What an amazing way to start the new year. There's so much great news to share this month, I'll dive right in.

Jake's first fundraiser was a HUGE success! A record 81 players (27 teams) showed up at The Corner Pocket on December 13 to compete in a Christmas pool tournament. But the players did much more than just shoot pool – they helped to raise over $2,400 for Jake. The generous players weren't the only ones who contributed to the cause. Local businesses donated enough merchandise for us to raffle 17 baskets and give away 14 door prizes. We had homemade cookies to sell and even a massage therapist in house giving massages on the spot and donated the proceeds. We even sold all of the JakeJunction.com T-Shirts we had made. The final total – $2,445 in donations – far exceeded previous years' Christmas Tournament totals. For complete details of the tournament, click here. To see the pictures from the tournament, click here.

The proceeds from the fundraiser were to fund the creation of a Therapy Room at home. Jake had enough donations that we were able to start construction on December 1st before the fundraiser. Our goal was to have the room completed by his birthday, Christmas Eve. The room wasn't 100% completed, but it was finished enough for us to put him in there on his birthday. Here's how you know that all of the money raised and all of the effort to build the room was worth it: The moment that Jen put Jake in there, he started army crawling!

We owe so much gratitude to so many people that I'm afraid to list them in fear of failing to mention someone. Please know that none of this is possible without you. At 5 years old now, our son is about to crawl and it means the world to us. However, we must provide a special Thank you to Jake's "Granpda Hank". His dedication and hard work is evident by the progress of Jake's Therapy Room, we'll order the padding for the floor and walls next week. I myself have dedicated every spare moment to the construction of the room. I haven't watched football in over a month as I've worked on the room every weekend. I work on it as soon as I get home from work until Jennifer says it's time to stop. I even took remaining vacation time to help get it finished. All of this pales in comparison to what my wife has done. Since I have spent all of that time on the room, that means that she had Jake the whole time. Her and I joke about who's job was harder. Folks, there's no comparison. For those of you who have babysat Jake, I think you'll join me in not only commending her, but giving her the Mother of the Decade award.

The owners of the local APA Pool League threw the fundraiser. While they were happy to hear about funding his Therapy room, they did have one condition. No matter what, we must buy him a toy. Literally, we had to go and buy him a toy with the fundraiser money and let him open it on Christmas. You know it's not hard to give a woman money and ask her to go shopping, plus Jake loves to get out of the house. This helped fill Jen and Jake's time while he was out of school for the holiday break. Jen spent $43 at ToysRus on 3 new toys that promote sensory stimulation, yet are fun for him.

Jake's 5th Birthday was very special. As usual, I made a cake just for him. He did so good tearing it apart. We were a little smarter this year, we put a sheet over his wheelchair before he got started. He absolutely loved it. How many 5 year olds get to destroy their own cake while their naked in a room full of people with cameras? That's my boy!

I'm already looking forward to next month's newsletter. I hope to have his room completely done and show you a picture of him crawling in it. As always, we can't thank you enough for your support!