Coming into the world 13 years ago at a whopping 24 inches; a princess disguised as an average baby invaded our home. From the moment we entered our home... we quickly realized that we were all under her spell. Mezmorized by her beauty, her perfect coco-brown complextion and happy nature, we knew that we had a very special baby in Ca-Nefer... we just did not know how special at the time. I remember the day it all changed. I remember when they said to us our daughter had autism... I was lost.

With tears flowing like a river, my thoughts: how could this happen? We planned the pregnancy and we never planned for this! What is autism anyway? It was my husband who did the first research and with his news in hand, he came to rescue me from drowning in my own sorrow. After explaining that this neurobiological disorder typically lasts a persons lifetime, we immediately began the coping process. We grieved for all of the aspirations that WE had for Ca-Nefer because we now had to focus on what GOD has intended for her. After coping, we made some specific decisions...

1) she may live with us all our lives therefore we must insure that she is self-sufficient,

2) we cannot do this task alone... our marriage is most important in our daughter's development,

3) always strive to increase her quality of life at all costs and

4) surround Ca-Nefer with people who love her and want to see her reach her fullest potential.

It is then we realized that we had a princess in our midst and we are to care for her like she is "the ring" and "our precious". Watching our princess grow has been a lesson for our lives... patience, faith, understanding and cooperation all of this with lots of love, hugs and eye ball kisses!! Many ups, downs and in betweens... but we do it all together as a family and her addition to our family has created a sometimes difficult but amazing journey.

Music has become Ca-Nefer's way to interact with the world. I remember her first favorite artist and song! Macy Gray and "I Try"! LOL!! Since then her genre's of music has shown us quite a bit about this young tween lady... Country being her favorite, Reggae, Rock & Roll, Gospel, R&B and some Hip Hop. She enjoys swimming, roller skating, art, music and her yarn creations. Most of all, she loves the comfort of her room; corner of the bed under her homemade blanket cave with her music blasting!! LOL!!

Now our princess stands at 5' 11" at 13 years old and she continues to progress nicely. She signs, she understands pictograms and she now has a speaking device to assist her with communicating with others. She knows she is a princess because she now expects exceptional treatment like Eddie Murphy in "Coming to America" (LOL). But most of all, we feel Ca-Nefer knows she has a family that loves her and will make sure that she reaches the destiny that is for her... for Ca-Nefer.