MY Thoughts

Photos from the groundbreaking

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:17:32 -0400

Here are some photos that were taken from the Groundbreaking party. I will try and write some more on this later.

17 Year Wedding Anniversary

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:17:31 -0400

Sunday April 27th will be our 17 year anniversary, the last 6 years have been hard but we have stayed together through it all.

article in the summerville journal scene

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:56:16 -0400

Space needed
Brutal attack victim to be recipient of home
By David Berman
Summerville Journal Scene

Carol Armstrong is fully aware — to the point of frustration — that her current home has limitations.
 “I know my failures here,” she says.
 Growing up a tomboy in Georgia, Armstrong liked to climb trees. Today, she can’t even go outside to tend a garden or to watch her two sons play.
 Like most women, she used to get ready in front of a vanity. Today, she brushes her teeth at the kitchen table.
 When Armstrong’s children are under the weather, “I can’t get to them,” she says. “I can’t do the things a mom does when they’re sick.”
 And cooking? “I don’t even think about cooking,” she says.
 Bound to a wheelchair, Armstrong has great difficulty navigating through the home’s narrow doorways and hallways. She constantly looks to her family for assistance.
 It’s obvious that Armstrong adores her husband — both who he was when she met him and who he has become in her time of need. She admires her sons Jaime, 15, and Alexander, 10, for what they have endured.
 “When they help me out, they help their daddy,” she says. “I don’t know if they quite understand that yet.”
 Armstrong, now in her 40s, says she is a simple person living a complex life.
 Complexity took hold of Armstrong’s life nearly six years ago when she was left partially paralyzed and almost blind following a brutal attack outside a North Charleston medical building. She had just finished cleaning the building around 11 p.m. when a man robbed her, beat her — breaking nearly every bone in her head — and then fled in her car. She clung to life in a Charleston hospital as authorities launched a sweeping manhunt to find her attacker. They caught up with him three days later in North Carolina.
 Today, Hugh Bolin III is serving a 20-year concurrent sentence for assault and battery with intent to kill and armed robbery at McCormick Correctional Institution.
 Bolin’s living conditions aren’t likely to improve any time soon. The same can’t be said for Armstrong.
 In just a few weeks, Armstrong and her family will break ground on a new home in the Hidden Hills subdivision. The project is being spearheaded by the Charleston Trident Home Builders Association and supported by a long list of local companies that have donated or pledged materials and labor.
 When the homebuilders Executive Vice President Phillip Ford first learned of Armstrong’s plight and her living conditions two years ago after reading an article in a local newspaper he asked the association’s board to consider funding a renovation of the Armstrongs’ 1,186-square-foot home located off Ashley Phosphate Road.
 “We looked at it and it was pretty obvious that there was really no way to effectively remodel it without taking it down,” Ford says.
 So the plan shifted toward finding a vacant lot and building a home from scratch. But even that proved difficult as zoning obstacles and other challenges presented themselves.
 James became discouraged. “There were things I was thinking I could do here,” he says.
 Then last July, James found a lot off Central Avenue. The project was given a green light.
 The proposed 2,449-square-foot home boasts wide hallways and doorways, sliding pocket doors, ramps, hardwood floors that will allow the wheelchair to glide freely, accessible backyard garden boxes, a roll-in shower, hydraulic closet shelves for easier access, and Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant appliances.
 Site supervisor Jordy Tupper of G Tupper III construction, who is volunteering his time, says he’s honored to be involved.
 “I love what I do anyway, but especially when I can help someone who needs it,” Tupper says.
 The house is quickly becoming a reality to all those involved, except maybe Armstrong herself.
 “I’m overwhelmed that this is actually taking place,” Armstrong says. “I say I won’t believe it until it’s up and I can roll through it.”
 If Armstrong’s skeptical, it’s because she doesn’t feel entirely deserving. She’s more concerned with what the aftermath of the attack has done to James and her sons than what it has done to her. She harbors guilt for the fact that she has to rely on them so much.
 James doesn’t deny that he will find relief from the new house. But he’s most excited by the prospect of his wife having a study where she can paint and connect with friends through e-mail and her living in a house where she can regain her independence.
 Ford would like to see Armstrong regain something else.
 “I’m hoping that Carol feels like a mother again and can do the things that make her feel like a mother,” he says.
 Contact David Berman at 873-9424 ext. 214 or dberman@journalscene.com.
 DONATE
 The Charleston Trident Home Builders Association is seeking donations to help fund the “Carol’s Home” project. Visit www.charlestonhomebuilders.org/CarolsHome.htm or call (843) 572-1414 to learn more.

Long overdue update

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 08:31:38 -0500

Dear family and friends,

I am sorry for not keeping you updated with all that goes on in our life. Today is February 10,2008 and today was an interesting day for me. I was interviewed by a local TV Station Channel 4. They are doing an ongoing story line about the ‘Carol’s home' project that the Charleston Trident Home Builders Association is undertaking to build the Armstrong family a new handicap accessible home. The concept for this amazing project was the brainchild of Philip Ford; VP of The Charleston Trident Home Builders Association. This is better explained on the website www.charlestonhomebuilders.org (click House for Carol).

The goal is to hopefully break ground this spring! In the mean while I will keep busy doing the things I have been doing: I volunteer four days a week at Life Care of Charleston where I also take rehab. I visit with the residents and most of the time their family members too. I have made a lot of friends there I am thankful I have the gift of gab. I also volunteer at Windsor hill Elementary School as a mentor in the H.O.S.T.S program (Helping One Student to Succeed). Once I am finished with my three students I go and help out in Alexander’s 4th grade class. Where I help the students with vocabulary words. When class is over I have at l east 30 to 45 minutes left before James comes to pick me up. So, I go help out in the Media Center they don’t mind that I can’t shelve the books I sort I will some times put stickers on the flyers concerning the Book fair coming up. When they don’t have any thing for me they want me to just sit and talk with them. I feel so guilty for talking and laughing in the library. At 11:30 James picks me up and takes me home to eat lunch. I have a friend who lets me do data entry for her. She owns a gift shop downtown Sea and Shell. I use to work for her. By doing her data entry for her I get to chose merchandise as salary. I don’t mind the trade off. I can work home if I am sick or not at all. We save gas that way. I was going to be her customer Service Rep this past summer but it didn’t turn out like it was suppose to. This coming summer we will try again. I will follow up on shipping. Talking on the phone with a purpose.

The boys have been good. Jaime went on a 100-mile bike trek with his scout troop to NC. He really enjoyed it. He was missed that week! With that he made life Scout and can plan his Eagle project for the future. Alexander went to Cub Scout day camp for one week. He thought he was going to camp out for a week. No, it was held at the fair ground area. This allowed the scouts and leaders to be under a shelter out of the sun being it was summer. He enjoyed it The theme was medieval stuff. He likes that stuff: dragons and jousting. Mainly he liked the sword play. I did not get to help this year like I had in the past. There was too much dirt under the shelters were the boys had some of their activities. I didn’t mind at first. The heat was bad. I had data entry work to do. That was the summer.

This past Christmas was nice. Not too much. We spent our time here with James’ family since we spent Thanks giving with my family in Georgia. I love spending time with James’ family whether in Georgia or here in Charleston. They treat me like family. One day while we were at James’ sister’s (Cori) house for a post Christmas family party I was attempting to help with the dishes James’ brother in law told me I needed to go in the living room and socialize instead of doing dishes (any one that knows me understands how much I need to help in the kitchen). I was struggling with them a little because I was sitting in my wheel chair shoulder level with the sink. I told him I wanted to do the dishes to help Cori since she had so many of the family there. It gave the other ladies a chance to talk and hold Cori’s new baby, Miles. Then the thought occurred to me I need to be an example to my boys.

Struggle with one arm and wash dishes to help some one else: How much more can they do with two arms? I have the need to be useful. I can’t always do for my family at our house. I hope the new house will allow me to help more instead of me feeling I am in the way and being more of a hinderance than a help.

We hope the TV spot will help bring in more help to get our house started this spring. I am looking forward to being able to go outside and work in the yard! I was confined to the inside this past summer. I missed driving more this summer than any other time. Well, except being able to take the boys to scouts and such. I am very thankful to the Lord for friends and family, and church members for providing rides for the boys to activities.

James bless his heart can’t do it all. Even though he tries. He is an extraordinary man who happens to be my husband and the love of my life. I will promise to keep ya’ll updated on the progress of our new house.

Jaime’s new doo

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 23:10:09 -0500

Here is Jaime sporting his new hairdoo. He just wanted to try something different.