The Little Light House is a Christian Developmental Center serving children with special needs from birth to six years of age. Laps for Little Ones is the longest-running annual fundraiser at the Little Light House, and has been an annual event for 31 years. Runners who compete at Laps for Little Ones raise money to help Little Light House students continue to receive tuition free therapy and special education services. Please support our Laps runners by helping them reach their goal!
Jessica Mardis' Laps for Little Ones
The Little Light House is a Christian Developmental Center for children with special needs. For the past 37 years students with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, and many other developmental delays have received special education and therapy services completely tuition free. Please help support Laps for Little Ones by donating to our runners!
This is my fourth year as a Speech-Language Pathologist at LLH. LAPS is one of our major fundraisers that helps support our tuition free school for children with developmental disabilities from birth to six years old. As a Christian school, our mode of operation is simple…God. We trust him to work miracles in our children, their families, and all who come in contact with them. We also trust God with our finances. LLH is a privately funded non-profit organization. That means ordinary people with ordinary money have kept this ministry in action for over 35 years! God is always faithful.
As many of you know I have greatly enjoyed this event in the past due to the fact that I had been training to run half marathons. I was already in shape and excited to have a crowd cheer me on during my “long weekend run†rather than cruise solo to the music in my I-Pod. This year is much different. My eyes have been opened to how real the need for a preschool for special needs children is.
Three short months ago I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Madeline. To my surprise (and hers), my dear friend Terry (a former teacher at LLH) was already at the same hospital welcoming her amazing daughter Morgan into the world. We had shared the exciting news of our pregnancies with each other with a bit of hesitation and anxiety as we had just gone through this together less than 2 years before with our sons. It was such a time of joy and anticipation as we envisioned how our kids would grow up together. It wasn’t but hours after Morgan was born that our vision changed a bit. That vision now showed the new role of The Little Light House in our lives. Among the excitement of finding out Terry had a healthy baby girl, us sharing our anxieties of having 2 kids under 2 years old and my overwhelming desire to go into labor, Morgan was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Our “motherly†chatting continued although flooded with discussion of feeding techniques, therapy needs, and all the things we had learned about Down Syndrome from working at The Little Light House. It is amazing how God prepares each of us to be equipped for the events that he plans for our lives. The place that was “where we worked†and “where we met†quickly became much more. LLH is the root of where our friendship started and now the branches that will help us reach out and support Morgan in her years of early education. It is fun to think that I will have such an active part in Morgan’s life both as a friend and professional. It even makes me smile to think of Madeline and Morgan as classmates in a couple of years thanks to SKIP (staff kids inclusion program).
Thank you for your support,
Jessica Mardis (pictured with Morgan Smejkal)
As many of you know I have greatly enjoyed this event in the past due to the fact that I had been training to run half marathons. I was already in shape and excited to have a crowd cheer me on during my “long weekend run†rather than cruise solo to the music in my I-Pod. This year is much different. My eyes have been opened to how real the need for a preschool for special needs children is.
Three short months ago I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Madeline. To my surprise (and hers), my dear friend Terry (a former teacher at LLH) was already at the same hospital welcoming her amazing daughter Morgan into the world. We had shared the exciting news of our pregnancies with each other with a bit of hesitation and anxiety as we had just gone through this together less than 2 years before with our sons. It was such a time of joy and anticipation as we envisioned how our kids would grow up together. It wasn’t but hours after Morgan was born that our vision changed a bit. That vision now showed the new role of The Little Light House in our lives. Among the excitement of finding out Terry had a healthy baby girl, us sharing our anxieties of having 2 kids under 2 years old and my overwhelming desire to go into labor, Morgan was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Our “motherly†chatting continued although flooded with discussion of feeding techniques, therapy needs, and all the things we had learned about Down Syndrome from working at The Little Light House. It is amazing how God prepares each of us to be equipped for the events that he plans for our lives. The place that was “where we worked†and “where we met†quickly became much more. LLH is the root of where our friendship started and now the branches that will help us reach out and support Morgan in her years of early education. It is fun to think that I will have such an active part in Morgan’s life both as a friend and professional. It even makes me smile to think of Madeline and Morgan as classmates in a couple of years thanks to SKIP (staff kids inclusion program).
Thank you for your support,
Jessica Mardis (pictured with Morgan Smejkal)