CSN Giveaway Winner

The winner of the CSN Giveaway is Monica from Monkey Musings! Congratulations Monica you are the winner of the $40 gift code!

Chasing Charlotte: Quilt Giveaway

Wont you please go over and enter this Quilt Giveaway to help bring beautiful miss Charlotte home to her family?


Chasing Charlotte: Warm Fuzzies and a Quilt Giveaway

Sunday Verse/In need of comfort

I haven't done a Sunday Verse in a long time so I thought I would do one today.I'm sick with yet another cold and  had to miss church this morning and Ruby is still sleeping so I have a few minutes to sit down at the computer.
Last week my husband found out that after working for 18 years at the company he's at he will be getting layed off in October.We are blessed that at least he will have employment for another few months but it is a little scary to think that in a few months we will have no more employment ,and we will miss the wonderful medical and dental insurance that we have.We still have 8 children at home to take care of and little miss Ruby with her disability.
I have been looking through scriptures for verses of comfort and here are some that I have found :

Psalm 34:17
The righteous cry,and the Lord heareth,and delivereth them out of all there troubles.

Isaiah 41:10
Fear thou not ; for I am with thee : be not dismayed ; for I am thy God : I will strengthen thee ; yea, I will help thee ; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Psalm 34:4
I sought the Lord ,and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

Matthew 6:34
Take therefore no thought for the morrow : for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

1 Samuel 2:7,8
The Lord maketh poor,and maketh rich : he bringeth low,and lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill,to set them among princes,and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them.

Psalm 68:19
Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.Selah

Psalm 94:19
In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.


There are many,many more wonderful verses of comfort in the Bible,so many that I cannot include them all here.Just writing these few out has been a blessing to me this morning .I hope they are a blessing to you also.

The Ordinary Life of an Extraordinary Girl: I believe....and a GIVEAWAY

Alex's Mom is giving away 2 copies of her book about raising a daughter with Down syndrome.I haven't read her book yet but it sounds great! I love being able to get advice and tips from Mom's who are further ahead in this journey of raising a child with Down syndrome.Go on over and take a look!

The Ordinary Life of an Extraordinary Girl: I believe....and a GIVEAWAY

Clarissa's art

Clarissa is a young woman with Down syndrome.She is also deaf,mute,physically handicapped and bipolar.
This article is about how her mother started homeschooling her at the age of 18 and her discovery of her daughter's artistic ability.

Clarissa's art The Manila Bulletin Newspaper Online

Mother's fury after operation turns sour | HEALTH News

This little boy had some serious complications after having his tonsils removed.
I thought a tonsillectomy was a pretty normal operation for a child with Down syndrome to have.Do you have a child with Down syndrome that has had this operation? How did he or she do after the operation?


Mother's fury after operation turns sour HEALTH News

Rowe: For Hitzeman, it’s abilities not disabilities

Rowe: For Hitzeman, it’s abilities not disabilities

Cumberlink.com: Woman climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro for Down syndrome

Cumberlink.com: Woman climbs Mt. Kilimanjaro for Down syndrome

Debate over prenatal testing for Down syndrome continues

Debate over prenatal testing for Down syndrome continues

Another CSN Giveaway

Hey everybody I'm having another CSN giveaway! This time I'm giving away a $40 gift certificate to any CSN store. CSN has lots of great stores to shop at, one of their stores sells Office Furniture . I'm a bookaholic and I just love some of the bookshelves they have.They even have some bookcases with doors which would be great to have especially with little miss Ruby who wants to throw all of our books off the shelves.
If you would like to enter this Giveaway go on over to the Office Furniture link above, have a look around and then come back and tell me about something you like.You can have an extra entry by following my blog.You can have another entry by sharing about my giveaway, just make sure and leave me a comment letting me know you shared it.Make sure I have an e-mail where I can contact you if you are the winner.
I'm ending this giveaway next Wednesday,Feb.23. I will be picking the winner using Random.org.
This Giveaway is open to United States and Canadian residents only.

Ruby talking on the mouse

I caught Ruby sitting in my bedroom floor playing with my computer mouse.She was putting it up to her ear and saying,"Hello?","Hello?" "Ziz it?"(who is it).She also likes to play with my cell phone but I have to be careful about that because she has figured out how to unlock it and she pushes lots of numbers.Who knows who or where she might call!





It's ringing




Hello?




You wanna talk Mom?



Grandma

I'm going to be a grandma in July! My oldest son called me this morning and told me that they found out the baby is a girl! The name that they have picked out is Alexis.I'm so thrilled to be getting a grandchild!

Sesame Street board books

Shake a Leg by Constance Allen is one of Ruby's favorite books.I bought it for her several months ago because it has actions to imitate, like honk your nose,pat your head,and many others.When I first started reading it to her I would perform the actions and she would copy me,now when I read it she does most of the actions on her own when she sees the page.The book is small and perfect for her little hands.Another plus is that it's a board book and the pages can't be ripped or crumpled.
When I was looking it up on Amazon I found some other books in this series that I think Ruby will also enjoy like 'Elmo Says'and 'Elmo's ABC'S.'

A Perfect Lily: Pure Love Giveaway

My friend Patti is having a super giveaway go over and take a look .If you donate  you get a chance to win some great prizes and you will be helping a beautiful child get a forever home : A Perfect Lily: Pure Love Giveaway

Ruby is learning to walk

Ruby has started standing up and sitting down without holding on to anything,she has even taken a few shuffling steps in the last couple of days,and she bear crawls everywhere.I'm so excited!
When Ruby was born and I heard the statistics of when a child with Down syndrome would walk,I thought that I would work with her and she would be one of those super kids with Down syndrome who walked early.Well,I have worked with her,therapists have worked with her,her siblings have helped her, I'm sure that it was all good for her,but Ruby hasn't decided she would walk yet,she is 2 1/2 years old now,and you know what it doesn't matter one little bit to me if she doesn't walk until she's 3 or 4 or whenever.What matters is that she is doing her best,we are giving her the help and love that she needs and she will walk and run when she's ready.What if she can't walk on her own and needs some type of adaptive device to help her? Well that's o.k. too.I'm so proud of my baby!She brings so much joy to our lives.
Here are some pictures of her standing and a video of her bear crawling.In the video you can see the baby gate I had to prop up against the bookshelf to keep Ruby from pulling all the books off,she LOVES to throw EVERY book off that shelf.I'm so proud she can :)

Lois

This sweet little girl had leukemia and she died this morning. Here's a link to her Mother's blog The Daily Lois

There's no tragedy in life like the death of a child. Things never get back to the way they were.”

Dwight David Eisenhower



For Once in My Life | Independent Lens | PBS Video

Thanks to Amy for sharing with me that the full documentary can be watched here For Once in My Life Independent Lens PBS Video .

For Once in My Life

Last night my husband and I were looking through the t.v. channels trying to find something to watch.We put the t.v. on  the public station and started watching a documentary on Independant Lense called ,For Once in My Life. For Once in My Life , is a documentary about the Spirit of Goodwill Band,the band has 28 members all who have different disabilities.One of the young women named Melissa has Down syndrome and she plays the congo drums and tamborine. One of my favorite parts of the film is the interviews with the individual families of the band members.Melissa's mother was told by doctors to put her in a mental institution,that she would never amount to anything,she refused this advice and brought her infant daughter home and began to treat her like she had her other children.
Here is a link to information about this program.The band is terrific! For Once in My Life