author visits

Joie’s First School Visit a Success!

Posted by Barbara Techel

Joie in tshirt 1200Joie and I are back home after our visit to Trinity Lutheran School! She did very well and as you can imagine, she was a big hit. The gymnasium was lined with posters of “Frankie the Walk ‘N Roll Dog”  and posters announcing “meet the author, May 10th” which were done by the older students.

At the end of the presentation, Mrs. K presented Joie with a gift from the students.  And what you see Joie wearing in the photo is the very special and sweet gift.  It is Trinity Lutheran School’s t-shirt and all the kids signed it!  It is so precious and yes, I got tears in my eyes when I opened the gift.

tshirt collageThank you to all the students and teachers, and principal Greg and Mrs. K for such a warm and kind welcome.  As I told the students, they were the test school and if Joie did well I’d be open to visiting more schools in the future with Joie. They seemed pretty excited to be the school who started a new “walk ‘n roll dog” rolling into a new adventure.

I hope to share a few more pictures from the morning that another teacher  took and will be sending me. It is tricky when kids are involved as you have to have permission to share their photos, so will see what I can share.  But the morning was a success and my heart smiles.

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The Adventure Continues. A New School Presentation Starring Joie!

Posted by Barbara Techel

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Yesterday I worked all day updating my presentation that I used to do with Frankie for school’s. Joie will now take the lead as the star of the show following in Frankie’s tire tracks. Still crossing my fingers all goes well and that Joie will enjoy a few outings to school’s if they will have us.

Trinity Lutheran will be having us visit next Friday, May 10th. They will be the big test for little Joie. I’m starting to get excited now that I practiced my presentation today. I’ll practice a few more times before then, but so far, so good.

It was fun choosing photos of Joie to show kids that even with a disability she can do many of the same things as dogs who walk on all four paws– and the lesson for them being that they can too, no matter their challenges.  I shouldn’t be surprised I’ve already built up quite a library of photos of sweet face, clown, Joie– but what fun I had choosing which shots to turn into slides.  Thought I’d share some of them with you, too.

I’ll still use Frankie’s books and read from the first one I wrote about her. In regards to instilling in children to make a difference despite challenges, I updated my talk to include National Walk ‘N Roll Dog Day and the Frankie Wheelchair Fund.

I smile thinking about how this all came together. Never did I think after Frankie passed I’d be doing this again… but I am… and it feels good. The adventure continues.

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Stay tuned tomorrow for my interview on Almost Perfect Pets: Disabled Pets and the People Who Love Them blog.  Also today made a donation from the Frankie Wheelchair Fund for a Dachshund named Bam Bam!  She will get her wheels soon!  Love when I get to do this!  If you’d like to help in our efforts with a donation please feel free to visit our website to make a contribution. As always, so grateful for our donors to make this all possible.

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Welcoming the Familiar. Joie’s School Appearance Debut.

Posted by Barbara Techel

joie and me april 2013Joie and I will be making our first school appearance on May 10th. Well, I guess I should say it is actually Joie’s first appearance at a school as I’ve done these quite a few times.

I’m working on updating my presentation which will now be a mix of Frankie’s story and will include Joie’s as well.  I think there will be some wonderful teaching moments. I had John take this photo above as I needed a new one to send to school’s when they book a visit with us.

When Frankie passed away I really didn’t think I’d ever be doing school visits again. But I’m happy to give it a try with Joie and see if she  is up for it. While I don’t know if I will do as many as I did with Frankie, I am excited about integrating this into my schedule and doing some during the school year again.   I’m hoping the visit and presentation goes well, so I can also look into us visiting classrooms via Skype as well.

Though my life feels like a whole new chapter -a whole new book, really, since Frankie has been gone–It also feels familiar with going back to some of the things I did before.

I welcome the familiar, but am also excited to continue to move forward with new adventures.

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Tomorrow for my continued Joyful Paws Jaunt Blog Tour I’ll be sharing my guest post on Mad About Dachshunds. If you love Dachshunds you really need to check out their website and Facebook page.  Stop on by my blot post tomorrow and leave a comment so your name can be entered to win a e-book copy of Through Frankie’s Eyes.