About Us

Hi, I am Shelley, Sam's mom. Asa and I got married in 1998. We had Sam in 2003. My hubby is a marketing product manager at Itron, Inc and is retired from the Washington Air National Guard. We own our own business, where I assist people with their bookkeeping, websites, and databases. I worked from home so I could be there for Sam's needs. Currently, I am also a student at EWU and will be graduating in 2020 with a Data Analytics Major and a Web Application Development Minor.

Sam was born with an intestinal disease called Hirschsprung, for which he has had several surgeries, which also included visits to the Wisconsin and Seattle Children's Hospitals. Sam was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3. At that time, he had no speech, so I started to teach him sign language. At the age of 5, he finally said, mom. I was elated!!!

Sam was very sensitive to touch and sounds. He, to this day, doesn't like to be touched unless he is expecting it. Sam wears ear muffs when needed for sound sensitivity. He hated shopping, so I became very adept at online shopping. Grocery stores were hard because he didn't want to go near fire alarms. We couldn't go down an aisle with a fire alarm in it (especially in the ceiling). I couldn't take him shoe shopping, having a barefoot (even with a sock) was embarrassing to him. Sam spent his time in specialized behavior/special needs preschools at Gonzaga and EWU. He also had speech, behavioral, and physical therapies.

While he still deals with the Hirschsprung disease and will for the rest of his life, he doesn't need therapies anymore. Sam currently is a sophomore at his high school and is very active in Cross Country and Tennis. He is a huge fan of the Seattle Seahawks. He has plans to be an interior designer when he graduates from high school.