Monday, August 13, 2007

The First Ever Down Syndrome Carnival

Welcome to the first ever Carnival of Down syndrome. I hope it will be only the first in a long line of carnivals, and the beginning of many friendships. By gathering together the work of several bloggers who parent children with Down syndrome, I hope that we could share the joy that these children are to those of us who love them. My offering to begin the carnival is the story of my entry into this community, A Special Mother is Born an article I published in a parenting magazine about how my Christina, now five, changed my life forever.

A mom named Christina shares her daughter Kallie's birth story here, she shares how an unexpected diagnosis of Down syndrome has brought such love into her life, and her belief that God never sends us something we can't handle. Leslie, the Joyful Mother of Six Children shares in the Eyes of a Child how her daughter Eliana's birth has effected her family. Her friend Hollie, wants us to read another lovely post of hers, where she details the heartbreaking procedure of holding your little child's arm for blood tests. That really terrifies me, but Leslie is brave and sustained by her strong faith in God.

Rachel from 100 Lessons I've Learned from Jennifer shares The First Lesson she has learned from her special daughter.
Kristi, over at Above All I Could Ask or Imagine tells us about her son's 7th birthday. She says, "I do not know if this makes sense...but God understands my heart. Thank you, Lord, for giving us the gift of all of our children. May they all grow up totally sold out to you. Thank you, especially on this day of remembrance and celebration, for J and the treasure he is to our family!"
Alice at has shared articles from three women with Down syndrome who inspired her, in Ups and Downs. A talented author about Down syndrome, and contributor to Gifts, Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives, Jennifer Graf Groneberg at Pinwheels has a post Sweet Sleep about listening for her son's sleep apnea that I most certainly could relate to, having stayed up many hours listening to see if Christina had an apnea.

Catherine has a moving montage entitled, A Life Worth Living. Mindy tells a story about going through medical testing with her son Liam in Sharp Pointy Sticks.

Tara Marie Hintz, beautiful Emma Sage's mom has a favorite website with lots of resources for people with disabilities to share. It's called, "disability is natural". Michelle at Big Blueberry Eyes responds to a comment about her reaction to her daughter Kayla's diagnosis of Down syndrome. This is a conversation that most of us have had, and Michelle handles it with grace and insight.

Reasoned Audacity's Charmaine Yoest wrote about Sam Ingersoll's son Gabriel, and how he was inspired to start Gabriel's Angel Network to raise Down syndrome awareness. Just watch this amazing video Sam produced for new parents of a child with Down syndrome.

Donna Wirth at My Nesting Place reviews the book Gifts and shares her love for working with children with Down syndrome. Jodie at Jodie's thoughts has a post which was published on Beliefnet. Its about three words that can change the world.

Francine mom of Two Pirates and a Princess has some great photos of little Miss Sofia.
Lianna of Life with Gabriel shares, " Leticia, I just read your beautiful post about Christina. I found out about my son, Gabriel, having Down syndrome when I was 20 weeks pregnant. It has been an incredible journey -- and my husband and I have been so fortunate. Thank you for your kind words, and for your post on my blog. I would be grateful to be included in the First Ever Down Syndrome Carnival!"

Gloria P. Huerta Sr. sent me this story about life with her 25 year old daughter for the Down syndrome Carnival, however it seems that she is without a blog, so I gave her a post on mine. Read this and see if you agree with me that Gloria should start a blog!



Look, my dear friend Esther at A Catholic Mom in Hawaii is linking to us, and made us a button! Thanks, Esther!

Our only father to contribute, Kim Ayres tells how he reacted to his daughter's diagnosis, and his reluctance to join a Down syndrome support group. "When Meg was born it sometimes felt as though we had joined a Down’s Club and we were expected to go out and join Down’s groups. We found this idea more than a little uncomfortable."
I also had difficulty believing, when I began this blogging a year ago, that I could feel this close with complete strangers, from such varied religious beliefs and ethnic backgrounds. You have proven me wrong. Thank you, my new extended blogosphere family!

Christina from Prince Vince Meets the World has this post about a film festival in Salzburg, Austria featuring Down syndrome, and how it gave her so much hope. Great things DO happen when those who love a child with Down syndrome get together: let's do this again soon!

A big thank you to those of you who participated this week, if you check the Blog Carnival Website, you will see that this is a weekly carnival, and I will gladly let you be the next host. Leave a comment below, or email me leticia77@optonline.net if you'd like to be next week's host blog for next Sunday's carnival.

15 comments:

Lori said...

Hi Leticia, I just now saw your comment on my blog. Yes! I would be delighted to have you link to my post about our lovely Jackie!

Thank you so much!

FBF Rothkopf said...

Thanks for starting a great Carnival! I've got my final exam on Tuesday, so I can't contribute this week, but Miss Sofia will certainly have something for me to add to next week's carnival!

Francine
2 Pirates & a Princess - fbfrothkopf.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Leticia, I just read your beautiful post about Christina. I found out about my son, Gabriel, having Down syndrome when I was 20 weeks pregnant. It has been an incredible journey -- and my husband and I have been so fortunate. Thank you for your kind words, and for your post on my blog. I would be grateful to be included in the First Ever Down Syndrome Carnival!

Cheers,
Lianna

MammaMayMiller said...

What a brilliant idea!!
I have a blog too although I don't talk exclusively about DS... Can I still join in? And could I possibly put the button up too?
I'm loving this little online community of DS mothers, it's so reassuring to know that I'm not alone :o)
Thank you for organising this!

Leticia said...

Thank you, Mrs. Wibbs, and welcome to the family!
If you read my blog, you'll see that I talk about my family life in general, AND Down sydrome. Having an exclusively Down syndrome-focused blog is not necessary, just send me a post for next week that IS focused on Down syndrome. That's the only requirement. See you next week.

Stephanie said...

Leticia,
I love this idea and love the blog. Don't know how you happened upon my blog, but I have been blessed because of it! The Lord works in mysterious ways. I will try to get a post in for next week.
God bless.

Leticia said...

Fantastic, Stephanie, I can't wait to read it!

Michelle said...

Thanks for putting this all together...I'm going to take some time this afternoon to go through some of the links that I haven't read before. Great job!

Niksmom said...

Hi, I found you by way of JenniferGG's awesome site. I am not a DS mother (my child has other special needs) but I recently posted something written a friend who is a DS mother. If you would like to check it out and/or link to it, please feel free.
http://maternal-instincts.blogspot.com/2007/08/maytag-mom.html

Shaunery said...

Greetings Leticia,
First and formost, WELL DONE. We need more folk out there like you. While I myself don't have a child w/ ds, (we're researching the autistic side of life)my girlfriend, Stephanie (above) has a fabulous son who has ds. While we her friends give her support, having a place like this for even more support from folks who can share and empathize with her...thank you. Thank you for enabling, empowering, encouraging and educating...and loving.

Our Story: Continued said...

What a neat thing! We'd be happy to participate! McKenna

hotlips94 said...

Hello My name is shelly. I just wanted to share that my son Eric ( who has Down syndrome) will be getting confirmed on Sunday Sept 16th at the University of Notre Dame. Eric is 14 years old. He is also a altar server for our parish which has over 2000 families. Eric is the first person with Down syndrome who is an altar server.. We are very excited for tomorrow and thanks for letting us share ... shelly

Baiterblog said...

Hi, and good luck with the carnival. I'm another dad - we are lurking out here you know!
Other dads may be interested to check out our forum for dads at http://fathers.myfreeforum.org/index.php
I dont write a blog as such but include quite a few stories at http://www.downswest.org.uk - heres a photostory I posted this year that is suitable for children to read, and hopefully find inspiration: http://www.paperclip.org.uk/kays/jordan_climbing2.htm
Bye for now!
Rob

Estefania Gil said...

Hi all. This is Estefania writing from Spain. I'm working in a new educational tool for parents with children wiith Down syndrome. Actually it's not just me but a group of down syndrome organisations from all over Europe such as Down Foundation Zaragoza, Down fundation Athens and Down Foundation Romania.
The project is called PoD (Parents of Down) and its main aim is To design, develop and implement a new training tool for family members, professionals and volunteers to help stimulate and educate persons with Down Syndrome throughout their lifetime development.
This tool will be a DVD and a CD with information recorded in testimonial, expert advices and even Down syndrome people talking about their onw experiences.
We are looking forward to have an innovative way of letting parents know those things they don't or solve questions that can come up at crutial times. We'll focus in three areas: early intervention, teen age and adulthood.
I'll kidly ask you if interested in visiting our web blog www.parentsofdown.com to get more information.
The final tool will be finish next year and it will be delivered for free.
Hope you like it!!

Kate Wicker said...

What a wonderful carnival idea!