldn't make it)! As many of you read in my facebook post that day, when Hayden was in elementary school we had our first walk with just six people-- the three of us and three friends. We wore green and walked two miles around the lake. Eventually the walk grew to maybe 10-12 people so we moved it to a nearby state park. We've always been joined by local community members who do not even have a familial connection to fragile x, but they are there to support an incredible community and an incredible kid who really gets inside your heart. This year's walk was further special because one of our favorite formerly-local families visiting from Florida was able to join us... aaand.... this year we had participation from other fragile x families as well! On the same day at the same time NJ also had an awareness walk down the shore with several more families in the fragile x community. That one is primarily attended by fx families each year and it was so wonderful to know the torch has been passed even with Paula having moved on. Thank you Navneeta for putting that together!

I just want to reiterate if the National Fragile X Foundation had never established National Fragile X Awareness Day it's unlikely these walks would have ever started. Year-round there is a lot we do that would likely have never been if not for the NFXF. 

 On that note as I write this we (as a family) are beyond honored and humbled to share that Hayden's 2018 support page has far surpassed the original goal by more than TRIPLE! What started as a modest Bar Mitzvah project has turned into something that completely exceeded our expectations.

Pretty symbolic of Hayden, too, if you think about it.

The above picture is a practice photo from two lessons ago. Even though last week's lesson with the Rabbi did not go so well, I am overall in complete awe of Hayden's progress. I am hoping for the best, and the best would be that he is just as proud of himself! He is always able to recognize and appreciate his own accomplishments and that is one of my favorite parts of being his mom.

---
to be continued...