Multiple Miniature Collection Sale

[Balgin Stondraeg]

I don't have an Ebay account but would you be willing to set aside the Chronopia dwarven warshields boxed set for me?

[Valloa]

@Balgin  An ebay account is necessary to bid on an item. It is our policy not to end auctions early.  Since this one has been placed on ebay it'll will ride through to the end.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

That's alright. I appreciate you sticking to your principles and I hope your child gets treated soon. :)

[Valloa]

For all of you who helped Alex get his hearing aids, we gratefully send our thanks. We got his set of temperary aids this morning.  It took a week for the permanent behind-the-ears part to be made and these temps  will help him hear at a low level until his permanent in-the-ear section come in next week. By that time, we hope he has gotten used to wearing them.  Already we notice a great difference in his demenor.  With them on, he tries out different sound ranges, volume and he said "Bye-Bye" clear as a bell today.  We were afraid he would freak out at hearing a stranger's voice for the first time, but he was fearless.  He wants to hear. 

For those interested in the accounting for this project, here is the breakdown.

  $2606.80 sale of donated items
  $ 252.62 in cash donations
+$3523.97 from sales of our items 
----------------------
$6383.39   Total
-$288.28 from people who did not pay (one even resigned from eBay to avoid paying). 
-$1013.49 Ebay fees and Paypal fees
----------------
$5081.62
-$5000.00 for hearing aids
---------------
      81.62  used as part of the $150 paid for temperary in-the-ear aids

We are not counting the overpayments for shipping we made when the packages costs more to send than the buyer's paid and refunds which are a part of doing business on eBay. 

We had hoped to have money left over to send on to another child, but the eBay and Paypal fees were taken out over the course of the project.  At the end, when all auctions were done and the store items removed, all the money had been accounted for.

Again we send everyone our thanks for helping Alex hear!!!

Maya!

[geronimo]

 :clap2: Great news :)

Ebay fees are a pain in the backside, but a necessarily evil. Glad you reached your target and that we could help!

[Keeper]

Glad to hear the project has been a success, Maya! :D

I guess you now know who are the saddest, most ebay addicted members of the minis communities by now - so please don't tell anyone! ;)

[Valloa]

Thanks guys.   Alex is doing wonderfully and has already give us a few crystal clear words such as "bye-bye" and the heart melter "mama".  We will have a lot of work ahead of us as he is attached to some words (out of his itty bitty vocublary) and applied them across the board to everything.  He threw a fit today because he was corrected when calling a pumpkin picture in his favorite book a "cookie".  We couldn't tell if he thought the pumpkin was a cookie, wanted a cookie shaped like a pumpkin (like he had at halloween) or was trying to get across some other concept.  On the other hand he's adoring reading time which makes me soo happy.

Maya~

[Valloa]

Loading the site seems to be hit and miss for me lately.  But since today I can see it here is an update on Alex for those that don't read the Forum of Doom.

Alex has had his permanent hearing aids for almost a month now (barring several problems such as one of them not working and needing to be remade). As you can see from the photograph, they are quite inconspicuous which will help him later when he interacts with a group of other children and has helped him to avoid stares from adults now. Being a friendly child, he cannot quite understand why they look at him so intently when he tries to be friendly. We couldn't care if they looked like those massive headphones from the 1980s; we just are beyond belief in the difference they make in his ability to hear. His vocabulary increases each day by leaps and bounds and, for the first time, he can interact with us using words. He's gone through the babbling stage and is back to simple sentences and the occasional full sentence. A massive improvement from silence! For some unknown reason, his hearing, when the aids are not in, has increased since he had tubes put in his eardrums and he has been wearing his aids. During his final hearing test he was tested both with and without his hearing aids. His hearing loss, without aids, has decreased from 50 dbLs to 30 dbLs since he got tubes and received his hearing aids. Why no one can say. With his hearing aids, his range is 15 dbls (average is up to 20 dbls) which means he in functioning within the normal range. He's got a lot of catching up to do, but is learning quickly. He's already learning to re-label things that were set in his head, such as all children were "babies" but now they are "girls" and "boys", even if it took a little girl his age being offended at being called a "baby" for him to want to make the distinction.

We cannot thank all of you enough for helping us give Alex this chance to hear so much sooner than we could have done on our own. The past few months have been a whirlwind of tests, adjustments, language lessons and watching Alex experience a hearing world without being scared by it. We are deeply touched by your generosity. Thank you very much!

Maya~

[Keeper]

That is great to hear :)  I'm glad he's doing much better!

[Custom_Hobby]

God Bless the cute little guy! I am glad to hear he is doing so much better now.