March 2014

Peekaboo March 2014

Clothing by:

Northwest Arkansas’ Family Magazine

the PEEKABOO family Kimberly Enderle

Editor-in-Chief editor@peekaboonwa.com (479) 957-0532

Ava. Grant. and Holden.

Jonathon Enderle

Creative Director jon@peekaboonwa.com (479) 586-3890

/

Distribution/ Circulation Joyce Whitaker Judy Evans Marcedalia Salinas Colleen Cook Jeremy Whitaker Michelle Dodson

Peekaboo Publications, PO Box 1036, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712 Peekaboo Northwest Arkansas accepts writing contributions.

Please send inquiries to: editor@peekaboonwa.com or call (479) 586-3890 Peekaboo may not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher.

Views expressed herein are those of the authors and advertisers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the magazine.

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peekaboo nwa March 2014

What’s Inside 14

|Meet Taylor

46

| Pinapple Tree Dance

20

| Beautiful

50

|Pigtails & Crewcuts

by: Crystal Brasiola

Bella...Flies by: Janelle Paquette

26

| Dad’s View

32

| What Is

with Ben Lacy

Montessori? by: Amy Davis

34

| Soldiering On

Through Adversity by: Greg Russell

36

|

Meet Zach by: Renee Philpot

44

|

Company

Takes Kids’ Special Needs Seriously 68 Meet

by: Laura Coleman AnnaBella

by: Ashley Cordova 52 A New Season for Bentonville 72 Snack Packs for

Christian Academy Kids

by: Dallas Henderson

by: Mary Mann

54 I Do It Too!

by: Stefanie Lawson

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56 66

Living With a Smile by: Mary Oaks

|Meet the March of Dimes Ambassador Family

|A Pediatrician &

Bereaved Mother by: Dr. Susan Averitt

On the Cover

Grant Kinderknecht, age 4, son of Shawn and LeCrisia Kinderknecht from Bella Vista. Marisa Sutton, age 4, daughter of Leslee Sutton from Bentonville. Collin Strain, age 4, son of Trenton and Jennifer Strain from Bentonville.

Models are all students at the Bentonville Christian Academy.

Cover Kids are dressed in shirts from stella blu.

Boys jeans by Kanz and Marisa’s jeans from 7 For All Mankind. Shoes from Toms Spring Collection.

Clothing from 3 Monkeys Children Boutique in Cover photo and 3 Monkeys ad photos by Sweet Portrayal Photography www.sweetportrayal.com

T

he old saying that “You don’t really miss something until it’s gone” has never been more evident than in this past few months. The thing everyone has been missing? Warmer weather!

Between schools being closed--A LOT--the last couple months, to roads too slick to venture out on, and temperatures being far too cold and windy to go outside for more than a quick run to the mailbox, saying we have all miss spring time is an incredible understatement. Just take a look at a random friend’s Facebook page and you will see post after post about wishing for warmer weather, and, even though I am right there with everyone, I have a feeling that once the “real” warm weather hits in June and July, those same Facebook feeds will be missing a little of this cold that we have been experiencing.

Just like the seasons, the stages of childhood come and go so quickly. In the blink of an eye a baby becomes a toddler, a toddler becomes a Kindergartner, then a high school graduate, and then off to college. Even though some days seem like they go on forever, we as parents have such a small amount of time to teach our children the lessons we want them to learn, instill in them the values we want to pass to them, garner the passion for helping others, and to inspire them to always do their best and be their best.

Last month I got to see this passion in my own little girl. For the past 7 and a half years Ava has been growing her hair out and only had 2 or 3 trims. But, a few weeks ago she decided that she wanted to cut her long locks and donate her hair to a child who has cancer. She said that another little girl “needed it more than she did.” Jonathon and I

12 March 2014

felt so proud of her giving heart and her courage to make a big change.

She didn’t flinch or question her decision when she was in the chair, and spent the entire 30 minutes talking to the stylists about her teacher from kindergarten, Casey Wolfe. Casey had won her battle against cancer, and Ava loved her so much that she wanted to do something to help someone like the teacher she admired.

It is to the spirit of giving that this issue is dedicated. March is our annual non-profit issue, which we celebrate by spotlighting area non-profits and offering those who have benefited from their generosity to share their stories. It is our hope that readers will be moved to contribute, either financially or through volunteering, to these causes or another cause that is close to his or her heart.

M E E TAYLOR by: Crystal Brasiola

W

illiam “Taylor” Hughes was born on January 21, 2005 via caesarian section, a full-term baby without any pregnancy complications.

He was a healthy, 21 inches long, 8 pounds and 10 ounces perfect baby boy. However, he failed three infant hearing screens while in the hospital. The doctor reassured us that he was very active, which made it hard for the ABR to get an accurate read of his ear canal, so he was probably fine. We were discharged from the hospital on January 24, 2005. No instructions regarding further hearing tests for Taylor were given.

Taylor developed normally, but when he was one he began to frequently get in trouble at daycare because “he didn’t listen” and because “he was loud.” As a mother, I chalked it up to him being a boy, him being the second child, and him being part Italian, as a stubborn nature just comes with the Italian territory.

By age three, Taylor was very verbal, but it was difficult for others to understand him unless they frequently interacted with him. Out of concern for speech delays, Taylor began speech therapy at three years old, with little progress. The real alarm came when he was helping his grandmother clean out a rabbit cage. Taylor had crawled into the rabbit cage while his grandmother was sitting beside him. She was talking to him as he was cleaning the inside of the cage, but he did not offer any responses to her questions. His grandmother recorded this on her video camera and showed me, stating, “I don’t think Taylor is hearing correctly.”

This was terrifying to me.

14 March 2014

Although I knew it wasn’t normal that we had to constantly talk so loud to him in order to get him to respond, or that his speech was very irregular and not progressing as it should, I still somehow thought he was just a typical rough-and-tumble boy that would grow out of the “boy phase” as he grew older and gained maturity. Out of concern, I scheduled an appointment with a local audiologist for a hearing test. The audiogram came back normal, but the issues continued. When Taylor was 4, I scheduled an appointment with a different audiologist to get a second opinion. The testing was more intense and Taylor failed the hearing screen. Although hearing loss is not life-threatening, it is nonetheless frightening. As a mother, you possess this innate feeling that you have to have all the right answers needed to “fix” your child-to make them better when something isn’t right. When Taylor was diagnosed with Bi-Lateral Sensorioneural Mild Sloping to Moderate Progressive hearing loss, it wasn’t something I could give medicine for and hope that he would wake up the next day feeling better. It was a life-changing diagnosis, not only for him but for the whole family and everyone that would ever come into contact with him. As Taylor’s mom, I was scared. I wanted to just fix his hearing so he could be “normal,” but I couldn’t. I had to rely on the knowledge and direction of the audiologist, and pray... a lot!

The audiologist’s instructions were to fit Taylor for hearing aids that would give him access to the sounds that he was missing. He began wearing hearing aids in the fall of 2009. Taylor continued intense private speech therapy with Rachel Glade, SLP, and school based speech therapy with Laura Baxter, SLP. We also

began seeing Dr. Julia Webb, AuD, at the Arkansas Children’s Hospital for audiology. His hearing leveled out, and he began making slow but positive progress with speech and language skills that he once lacked.

Even while he was making such excellent progress, the years without therapy or a correct diagnosis meant that he was very behind and had a great deal of catching up to do. The year following the initial diagnosis of “Bi-lateral Sensorioneural Mild Sloping to Moderate Progressive Hearing Loss,” Taylor graduated pre-kindergarten and entered kindergarten, but he continued to lag behind normal grade appropriate standards. His audiogram from fall 2010, taken as he was entering kindergarten, yielded normal hearing results, but in March 2011, during a routine 6-month hearing check up, we learned that his hearing had worsened to “Bilateral Sensorioneural Severe sloping to Profound Progressive Hearing Loss.” This meant that Taylor no longer received adequate sound from hearing aids in order to hear what was going on around him. In other words, he was now severely hard of hearing to partially profoundly deaf. He could hear “something” if it was loud enough to register as sound to his inner ear, but he couldn’t understand what he was hearing. He was a master with lip-reading due to his inadequate sense of sound.

As I sat with Taylor’s audiologist that day, discussing

his hearing loss and all that came with it, I asked how we could make the cochlea hairs grow so he could hear like every other “normal 6-year-old boy.“ The cold, hard truth was that there wasn’t any possible way to make the cochlea hairs grow back so that Taylor could hear. There was, however, an alternative way for Taylor to regain hearing via cochlear implants... with an invasive surgery. I wanted Taylor to tell me that he wanted the cochlear implants and that he would be okay with the bilateral cochlear implant surgeries, but he didn’t know that he couldn’t hear so he couldn’t tell me that.

As I spent countless long nights and weeks researching hearing loss and cochlear implants, reading positive and negative testimonies, watching implant surgeries on YouTube, praying and seeking advice from professionals, I began reaching out to people in the area who had cochlear implants. The first girl we met was Sarah Burrell. She was from our hometown and agreed to meet us for a lunch date. Though Taylor was extremely quiet, almost star-struck by Sarah, she won my heart that day because she was an open book about growing up as a deaf child, and talked freely about how life had changed since she received her cochlear implant. She helped me to understand that

[ story continued next page ]

AYLOR T

my hope for Taylor to have normal hearing--to “be normal”--was only a meaningless label, fabricated by society and placed on people who are simply different.

Taylor didn’t have to fit that definition--he was merely deaf, and totally normal! After meeting Sarah, we had an opportunity to meet another bilateral cochlear implant recipient named Dalton. He was an active 13-year-old boy who loved to play soccer. He shared his story of growing up as a deaf boy, and how his cochlear implants had helped him to hear others, and open up all kinds of opportunities for communication and frienship. These two young teenagers gave me such hope for Taylor! They were both excelling in life at such young ages, playing sports, singing in choirs, active in youth groups, making honor roll grades, and thriving in all areas of life. All of these attributes were things that I wanted so much for Taylor. One month before my grandfather passed away, he told me that, as Taylor’s mother, I needed to do whatever I could to ensure that Taylor had every opportunity to excel in life. He never told me to follow through with the cochlear implant surgeries or to allow Taylor to remain deaf and rely solely on sign language--he just told me that I had to do what I believed was best for Taylor. Following our two meetings with deaf/cochlear implant recipient kids and the conversation with my grandfather, we scheduled Taylor’s first surgery. After both aided and unaided audiogram testing, surgeon consultations, and perfect CT & MRI Scans, Taylor received his first cochlear implant on July 21, 2011.

The surgery lasted two and a half hours, and those were quite possibly the longest two and a half hours of my life. In spite of that, as the nurse wheeled my son away into the operating room, I felt such peace, as though there were a ‘fourth man in the fire’ there with Taylor.

Once the surgery was finished, Dr. Dornhoffer, M.D., came to the waiting room and told us that the surgery couldn’t have gone any better! Everything was working properly and we were able to go back and see him.

After we were discharged from the hospital later that day, Taylor slept for the next 24 hours. We returned to the hospital three weeks later for activation of the

first cochlear implant. Everything was loud for Taylor, and he had a lot sound recognition to learn. He finally heard the sound of whispers and crickets chirping, water running and coffee brewing, dogs barking, leaves rustling, soda fountain machines dispensing, the ice cream truck music, fire engines and police sirens screaming, and so many other noises that he had never heard before. After the initial activation, we traveled to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock for five weeks in order to get cochlear implant mappings. These would ensure that he had the proper setting that would maximize his hearing. Taylor progressed in school and began to speak more clearly.

On November 16, 2011, Taylor received his second cochlear implant and we relived that same process as the first implant.

Since both CI surgeries in 2011, Taylor has significantly improved in school. He is absolutely thriving at grade appropriate state standards, he reads on his grade level, and his favorite subjects are math and science.

Taylor has been dismissed from all speech therapies.

He is a very active 9-year-old boy that enjoys playing basketball and loves to catch for his baseball team.

Throughout this whole journey, I’ve clung to Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you...” At times--and there were many--I would ask God, “Why Taylor? Why us? Why can’t Taylor just be normal?”

The truth has and always will be that Taylor is normal!

Taylor is deaf, but he can hear because of the amazing technology that we have available now! The most amazing thing about Taylor’s whole story is that he doesn’t see himself as different. He never says “I can’t.”

He never gives up, nor does he seek special attention because of his disability. Taylor has such a big heart. He is so happy, and always looks for ways to help others.

Taylor is a rough-and-tumble go-getter that brings a smile to every face he meets. He is truly resilient and I believe that that is why God chose Taylor.

It is through the work of Arkansas Children’s Hospital and its fundraising efforts that patients like Taylor receive the care, love and hope they need every day.

Here in Northwest Arkansas, Circle of Friends works to promote that “Care, Love and Hope” through fundraising, education and awareness of the hospital and how it helps children and their families every day.

Circle of Friends will be hosting its annual fundraiser, “Nite at the Races,” on May 3, 2014 at the Janelle Y. Hembree Alumni House on the University of Arkansas campus. This is a fun-filled event centered around the Kentucky Derby. Tickets are $25.00, or $250.00 for a table of ten, and all proceeds go to Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

For more information about the event, or to join Circle of Friends, please contact Mary Lewallen at 479-725-0405 or lewallenma@archildrens.org Won’t you help us continue to spread “Care, Love and Hope?”

by: Janelle Paquette

I

t has been almost two and half years since my whole world fell apart. It has been almost two and a half years since I prayed that I wouldn’t wake up when I went to bed. It has been almost two and a half years since I held my little girl, played with her beautiful curly hair, and sent her off to heaven with a crown of flowers and Blake Shelton’s song “Honey Bee” playing in the background.

My beautiful Bella. My best girl. On September 17, 2011, I was pretty sure my life was going to end. I wanted it to. Seven days before, on September 11th, my daughter had pediatric strokes and seizures. The day before that, she was fine. She was healthy, and playing with her cousins. At 2:15AM on September 11th, however, I woke up to Bella moaning. She asked me to simply “pick me up and walk.” I knew that she wasn’t feeling well when she asked me that. Not even five minutes later, she started vomiting. She actually got some on me, and, with her sweet Bella nature, she tried to clean me up, apologizing. “Everybody throws

20 March 2014

Beautiful Bella... flies

up, it’s okay,” I told her, attempting to comfort her.

Like any other parent would do, we let her sleep it off. We thought it was a stomach bug, and that that was the best thing to do. We gave her Tylenol, and the typical regimen of crackers, water, and Gatorade. For the next 8 hours she would fall asleep, wake up, fall asleep and wake back up. We were out of town visiting my sister, and we were supposed to go home that day.

We didn’t. We tried to wake her up like we had been doing to check on her and give her something to eat.

This time she wouldn’t fully wake up. It was then that I knew something was wrong and called the Redi Clinic thinking that she needed an IV because of her vomiting. Right about the time I got off the phone with them, Calvin came out carrying Bella, saying that she needed to go to the ER. The three of us loaded into the car and I drove as fast as I could. My husband is former Air Force Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), and is able to stay calm in stressful situations. His life and others depended on it. When we got in the car and he not so calmly told me to, “GO!” I knew that

it was far worse that I had thought. Something you have to understand is that Bella was an exceptionally intelligent child. She was only 3, but was far beyond that of a typical 3-year-old, mentally. Calvin would ask her questions to keep her awake, and she would answer correctly, in a whisper. She would tell Calvin, “Daddy, I don’t feel good.” That’s important because I have thought and thought about what we did wrong, and I know in my heart if Bella knew it was her head she would have said, “My head hurts,” or something along those lines. She felt so bad that she couldn’t pinpoint it. As a mother, that is agonizing to live with...

The thought that she felt so bad she didn’t know what hurt. It makes it hard to breathe.

We got to the regional ER and were blown off. We were forced to wait with our limp daughter in our arms. She had a 102 degree fever and could barely stand when she was assessed, but we were still forced to go back to the waiting area. I say forced because I was not the picture of calm. I was upset, and extremely frustrated with the lack of care she was getting. My mommy instincts were on fire. We debated going to Arkansas Children’s Hospital (ACH), but we were not sure if she would make it there. Plus, we didn’t know exactly where it was. We were finally called back and she was given sugars because hers were low. Not too long after that she had her first seizure. I was in the restroom, and came back in and my husband told me to go get a doctor. I did and they didn’t believe us.

As I said, my husband is former CSAR, and we are both educated adults. We know what a seizure looks like. She was able to talk after her first one telling me that she “had to go potty.” You have no idea how many times I have wished that that seizure had been the only one that happened. I crawled into bed with her because she was scared, and, honestly, I was too.

Right before her second seizure happened, she said, “Mommy!” Not a typical “Mommy,” but a “Mommy, help me, I’m scared, Mommy.” That was the last word she ever said. She had a tonic-clonic seizure while I was holding her, and then she went limp. My mom told me later that she saw her pupils blow during her last seizure. I crawled out of the bed, and I wanted to scream. I’ve NEVER been so terrified in my life. It took a while for the ER pediatrician to finally come in. They ran a CT scan and the report said she had no swelling and was neurologically fine. It was 100% wrong. Even the pediatrician noted in his records that it did not look fine. I thank God for him trusting his gut and calling ACH. They put her on a ventilator to transfer her, and I was able to ride with her in the ambulance. I had to sit up front because I was pregnant. I remember talking super loud so Bella could hear me. I wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone and Mommy was here. It was the longest ride of my life. My husband, mom, and brother-in-law followed us in our car.

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lost her during the procedure.That night I didn’t sleep.

The staff at ACH Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) is nothing short of amazing. That night, her nurses, Chris and Logan, worked harder than anyone I have ever seen. They sat down maybe twice. Between all of the alarms going off and different beeping from different machines, they worked tirelessly to get her through the night. My daughter is a fighter. She is one of the two strongest people I have ever known, both in character and strength. The other one is my son. I was in my first trimester during it all and we were not sure if he would survive because of all of my stress. We will celebrate his 2nd birthday on March 12th of this year.

When we got to ACH it took us a few hours to see her.

They read the same CT scan she had at the regional hospital and noticed significant, all over brain swelling and strokes. They immediately wanted to do a brain bolt (to drain out excess fluid), and a central line. I asked the neurosurgeon if it were his daughter would he do it. He replied, “Yes,” and so did we. We almost

That week was filled with ups and downs. Feelings of happiness because of improvement turned to bone chilling fear because her brain swelling would not go down, her blood pressure was too high or low, or her heart wasn’t functioning properly. I cannot say enough kind words about the staff. Every procedure she had, whether it was a scan or a surgery, someone would give her 3 squeezes. In our family, that means “I love you.” It was important to us that she knew that.

Someone who loved her was with her 24/7. She was never alone. My family rotated on shifts after I was kindly forced out of the room to sleep and eat. After days of not improving like the head neurosurgeon, Dr. Grabb, would have liked we decided to do one last procedure to try and save her. It was our Hail Mary, and we needed this one to work. I remember it being around 2:00AM when she went into surgery. I was so exhausted that I had passed out on the floor at some point waiting. When the phone rang, I jumped over chairs and managed to beat everyone to the phone to hear that they had started and she was okay. They did a procedure called a decompressive craniecotomy, wherein they removed a section of her skull to allow the brain to swell in hopes of preventing further damage. It didn’t work. Her brain kept swelling, and no one knew why. Every medicine, every procedure, everything they tried failed. On September 17th, her kidneys started to fail, and she had to be put back on her heart medication tenfold. Dr. Grabb came in and performed a vasovagal response. It is a pain that will bring a grown man to his knees, and she had no response at all. She had had some pupillary response in the past, and now she had none. Her body’s organs were starting to fail, and the doctor who had been her champion of hope told us this was the best we are going to get. The way that things were going, we were unsure if she was going to make it through the night.

Calvin and I knew what we had to do. I lowered my head, said a prayer for strength, and informed the staff that Bella would be receiving her angel wings today.

All I wanted to do was hold her, because for seven days I had not been able to.

I painted her nails green with sparkles. For her first pedicure, she picked lime green for her toenails, and she rocked it like no one else could. I knew that she would like green. We dressed her in a white night

gown with blue polka dots and sparkly blue material that she would have loved to twirl around the house in. She wore a crown of flowers with ribbon cascading down her beautiful curly hair. We watched Dora, read her books, listened to her favorite music, and all told her how much we loved her and how proud of her we are. I asked Calvin what song he wanted to play when they turned off the ventilator and he chose “Honey Bee” by Blake Shelton. She loved Blake Shelton, and, in fact, to her his name was Honey Bee. It was the perfect song for her. She received her angel wings around 5:36PM, just before sunset. Before she went to heaven, I asked her to let me know that she got there. When we walked out of the hospital, we saw the most beautiful sunset, with rays shooting down to the Earth and up towards heaven. Golden bursts of yellow, orange, and red filled the sky. My daughter was there. She made it, and God let us know.

It took us two years to figure out what caused Bella’s brain swelling. After extensive testing while she was at the hospital, and even afterwards, we had no answers.

We still don’t have an exact one. We know that a virus caused her brain swelling. We don’t know what that virus was. We know that the brain swelling caused seizures and strokes. She would not have had either of them without the brain swelling. It’s frustrating, to say the least, to not know exactly what hurt her. What do I fight? I promised her that I would make a positive and that I wouldn’t give up, so how do I do that without

knowing where to start? It has been a long journey of research and talking to physicians that isn’t over.

A virus caused all of this, and that is scary. She was healthy literally the night before. What works that fast and is that severe? It is a lifelong mission of mine to do my very best to figure that out. If it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone, so we formed The Bellaflies Foundation to help prevent that.

Bellaflies was founded because of Bella’s giving heart that inspired a promise to “make a positive.” She gave us three years of love, laughter, and memories and we wanted to honor her by giving that to other families.

We are a 501(c) 3 organization that is dedicated to our mission of “Making a Positive.”

We raise pediatric stroke and brain swelling awareness, donate to childrens’ hospitals, and donate to research for better medicine and testing for pediatric strokes and brain swelling worldwide. We donate annually to ACH with everything collected from our “Books, Barbies, and ‘Bots” event. We provide new toys to children at ACH around Bella’s Angel Anniversary every year. This year we added Bella’s Blessing Baskets, and were able to provide necessities for families who travel to ACH unexpectedly with nothing the same way that we did. We have given out hundreds of free ACT F.A.S.T cards as part of our pediatric stroke

[ story continued next page ]

awareness campaign. They are business card-sized cards that tell you stroke signs and what to do if they are present in you or someone you know. We had the opportunity last year to speak to two thousand students and faculty at Rogers Heritage High School about Bella and pediatric strokes. We had an incredibly successful 1st Annual Strides for Strokes last year, and are looking forward to the one this year! Bellaflies is volunteer-run, and everything that is donated goes directly to Making a Positive. We believe in the power of kindness, and that the world can always use a bit more Bella.

This year, Strides for Strokes will be at Rogers Regional Sports Park at 2150 Dixieland Road on May 16th. We have so many family-friendly activities planned! First is the professionally timed 5K starting at 6:30PM. One-mile fun run begins at 7:20PM for all of those who would like to walk, run, skip, hop or dance their way to the finish line. Face painting will be provided by Julie Yell of Juliefish19, Strike the Arkansas Natural Mascot will be there, we will have a bubble station with Christian the Clown, an obstacle course for the big kids and a jump house for the smaller kids from Epic Inflatables, glow necklaces for each participant, sandwiches, and cookies will be provided for every racer from Panera. Culligan is providing the water for our water stations, Gatorade will provide Gatorade for all of the attendees, and Coca-Cola will supply the event with bottled water. In addition, the Rogers Fire Department and the Police Athletic League will be there, Genesis Gymnastic will perform, we will have the extremely popular massage station and a large auction including items from: Jump! Zone, Elysian, Yum Yo’s, Savior-Faire, Sephora, Grubs, Crabby’s, Little Giggles, P.F Changs, Bella Mia Salon, Piggy Paint, Activision Blizzard, Juliefish19, Trashley’s Junk Emporium, Fish City, 31, and more!

You may pre-register online at: h t t p s : / / w w w. r e g i s t e r - w i z a r d . c o m / e v e n t s / stridesforstrokes/register or go to www.bellaflies.org and click on the Strides for Strokes tab at the top of the page. Register before April 16th to be guaranteed a t-shirt and goodie bag.

If you cannot attend the event and still want to support Bellaflies we would love for you to register as a virtual runner! Last year we had virtual runners from California to Afghanistan, so anyone anywhere can support Bellaflies!

Strides for Strokes 2013 was a huge success! We were able to donate all of the monies raised from last year’s event to Arkansas Children’s Hospital’s research department. Bellaflies donated $10,000 to a protocol involving central nervous system infections, which is one of the leading causes of pediatric strokes in children. This is an in-house study with the goal of expanding the protocol nationwide.

Pediatric strokes are the #6 cause of death in children under 18. That sobering statistic is why it is so important for Bellaflies to spread awareness. We do this for Bella, we do this for Noah, and we do this for your children and grandchildren. Thank you for allowing us to honor our daughter and save lives at the same time!

If you are interested in volunteering for Strides for Strokes 2014 please contact Janelle@bellaflies.org.

24 March 2014

We cannot wait to see you on all Friday, May 16th at Rogers Regional Sports Park for the 2nd Annual Bellaflies Strides for Strokes!

Go West, Madman with Ben Lacy

Warning:

If your spring break plans involve spending hours/days/weeks in a Grocery Getter, Suburban Assault Vehicle or Family Truckster with anyone under 15, please wait to read this article until your trip has been completed. I’d hate to be liable for the cancellation of your trip.

Last September, the Dad’s View offered a glimpse of summer vacation chaos and the trials and tribulations involved with a dad unplugging from the work world and into the family world: namely, me. Based on the distribution of pain to all involved you would think another trip would be out of the question for at least a decade, if not a millennia.

Nope. As has been well documented in these pages; I’m a slow learner. In fact, my learning curve is nearly a straight, flat, horizontal line. So, while silly, it isn’t surprising that I signed up for a 9-day, 3,206.1 mile Western extravaganza that involved my family in the full 5-wide formation and occasionally my in-laws (more on that later). Actually, I championed the entire thing so, as usual, it’s on me. Heading to the left side of the U.S. had a very Lewis and Clark feel to me, as prior to this trip west to me was Tulsa.

Following is a review of the highlights, lowlights, crazy nights and kid fights.

Mile Marker 0: The night before the trip (which happened to be Christmas); yours truly caught a wicked little cold. Thanks, Santa.

26 March 2014

Dad’s View

Mile Marker 1: A proclamation is made that this vessel shall not contain any electronic devices. No iAnythings! We will be playing old school road trip games, chatting with each other and reading.

Mile Marker 11: “No electronic device” ban lifted.

Mile Marker 22: First potty break requested. This happens approximately every 47 miles throughout the trip.

Mile Marker 122: Apologies to anyone shopping at Walmart on December 26th, as I’m fairly certain my wife bought most of the groceries at the Bentonville Supercenter. There is so much stuff in our car that we have zero visibility out any window and are not 100% sure the third child is in the vehicle. I’ve heard muffled screams from the back and have seen dozens of chocolate chip granola bar wrappers. We’re hoping he is all good. The aforementioned wife is now affectionately known as the “Stewardess” as she spends 95% of her time serving drinks and snacks to the minions. Also, the added weight from the groceries has reduced our gas mileage from 22 mpg to 6.

Mile Marker 432: We are now west of Oklahoma City.

The great unexplored country! Bonus: There really isn’t a speed limit in Western Oklahoma, Northern Texas or all of New Mexico. The cars around me seem to hover at 95 mph, and I’m good with that. But, given our added payload and speed, we now have to get gas every hour, which works well with Child #1’s walnutsized bladder.

Mile Marker 602: Child #1 (female) does not agree.

We are now at said North Texas truck stop, where the terrain is so flat you can see your own back.

Mile Marker 1,200: After a less-than-scenic trek through New Mexico, we arrive in Flagstaff, AZ. Flagstaff sits 7,000 feet above sea level and our destination, Phoenix, sits at 1,000. They are roughly 140 miles apart so the trip is straight downhill. Pretty sure we topped out at around 300 mph and fractured the space/time continuum--unsure how semis drive this road since if they lose their brakes they won’t stop until they hit Panama.

Mile Marker 650: Had dinner at Radiator Springs.. you know the town from the movie “Cars”? I can’t remember the name of the town, but it was on Route 66, and Pixar must have visited here for storyboards.

Seriously, it is a carbon copy of the town from the movie.

Mile Marker 1,304: Met-up with the in-laws last night in Phoenix. They had the good sense to drive separately, something to remember when I become a grandparent. Phoenix is a growing, thriving city with amazing culture and fine cuisine. Naturally, my father-in-law demands we eat at Denny’s.

Mile Maker 700: We consider a side trip to Santa Fe, since the kids have come to an agreement that “Santa goes to Santa Fe (pronounced by phonetically challenged Child #3 as Santa Fee) first” so we should stop there.

Mile Marker 1,332: Travel time from hotel to Denny’s is 47 minutes. Actual distance between hotel and Denny’s is 2.3 miles. We had OnStar, GPS, 4 iPhones, 3 iTouches and an iPad at our disposal; however, dadin-law states they are all wrong and we must travel east (which was actually south) to hit Denny’s.

Mile Marker 600: After an epic 30-minute argument between the Stewardess and Child #2 (male) an agreement is made that it is “less dirty” to relieve oneself on the side of the road than in a North Texas truck stop.

Mile Marker 804: Santa Fee side trip cancelled, as things are getting a bit chippy in the car since the “Stewardess” had 200 miles to plan our next turn and didn’t notify the “Captain” so we missed it. Day #1 over.

Mile Marker 1,356: Highlight of the trip for me;

[ Dad’s View continued next page ]

Go West, Madman

Mile Marker 1,603 continued: Child #2 and Child #3 (boys) not interested in Grand Canyon, but they are very excited to show us how they learned how to scratch each other’s heads in tandem.

Mile Marker 1,806: Monument Valley. Best.

Marketing. Ever. Pay $5 to access a “road” that will easily do $1,500 damage to your car’s suspension to view rocks you could have seen from the babybuttsmooth highway.

Mile Marker 1,995: Arches National Park in Moab, UT. My travels in this world have not been extensive, but this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.

Conveniently located 1,100 miles from Northwest Arkansas.

dinner at the In-and-Out Burger! Lowlight of the trip for me: the Notorious MIL (mother-in-law) verbally announces the name of every restaurant, business and street we pass while in Phoenix: McDonald’s, Auto Zone, 5th Street, Smith Consulting, Anderson Avenue, Burger King, Sears… Also, found out this trait is hereditary and does not skip a generation.

Mile Marker 1,450: Twentieth missed turn by Stewardess leads to firing as Navigator.

Her replacement, Child #1, ends up being about as helpful as a blind, illiterate Wookie with fleas. Child #2 and Child #3 interviewed for Navigator position. Both want to know how long until we stop in Hawaii.

Captain takes over navigational duties.

Mile Marker 1,603: The Grand Canyon. That is one mother of a hole. Don’t bring a camera, as pictures don’t do it justice, but a parachute would be a nice accessory to have as there aren’t many safety railings.

28 March 2014

Mile Marker 1,966: In-laws make another appearance on New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve in Utah with 3 kids, 12-and-under, and 2 in-laws, 65-and-older, at the Hampton Inn. Bet you are jealous.

Mile Marker 1,967: Mutiny imminent. Kids have declared there will be a quick, violent and severe penalty if we stop to see any more “stupid rocks”.

Mile Marker 2,230: Rocky Mountains. Amazingly beautiful, as the only “mountains” I had previously encountered were the Ozarks. We encourage the children to look out the window at the 3D world and see the mountains, rivers and rapids.

Mile Marker 2,250: After driving alongside a river for the last 20 miles, my daughter exclaims “How do you guys keep seeing rabbits; we’re going so fast!

I can’t find any of them!” “Rapids” darling; not “Rabbits…”

Mile Marker 2,294-2,318: Due to a snow storm and traffic restrictions in the Eisenhower Tunnel, the next 24 miles take 6 hours. No restaurants, no gas

stations, no exits, no shoulder, no quarter. We all held it together pretty good until Child #3 had to go #2…

Dad’s View Unsolicited Western Travel Adventure Do’s:

Mile Marker 2,320: Remember the cold from Mile Marker 0? Well, the cold invited his buddies sinus infection, throat infection, altitude sickness and food poisoning to the party. After 2,320 the Captain finally relinquishes control of the wacky wagon to the Stewardess. He immediately curls up in a ball in the passenger seat and begs the travel gods for forgiveness or a quick death.

Arches National Park, Flagstaff, Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, Route 66, Vail and any and all In-andOut Burgers

Mile Marker 2,355: A little travel tip you won’t find in Frommers or TripAdvisor: You can buy pot in Denver, but you can’t put 5 people in one hotel room.

Mile Marker 2,433: We’ve driven so long today that Child #1 asks “Is it morning yet?”

Mile Marker 2,700: Garden City, KS stinks.

Mile Marker 2,792: Dodge City, KS. No sign of Wyatt Erp, but the townfolk do look a bit dodgy.

Mile Marker 3,002: The kids finally take their first nap of the trip.

Mile Marker 3,206.1: Home. They say there is no place like home. I hope so; as I’m never leaving again.

Dad’s View Unsolicited Western Travel Adventure Don’ts: Drive, Monument Valley, Kayenta, AZ, Eastern Colorado, Western Kansas and any travel through the Rocky’s during snow season unless you road trip with your own port-a-potty.

Dad’s View Ironic Add-On: This article was written on a plane coming back from a business trip to New York City. Child #1 and the Stewardess joined me on this adventure as a birthday present for Child #1. She had always wanted to visit NYC and the travel gods, American Airlines Awards program, and love lured me into another quasi-family trip. Our outbound flight was delayed 8 hours, it snowed so much that NYC looked like Hoth and our in-bound flight was cancelled, resulting in another absurdly priced night in a hotel and a 4AM wake-up call.

Will I ever learn?

The prepared environment of the Montessori classroom is scientifically designed to foster the same instinct.

What is Montessori?

Three-year-old Sam walks boldly into his primary classroom with focus. He commences working with the pink tower. The classroom rugs signify to the other students that this is Sam’s space, Sam’s work.

He may spend two minutes with the pink tower or two hours; the choice is Sam’s. This independent choice is respected and protected in the Montessori classroom.

Why is the pink tower made of wood? Why do these cubes feel different? Why are there ten cubes? Why do they look different vertical than they do horizontal?

All the questions of the curious three-year-old are answered through contact with the materials in a Montessori classroom. This is the beginning of growth and development of the child’s intellect.

Montessori provides robust academics in a handson learning environment that promotes movement and collaboration, while developing concentration, independence, and self-discipline.

“Mom, can we leave Alabama before 6:00AM, so we can spend time in Little Rock at the Clinton Museum and see if that railroad bridge is finished?” says my seven-year-old Montessori son.

M

ontessori is an internationally recognized educational approach developed by Dr. Maria Montessori that fosters a child’s natural inclination to learn.

“Why? Why? Why?” says the energetic three-yearold. Children arrive in this world with a natural instinct to learn. The Montessori method has been tested and executed for more than 100 years in nurturing this natural instinct to learn.

32 March 2014

“Jackson, I don’t know if we should spend the night in Little Rock. Maybe we should continue the drive home,” I pleaded with fingers crossed. I have been at Montessori training for two weeks, which amounts to very little sleep. Self -doubt and loathing often accompany having no sleep. Why am I signed up for this training? What is it about the Montessori method that I love so much that it leads me to decisions such as traveling across the Southeast United States several times a year, caving to the whims of an seven-year-old. Montessori would remind me that, in this moment, they are not whims, but a need to be filled.

“Mom, you promised we could stay, and that we could stay at that Embassy Suites, the one with the French toast and goldfish inside by the elevator.

Let me have your phone, and I’ll look it up to make sure there are rooms available,” says the textbook oldest child.

I almost acquire a facial tic thinking about all the issues with handing Jackson my phone, but it doesn’t stop me from doing so. In record time, he spits the information back to me.

“It says corner room available for the same price.

That means more space for us, and with nine floors, there are 36 possible room numbers that we could be in. Do you want me to call them?” says the seven-year Montessori student.

As a child begins to take interest in refining his senses, he enters a sensitive period for mathematics. The child will continue to compare, sequence, sort, and categorize in the same way he did in the sensorial area and now apply it to mathematics.

In that moment, I can literally see my now “Big Boy” sitting as a four-year old in his primary room with the pink tower in his little hands. Who knew the pink tower would evolve into the Little Rock Embassy Suites? The loathing is over, and I am more convinced than ever to continue my Montessori journey. All children should know there are 36 corner rooms available in a ninestory hotel.

“The intellect builds up its store of practical ideas through contact with, and exploration of, its environment. Without such concepts the intellect would lack precision and inspiration in its abstract operations.” (Montessori, 1997).

Jackson’s experience with the pink tower of sensorial learning had gone abstract. When he thinks of the hotel, he can see and feel the cubes of the classroom in his hands.

Montessori education fosters the development of the whole child. Students become confident, enthusiastic, self-directed leaders capable of thinking critically, working collaboratively, and acting boldly.

Walnut Farm Montessori School is the first and only Montessori school accredited by the American Montessori Society in the state of Arkansas. Students experience an authentic Montessori education from ages 18 months to 12 years. For more information and a school tour, email info@walnutfarm.org.

Amy Davis attended Auburn University on a golf scholarship and spent 12 years as a member of the PGA of America. After spending a year as a substitute at Walnut Farm, she completed Montessori primary training at Belmont University in Nashville where she also completed a master’s degree in teaching in 2013.

They have two boys at Walnut Farm: Jackson and Marshall. Amy can often be seen running the streets of Bentonville in the pre-dawn hours with her dog, Apple.

“Soldiering On” Through Adversity A NWA Children’s Shelter stay 10 years ago helped Megan Anthony envision a better life.

M

egan Anthony first came to Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter in 2003, in the organization’s 10th year. Today, Megan is a confident, 24-year-old world traveler. She has a burgeoning career at Walmart. She even holds an officer’s rank in the Arkansas Army National Guard.

But, in 2003, she was a 13-year-old victim of neglect who had no idea what it was like to be a “normal kid.”

She spent her childhood as the default caretaker for her younger brothers and unstable mother, eventually being bounced around through several foster homes.

Life was uncertainty, instability, conflict and worry.

Then she came to Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter, where, for the first time in her young memory, she experienced a feeling of safety, structure, healing and genuine care and concern–and the freedom to “just relax and be a kid.”

Her mental images of her early home life mostly involve her mother and stepfather’s constant fighting in the tiny duplex the family of five shared in Rogers, eventually resulting in a violent break-up when Megan was 11. That’s when life became even more complicated.

Megan had to grow up quickly. Her mother sank into a deep depression. “I tried to comfort her,” Megan recalled. “I kind of had to be the adult.”

shift in her mother’s mental state. “She took me out for ice cream – which she never did – and told me that bad people were trying to take us away from her and that we shouldn’t trust them,” Megan recounted. “She was very paranoid and was saying some crazy things.”

And, even though she hadn’t ever really grasped the concept that her family might be poor, she sees now that the situation had become fairly desperate. She remembers her alcoholic uncle, who lived next door, taking her and her brother “dumpster-diving” for discarded boxed food.

An altercation with that uncle led to the police being called to the home, and soon thereafter, Megan received a page on the school intercom. “That is when the DHS (state Department of Human Services) worker introduced herself and told me that my brother and I could not live with Mom for a while,” she remembers.

“I will never forget the feeling of seeing everything we owned packed into two of those plastic bins.”

“My mom assured me that she was going to try and get us back,” Megan remembered. “But she never showed up anymore.” Megan had a few heartbreaking encounters with her mother, who has descended further into madness and leads an existence on the fringes of society, years later.

“I knew there was more out there than what we had,” Megan recalled. She did get a few glimpses of a “normal” home life, when she would visit a favorite aunt.

Megan’s entry into the foster-care system was jarring.

“My brother and I had never been separated before,” she said. “So it was traumatic for us to have to go to different places at first.

But at home, Megan soon began to notice a troubling

The first place felt kind of like a jail, and they separated us. But, after we left that place, they brought us back

34 March 2014

together into a regular foster home. I guess we were in four or five different ones, but to be honest, I have just blocked most of it from my mind.”

Then, they came to a place the DHS workers simply referred to as “Vaughn”--the original campus of the Children’s Shelter. She quickly knew that things would be different here … in a good way.

“It was the first time in forever that I had felt safe,” Megan said. “It was very ‘homey,’ and it felt like kids lived there. You felt like you were with a bunch of kids who were more or less in the same boat. There was structure, but it was not like that first place – not like a prison. It was comforting.

“I was conscious of the fact that everything was taken care of and that I could just relax and be a kid. There were always adults around, but they never yelled at us or pushed us to open up to them. They were just there for us. The people at the Children’s Shelter showed me that I could trust someone.

“And when it was time to leave, I cried. I didn’t want to be shuffled around to places where the people would just yell at you or make you feel like they didn’t really care if you were there or not. The Children’s Shelter was not like that.”

After leaving the Children’s Shelter, she and her brother were sent to their final foster placement with a family in Huntsville. “At one point, we even had the option of being adopted by that family,” Megan said. “But, amazingly, I was still so sure that my mom was going to come and get us that I told them, ‘No, I already have a family.’ ” Megan became somewhat of an over-achieving loner, always pushing herself to excel but struggling with close personal relationships. Still, Megan carried the vision of security and freedom that she had experienced at the Children’s Shelter.

College was always a goal, but she wasn’t exactly sure how to make it happen. Her foster dad (a veteran) actually planted the seed that the military might be an option. “I thought about enlisting,” Megan recounted.

“But then I learned about the ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) program and that I could get a college degree. That just seemed to be the perfect solution.

Because of what I have seen my mom go through, my biggest fears are being poor and homeless.

“The military kind of seemed like a family to me – battle buddies all seemed more like brothers and sisters. It looked like an opportunity for me to start the life for myself that I had always pictured in my mind.”

And, because Megan held on to the vision of a better life that was reinforced to her during her time at the Children’s Shelter, her life is on a very different

trajectory than that of her mother. The cycle has been broken.

As an area manager with the Walmart Logistics team and with a commission as a lieutenant in the Arkansas Army National Guard, she has not one, but two, promising career paths ahead of her and has begun carving out the kind of life she always dreamed of having.

“I guess it’s a happy ending,” Megan said. “I love my job at Walmart, and I love putting on my uniform. I have two very different careers, and I want to go as high as I can in both of them. I want to see the world and meet people from all different walks of life.

And what about the future? “For the first time in a long time, I have stopped trying to plan and control so much,” Megan added. “I’m kind of okay with not knowing exactly what the future holds. I am very comfortable with where I am in my life. That is a big relief.” by: Greg Russell

For more information on the NWA Children’s Shelter, upcoming events, and how you can help visit nwacs.org

Meet Zach As Zach grows, Gary and I are able to gain a full circle of knowledge to help parents at every level. by: Renee Philpot

www.fccare.org

I

n 2000, after many years of failed attempts at pregnancy and adoption, my husband and I were blessed with two boys in two months - Zach and Hunter. We rejoiced, but soon found that Zach had been born with a rare genetic disorder called NonKetotic Hyperglycinemeia, or NKH. NKH causes the body to produce too much glycine, which causes seizures, developmental delay, brain damage and other health issues. We spent many nights in the hospital, countless hours driving to Little Rock for appointments and cried many tears as we watched him struggle. We were told NKH was considered terminal. We were told he’d never walk, talk or even hold his head up. We were told had he been born 10 years earlier that death would have been certain as there was no cure or treatment. But we weren’t told what to do next... nothing of how to live and exist as a family with this new diagnosis.

As you can imagine, I began to navigate life in a daze.

We were blessed to find Benton County Sunshine School for Zach’s early years and preschool therapy– but transitioning from a preschool that understood Zach’s needs to a kindergarten within the public school system was one of the hardest transitions we’ve made to date. The school system thought they were prepared for Zach but I soon found out they were not. They made promises that never came to fruition. I spent the year learning what my rights as a parent were and continually asking they be met. It was a very stressful year–at the time, I worked in the same building as a teacher and found myself increasingly dissatisfied as a professional and mother with the public school

36 March 2014

system. There simply were not enough resources for children like Zach. I wanted to change that for our family, and for families like ours.

I set out to do just that. In July 2007, I went to work for Friendship Community Care as an early childhood special education teacher–I believed in early intervention services because of the success my son had experienced while in preschool, and was ready to combine my experience as a parent with 20 years in the public school system to better understand how I could help families who experienced the same struggles and fears as ours had. My goal was to make sure special needs families were prepared for their children’s transition into kindergarten - no family or child should have to struggle the way we did that first year.

I learned very quickly that Friendship Community Care was more than just early intervention services and my job was more than just a special education teacher.

For the first time, I developed an understanding of what the program Zach has graduated from was all about. I came to fully appreciate what speech, occupational, and physical therapists do despite the fact that Zach had had all them since he was 4 months old. I discovered that the “teacher” who came to see Zach in our home was actually a developmental therapist. I learned the person who kept asking me to sign documents for Zach’s services was actually called a service coordinator and she was responsible from making sure he received all of the services in his education plan. I learned that an early childhood special education teacher is responsible for as many as 30 children’s educational plans and trained staff were responsible for the day to day teaching of my child.

I was now that service coordinator, developmental therapist and early childhood special education teacher. Sadly, all of this knowledge came after Zach graduated--now, there are so many programs available to parents that I didn’t know about! Waiver services, for example, are services provided to children and adults who have significant disabilities. These services include specialized equipment, medications Medicaid doesn’t cover, specialized staff and other things needed to keep individuals at home with family instead of being placed in institutions. Zach turned out to be Friendship’s first waiver client in Northwest Arkansas.

They lead us through the process of obtaining services and help I didn’t know we needed. We now have a trained person to meet Zach’s bus every day after school which allows me to work a normal day. We also have a weekend a month of respite where we can leave Zach comfortably for the weekend. This allows us to take Hunter to do things we otherwise couldn’t do. Zach’s medicines are now all covered and we have been able to modify a bathroom to meet his needs. Without waiver, we would be struggling – it’s

....................

Friendship Community Care has become a very important part of my family’s life. The organization specializes in care for children, like my son Zach, as well as adults and families who live with disabilities.

They are “Care Specialists,” as the signs and buses you see around the state of Arkansas proudly state – and as parents, and now as employees, my husband Gary and I both know first hand how important it is for families to know that organizations like Friendship are here, and that they can help.

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so important to us that every family we serve knows every option available to them, and that they know that Friendship is here and can help.

Since I moved to Friendship and really learned about the services available to us, our boys have blossomed in their current schools. Friendship has doubled in size three times over as families have learned, like we did, that their children have a safe place to learn and grow with therapists that can give them individualized plans of care. As Administrator, I’ve been able to help many parents from the beginning of their journey as a special needs parent to kindergarten and beyond, and have been able to gain more knowledge that I can share with parents as their children navigate the public school system. Hunter, our youngest, while

being on the other end of the spectrum from Zach, has his own special needs which have made me fully understand that any challenge is a disability, even if it’s not defined as “special needs.” If I had remained in the public school system, I would not have been in a position to help the families I have - it feels good to be able to explain to parents from a personal perspective why it’s worth the time and effort to complete that daunting waiver application, to give them details and understanding that we didn’t have when setting out on our journey.

As Zach grows, Gary and I are able to gain a full circle of knowledge to help parents at every level. Before Zach graduates, FCC will offer full adult services – including supportive employment programs like Pottery Worx, which is opening this month in Siloam Springs.

Programs like these are one way the organization will be able to secure Zach’s future beyond high school – and why I believe Friendship is so much more than simply “Care Specialists.” They are made up of families like mine; families that understand on a personal level what every day looks like with a child who needs specialized care. Our family is honored to be a part of a nonprofit organization that truly cares about each and every personal story that comes through its doors, and that enables people like me to search for better ways to help other families, like yours.

Sun

Tues

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Pinnacle Hills Promenade and the NWA Mall

Sunday, Mar 2 - Crochet Basics for 1st – 5th grades – 2 to 3pm Fayetteville Public Library

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Family Night Events Every Tuesday at Chick-fil-A in Rogers and at Bentonville location from 5:30 - 7:00

Learn how to crochet with local crafter Crystal Widger.

She will go over basic crochet techniques, abbreviations, and terminology. Yarn and crochet hooks will be provided!

Register online at www.faylib. org or call (479) 856-7170

Miss Nelson is Missing!

Saturday, March 08, 2014 Sunday, March 09, 2014 Arts Center of the Ozarks 214 S. Main Street, Springdale www.artscenteroftheozarks.org

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Little Giggles Classes 11:00 - Enrichment Mondays!!

(FREE with admission - for all ages but best for ages 2 years+) www.littlegigglesplay.com

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Family Night Events - Every Tuesday at Chick-fil-A in Rogers and at Bentonville location from 5:30 - 7:00

A contemporary children’s musical

by Joan Cushing presents wonderful lessons of respect and appreciation.

Admission: $16 adults, $9 students

16 Boingo Bounce Open Bounce at 12pm Fayetteville boingobounce.com

Opening March 22 HOG WILD: Our Area’s Love Affair with the Pig Rogers Historical Museum Downtown Rogers We’ve hunted them, raised them, eaten them, and used their image in toys, banks, folk art, and a beloved mascot. Explore our region’s passion for the pig in an engaging exhibit featuring items ranging from farm tools and sausage-making gadgets to folk art and Razorback memorabilia.

Little Giggles Classes 11:00 - Enrichment Mondays!!

(FREE with admission - for all ages but best for ages 2 years+) www.littlegigglesplay.com

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Two Punch Tuesday at Pigtails & Crewcuts in Fayetteville Double punch on loyalty card for every haircut every Tuesday!

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Spring Break camp at Hobbs State Park brings the outdoor experience up close and personal - Wednesday March 26th through Friday March 28th.

This Day Camp is for nature lovers 9-12 years of age with a passion for hiking and spending time outside exploring and learning.

The Day Camps run from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. for each of 3 days.

Cost: $50.00/child + tax for all three days.

Register now as spots fill up quickly.

Preregistration and prepayment required.

Call 479-789-5000

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Wednesday Family Day at Pigtails & Crewcuts. in Fayetteville 1 Haircut at full price, 2 Haircut at $2 off, 3rd gets $4 off, etc.

Wednesday Family Day at Pigtails & Crewcuts. in Fayetteville 1 Haircut at full price, 2 Haircut at $2 off, 3rd gets $4 off, etc.

Thurs

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March

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Boingo Bounce Open Bounce at 1pm Fayetteville boingobounce.com

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Fri

1 Fayetteville on College and 6th St. Bentonville on Walton Rogers on Walnut and Pleasant Grove

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2014 Preschool Playdate 11:30 AM - 2:00 PM Crystal Bridge Activities are geared for children ages 2 to 5 with an adult. Free, no registration required.

Dress Up Princess Storytime with Little Giggles 10:30am Fayetteville Public Library Dress as royalty and join Little Giggles for a princess lead storytime. Little Giggles is an organization based out of Bentonville that focuses on creative play for children.

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Girls’ Night Out is a quarterly shopping event from 5-8pm on the 3rd Thursday of March, June, and September. Music, refreshments, specials and door prizes highlight downtown merchants and provide a fun way to get extra downtown shopping time.

Boingo Bounce Open Bounce at 1pm Fayetteville boingobounce.com

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Girls’ Night Out Downtown Siloam Springs mainstreetsiloam.org

27 Daytime Lock-In – K-2nd Fayetteville Public Library Thur, March 27 from 11am to 2pm Join FPL ‘s youth librarians for crafts, games, stories and fun. Each student will come home with prizes. Pizza and snack will be served. Register online at www.faylib.org or call (479)856-7170.

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Dancing With the Stars of Northwest Arkansas JQ Hammons Center, Rogers http://amazeum.org/ An annual event where six community leaders are paired with professional dancers to benefit the Children’s Museum of Northwest Arkansas.

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Chicago Tuesday, March 11, 2014 - March 16 Walton Arts Center waltonartscenter.org Chicago has everything that makes Broadway great: a universal tale of fame, fortune, and all that jazz; one show-stopping song after another; and the most astonishing dancing you’ve ever seen. Showtimes: March 11-13 at 7 p.m.; March 14 at 8 p.m.; March 15 at 2 and 8 p.m.; and March 16 at 2 p.m.

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Living with a Smile M

y husband and I were blessed with our third beautiful child on October 25, 2010. Baby Alanny weighed a healthy 6 pounds and 10 ounces, an especial blessing considering that she was six weeks early. She had beautiful curly hair and big blue eyes. Her older sister, Nataly, and older brother, Jadin, were so happy to finally meet their baby sister.

We thought of ourselves as the “picture perfect family” -- we were complete. We were excited to start our new journey in life. Never did we think, however, that this new journey would also become one of our greatest challenges.

Alanny was about eight hours old when she received her first feeding. That was also the first time she vomited. She continued to vomit after her second and third feeding as well, and just about every feeding after that. We took her to the E.R about 10 times from November 2010 to January 2011. We would always get the same message, “She’s premature, she’ll grow out of it,” or, “ Sorry, we cannot give her anything because she’s premature.” I was determined to help our baby;, so I decided to do some research online. I found out that by thickening her milk it would help prevent her vomiting. We thickened her milk with infant cereal, and, sure enough, she stopped vomiting. Her breathing got better and she began gaining weight.

Finally, we were back on track, and ready to move on.

Unfortunately, that only lasted a short time. We noticed that baby Alanny was not very active, and she kept her fists tightly closed and curled her toes more than normal. She did not have a lot of strength in her legs and she hardly ever kicked. At first, we all thought that she was just a very mellow baby. As time went on,

44 March 2014

Her strength and love for life is unbelievable... This disease does not define who she is.

story by: Mary Oaks

photo: Jay Stout Photography

however, we noticed other challenges she was having.

By 8 months old, she still did not have the strength to roll over or sit up. I decided to make an appointment with her doctor. Her doctor referred us to a physical therapist to get Alanny evaluated. During this appointment, I was confident that we were going to get the help she needed. It took the physical therapist about an hour to evaluate her. Alanny cried most of the time, but she would always cry when she was at unfamiliar places. When he was done evaluating her, he told me that she was going to be just fine. He said that her problem was the fact that she was “spoiled!”

I wish I could have accepted that answer but there is something special about being a parent, a sixth sense if you will, where you just know when something is not right. Our hearts told us to fight. We knew being “spoiled” was not the cause, so we decided to get a second opinion.

During her second evaluation, the therapist noticed Alanny’s issues with her fists and toes. The therapist also saw the difficulty Alanny had trying to pull up and sit down. One of the exercises she made Alanny do was making her walk without shoes. Alanny constantly lost her balance and she could not bend her knees because she was very “stiff.” The therapist recommended physical therapy twice a week, and she also recommended that she wear small braces for her feet. My husband and I were so happy to finally see some light!

Along with physical therapy, she also received occupational therapy, speech therapy and development therapy. Her occupational therapist helped her with her “self-care.” For example, she tough Alanny how

to take her socks off, how to hold a spoon and how to zip up a jacket. Alanny still struggles doing such things, but she tries her best to accomplish these goals every day. Her development therapist helped Alanny with her attention span, social and emotional skills, and much more. One of the biggest things that Alanny was able to accomplish, thanks to her development therapist, was getting out of her comfort zone. If her daily routine changed for whatever reason, she would vomit, almost as if she was having panic attacks. It would take her about a week to get back on track. As for her speech therapist, we believe she saved Alanny’s life. Her speech therapist taught Alanny how to chew and swallow, but she also noticed that Alanny’s breathing was “raspy.” When Alanny was 18 months old, she made an appointment for a swallow study test at Little Rock Children’s Hospital. The test stated that Alanny had a swallowing difficulty and liquid was getting into her lungs. From that day on, we had to thicken her liquids even more, to the consistency of honey.

Despite all of the wonderful therapy she was receiving, we continued to notice that physically she was not progressing. She was not walking and she was underweight. Her doctor wanted us to consider a feeding tube. That was not an option for us at that time. We were determined to find out what was wrong and we were going to fix it, not just put a short-term solution over it like a band-aid. It was during one of her follow up appointments that her doctor noticed that she had no reflexes in her knees or ankles. That explained why she was having such a hard time bending her knees. Her diagnosis was Hypotonia, which is decreased muscle tone. Her doctor told us that there was a possibility that she would never be able to walk and would have to be in a wheelchair. Our strength to fight grew even more. We kept our hopes up and prayed that one day she would walk. That day came on October 25, 2012 when she took her first steps, by herself, on her birthday! My husband and I cried and hugged--we were ecstatic. However, her fight did not end there.

From November 2012 to May 2013 we made many trips to Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Although she was walking, she still had a lot of issues. Her stiffness was still there and she was not gaining weight. It took many tests, and what seemed like a billion blood works to find out exactly what was wrong with her, with no results. Finally, Dr. Balmakund, a neurologist, ordered a muscle biopsy and one last round of blood work. I remember the nurse looking at Alanny and telling her “I know it hurts baby girl, but I promise this is the last one.” It’s almost as if he knew what was wrong, but did not want to say anything. June 10, 2013 was the worst day of our lives. Dr. Balmakund told us the results -- Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

SMA is the #1 genetic killer of children under the age of 2. It is a terminal disease that destroys the nerves

controlling voluntary muscle movement, which affects crawling, walking, head and neck control and swallowing. We were confused, speechless, heartbroken and numb to all that had developed. We could not believe it. We cried for two weeks straight. We questioned everything about life: hope, patience, love, and faith. We felt so alone and heartbroken. That pain, however, was short lived. Thankfully, Dr. Balmakund connected us with a family that she believed would help us with this journey. Meredith and Patrick Woodruff have not only been an inspiration to us, but also they are one of the main reasons we still have so much hope and faith. They have been by our sides through this challenging journey. Thanks to their organization, The Miller McNeil Woodruff Foundation, we will be able to attend the world’s largest SMA conference in June, hosted by Families of SMA. We are thankful for having their support and love.

This journey will be a challenging one. Every day we pray that there will soon be a cure. We hope, pray, and fight for Alanny. Her strength and love for life is unbelievable. She is determined and full of ambition.

This disease does not define who she is. She is a gogetter, she is our princess, and most of all she is our little FIGHTER! For more information on “The Miller McNeil Woodruff Foundation” and to regisiter for this years Cupcakes & Cocktails event visit www.imwithmiller. com

The Pineapple Tree Dance Company – it started with a Fairy Tale

Photog raphed : Sie

rra Wa gner

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en lovely dancers are poised on stage at Crystal Bridges, dressed in watercolor ballet dresses, tiaras, and fairy wings as they prepare to perform for a group of 200 excited children at a literacy event – The Fairy-Tale Ball – in the early spring of 2013. A small group of orchestra members in the corner starts to play the familiar strains of the Blue Danube, and this lovely group of real-life fairies in ballet slippers starts to move in unison.

Twirling, sweeping their arms, extending their legs, pointing their toes, forming beautiful lines, shapes, and art in motion. The ballerinas dance on and on and on in a seemingly endless dance dream along with the orchestra. Eventually each ballerina starts dancing into the audience, encouraging the children of all ages to dance with them. Soon, small groups of children are dancing, skipping, and playing pretend with each fairy and the sounds of childish glee rise to the rafters.

“Are you really a fairy?” one wide-eyed 5-year-old child named Sally Ashcraft asks one of the dancers in the group. “Of course, I am, sweet girl,” the

46 March 2014

dancer answers, “and I traveled over a million miles across the universe just to dance with you today.

Let’s skip!” After that, the questions stop and the fairy tale continues as the children skip in circles.

As the event winds down, the children start to go home with their parents, and the dancers drift back to the dressing rooms to remove their tiaras, wings, and glitter, a parent stops the group’s choreographer, Tessa Cockrell. “What is the name of your organization? These dancers are just beautiful.”

Tessa looks at Sally Ashcraft and Erin Basnett for a moment in shared confusion, and Tessa replies, “Oh, we all just know each other, and came together from many studios to put this on. We don’t exactly have a name.” The mother replies, “Well, you all should think about starting something, because that was amazing.”

And, with that brief conversation, the discussion to start a brand new Community Dance Project began.

The next week, Sally Ashcraft and Erin Basnett began hashing out the written outlines for plans of a new non-profit organization. Ashcraft agreed to take on the role of Marketing and PR, while Basnett took to Finance and Administration. Knowing they would need more force, Erin and Sally met many times over the coming weeks with Tessa Cockrell

to carefully plan the all-new dance organization.

The three knew they wanted to cultivate something that Northwest Arkansas had never seen before: an organization to produce delightful works that anyone could enjoy, for community programs and concerts alike. They wanted to create an organization that welcomed one another as artists, that welcomed the community, and that welcomed ideas. The symbol of the pineapple, with its association of southern hospitality and open doors, quickly became the group’s icon.

Additional choreographers were considered, and eventually Mary Trulock and Karen Castleman, along with Beth Hickman and Roselyn Cicerone were invited to join. In May of 2013, the group of choreographers met for a retreat on Beaver Lake, and spent the weekend planning the details of a spring concert performance.

As they talked late into the night, the performance pieces started to unfold, discussions of which dancers to invite flew around, and of course, there was excited chatter about how each number would be costumed.

Creative ideas were churning!

After the retreat, 16 classically trained local dancers were mailed embossed invitations to join the now named “Pineapple Tree Dance Company.” The invitation read “The founders of this project have observed your talent and appreciate your wonderful, individual dance spirit. We would like to invite you to dance with us. The goal is to produce a delightful and beautiful performance for the community in March

of 2014. There may also be additional performance opportunities between now and then, too. Please join us for class at The Fayetteville Dance Center to confirm your mutual interest in dancing with us.” All 16 dancers appeared in class, accepting their invitations to volunteer, and officially kicking off the Company.

Since then, the choreographers and dancers have been developing interesting and delightful moments for the community. In July 2013, the group worked with local photographers on a photography project, capturing dancers on film posed in well-known locations around downtown Fayetteville and on the scenic shores of Beaver Lake. The organization also developed a special performance and art project for EOA Children’s House on February 19th called “Hey Chicken Little … The Sky Begins at Your Feet!” which included a storybook reading, dancing, and a makeand-take art project for the kids.

On March 28th and 29th The Pineapple Tree Dance Company will perform at Starr Theater in the Walton Arts Center, presenting a special Community Outreach Performance for local nonprofits.

As we all know, pineapples certainly do not grow on trees, but in fairy tales anything can happen. The Pineapple Tree Dance Company began at a fairy-tale ball, and the organization’s founders are certain the magic will continue!

Pictured left to right: Anna Buck, Sierra Wagner, Cece Benson, Yuriko Roby*, Erin Basnett, Grace Dyer, Tessa Cockrell.

(Seated) Mary Trulock, Lindsey Strok*, Sally Ashcraft *Guest Artists from the Northwest Arkansas Ballet

Community Cares

Pigtails & Crewcuts Takes Kids’ Special Needs Seriously

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by: Laura Coleman, owner, Pigtails & Crewcuts

have always had a heart for children, especially for those with disabilities. In 1972, my mother, Cindy Mahan, founded Friendship Community Care in Russellville. Since its opening, it has grown to over 1,100 employees statewide. Friendship Community Care is a provider of services to children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, so I grew up day in and day out around children with disabilities. Their disabilities ranged from autism and Down Syndrome to Cerebral Palsy and ADHD, and the list goes on.

Our entire family was involved in many of the events that were put on in the community benefiting people with disabilities. These events ranged from fundraisers, to Special Olympics and dances at Friendship. This gave me a unique understanding at a very young age for people that were developmentally different.

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It wasn’t until I opened Pigtails & Crewcuts that I realized just how much this special part of my past would interwine with my new future. It quickly became apparent, though--surprisingly, the very first day we opened the doors. Within a couple of hours of our first day of operations, we had our first autistic customer. I knew this “could” be a tough haircut, but I also had faith in the stylists that I had chosen, faith that they could handle any situation with poise and respect. It ended up being a tougher situation than we thought, but we took every step possible to allow for the best experience for the parent and child. To make this outing a positive one for the autistic child, we decided to do the haircut in the back of the salon where there would be less stimulation. In short, it was a WIN! We were thanked over and over by the parents, but it was such a small thing on our part and was affirmation

that even in this new venture I would be able to make a difference in the hearts and minds of children, even those with special needs, just like my mom had done for so many years.

Within days and weeks, we began to take part in many different situations that we were happy to improvise with. You would be very surprised at how quickly blowing bubbles will do the trick, or how proud a child is to get to put on one of our “stylin’ stickers” on their protective helmet after the haircut is finished!

There are all kinds of special needs and requests when it comes to getting a haircut, especially when working with little ones. For example, when one of our little loyal customers who happens to have a very high food allergy to peanuts comes in, we always make sure to have him come on a day when it’s less busy and we make sure to check with every patron in the store for peanuts before he enters. We have another customer that likes to play with the trains at the train table while getting his haircut... which is basically the only way we can get the job done! If that’s what it takes, though, that’s what we do. If sounds, movements, or unfamiliar people cause your child fear or stimulation, we can move to a quieter location in the back of the salon. Better yet, we can make arrangements for you to come in before we open with an appointment.

We have found that coming back to the same stylists

for each haircut lowers the stress level for the child and parent. This could be for anyone, disability or not.

Sometimes it takes trust and seeing the same face each time that helps to lower anxiety for everyone. Remind us on your way out, and we can give you the stylist’s card, the days they work and even put a note in the computer system for record.

We also invite any parent and children to come in and play in our playroom on a day when they don’t need a haircut, just to get familiar with the look and sounds of our salon. This help so that the next time you come for a haircut, the child is already familiar with us, and is usually excited about jumping in one of our little cars, getting a sucker, and of course a treasure when they are done with their haircut!

We got into the kids’ hair care business because we love kids—all kids, no matter how challenging their needs may seem. We opened our Pigtails & Crewcuts salon so that no parent, particularly parents of children with special needs, ever have to feel that way.

All of our stylists work hard to work with kids within their world, not try and fit them into ours. And if there are tears the whole time? Well, that’s completely normal, too. We’ve all been there, ourselves, and we’re here for you to make your child’s time in our salon a memorable one! *For more on Friendship Community Care see page 4.

A New Season for

Bentonville Christian Academy

Feature by: Dallas Henderson, Executive Director, Bentonville Christian Academy Photo by: Sweet Portrayal Photography

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t used to be that choosing a school for your child was as simple as picking the city where you wanted to live. Times have changed, haven’t they?

Northwest Arkansas is blessed with some of the best public schools in the country, but now, more than ever, parents here have the opportunity to explore a multitude of options. Do you want your child in a charter school? Maybe you’re considering a classical education, or perhaps you’re giving serious thought to home schooling your kids? It’s a lot to take in, and can overwhelm even the most organized parents.

At Bentonville Christian Academy, we think we’ve captured the best of all of these elements and created a faith-based education second to none. Our certified teachers are prolific in teaching to a child’s capabilities, but also excellent at challenging him or her to go further. They also, quite simply, love your children.

They snuggle your kids after nap time, wipe away tears and cheer wildly when your child excels. More than anything, our mission is to combine a love for learning with a love for our Heavenly Father. All of our teachers are Christians committed to instilling a foundation of service to Jesus Christ in the hearts of the children we serve.

When Bentonville Christian Academy first opened its doors in 2011, the bell rang that morning with 11 students. Now, more than 60 little souls walk our halls. Currently BCA serves three, four and five

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Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. -Proverbs 22:6

years olds in our pre-school program, but God has blessed our efforts with plans currently underway for a kindergarten and first grade in the coming year. Our expansion efforts have been greeted by a sustained enthusiasm for more grades, teachers and classrooms. We’re ready to meet that challenge. BCA’s founders, Greg and Dr. Becky Bryan of Bentonville, say the success they’ve encountered is thanks to God’s blessings alone. “We know we’re creating a Godly place in which children can learn, socialize and be nurtured.

We’re ready to take BCA to the next level with God’s guidance and wisdom. Just like our logo implies, we’re growing kids for eternity while preparing them for life on earth,” said Greg Bryan.

Currently, BCA is planning its first major fundraiser in school history. On Saturday, April 5, BCA will usher in A New Season with a dinner and auction on our Bentonville campus. As the theme implies, this is a new season of growth for Bentonville Christian Academy.

The night will include a tasting menu created by sous chefs from all over Northwest Arkansas, a live and silent auction and a surprise keynote speaker. We’re looking forward to an intimate evening with a lot of fun and laughter and the chance to embrace A New Season in the future of Bentonville Christian Academy.

For A New Season tickets or more information about summer and fall enrollment at Bentonville Christian Academy, visit bentonvillechristian.org

I Do It, Too! Just like you and I, kids need motivation to do what needs to be done.

Just like you and I, they forget things.

Just like you and I, they need a lot of patience and encouragement.

Parenting young children is an exhausting undertaking… a fact I certainly don’t need to tell anyone who has picked up this publication. My children are currently 3 1/2 years old and 20 months old, so at this stage I find the most wearying task to be the never-nding dialogue. Their contribution generally involves calling out, “Mommy!” no less than 10,000 times a day, requesting that I “watch this,” over and over again, and asking me to fulfill some need about every 4 minutes. My side of the conversation involves lots of encouragement, lots of “Just a minute, I’m helping your sister/making dinner/using the restroom,” and LOTS of reminders.

“Did you wash your hands?

Please go back and wash your hands.” “ Did you put your jacket in your room? Please pick your jacket up off the floor and put it in your room.”

“Is your lovey in your bed? I asked you to put your lovey back in your bed before naptime.”

It can be frustrating to repeat ourselves over and over and over again to our children. It’s a common minor complaint that I hear thrown into the mix of frustrations when parents bring their kids in for counseling. We just start feeling like a broken record, saying the same things repeatedly. I think it’s common for parents to feel that if they could somehow figure out the perfect way to communicate or just the right words or reward method, they wouldn’t have to constantly remind their children to accomplish certain tasks or behave in certain ways.

I would agree that sometimes an ineffective method of motivation is being used, but I encourage parents to take a deep breath and look at themselves before getting too impatient with what can seem like constant guiding. When was the last time you were too tired to do the dishes at night and left them in the sink for

the next day? Or maybe let a pile of clutter accrue on a countertop or a desk? Is that terribly different from your child getting distracted and leaving shoes in the middle of the floor or haphazardly throwing their toys on the closet floor when they “clean up” their room? How about this one … when was the last time you quickly veered your cart down an unnecessary aisle at the grocery store to avoid someone you know because you weren’t in the mood or were too busy for conversation? Is that so very different from your child turning his head away from an adult and trying to avoid speaking to them?

Now, hear me out. I am not saying that parents should give up training their children to be orderly, responsible or courteous. It would be a huge disservice to them if we acted as if none of these things matter.

However, when you find your annoyance growing because you can’t believe you are repeating yourself AGAIN, I encourage you to take a step back, look at your child’s behavior, and see if you can find its mirror in yourself. Perhaps you have unwittingly been contradicting yourself, setting one standard for your child that you yourself do not maintain. If not, you may at least be able to raise your level of empathy for your child when you remember how difficult it is for you to consistently be the responsible, orderly, courteous person you hope to be.

Just like you and I, kids need motivation to do what needs to be done. Just like you and I, they forget things--probably more often because their minds are so preoccupied with the tasks of growing, learning, and exploring. And, just like you and I, they need a lot of patience and encouragement.

Stefanie has worked as a therapist with children, adolescents, and their families for the past 7 years. She is currently accepting new clients and loves helping families work through behavior, mood, relational, or traumarelated issues.

(479) 444.1400 see ad next page..

Local Family Steps Up to He lp

Babies Be Born Healthy

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bout 4 million babies were born in the United States last year, and the March of Dimes has helped each and every one through research, education, vaccines, and breakthroughs. The March of Dimes has worked for more than 75 years to help babies get a healthy start in life. Join us at March for Babies, the oldest and best-loved walking event in the country, and walk along with the Overholt Family.

2014 March for Babies Ambassador Family On October 2, 2010, our twins Donovan and Anya were born 8 weeks premature. Midway through the pregnancy, the doctors became concerned about the lack of fluid surrounding Donovan. After this discovery, we made several trips to see specialists at Arkansas Children’s hospital and UAMS in Little Rock. It was there that it was discovered that Donovan had multiple birth defects affecting his heart, kidneys, spine and brain. We were told that most likely Donovan would not survive until birth and if he did, would probably pass away during birth. The doctors were concerned that, if he passed away, it could cause premature labor and we could possibly lose Anya as well. After discussing our options, the decision was made at 23 weeks to go on bed rest. We knew that if we got to 32 weeks that the survival rates sky rocketed for Anya. With the Lord’s help, Donovan held in there

A baby’s first steps are one of the most precious moments in life, and the March of Dimes believes every baby deserves a healthy first step.

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to that 32nd week to give his sister the opportunity to live a long healthy life. A fighter to the end, Donovan survived the birth but passed away shortly thereafter.

Anya spent the first month of her life in the Willow Creek NICU. She had to deal with many complications common in premature babies. We watched the

staff put her on a ventilator due to her immature lung development, expertly insert feeding tubes intravenously through her belly button and later her nose to ensure she was putting on weight at regular intervals. We held our breaths that the third round of treatment for PDA would work, ensuring her heart valve closed before surgery would be needed. Thanks to the wonderful doctors, nurses and support staff at the NICU, she was able to get through all of it with flying colors. Anya is now a healthy 3 year old “diva” and you would never even know that she was born premature weighing just over 3 pounds. Our 5-yearold son, Lucas, is a proud big brother who loves to play and look out for his little sister.

During our bittersweet journey, we had the support of our friends, family, church members and great NICU staff. We know we could not have made it without them. We felt that we had to give back and help others who have a similar story. The March of Dimes was the perfect organization for us to support in honor of both our children, since they are helping the fight against infant death, birth defects and premature birth. We would love for you to join us at the March for Babies walk to support this wonderful mission.

A baby’s first steps are one of the most precious moments in life, and the March of Dimes believes

every baby deserves a healthy first step. Take your own first steps by joining the Overholt Family at the NWA March for Babies and make sure more babies get that chance!

Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death in the U.S. Those who survive an early birth may have lifelong health problems, such as cerebral palsy, vision and hearing loss, and learning disabilities. The March of Dimes, the leading nonprofit organization for maternal and infant health, has worked for more than 75 years to help babies get a healthy start in life.

March for Babies will be held at Arvest Ballpark on Saturday, April 5th. Festivities kick off at 9:00AM. It’s a family-friendly event where the Northwest Arkansas community comes together to raise money to support research, services, education and advocacy in the fight against prematurity, birth defects and infant mortality.

Interested walkers and donors can visit www.marchforbabies.org/event/northwestarkansas to sign up as an individual or family, start a team, or donate. The Northwest Arkansas March for Babies is supported locally by Johnson & Johnson, Pampers and Willow Creek Women’s Hospital. Join us in walking together for stronger, healthier babies.

i

nspiring thousands of youth each year to reach their full potential

by: Jacob Hutson

F

or the past 23 years, the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County (Club) has been in the forefront of youth development in Benton County. The Club inspires and enables thousands of youth each year to reach their full potential while in a safe and nurturing environment. More than 600 children attend after school and summer programs each weekday. While at the club, youth are engaged in development programs designed to keep them healthy, achieve academic success, and build character. The programs’ success in achieving these goals is evidenced by the Club’s impact. Parents report that their children are more active since they began attending the Club.

Each day, 126 children participate in fitness challenges that meet the recommended exercise duration and intensity. Club kids report a greater commitment to school and receive daily support to complete their assigned schoolwork. Help with homework and involvement in other high yield learning activities has led to a 99.6% on-time grade completion or graduation rate for Club youth. For youth who had previously been suspended from school, there is a 69% reduction in suspensions after becoming a Club member. Club youth are seven times less likely to use alcohol and fourteen times less likely to use drugs than their Benton County peers and for those who have used alcohol 73% stop and 67% stop using drugs after joining the Club.

In 2013, The Club’s Unidos Keystone leadership club was honored with the prestigious National Service Project award for their “After the Cameras Leave” project that provided much needed assistance to Joplin tornado victims. Many of the Unidos Keystone members come from disadvantaged backgrounds, yet selflessly raise funds for others and give of themselves to help others. Last year, Club youth gave 11,806 hours

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in service to their community. Using the accepted value of volunteer time, members contributed $252,058 to our community!

The Youth of the Year program exemplifies the character of the youth attending the Club. Older youth go through a rigorous application and judging process to be chosen for the honor. The must write a series of essays and give oral presentations. Each of the candidates overcame life barriers and hardship to become high-achieving in school and still find time to serve their community. Each candidate has demonstrated through action an outstanding character. We are proud to announce that Reina Martinez, a junior at Rogers Heritage High School, is the winner of the 2014 Youth of the Year. Reina had to discovered at a young age that a key to success is to not be held down by the decisions and position of those in her past, but to move forward, bringing her loved ones with her into a brighter future. Reina is taking Advanced Placement classes and is on the honor roll.

She will be the first in her family to graduate from high school and plans to attend the University of Arkansas to continue her education.

All the good things the Club does for the children of Benton County would not be possible without the support and involvement of the community. Each year more than 1,000 volunteers assist with everything from governance to maintenance to mentoring. Each volunteer is impacting and, at times, life changing.

One such person is Club board member and former board president Drew Collom. In addition to his tireless work for the Club, Drew is a board member of the Cancer Challenge and is involved with other worthy causes in the community. Just recently Drew was honored by Mayor McCaslin as the Bentonville Outstanding Citizen. It is people like Drew that make our community great and create great futures through the Boys & Girls Club of Benton County.

Join us for Boys & Girls Club Month during the month of March as we will be celebrate the incredible accomplishments of our Club Members, and our Volunteers for Boys & Girls Club Month.

You can get involved by volunteering at a local Boys & Girls Club, donating or attending the Youth of the Year Banquet sponsored by Kraft Foods on March 18.

For more information on how to get involved or attend the Youth of the Year Banquet please contact us at 479-273-7187 or info@bgcbentoncounty.org.

Personal Stories from The Boys & Girls Club of Benton County

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ustin, a high school senior, has been a Boys & Girls Club member since third grade. Growing up, Austin tried to fit in with kids rather than discovering who he really was. Through the Club programs, especially Torch and Keystone Clubs, he was able to become self-confident and find himself.

Austin loves math and science and is strong in those subjects. Austin was not always a good student but through mentors at the Club he became inspired to work at academics. In his junior year he had a GPA of 3.7 and was nominated for the prestigious Arkansas Governor’s School. At school and in the Club, Austin is involved in a variety of positive activities including: Robotics Team, Technology Student Association, Keystone Club, Passport to Manhood, SMART Moves, and the Police Athletic League. Austin has given back to his community by performing 133 hours of community service in 2012. Following high school, Austin plans to continue his education at the Air Force Academy studying aerospace engineering and physics to enable him to pursue a career in aeronautical engineering.

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eina is an honor roll student taking AP classes and is driven to be the first in her family to graduate high school and seek a college degree.

She says – “I will go beyond and set my bar high and push myself to stay committed to school for the years to come because it is, by far, the most important thing for me to become successful in life.”

Reina didn’t always have this drive and positive attitude. In her extended family it is the norm for girls to drop-out of school and have children at a very young age. She says “I used to feel like I didn’t have a place to go that didn’t have negative social pressures.

People I didn’t even know were trying to tell me how to live my life or judging me. I felt like I didn’t belong until my best friend, Irene, introduced me to the Boys and Girls Club of Benton County. For the first time, I felt like I belonged. I have met some of the greatest adults that I can look-up to. They have given me advice

that provides me direction in my everyday life. I no longer feel lost and out of place when I’m in school; I feel I belong and can be successful. Now, when I feel peer pressure to skip class, to do drugs, or to give “it’ a try,” I have a place where I turn to. “

new Location!

HOPES & DREAMS GYMNASTICS OPENS NEW FACILITY!

S

ince opening its doors in August of 2011, HOPES & DREAMS GYMNASTICS has been committed to offering positive and expert instruction in gymnastics and tumbling.

John and Chelsea Davis are experiencing their own dreams coming true with the completion of Arkansas’ premier facility. The husband-and-wife duo have been both a gymnastics competitor (Chelsea) and gymnastics enthusiast (John) for most of their lives.

John’s aspirations of becoming a gymnastics coach began when he was only thirteen years old, and he has met with incredible success in his endeavors. While a teenager, John coached for several years at the worldfamous Karolyi Gymnastics Camp at the National Team Training Center in New Waverly, TX. After attending The University of Texas at Austin, John received a head-coaching offer from Aspire Athletics in Bentonville and his decision to move to Arkansas was solidified. While at Aspire, he expanded the team program from 12 gymnasts to over 100 athletes. State Championship awards followed with a record five consecutive Level 5 team awards; three consecutive Level 7 awards and over 100 individual All-Around State Champions.

Chelsea began gymnastics at eight years of age, and progressed very rapidly through the levels of USA Gymnastics. After moving to Georgia, she became a level 9 Regional Bar Champion and a level 10 athlete.

Chelsea was a member of the 2008 Georgia State High School Championship team, and continued her career competing for The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Titan Gymnastics Team.

Chelsea moved to Northwest Arkansas and continued her gymnastics passion through coaching, meeting John in Bentonville as a consequence. The duo realized their mutual dream of opening their own gym two years ago, with the purchase of Durhams’ Gymnastics in Springdale. They began the program

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with 200 athletes and have enjoyed successful growth, now boasting an average of more than 650 athletes today. Additionally, because of the quality of instruction John and Chelsea (and their highly trained staff) provid,e 33 State All-Around Champions and 130 Event State Champions wear the Hopes and Dreams competition leotard. Athletes reaching for an even higher degree of competition have been placed in National Developmental programs, as well as one athlete becoming a collegiate scholarship recipient.

Since it was nearly “busting at the seams,” Hopes & Dreams Gymnastics expanded, and is proud to introduce you to their state-of-the-art facility, which measures in at over 25,000 square feet.

Every consideration for comfort and excellence in instruction has been included in this beautiful custom structure.

Hopes & Dreams Gymnastics offers classes for gymnastics, acro-dance, tumbling and classes specifically for boys ages 18 months to 18 years. Hopes & Dreams is already gaining national recognition, producing regional contenders in its first two years of operation, and, by moving into a state-of-the-art facility, will begin to place athletes in internationallevel competitions. Currently, they have a group of eight home-schooled athletes pursuing that route, who train 28-35 hours per week, twice per day, and compete at meets all over the nation.

At Hopes & Dreams Gymnastics, John, Chelsea and the rest of the coaches work to allow each athlete to chase their hopes and dreams, however big or small, as well as be in a place where they will not only be instructed, but encouraged. As evidenced by their commitment to their new facility, they strongly believe that gymnastic athletes in Northwest Arkansas deserve the opportunity to remain in their hometown, train in the best facilities available, and be given the opportunity to achieve athletic success at the national and international level.

Susan Averitt, MD Board Certified Pediatrician 479.575.9359

W

A Pediatrician & Bereaved Mother In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.

- Flora Edwards

hen I first applied for my residency, I had to write a one-page essay on why I wanted to become a pediatrician. I could not think of anything fancy to say. The plain truth was that I wanted to help people, namely children and their families. I had always loved children, and being a pediatrician just seemed the obvious choice for me.

what to say to these parents. It is my nature to want to fix things, and to make them “all better.” When a child dies, there is nothing to say that makes sense or that makes it “okay.” I’m not sure I was ever very good at helping parents through the devastating journey of losing a child.

When I first started, I really didn’t know what to tell moms and dads when they had questions about just “normal things.” They asked me how to get their baby to sleep through the night, or how to wean off a pacifier, or how warm they should keep their home.

I stumbled through these conversations until I had a child of my own. Once I became a mom, I had so much more to offer as a pediatrician. I could compare the experiences of my patients to those I was having at home. It helped me to develop more empathy for what the parents were going through after experiencing my own ups and downs with my children at home. Being a mom and pediatrician went hand in hand.

But, when my own daughter died in 2006, I became a bereaved mother. It is a horrible club to join. In fact it is the most unnatural and undesirable position I have ever held. Yet, through that horrific loss I have learned to help a different type of parent—one who suffers the loss of her child. When Cameron first died, I remember thinking, “How can I continue to take care of other peoples’ children when my own child is gone?” It was hard. At first, I could barely concentrate on my interactions with the patients I saw. “Who cares when to start cereal in a baby?!” I thought. “My child is dead!” But slowly, steadily over months and years, the fog began to lift and I was able to regain my focus and clarity.

Fortunately, I haven’t lost many patients in my practice.

I remember each child that I have taken care of who has died. It posed such a challenge for me, knowing

I will never be the same person I was before I lost Cameron. I am not even trying to be. But I am still here to help people. And now I can be a comfort to

other moms and dads who are going through the difficult task of trying to rebuild a life after losing a child. I understand their pain, not just in a practical sense, but from my own personal experience. I consider the opportunity to walk beside a bereaved parent a special calling and a gift. And, even though I would never have chosen this path, since it is my reality I do my best to make the most of it.

On April 5, 2014, I am embracing the opportunity to share my story with other bereaved parents. I hope that I will be able to show newly bereaved moms and dads that it is possible to survive the death of your most precious child. No, it is not okay, but it happened and so here I am and here is what I am doing. I also hope to make some new friends and create a network of parents who have lost a child in our NWA community. There are many like me out there, and it is time we come together and find a way to support each other. “Parents Left Behind— Rebuilding Your Life After the Death of Your Child” is an interactive grief seminar. If you or someone you know has lost a child, please consider joining us. It is our hope that this seminar will inspire bereaved parents to move forward with their lives but never by forgetting or letting go of the children who died to soon. At the conclusion of the seminar, we will celebrate our children’s lives. It is for them and because of them that we continue on life’s path.

www.peekaboonwa.com

67

Meet Annabella Miracle of Cooling Cap Technology

by: Ashley Cordova

I

t was difficult coming home after spending a week at the Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. The first night home didn’t feel like the last time I was there. Everything was exactly the same; yet, so very different. I was different. The family was different.

Annabella entered our lives on July 20, 2012, but not the way that we all had expected it. She weighed eight pounds and two ounces. She was 20 inches long and had a head full of hair. The only word I couldn’t use to describe her was healthy.

I had gone in Tuesday, July 17th to be induced. I spent a full twenty four hours in labor only to be sent home the next morning. I was hoping to be going home with my baby girl. I cried. I had looked forward to having her. I spent the next few days trying natural remedies to go into labor. I did everything from walking to eating spicy foods.

When Thursday came, I didn’t feel right. I had an occasional trickle of what I thought was just normal pregnancy things. I did begin to feel nauseous at one point during the day and then I began to get a fever.

It started off low and began to rise over 100. I called my doctor, but unfortunately she was not in the office that day. An unclear message was sent to the on-call doctor who told me to take tylenol and drink plenty of fluids. He did not know everything that was truly going on at the time. I was told to call back if my fever was over 101.5, but it never got that high. I went to bed and knew I would see my doctor first thing in the morning.

Friday morning I had a doctor’s appointment for a follow-up. She checked me and told me the baby had moved way down. I told her I thought I was leaking

68 March 2014

and explained my fever to her. She decided to do a test for fluid and it came out negative. I continued to discuss my symptoms so she checked again, but this time further up. Sure enough, I was leaking amniotic fluid. She sent me straight to the labor and delivery floor of the hospital. I was excited, and scared at the same time.

I got settled into my room, in another gown and had another IV put in. This time she would be here for sure. They started the Pitocin and before I knew it, I was having hard contractions and laboring quickly. I went from being dilated at a 5 that morning to a 7.

But something was wrong. While I was progressing, I started to get a fever. The nurse checked me and it was 102. Not even 15 minutes later, the doctor came in and checked me, my fever was 103.9. She looked at me and suggested a cesarean section. She said she needed to get the baby out. I agreed and she looked at my husband who said he just wanted us to be safe and “to do whatever it takes.” My fever rose to 104. I was terrified. They got me ready and wheeled me out, leaving my husband to get changed into his gown and to prepare for the birth of our child.

I entered the operating room. I kept my eyes closed most of the time. They pulled up the drape to keep me from seeing anything. I was shaking, shaking violently. The anesthesiologist tried to calm me and was giving me drugs so I couldn’t feel anything. I tried to breathe deep, but kept shaking. They had me stretch out my arms and I couldn’t keep them still. I kept asking for my husband, Alex, not knowing if he was there or not. They started testing me to see if I could feel anything where they were going to make the incision. They poked me with a needle. “Can you feel that?” they would ask. Each poke was different. Some I could feel completely and some were dull pains. They

couldn’t wait though. They had to get her out. Next thing I knew, they were cutting. I told them I could feel it, but they kept going. After three cuts, I could feel them tug at her, pulling her out. I continued to explain that I could feel everything. After she was out, they started scraping out the, what I now know, was a massive infection. They had to sedate me. I hadn’t heard my baby cry. I hadn’t seen her. I hadn’t held her.

Everything after that happened in a flash. Alex and my newborn baby were gone. My mother was in my room.

I was numb, physically and emotionally. I slept most of the time that day and part into the next. My recovery was on going over the next few days. I had to start walking up and down the halls. I had to eat and drink lots of fluids. The one thing I didn’t do was try to heal emotionally. I couldn’t, and still can’t, talk about what happened without crying. The memories were and are too traumatic to discuss in their entirety without the flood of tears that take over me. The support of my mother helped me to deal during that time. We occasionally cried together, but didn’t talk too much about it. Alex and I didn’t have a chance to talk about everything together, however. We called and sent text messages. He kept me informed on everything happening with our daughter.

While I was recovering, Annabella was recovering in Arkansas Children’s Hospital, one of the best children’s hospitals in the country. Because she was

born not breathing, there was a fear of the brain damage she may have suffered. They started her on a cooling cap, which lowered her temperature to try to not further any damage, if she had any, on her brain.

The cooling cap stayed on for 72 hours. I didn’t get to see her during this treatment, which may have been for the best, as I know I was not emotionally ready for it. After a final blood infusion, I was discharged from the hospital on July 23rd. I could not wait. I wanted to get to Little Rock to see my baby girl. I went straight home, grabbed a couple of things, and my mom and I started the long journey to see her.

When we arrived I proceeded to the third floor of the hospital to the NICU unit. She was bed number 31A. I washed my hands to my elbows and put on a gown. I walked back and before I could even see her completely, I broke down. I started crying, and the nurse tried to comfort me. She explained everything they were doing.

Head cooling is performed when an infant is born and is not receiving the proper blood oxygen levels.

Because Annabella was born not breathing and had to be resuscitated, her blood oxygen levels dropped causing the injury. She had to be rushed to the

[ story continued next page ]

Meet Annabella

a few spots of damage on the surface of her brain.

They said it could affect her right hand, and she might need physical therapy. It was hard to hear, but it was better news than what could have been said.

That night Alex had his first father’s intuition moment. He was lying in bed and said he had to go see her. Something told him to go see her. I couldn’t go. I was so swollen and I was hurting. Alex returned and said he knew he was right in going.

He got to hear her first cries since they removed the breathing tube. He had recorded her little whimper and it made me cry.

Finally, the time came to hold her. We had to work around the leads still on her body monitoring her heart and breathing, but we managed just to feel her tiny body next to ours. She was perfect, even with her swollen eyes.

children’s hospital, because the cooling cap has to be put on within the first 6 hours of the injury. The idea behind the cooling cap is that once the initial injury has happened, there are periods in which the injury can further causing more damage. The cap is placed on the infants during the first phase of the injury in hopes of reducing the chance for the injury to further develop. The cooling caps bring the temperature of the head down and is left in place for 72 hours. Once the time period is over, they bring the infants body back up to regular body temperature.

Annabella was now having an electroencephalography done. This was to last 24 hours to monitor for seizures.

There were wires everywhere coming off her head.

I didn’t want to leave her side that night, but due to my recovery, I had to get some sleep. We stayed at a local hotel not far from the hospital. It was home for now.

The place we would run to after a long day of seeing her and filling up time doing other things. The next day Annabella had the leads from the EEG taken off early. She didn’t show any signs of seizures. We were happy, but the real test was the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We were told we would get to hold her once this was done. We were to come the next day and it would be time for us to finally feel like the family we were wanting. But the next day came, and the MRI was scheduled later than was originally said.

We were told we couldn’t hold her yet. We were all very disappointed. It hurt my heart. My husband had been so excited only to be let down, and I could see the disappointment on his face.

The next day we got the results of the MRI. She had

70 March 2014

Every day we saw her get stronger and better. We had to return home so my mom could go back to work and I could go to the doctor for my appointment. It was hard going back without my mom. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald house the rest of our stay and walked to and from the hospital every day.

Annabella was getting better. We would stimulate her right hand and she would grip ours. We knew she would be just fine. We started to feed her which was a difficult task at first, but learned she had a massive appetite that I couldn’t fulfill breastfeeding her. We watched her open her eyes for the first time.

We had so many firsts down there even though she was only a week old. It was hard watching the nurses still do things to her. She had a picc line in and when they took it out, unfortunately, it got stuck in her vein and it took three people to help remove it. I couldn’t bare listening to the screams she made as they tugged away at it, but then again, it was one step closer to her going home.

The day finally came. It was August 1st and she was finally going home to join our family! We had several outfits for her to wear, but just chose a simple onesie because of the summer heat. We packed up everything we had, went through a little bit of “going home training”, and then we were wheeled out. Alex drove the car up, she was put inside, and we were off.

Annabella is now a healthy toddler and her birth injury doesn’t affect anything she does. She runs and plays. She laughs and dances. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome! We all had some healing to do after the injury, but as a family, we all support each other and built a tighter bond. Annabella wouldn’t be where she is today without the love and support she receives on a daily basis from her family. We are truly blessed to have her and the joy she brings to our lives.

Samaritan’s SnackPacks for Kids Feeds Thousands Each Week

by Mary Mann Samaritan Community Center

L

ike other Samaritan Community Center (SCC) service programs, SnackPacks for Kids grew from the discovery of a community need that wasn’t being met.

Fourteen years ago Debbie Rambo, Samaritan Community Center’s executive director, heard a story from a teacher-friend in another state about a young kindergarten student who came to school on a Monday morning and fainted in the hallway outside his classroom. In talking to the child they found out that the last time he had eaten was the previous Friday at school. The child fainted, they concluded, because when he walked into the school that morning and smelled food being prepared in the cafeteria his body just reacted and he literally fainted from hunger.

The story had such a profound impact on Rambo that she immediately began researching to see if a similar need existed in Northwest Arkansas. To her dismay she found that here - in the seemingly affluent part of Arkansas - literally tens of thousands of children are at risk for hunger or food insecurity when not in school.

At the time, SCC offered a food pantry and a soup kitchen but there was no local program that worked to ensure hungry school children (who were not getting fed at home for whatever reason) would have food security on weekends and during other times they were not at school. So, after extensive research on program implementation logistics and securing start-up funds, SnackPacks for Kids was launched in January 2005 with three initial school participants: Bonnie Grimes Elementary and Grace Hill Elementary in Rogers, and Mary Mae Jones Elementary in Bentonville.

The first year SCC distributed a total of 7000 snackpacks for the entire year. Today, SCC’s SnackPacks for Kids program has grown to provide more than 6500 snackpacks weekly to school children in 76 elementary schools and 18 Head Start centers in

Washington, Benton, Madison and Carroll counties at an average cost to SCC of $30,000 each month.

In only nine years this fledgling program has grown from distributing 7000 snackpacks a year to a predicted 7000 snackpacks a week by the end of the current academic school year. And just last month, in February, SCC recognized the distribution of its one millionth snackpack in a special ceremony at R. E. Baker Elementary in Bentonville with many local dignitaries, program volunteers and others critical to the development of this vital program on-hand.

“For the program to have grown this much in nine years is a direct testament to the need that exists in Northwest Arkansas,” says Rambo. “It’s not a perceived need – it’s a real need.”

Delivering 6500-7000 snackpacks to 94 elementary schools and Head Start centers in four counties every week can be a logistical challenge – one that SCC has conquered with careful organization and planning.

Prior to Christmas and spring break extra snackpacks are delivered for distribution the last day of school so that a child takes home enough food to help them get through the extended time away. The biggest logistical “We have a family who moves often. The girl who is in kindergarten “clings” to the SnackPacks. As strange as it sounds, the SnackPacks are a big constant she counts on. She tells us that when she and her brothers don’t come to school, they have no food.”

--Washington Co. school SnackPacks coordinator

challenge occurs in the summer when children are not in school. During this time SCC gives away snackpacks weekly through its two cafés each Thursday, through summer school lunch programs, church lunch programs and other public venues.

“We (SCC) determine the number of snackpacks that go to each school using a matrix we developed based on how many children in each school qualify for free and reduced lunches,” says Bonnie Faitak, SCC snackpacks program coordinator. Once the snackpacks are in the hands of school officials Faitak says it’s up to them to determine who actually receives a snackpack.

“People are always amazed when they hear that we are distributing 6500 snackpacks a week because it sounds like a lot,” says Rambo. “The reality is there are approximately 45,000 elementary school children on the free and reduced lunch program in the four county area who technically qualify to receive our snackpacks and we are only able to serve six percent of those children,” she says.

SCC’s snackpacks are filled with eight healthy snacks that are chosen for both their nutrition value (healthy and able to stay in the child’s stomach longer) and their affordability for inclusion in the program. A SCC snackpack is a small white plastic shopping bag filled with a pudding cup, individual cereal packet, a cereal bar, Ramen noodle packet, dried fruit mix, fruit cup, fruit snack and an instant oatmeal packet. SnackPacks for Kids is a peanut-free program and because of this and the need to provide healthy, filling snacks, snackpack drives are asked to limit the food collected to these items only.

“Financial contributions to Snackpacks for Kids and

food donation drives are critical for us,” says Faitak.

“We do not take any state or government funds to sustain any of our programs, and at a cost of $30,000 per month, this is our most expensive community feeding program.”

One major on-going battle for SCC is the belief by many in the general public that poverty and childhood hunger does exist in Northwest Arkansas. “If people who think there is no hunger or poverty here could hear the kids’ stories it would quickly dispel their disbelief,” says Faitak. “One little Springdale girl who regularly receives a snackpack recently told her school counselor she was thankful for the snackpacks because it meant that she didn’t have to eat the crawdads her mom caught out of the creek!

“What people really don’t think though is that a child is not in control of whether or not they have access to food, and there are many children in this area who only eat when they are fed at school,” concludes Faitak.

Samaritan Community Center is located in Rogers and Springdale and is a grace-driven nonprofit that serves the hurting and hungry of Northwest Arkansas through a compassionate community of staff and volunteers. For more information: www.samcc.org, or contact SnackPacks Coordinator Bonnie Faitak at 479.636.4198, Ext. 28.

Hands on Fun

At a Glance ARTS and MUSIC

At a Glance

Abrakadoodle (Pg. 53) (479) 856-6651 abrakadoodle.com Crystal Bridges (Pg. 64) (479) 418-5700 crystalbridges.org/KidsDirectory Imagine Studios (Pg. 12) (479) 619-6085 imagine-studios.com Pottery Worx (Pg. 25) (479) 970-7857 Walton Arts Center (Pg. 65) www.waltonartscenter.org

BANKS

First Security Bank (Pg. 24) www.fsbank.com

CHILDCARE/NANNY SERVICES

ABC Happy Kids Learning Academy (Pg. 71) (479) 621-6126 www.abchappykids.com Bentonville Christian Academy (Pg. 80) (479) 616-4880 bentonvillechristian.org Better Beginnings (Pg. 11) 1-800-445-3316 arbetterbeginnings.com The Kid’s Studio (Pg. 22) (479) 268-6675 www.thekidsstudio.com Larson’s Language Center (Pg. 20) (479) 633-9900 www.larsonslanguagecenter.com Mary’s Little Lambs (Pg. 69) (479) 273-1011 Seeking Sitters (Pg. 28) (501) 203-3097 www.seekingsitters.com Walnut Farm Montessori School (Pg. 79) (479) 271-9424 walnutfarmmontessori.com Wee Care Christian Preschool (Pg. 66) (479) 442-5312 www.weecareubc.org

CLOTHING / FURNITURE

3 Monkeys (Pg. 5) (479) 271-0701 Hands Full Consignment Sale (Pg. 39) Little Darlings (Pg. 25) (479) 464-8492

DANCE/CHEER/TUMBLE/STRETCH

Hopes & Dreams Gymnastics (Pg. 35) (479) 751-8844 hopesdreamsgym.com The Little Gym (Pg. 46) (479) 636-5566 tlgrogersar.com

DENTIST / ORTHODONTIST

Dr. Brown - Orthodontics Exclusively (Pg. 33) www.drbrownbraces.com Smile Shoppe Pediatric Dentistry (Pg. 49) (479) 631-6377

DERMATOLOGY

NWA Center for Plastic Surgery (Pg. 7) (479) 571-3100 nwacenterforplasticsurgery.com

EDUCATION

Walnut Farm Montessori School (Pg. 79) (479) 271-9424 walnutfarmmontessori.com

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT

Fast Lane Entertainment (Pg. 43)

(479) 659-0999 www.fastlanebowl.com

Mad Science (Pg. 73)

(479) 444-0303 www.madscience.org/nwa The Party Place (Pg. 8)

thepartyplacear.com (479) 230-9494

Starlight Skatium (Pg. 17)

(479) 444-STAR

Youth of the Year Celebration (Pg. 78)

FOOD / DRINK

TCBY (Pg. 3) (479) 636-8229 (TCBY)

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

A. R. Chiropractic (Pg. 45)

(479) 236-3606 ARchiropractic.com

Dr. Jim Elkins (Pg. 63, 71)

(479) 636-0300

Friendship Pediatric Services (Pg. 4)

Siloam: (479) 770-0744 Siloam: (479) 524-2456

West Fork: (479) 839-3359

Ginn Foot and Ankle (Pg. 33)

(479) 254-1975 www.nwafoot.com

Morter Health Corner (Pg. 17)

(479)636-1324 morterhealthcorner.com

Tate HealthCare (Pg. 37)

(479) 271-6511 www.tatehealthcare.com

HOME and YARD

Carpet Smart (Pg. 9) (479) 750-0117 / (866) 795-8520 Two Men and a Truck (Pg. 57) www.twomennwa.com

INSURANCE

Delta Dental (Pg. 38) deltadentalar.com

JEWELRY AND GIFTS

David Adams (Pg. 53) davidadams.com

LEARNING CENTER

ABC Happy Kids Learning Academy (Pg. 71) (479) 621-6126 www.abchappykids.com Brick by Brick (Pg. 23) (479) 582-LEGO www.razorbricks.com Bricks 4 Kidz (Pg. 29) (479) 268-4345 Larson’s Language Center (Pg. 20) (479) 633-9900 www.larsonslanguagecenter.com LearningRx (Pg. 63) Bentonville: (479) 715-6870

MARTIAL ARTS

ATA (Pg. 31)

Bentonville: (479) 273-1212 / Fay: (479) 443-5425

OPTOMETRIST

Pediatric Vision Development Center (Pg. 61) nwavisiontherapy.com (479) 795-1411

PEDIATRICIAN

Best Start Pediatric Clinic (Pg. 21) (479) 575-9359 Bentonville Pediatric Clinic (Pg. 18) (479) 273-5437 The Children’s Clinic at Springdale (Pg. 19) (479) 751-2522 Harvey Pediatrics (Pg. 15) (479) 254-1100 harveypediatrics.com MANA NWA Pediatric Clinic (Pg. 59) Wellness: (479) 443-3471 Urgent: (479) 442-7322

PLASTIC SURGEON

NWA Center for Plastic Surgery (Pg. 2) (479) 571-3100 www.nwacenterforplasticsurgery.com

ABC Happy Kids Learning Academy (Pg. 71) (479) 621-6126 www.abchappykids.com Bentonville Christian Academy (Pg. 80) (479) 616-4880 bentonvillechristian.org The Kid’s Studio (Pg. 22) (479) 268-6675 www.thekidsstudio.com Larson’s Language Center (Pg. 20) (479) 633-9900 www.larsonslanguagecenter.com Mary’s Little Lambs (Pg. 69) (479) 273-1011 Walnut Farm Montessori School (Pg. 79) (479) 271-9424 walnutfarmmontessori.com Wee Care Christian Preschool (Pg. 66) (479) 442-5312 www.weecareubc.org

PRESCHOOL/ PRE-K

SALON - HAIR AND NAILS

Pigtails&Crewcuts (Pg. 51) (479) 935-4121 pigtailsandcrewcuts.com

SURROGACY SERVICES

Gifted Journeys (Pg. 42) (818) 505-3026 www.giftedjourneys.com

THERAPY

ABC Happy Kids Learning Academy (Pg. 71)

(479) 621-6126 www.abchappykids.com

Dr. Thomas Terry Lawson (Pg. 55)

(479) 444-1400 www.terrylawson.com

Friendship Pediatric Services (Pg. 4)

Siloam: (479) 770-0744 Siloam: (479) 524-2456

West Fork: (479) 839-3359

Tate HealthCare (Pg. 37)

(479) 271-6511

WOMEN’S HEALTH

Life Spring Women’s Health (Pg. 27) (479) 271-0005 lifespringhealthcare.com Northwest Willow Creek Women’s Hospital (Pg. 13) (479) 684-3000 Northwest Pediatrics (Pg. 59) (479) 553-1000 Parkhill Clinic for Women (Pg. 67) (479) 521-4433 Siloam Springs Women’s Center (Pg. 74) (479) 524-9312 siloamwomenscenter.com Washington Regional Her Health (Pg. 48) (479) 463-5500 wregional.com