It is amazing to watch the dolphins. They really seem to sense the personality and needs of the children. Misty's dolphin is a mother and she "mothers" Misty. She is so gentle with her. She is also Justin's dolphin and there is a definite difference in the way she interacts with each of them. Even when she jumps it is different. She makes a big splash with Justin and flip her tail but with Misty she gently glides into the water. She shakes hands with Justin but with Misty she wants hugs. She will work her tail harder and propel herself up out of the water without disturbing the water around Misty. It is amazing to watch and then she moves her body in closer to Misty until Misty wraps her arms around her and lays her head against her. Afterwards Squirt will click with delight and Misty just beams. Misty was doing an independent swim today with the surf board. Like the dolphin push Misty holds the surfboard in front of her keeps her knees locked and the dolphin comes up behind and pushes. Misty directs the swim with the surf board. Misty forgot to steer today and was head toward the rock wall Squirt just stopped until Misty got her board turned the right way and then she went back and began again without even being told.

Jesse's main dolphin is Fiji. Fiji is just four years old and they describe him as mischievous and energtic. He fits Jesse perfectly. Normally when they do a dorsal swim the child grabs the dorsal fin (the big fin on the back) and the dolphin goes straight toward the dock and drops the child off. When Jesse swims with Fiji we never know what to expect. Yesterday Fiji swayed him back and forth in an "s" pattern and Jesse loved it. Fiji seemed to know that Jesse is the adventerous one. Though he never puts Jesse at risk. He is very safe with him. Today when Fiji was suppose to take Jesse on a free swim in a circle. Fiji expanded the circle and took him almost all the way around the lagoon. Misty and Jesse worked together today each holding a pole out in the middle of the lagoon and Fiji and Squirt jumped it in unison. It was a beautiful and majestic sight.

Justin still has not made an independent swim. He latches onto his therapist with one hand the entire time;though today, he did let him turn him all the way around facing outward away from the therapist to reach out and play with the dolphins. We have talked with Justin about making a independent swim tomorrow. We hope he will be able to do it. We also visited the touch tank today. At first Justin wouldn't have anything to do with it. He didn't want to pick up anything. On the other hand with Jesse it was all we could do to keep him out of the tank. Misty was funny. She would pick things up out of the tank but she was careful to only pick up shells that she knew where empty. By the end of the session though Justin was venturing up to pick up things on his own like a Brittle Starfish, a sea urchin and a starfish.

This has been such a great experience. We can hardly believe that we are here. The staff at the center have been tremendous. We can not thank them enough for their hospitality, kindness and effort to work with us and find solutions. But then again there are so so many people to thank. All the people at HFUMC, Corinth, Mike and Susan Hollingsworth, Kathy Leadbeater and Dr. Phillips High School, Andy, Dianne and Quetine Anderson, Pat and Harold Hudson, Andy Kober, Sherry Brown, not mention Jessica and Jason Newsome and Chad and Sarah Crowe and a whole list of other people. I almost hate to even mention names because I know I will forget someone. Really we could list the whole town of Hogansville because of the whole community's support we received. But we would be remiss if we didn't say a special thank you to Leslie Purdy. She was the one who first brought us the information about the program and who really encouraged us to pursue it even when I was concerned with how we would ever pay for it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.