The Fourth Down Syndrome Carnival is up

Go over to Team Hsu and enjoy the posts about our children and church.

Third Down Syndrome Carnival

To those who missed the third Down Syndrome Carnival, there was a bit of a mishap, and it wasn't published. Sorry!

The good news is that now we have our own blog, and when I get the hang of multiple contributors, the Down syndrome carnival will be held there.
For this week the Third Down Syndrome Carnival will be at Team Hsu hosted by Ellen Hsu. Email her with your articles.

Third Down syndrome carnival

The third ever Down Syndrome Carnival has some new friends, and is developing a cadre of regular contributors.

Our first new friend is the mother of three children, and three blogs! Michelle has a post about speech therapy on her blog Life as I Know It. On her other blog, Downblogger, she has posted about her discovery of Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the world famous geneticist who discovered Trisomy 21 in 1959.

I like to include new resources for parents in the Carnival. I found that The Sensory Playhouse has some great ways for our children to play. Stacey Bittman, the director, explains, "The Sensory Playhouse is among the first ever inclusive play facilities that caters to ALL children. We have therapy-based equipment and a plethora of sensory and educational activities."
CHASK provides family to family support helping families raise their child with special needs. Loving Christian homes are waiting to adopt these children if the birth moms and dads are not able to parent. Little Flowers Foundation is a similar organization which helps Catholic families who are seeking to adopt special needs children from other countries.

One of our regular contributors, Ellen Hsu, has a post on her relationship with Psalm 139. I wrote a submission for the Op-Ed at the New York Times, which was rejected, so I posted it at my political blog, Causa Nostrae Laetitiae. I share it with you here, it's called Faces Like Mine.

The fourth Down Syndrome Carnival will be at The Imperfect Christian, chosen by CJ of Crazy Hip Blog Mama fame.Her email is imperfectchristian@gmail.com so please send her your posts for the fourth Down Syndrome Carnival.

Second Down syndrome carnival

Stephanie Bissol at Megan's Got 47 has a post where she shows us a children's book she is working on featuring her lovely daughter, Megan. It looks like a winner to me! Christina shares her emotional story of Kallie's birth in this post. For those out there who are facing a pre-natal diagnosis of Down syndrome, or other anomaly, Be Not Afraid offers more of these inspiring birth stories to help you in this difficult time.
Ellen Hsu writes a loving post to her son on the occasion of his first birthday in Elijah's gift. Karen discusses her ambivalence at Lion and Magic Boy. Michelle at Big Blueberry Eyes gives us Ten Facts about Down Syndrome where many of the myths about Down syndrome are cleared up. I add my recent post on Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the geneticist who discovered Trisomy 21 in 1959, and firmly believed that Down syndrome could be cured, "with less effort than it would take to send a man to the moon".
Barbara Curtis of Mommy Life compares society's reaction to Down syndrome to her acceptance of being the mother of her son in about that extra chromosome.
I like to include links to resources for those parenting children with Down syndrome in each post. Band of Angels has a wonderful outreach which includes, scholarships,lovely calendars and note cards, and books about Down syndrome like Common Threads and my daughter's favorite, Hi, I'm Ben, and I Have a Secret.
Thanks to all you who have participated in the second carnival. The next carnival will be here at Cause of Our Joy, so be sure and send me your posts. In September the carnival will be moving to other host sites, but the next site will always be posted on the previous carnival.
How about letting us know if you are walking in a Buddy Walk?
HT A Catholic Mom in Hawaii for the carnival logo button.

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.

The Day Gloria Jr. Came into My Life

Gloria P. Huerta Sr. sent me this story for the Down syndrome Carnival, however it seems that she is without a blog, so I gave her a post to herself.
Read this and see if you agree with me that Gloria should start a blog!

The Day Gloria Jr. Came into My Life
Gloria Jr. is my 3rd and youngest daughter. Born May 5, 1982, 25 years ago. The birth was complicated by a c-section. I had no idea she was going to be a Down syndrome child, as at twenty six years old I was too young to ever have that happen.....So they say. I awoke from surgery to find Tony (her dad) crying above my hospital bed. I asked him what was wrong and his replied was "The doctor will be coming in to talk with you" and walked out the door. At first I thought he was upset that she was a girl, as we already had 2 daughter's and he might have really wanted a son. We knew this would be our last child. When the doctor finally came to talk with me, he asked me "Do you know what Mongolism is?". I answered "yes" and then asked him, "isn't that called Down syndrome?" Well, he gave me all the details and then finished up with another question for me. This one was before I even got to see her. "Do you want her? If not, we will put her in a place where she can be taken care of." WHAT A QUESTION!!!I would not have wanted anything else in my life at that moment. I knew that, right then and there, the second I saw her, it was instant.........LOVE!!
What the doctor told me she would not be able to do.......SHE DID!!I wanted to breastfeed her even thought he told me she would have poor muscle tone in her mouth to be able to eat right. Well, let me tell you she proved them wrong! I don't know where to start with all the things she has accomplished in her young life. Yes, her reading and writing won't be par with her peers, but she still tries very hard at this. She has grown up to be a very gifted child. I found her strengths and have made that her strong point in her life, which is her love of dance, friends, family.
There are a lot of things that have happened in her life that have been hard for me to understand. Like why at 16 years old, while home alone from school due to menstrual cramps, she decides to call 911. They sent an ambulance to the house, they picked her up, and she then gets a ride to the hospital in Petaluma...all by herself!!
Or why she goes completely numb when I am trying to correct her (like most teenagers).Or just when everything seems to be going well and she is learning more and more to not lean on me so, she does something that sets her back. At times like these I feel that we need to start all over again. And then we move on..........it's O. K.
But for all the not so good times, there are so much, much more wonderful, special and even emotional times in our lives together. She has such a trust in everyone that comes into her circle of life. Her love of people outshines everything she can't do. She has no problem walking up to a man or woman and letting them know how handsome or beautiful they are.We were at a Mexican restaurant one evening. As we were eating and listening to a live Mariachi band, 4 young men came and sat down at the table next to us. Well, low and behold she starts up a conversation with one of them and then the others join in. As the band starts to play again, Gloria goes and requests a dance from one of these guys, (who by the way was about my age!!) and you know what....he did!!! There she was in all her glory, as everyone else looked on, dancing and having fun!!! I would have never, ever have done that!!! But that's what make her so special. We had a wonderful time that night. Stuff like this happens all the time, when we are together.
I have come to admire Gloria Jr. for who she is and not what I want her to become. She has taught me not to judge others by their appearance. She has shown me to be kinder to all I meet. She has given me a big lesson on forgiveness. And she has shown me to be happy everyday.For me, I see Gloria Jr. as wearing her "spiritual soul" on the outside for all to see and you know what? I want to be just like her."Thank you Lord for giving me your gift of Love"My Daughter Gloria Patricia Jr.Gloria P. Huerta Sr.