Ralph Button:  

a quiet kid that, how bad can 6 more of them be?? We told Social Services no abused kids, only kids that had medical issues. So they began to arrive, in Police Cars, and vans, with a garbage bag holding all the "stuff" they owned. Kids that were found in drug houses, in broken wheelchairs no meds as the med money was used by the parents for drugs. From families that just could not deal with a special needs child anymore. So one by one we - my wife would work with the doctors to sort out each Childs medical issues and get them back into "the medical system". Our boys helped out too playing with the kids making them laugh and laying there was always Jake quietly watching it all. Gradually Jake began to respond to the activity around him. Till finally he was able to crawl around the floor, then walk with a walker, but put him in a wheel chair and he soon learned how to get to whatever he wanted. Jake was and is always happy, a smile on his face always. As the Doctors told us he perceives the world around him like an old fashion snowy TV picture. In back of the snow you can see a few images. Somehow Jake has figured out a way to push the noise he has in his brain aside and see the world. Not all of the children that came through our home were "nice" most were mad or angry at the world. We never would have brought them in EXCEPT for a little boy named Jake. All the other children came and stayed for months to a few years, but Jake never left. An angel among us, who taught this workaholic that stopping to enjoy a sunset, or even to hug a child was far more important. IF anyone had a right to have been mad at the world for the hand he was dealt it would be Jake. In now over 20 years later he still pops up out of bed every morning smiling, will give any toy he has to any child that come by to visit with us, AND while he can't talk does let you know that Christmas is his time of year - and could you please turn on the Christmas Music please! Well we moved on to Texas for a number of years then back to NC and back to Texas then off to NY where we are now. I still take time off to race my car and the best part of living in the southern tier is Watkins Glen track is less than an hour away! Due to a deer on the interstate making a wrong choice for which way to run - the car had to have a new body and with it all new paint job! Am back at the track with a whole new look to the car! I'm considering retiring BUT the company seems to want to keep me on staff for now. So I'm doing what I can to teach how the systems work AND how to keep them running well. For now, behind the green curtain, I'm still there pulling "levers" making sure online shoppers can access our site going into the holiday shopping season!