Magnificent Mindy!

Evan had a multi-day EEG and Mindy was a huge help. She watched over him, played with him and was his constant companion. We stayed at the Ronald McDonald House and she was great!

Evan on CNN!

Last week Evan and Mindy were featured on CNN in a story that nicely represented our family and Evan's journey with a service dog.

If you missed the story, here is a link to the video and a blog post Evan wrote for CNN to accompany his story.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/19/health/moss-seizure-dog/index.html

It has been interesting for our family to receive so much media attention but it is great to be able to bring so much awareness to the topics or epilepsy, tuberous sclerosis and service dogs.

The Amazing Mindy!

The more time Evan spends with Mindy, the closer they become. It's been great to watch them as they figure out how to work together as a service dog team. Mindy goes to school with Evan, plays with him outside, lays next to him when he reads and of course sleeps with Evan.

We had a very interesting experience recently with Mindy. One morning she barked and acted like she thought Evan was having a seizure. But when we checked on Evan, it didn't look that way. He looked like he was sleeping and there was no unusual movement or sound. We asked Evan if he was having a seizure and were surprised when he said "yes". This happened several mornings, resulting in a call to his neurologist. She made a simple change to one of his medications and the seizures stopped. He still has a different type of seizure but we would have never known about the more subtle ones without Mindy.

Thanks Mindy and 4 Paws for Ability!! We feel so fortunate to have Mindy in our lives and are grateful for this four-legged addition to our family.

School Days

Today was the first day of school for Aria, Evan and Mindy! They were all excited for their big day.

The school has been great and Mindy received a warm welcome. We went to school a little early to to get situated. She has a mat right next to Evan's desk and Evan's teacher even taped a name tag on the floor like she did on the desks for each of the children.

Rob went to school too and will go every day for the first couple weeks to help with the transition. How do we kee him away from Mindy's nylabone?

Evan's classmates loved getting to meet Mindy and she was perfect all day. It's a learning experience for everyone but I think we are pretty fortunate to have a great team at the school. I predict that it's going to be a fantastic year!

Coming to a TV near you!

Yesterday we had a small film crew from NBC hang out with us for a few hours. They were doing a follow up story about Evan's journey to meet Mindy. We talked about why we decided to get a service dog, publishing Evan's book through CreateSpace.com and what life with Mindy is like.

After the interviews they filmed Evan and Mindy playing together before we went to the school to practice getting on and off the bus. They did really well and the people from the transportation department were really helpful at figuring out how to position Mindy on the bus and let us practice multiple times. The driver tested the air brakes repeatedly so Mindy would get used to the sound and we rode around on the bus a bit to acclimate her to her new ride. It was helpful to work with such a great team to make this new experience positive for everyone involved!

Evan on the Fox Cable Network!

In case you missed Mindy's TV debut yesterday here is the link...

Evan and Mindy!

Evan and Mindy are becoming fast friends. He really loves having her with him and she follows him if he leaves the room so I think it's a perfect match! Here are a few pictures of the two of them together...

Hanging with Mindy and Dinky!


Playing DS with Mindy.

And of course, throwing the Frisbee!

Evan and Mindy in Ohio before we came home.