$6,525.16

That's the new total! With the anonymous $1,000 donation and a few others that have arrived, we are past the half way point! Only $4,474.84 left to go! Really not even that much! I have another envelope ready to be mailed that has over $100 worth of donations too!

There's still time! If you still would like to get that tax deduction, it just has to be post marked by December 31st! Get that donation in the mail today! Donations can be mailed to:

4 Paws for Ability, Inc

253 Dayton Avenue

Xenia, OH 45385

Be sure you add "In honor of Noah Henderson" on the menu part of your check!

Thanks to everyone who has already made donations! Please pass along Noah's story to others! You never know when we may find our "fundraising Angel"

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

GREAT NEWS!

"Merry Christmas from 4 Paws" was the start of the e-mail! The rest goes on to say that a donation from an anonymous Foundation was received at 4 Paws and Noah was the beneficiary of $1,000 towards his fundraising goal!! That has us over the half way point!! I'm so excited, I can hardy contain myself! Since I don't know of any other donations that are coming in, I suspect we are at $6,408.56 but it could be more if any of the other families that recently reached their goals may have gone over! I can only pray! We will find out for sure Dec. 30th.

On behalf of Noah and his family, A GREAT BIG THANK YOU goes out to the Anonymous Foundation! You have helped to make his dream come true! You (along with many others) have played an important part in providing Noah with the independence and freedom he deserves! And for that, I am truly grateful! You have not only provided this for Noah, but also for our whole family! Thank you!

On a separate note, the dates for 2009 were posted today and the 2 available months for us to be in training (for non tracking) are June (I don't think it's full yet!) or October. So once we finish our fundraising we will be assigned to one of these classes! We are praying for a spot in the June class! This will work out better for Noah so he can have time to bond with the dog before going to school and he won't have to miss any days from school! Although, as I've said before, this is all in God's time, and we will follow His plan!

I pray each and everyone of you have a wonderful and Blessed Christmas! Please remember the "real reason for the season!" Thank you Jesus for being born just to die for us!

Slow and steady wins the race!

I received Noah's new total yesterday. We have raised a total of $5,408.56. As I said before, this will happen in God's time and according to His will! I've placed my trust in Jesus. Although I am praying for a Christmas miracle!!

Please share Noah's story with everyone you meet this holiday season! Feel free to give them his Blog address so they can read about him for themselves.

Do you have someone on your Christmas list that has everything and you are truly having a hard time trying to find just the right gift for them?? How about making a tax deductible donation in honor of Noah in that person's name?? Then you have given a gift to that person and have helped Noah as well! Please remember no gift is too small. Even if you can only give a few pennies, those pennies add up!! Look at our total, we have 56 cents that was given by a young man at our church that wanted to do whatever he could to help Noah! He emptied his piggy bank and brought it to his mom and said, I want to give this to Noah! Could you give the coins in your pocket? Every cent counts!!

Coming together in God's time!

Our original goal was to have our fundraising completed by Thanksgiving. I have come to accept that this whole process will come together only in God's time! I see many things that I believe Noah has to experience before receiving his dog. Not all these things are positive! Noah is going through medication changes currently. He is having many up and down days. I believe all these things are just God's way of confirming to us that we are doing the right thing. God is in control! I believe there are changes to be made in his class at school before we can move on to the challenge of getting his dog in school with him and I believe God is working these things out now so they are not such a challenge later!

We are ready, when God says it's time!

We have also been blessed with a free XL dog kennel for Noah's dog once we do bring it home! There are many supplies we will need for Noah's dog and many people have been helping to provide those. We are extremely grateful to all of you, you know who you are!

We are about half way to our goal! We have tentatively planned a fundraiser for January, also. I need lots of help with this fundraiser and I'm leaning on many of you for that help! I know it will all come together in time!

Please, if you know of anyone who would like to get that last tax deduction in before the end of the year, tell them about 4 Paws for Ability and Noah. Show them Noah's blog, tell them how easy it is to donate in honor of Noah, and tell them how much this will change Noah's life!

For the first time in months, Noah got away from me again the other day and my heart just sank to my feet! We were out shopping with my parents on Thanksgiving day and when walking out of Big Lots, Noah wanted to run to Memaw and Papa who were already at the car. I was holding our bags and opening the door when he took off! If you know where Big Lots is, you know there is a "road" before the parking lot. When I caught Noah, he was in the middle of this road! Needless to say, he got his bottom popped right there in the middle of the road! All that was going through my head was, Thank you God, my baby wasn't hit! Then, my thoughts went straight to, Lord, please help us get this dog home quick! I'm afraid one day I won't be so lucky to catch him!! I just thank God for each day we get and for good running shoes!

I pray each of you have a Blessed week! I'll update again once I have new totals!

We are getting there!

I got the e-mail today with our latest total! We have reached $5,363. We are starting to move up more slowly but we are still going up!

I have decided to start collecting drink cans and veggie cans to recycle as donation money. If you have any drink cans or veggie cans, would you please save them for Noah? I will be more than happy to pick them up from you, just contact me when you have enough for me to pick up! Please, rinse all the cans out and if possible, separate the drink cans from the veggie cans as they are different types of metals and go in different places at the recycle center!

Don't forget, we have planned a fundraising dinner in January too! The date is not nailed down just yet but we are thinking January 17th. I'm thinking we will have soups and stews! Please let me know what famous soup or stew you can prepare for that day! I'm thinking of doing an all you can eat dinner, but I'm afraid I'll run out of food before everyone is served! Any ideas will be greatly appreciated!! Please e-mail me at pittil8@aol.com with any ideas or with the type of soup/stew or other item you can donate!

Also, if you or someone you know is looking for a great cause to make your end of the year tax deductible donation to, please consider making a donation in honor of Noah to 4 Paws for Ability. Please help us bring Noah's Fur-ever friend home!!