31st day of 31 for 21

Happy Halloween!

A lady recently being baptized was asked by a co-worker what it was like to be a Christian. She replied, "It's like being a pumpkin: God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off you may have gotten from the other pumpkins. Then he cuts the top off and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

Kudos to my friend...

...who stepped up for Down Syndrome, and stepped and stepped and stepped and ...

click here to

Down Syndrome Facts

Down syndrome is the most commonly occurring genetic condition with an incidence of 1 in every 691 births. There are currently over 400,000 individuals living with Down syndrome in the United States. There are approximately 5,000 babies born with Down syndrome each year in the United States. There are approximately 50 babies born with Down syndrome each year in the greater Kansas City area. Down syndrome is one of the leading clinical causes of cognitive delay in the world - it is not related to race, nationality, religion or socio-economic status. With appropriate support, individuals with Down syndrome can lead fulfilling lives and be contributing members of society.

31 for 21

High Achievers With Down's Syndrome

(click here)

There are a number of people with Down's Syndrome who have acheived a lot in our time.
These remarkable people with Down's Syndrome have participated in everything from acting to sports, and usually provided inspiration to those around them at the same time.
The people with Down's Syndrome featured here come from all backgrounds, education opportunities and circumstances.
One of the biggest things most noticed about people with Down's Syndrome who achieve, is their unending grace and determination.

31 for 21

Kudos to the

Brothers and sisters

"As has been indicated in other studies, brothers and sisters play an important part in the social lives of teenagers with Down syndrome as 83% of all the teenagers frequently join in social activities with their brothers and sisters."

I love this thought

Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down

See the entire talk here..

Speaking to the sisters, the Prophet Joseph said: “Don’t be limited in your views with regard to your neighbors’ virtues. … You must enlarge your souls toward others if you [would] do like Jesus. … As you increase in innocence and virtue, as you increase in goodness, let your hearts expand—let them be enlarged towards others—you must be longsuffering and bear with the faults and errors of mankind. How precious are the souls of men!”

Another good idea

I receive a daily email called Every Day Cheapskate and I have found some wonderful gems on it over the past few years.  I absolutely love this one!  To look at spending in terms of how many hours mom would have to work to get it...really adjusts the perspective! 

To sign up, click here

When was the last time you cashed your paycheck and divvied up the cash for your expenses? Miriam created an amazing visual for her kids. I think we all could benefit from doing the same thing.
SEEING IS BELIEVING. When my children were young, they wanted to know why we couldn’t afford things. One day I brought home my weekly pay in one dollar bills. Together, we made piles for rent, groceries, transportation, fun, etc. It simplified things that I made $10 an hour, but the size of the piles helped, too. After that experience, I could hear the children sometimes say to one another, “But that costs four hours of Mom’s time; is it worth it?” Lesson well learned. Miriam, Ontario, Canada

Blessed with memories...

I love when I am lifted by the voices of children...

Reflections

As I sat in the midst of 1000 people, a place I have sat many times before, my heart was heavy.  I looked around the room and I wondered what each of them had brought to the evening.  I saw them with new eyes and appreciated that they were there.  This particular evening was a bit surreal, but a lesson in being in the moment and seeing those around me as individuals, each one a child of God.



Colossians 2:2
2 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;

Wherefore, comfort yourselves together,

edifying one another, even as also ye do.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

31 for 21

The Beatitudes of the Exceptional Child

by Andre Masse C.S.E.

found here

Blessed are you who take time to listen to difficult speech for you help us to know that if we persevere we can be understood.

Blessed are you who walk with us in public places and ignore the stares of strangers for in your companionship we find havens of relaxation.

Blessed are you who never bid us to "hurry up" and more blessed you who do not snatch our tasks from our hands to do them for us, for often we need time more than help.

Blessed are you who stand beside us as we enter new and untried ventures for our failures will be outweighed by the times when we surpise ourselves and you.

Blessed are you who ask for our help for our greatest need is to be needed.

Blessed are you who help us with the graciousness of Christ Who did not bruise the reed and quench the flax for often we need help we cannot ask for.

Blessed are you when by all these things you assure us that the thing that make us individuals is not in our peculiar muscles, not in our wounded nervous system, not in our difficulties in learning but in the God-given self which no infirmity can confine.

Published in National Apostolate for Inclusion Ministry - Summer 1998

OK...

This one I will work on, because I believe it to be important  (not for my sainthood, but for the benefit of my friends).

"Sainthood emerges when you can listen to someone else’s tale of woes and not respond with a description of your own.”

Andrew V. Madison M.D.

'Nuff said... :-)



31 for 21

http://www.ds-int.org/video/will-you-let-us-in

It's a little long, but here it is...



Excuse me please....

Ok, I know I'm not the first to make this observation. And it isn't rocket science.

But really, don't you think that our highways would be so much safer if people

showed just a little more courtesy to each other

used just a little more common sense

and were just a little more patient?

Really!

(no, this doesn't mean my car had a boo-boo, 

just unnecessary too-close-for-comfort moments!)





Birthday Week at our house...

And then came

Maddie! 

She's been good for Tucker and good for us.

Optimism

As seen on Yahoo yesterday...

The Four Secrets Of Optimism

(click above to see the full article)
I think it happens to each of us on occasion, you know, finding ourselves in that negative place where we see more bad than good.  Isn't it nice that there are things we can choose to do to re-focus on what is good and feel better too.

Express Gratitude...Volunteer...Notice the Good...Change Negative Self-Talk

31 for 21

I like that so many of the websites I've browsed are international sites.  This is a human issue and it reminds me that what unites us is greater than what divides us.

DSi launches "International Petition for the Adoption of World Down Syndrome Day as a United Nations Observance Day from 21 March 2012"  http://www.ds-int.org/news/wdsd-petition  Deadline to sign is Oct. 16.

WDSD is observed by persons with Down syndrome and those who live and work with them in over 60 countries around the world in a variety of different ways, but with a common purpose, and the website http://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/ provides an international forum for sharing experiences. Further information on WDSD is available on the DSi website here.

31 for 21

Heaven’s very special child

by Edna Massimilla

A meeting was held quite far from earth.

It’s time again for another birth,

Said the angels to the Lord above,

This special child will need much love.

His progress may seem very slow.

Accomplishments he may not show.

And he’ll require extra care,

From the folks he meets way down there.

He may not run or laugh or play,

His thoughts may seem quite far away.

In many ways he won’t adapt

and he’ll be known as handicapped.

So let’s be careful where he’s sent.

We want his life to be content.

Please Lord, find me parents who

will do a special job for you.

They will not realize right away

The leading role they’re asked to play.

But with this child sent from above

Come stronger faith and richer love.

And soon they’ll know the privilege given,

In caring for this gift from Heaven.

Their precious charge, so meek and mild,

Is Heaven’s Very

Special Child.

31 for 21

I think I can, I think I can
Climb the highest hills in all the land
(If you think you can, then you can!)
He could and he did!

Happy 16th Birthday!

Tucker

our friend and companion!

31 for 21 Possiblities

It's lots of fun seeing what the possibilities are...

http://www.jacobhalpin.com/

A day of rest...

"Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed." Exodus 23:12

And this is what I found when I got home from church...

Normally, they wake as soon as we turn up the driveway :-)

Gratitude

Today will be a day for gratitude, starting with a fireside, then off to 4 yr old soccer and then college football. And all with family, the greatest blessing!

31 for 21...

I hope this is ok to repost.  I found it on YouTube, so I guess it's alright.  I like it, hope you do too.

Step Up For Down Syndrome Walk

For a fun opportunity check this out!

31 for 21 I will...

If you don’t walk as most people do,
Some people walk away from you,
But I won’t! I won’t!
If you don’t talk as most people do,
Some people talk and laugh at you,
But I won’t! I won’t!

I’ll walk with you. I’ll talk with you.
That’s how I’ll show my love for you.
Jesus walked away from none.
He gave his love to ev’ryone.
So I will! I will!

Jesus blessed all he could see,
Then turned and said, “Come, follow me.”
And I will! I will!
I will! I will!

I’ll walk with you. I’ll talk with you.
That’s how I’ll show my love for you.

Words: Carol Lynn Pearson, b. 1939. © 1987 IRI

Couldn't resist!

Look who's spending the afternoon lounging around...



31 for 21 I found this

I believe I saw this on my friend's blog before...but I liked it so here it is again :-)

Welcome To Holland by Emily Perl Kingsley

c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved.

seen here

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

31 for 21 I've learned...

From here I learned
"What do we wish others knew about Down syndrome?"  May 10, 2011

“They think we love our kids in spite of the fact that they have Down syndrome.

They don’t realize we just love them.”

~Missy, mom to Violette

and from here I learned
"Our children arrived exactly as they were designed. There was no mistake here. They are a direct and unmistakable gift from God. He has given us children capable of copious amounts of unconditional love because we haven't been open to receiving the more indirect ways He's been showering it on us for the previous years of our lives." ~Courtney Heigele

31 for 21 I've learned..

...that there are many many many websites to learn about Down Syndrome.  I especially like the ones from people who really know about living it!  Many heartwarming stories and poems and I'll post some next.  But to start, here's what I learned from the National Association for Down Syndrome http://www.nads.org/

What is Down Syndrome?
Down syndrome is a genetic condition that causes delays in physical and intellectual development. It occurs in one in every 691 live births. Individuals with Down syndrome have 47 chromosomes instead of the usual 46. It is the most frequently occurring chromosomal disorder. Down syndrome is not related to race, nationality, religion or socioeconomic status. The most important fact to know about individuals with Down syndrome is that they are more like others than they are different.

Diagnosis
Down syndrome is usually identified at birth or shortly thereafter. Initially the diagnosis is based on physical characteristics that are commonly seen in babies with Down syndrome. These include low muscle tone, a single crease across the palm of the hand, a slightly flattened facial profile and an upward slant to the eyes. The diagnosis must be confirmed by a chromosome study (karyotype). A karyotype provides a visual display of the chromosomes grouped by their size, number and shape. Chromosomes may be studied by examining blood or tissue cells.

Cause
Down syndrome is usually caused by an error in cell division called nondisjunction. It is not known why this occurs. However, it is known that the error occurs at conception and is not related to anything the mother did during pregnancy. It has been known for some time that the incidence of Down syndrome increases with advancing maternal age. However, 80% of children with Down syndrome are born to women under 35 years of age.

Down Syndrome Awareness Challenge

Grab This Button

My friend is participating in the 31 for 21 daily blogging to raise awareness of Down Syndrome. I will take this 31 days to learn more and share what I learn. The families living this experience are in my prayers.