Happy Birthday, Damian Jr.

Damian Jr absolutely loves singing. When hearing him sing the words of this song, we are so encouraged. These words speak to his life - all 2,920 days.  

Happy Birthday, Damian Jr! We praise God for your life! 

"Beautiful Things"

All this pain

I wonder if I’ll ever find my way

I wonder if my life could really change at all

All this earth

Could all that is lost ever be found

Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

All around

Hope is springing up from this old ground

Out of chaos life is being found in You

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

You make me new, You are making me new

You make me new, You are making me new

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of the dust

You make beautiful things

You make beautiful things out of us

By Gungor 

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Dad, 


You love me so much. 
You tickle me. 
You kiss me. 
You help me. 
You make me laugh. 
You take me everywhere.
You pray for me. 
You protect me. 
You believe in me. 


I love you!
Happy Birthday!
Damian Jr.

I Love My Daddy and My Daddy Loves Me!

"I love my daddy, and my daddy loves me!" is a favorite song around the Boyd Home!!!

Today is Father's Day, and we are so grateful to have Damian Boyd, Sr. in our lives.

Check out only 10 of the Thousands of reasons that Damian Boyd, Sr. is so loved! 

1. Celebrating our child's uniqueness and refusing to allow anyone to limit him
2. Wild wrestling, laughing, and tickling Damian every day possible 
3. Helping our road warrior learn how to ride his bike
4. Enduring all of the doctor appointments, program visits, school planning, and paperwork meetings
5. Knowing when to be strict & flexible
6. Teaching our son that he can use the toilet
7. Being therapy dad, running our busy child "around the world"
8. For the countless kisses each day to remind him that he is so loved
9. Playing the drums with passion and power so that Damian could dance without restraint 
10. Praying to God constantly to keep, teach, encourage, empower, and heal our son

Damian Sr continues to be an amazing man of God who loves his son deeply. 

Happy Father's Day to the best dad on the planet! We love you!!!!!!!

ANOTHER AMAZING VICTORY

ANOTHER AMAZING VICTORY

Last week, Damian Jr. experienced a major victory in his educational journey. During a planning meeting at his school, we along with his multidisciplinary team decided that Damian was ready for a full day in a 3rd grade general education class with a paraprofessional supporting and adapting exercises for him, starting in the fall. The pilot inclusion program sponsored by the GA Dept. of Education in 2010 has proven incredibly beneficial for Damian and all involved. Here are a few comments on his amazing progress in 2nd grade where he spends 3-4 hours a day in a general education class:


“Damian is a joy-filled 7 year old boy who loves to learn and enjoys going to school. He currently attends a 2nd grade classroom for three segments per day and thoroughly enjoys being included in the classroom. His strengths are vocal imitation and music. He has recently been exposed to more academic content in the general education classroom. He is able to access the general curriculum using modifications in the assignments. Damian is highly motivated by music which is evident in all environments. The classroom staff tries to use music as much as possible for a reinforcer and for support for learning. Damian's strengths also are in rhythm. This is displayed during calendar time with counting, as well as spelling words in the general education classroom. Damian uses his hands, eye gaze and switches to make choices in the classroom. He uses adaptive equipment to access different parts of the classroom (wheelchair, prone stander and rifton chair). He practices going from sit to stand and does stretches on a mat on the floor to help his range of motion. He uses his parent-supplied communication device as well as other single/multi switch devices to make choices in the self-contained and general education classroom. We have seen a dramatic increase of his imitation and vocalizations in both environments (General and Special Education). Damian has exceeded expectations in the general education environment. No doubt he will continue to do so next year”.

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

As we face a new year, I am reminded of the many blessings of the past year.

Here are some highlights from 2011...

• A new adaptive red bike presented by Kaiser Foundation & KSU Women’s Softball
• Award winning artwork by Damian Jr – won 1st place in division at school and district levels and 3rd in state
• An incredible deal with local dealership to trade in a family donated jeep for a much needed minivan for “pennies”
• A grant for wheelchair lift for the van from Kiddos Clubhouse
• A grant for an expensive outdoor ramp to give Damian access to the home in a safe way from Fragile Kids Foundation
• A major donation to cover costs neurologic music therapy sessions
• Quick recoveries after hospital stays due to seizures in March & November
• A diaper grant which saves us $70+ a month in supplies
• An opportunity to be featured at a national conference in December for his educational progress
• Treading water for the first time in aquatic therapy
• His amazing progress at school
• His ability to keep us all laughing & smiling

Thanks to all who are apart of Damian Jr's life. We appreciate all of the prayers, love, hard work and support from his family, friends, church members, neighbors, therapists, doctors, caregivers, teachers, school leaders, respite providers, camp leaders, pharmacists, etc. May he continue to be an inspiration to many!

Finding His Voice

FINDING HIS VOICE



God continues to do amazing things in Damian Jr's life. Ever since he was selected by the State of GA's Department of Education to participate in a pilot inclusion program, we have seen tremendous advances. Last year, when Damian was in 1st grade, he had the opportunity to be one of 2 students in the entire state to test out an idea of placing a child with significant special needs in a mainstream class of their peers for a portion of the day. We went through a strengths-based process that highlights who Damian is and how to best cultivate those strengths in a positive environment. So he spent 2-3 hours in english and math classes as well as lunch, art and music each week. The experienced has proven that it is so important to give our children a opportunity to learn and grow in new and creative ways! And for our son, he has had an opportunity to FIND HIS VOICE!

Check out a video that highlights his success and is now used to encourage other teachers, schools, and districts to adopt the program.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o__NMJuILM&feature=share

He is in year 2 and continues to advances in significant ways that point to the Damian Jr's love of learning, his teachers/administrators' commitment to excellence, and God's power to amaze all!

ENJOY!

Happy Birthday, Damian Jr!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAMIAN JR!

Today marks a tremendous milestone in Damian's life. He is SEVEN YEARS OLD!

We are so grateful for our little warrior! He has taught us to embrace life in a deeper, richer way and to love God with everything!

We pray for God's Best for his life and that many will believe in God & His miraculous power, grace and love.

We are reminded of the words Damian Jr says often, "God loves you. God loves me. God is good!"

Full of hope!