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Cataleya's Crusade

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Cataleya's Crusade

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01/05/2026

Today is National Braille Day, honoring Louis Braille, who created the Braille system as a teenager in the 1800s. Braille uses patterns of six raised dots to represent letters, numbers, and punctuation — and it remains one of the most powerful tools for literacy and independence for people who are blind or visually impaired.

For my daughter, Braille isn’t just a reading method. It’s confidence. It’s privacy. It’s the ability to learn, label, create, and communicate in a world that relies so heavily on screens and print.

And we wouldn’t be where we are without the people who have championed her every step of the way — a huge thank you to Lori, Jeff, Ron, Joe, and Kirsten who have been some of her biggest supporters and cheerleaders in this journey. 💛

Sharing a few favorites from our life with Braille:
• Her “Be Kind” shirt — in Braille
• My EndNF tattoo — in Braille
• And two pieces she made with her Braille machine: a cat and a heart 🐾❤️

Braille is access. Braille is literacy. Braille is freedom.

Happy National Braille Day to everyone who reads it, teaches it, and advocates for it.

12/31/2025

KitKat had her first solo in church a few weeks ago. Just getting around to posting it now. She has had no formal vocal training and this was a hard song to perform! She FaceTimed her Grandma in Montana of the course of two weeks that she had to prepare. She was nervous and forgot a verse and asked to start over but handled it like the champ she is! She is now determined to grow her voice so next year she will come out stronger! Love her determination!

Hope everyone has a blessed New Year!

12/25/2025

Celebrating another year around the sun! Our beautiful KitKat is officially a “teen” today. However, her day was a little different this year because she is sick. 🤒 So we didn’t get to do her annual brunch but she still managed to dress up at home and decorated her cookies for Santa and enjoyed some of her “cattlelya orchid” cupcakes that Michele made for her. Lots of coughing, sniffling and losing of her voice but I know she would love to wake up to beautiful “Happy Birthday” wishes!

May everyone have a blessed Christmas and holiday season! As always thank you all for the love and support you continue to show our daughter! 💙

12/06/2025

💛 Proud Mom Moment Incoming…
I’m sharing this drawing my daughter made, and honestly, my heart could burst. Not just because it’s beautiful, but because of what it represents for her.

With her visual impairment, creating art has always meant feeling her way through things more than seeing them. But lately she’s been using AI and ChatGPT to help her understand the parts of a picture she can’t quite make out — things like shading, shape, spacing, and little visual details most people take for granted.

It doesn’t draw for her.
It helps her understand the world so she can draw.

And for this mama… watching that kind of independence grow is everything. 💛

Being homeschooled, she’s also been using AI to help her understand math equations step-by-step and learn new concepts at her own pace.
Always responsibly.
Always with supervision.
Always with guardrails around what she can access and how she uses it.

I know AI can be scary or misunderstood, but what I see is a tool that’s helping my girl bridge gaps she’s been battling for years. A tool that’s giving her confidence, clarity, and a way to express everything she has inside her.

Her drawing is more than just a picture.
It’s proof that when kids are given the right tools — and the right support — they can shine in ways we never imagined.

I’m so proud of her. Proud of her strength, her creativity, her curiosity, and the way she keeps finding new ways to make her world bigger.

If you need me, I’ll be over here staring at this drawing like the emotional mom I am. 🥹✨

11/04/2025

Good news! KitKat’s tumors are stable! We are grateful with each scan that they continue to remain that way! We still have a few more things we are trying to get answers for but that’s for another day and we will take our wins for the day!

As luck would have it, we also got to see fellow NF mom, Amy and her daughter Olivia at Seattle Children’s!! It was so nice to connect with them! KitKat loves seeing other kids with NF and makes her feel like she “belongs”. We both talked about how amazingly resilient these kiddos are with all they endure and yet still have the biggest hearts!

Speaking of big hearts…KitKat made lavender satchels for all the nurses and doctors today!

11/01/2025

The aliens arrived last night to take KitKat back to the mothership! It’s been confirmed! Hope everyone had a safe and dry Halloween! 🎃

10/07/2025

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month 💜

This month holds special meaning for our family.

Our daughter, Cataleya, continues to show us what real strength and courage look like. She battles brain tumors that are taking her vision, yet she refuses to let that define her. In her words, her visual impairment is her superpower. She says it helps her see the world differently, with more heart, empathy, and creativity than most people could ever imagine.

We grew up in a family that believed deeply in inclusion and respect. Our dad worked in group homes and devoted his life to helping people with developmental disabilities find purpose and independence. He taught us that every person deserves dignity and opportunity and that our differences make the world stronger.

Watching Cataleya live her life with so much positivity and grace reminds us every day that disability isn’t weakness, it’s another form of strength. 💪

This month, we want to celebrate not just her story, but everyone’s story.
If you or someone you love is living with a disability and would like to share how it’s become your superpower, we’d love to feature you here throughout October! Together, we can shine a light on the many ways people with disabilities inspire, achieve, and thrive.

💜 Let’s celebrate every “superpower” that makes the world brighter.

09/23/2025

Long overdue post! It was a busy summer for the family! We spent most of the summer getting our house ready to put on the market! Good news is it sold! So we spent the last two months packing and getting settled into our new house!

Cat is loving it out here and has grown fond of the lavender we have. So I showed her how to harvest it and she dried them out and made some lavender pouches that she has been handing out to everyone! She loves taking daily walks with our dog Paisley on our private road and visiting with all the neighbors. They knew about us before we knew about them!

Cat also decided to cut her hair again! It was time for a change! Speaking of change…another new thing for our family is homeschooling! Don’t even get me started on how difficult it was to get her registered with an online school etc but we managed! She started last week and is she is finally settling in a bit better this week. She thrives on routine! Im really loving having her home with us! Her mental health is so much better and we have been setting aside more time to learn about God as she has lots of questions and dreams! We bought a Kitchen Aid now that we have more room so she will also be learning how to cook as part of her learning at home! Our spring project will be starting in our greenhouse and planning our summer garden!

We have introduced her to ChatGPT and she is loving all the research she can do on NF! Her new goal is to be a NF scientist some day and believes she can find that cure!! Gosh I just love this girl and her eagerness to make a difference in this world! We need more Cataleya’s in this world!

I also discovered last weekend that she is pretty good at co****le for being a visually impaired individual! Beat me right out of the gate! 😂

Last but not least, her tumors remain stable and we are working on some nutritional challenges around being insulin resistant. It’s always something new but we are figuring things out as we go!

Hope everyone is well and happy fall!!

07/22/2025

Kit Kat went camping in the great outdoors this weekend ! Lots of fun with her daddy and friends and as always, spreading the news to ! 💚💙💚💙

07/09/2025

KitKat had some fun at “Grandpa Camp” on the 4th of July!

06/11/2025

Award assembly today at KitKat’s school! She got a Principal Award for no discipline and exhibiting qualities of their school values; President’s Award for Educational Achievement; and the Perseverance Award! She has missed over 27 days over the course of the school year and has worked so hard this lastst semester to achieve straight A’s! She is our hero and continues to amaze us with her perseverance and dedication to her education! Super proud of you baby girl!!

Address

Salmon La Sac Rd
Mercer Island, WA
98940

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