Awards

Blogger Reflection Award: This award should make an individual reflect upon five bloggers who have been an encouragement, a source of love, impacted you in some way, and who have provided a Godly example. In other words, five dear bloggers whom, when you reflect upon them, you are filled with a sense of pride and joy...of knowing them and being blessed by them.

Brian over at Down Syndrome Life, just gave me the Blogger Reflection Award! I am of course very flattered, and also very surprised. I just can't say enough about how wonderful this blogging community has been for me! I have had the opportunity to peek inside so many intelligent, thoughtful, caring, proactive parent's lives, and I am so grateful for that. I truly believe that we all inspire and teach each other through our daily experiences and lessons learned. We also have a chance to learn that we are all so much more alike than we are different, and through this I think we can find so much unexpected comfort.

I would also like to say that initially my Blog was intended to give hope and inspiration to other parent's out there who either newly found out that their baby had Down Syndrome, or who were struggling with issues. I am a pretty optimistic person, and have always seen the things Jaden is doing and can do, instead of the few things he may not be doing yet. Slowly though, my blog has morphed into a clearer reflection of my passion for changing the way our prenatal community treats diagnoses given to expecting parent's.

Amazingly, in just 6 months time, my Blog has really brought me closer to so many people who also feel things in the prenatal world need to change! Most of you reading are already well aware that I started a Petition to get the Prenatally & Postnatally Diagnosed Condition Act passed, and already we are at almost 600 signatures! Also, I have been devoting most of my time to speaking with other parents, professionals, Doctors, Nurses and Senators in trying to see how powerful our voice really can be. I upload videos to Youtube to spread the word, I join all parent lists and groups that are out there on special needs and down syndrome and basically just try and get the message out that we are sick and tired of our babies being so disposable! I feel it in the air though, things are going to change very soon. In fact, Senator Brownback's office just called me yesterday to congratulate me on the Petition and to tell me this is going to be very powerful testimony and very effective in helping to pass this Bill!!!!! Thank you for all of your support and help with this issue!

So, first I will post Brian's post and I hope I do everything properly as to not screw up this award giving. Then I will pass the award on to 5 other's I feel are deserving of this award.

1. Noelle at Jaden's Journal : Noelle should be a lobbyist for the Down Syndrome community. Noelle is a mother of two. Her youngest, Jaden was born with Down Syndrome and has been the driving force for her on her latest mission. Go visit Noelle. Oh, she designs and makes beautiful jewelry too.

And now here are my five choices for The Blogger Reflection Award!

Honarable Mention goes to Jessica at Raising Joey! I thought that she had already received this award, and if not, definitely deserves it! She has become an incredible advocate for all of our children and is doing an amazing job at getting the word out about our children through her very resourceful blog! Thank you Jessica!!!

1. Leticia over at Cause of Our Joy is one of the most passionate parent's I have met through blogging. She is a huge advocate of changing the prenatal care, just as most of us are, but she takes it further than most of us have a chance to. She has 2 blogs and they are very inspirational. She has offered her help on countless occasions to me, and is there to help any way she can in spreading the word! Her blog is very conscientious and inspiring. She is the mother of 3 beautiful girls! Her time and energy is most definitely altruistically spent! Thank you for all of your support and all that you do Leticia!

2. Alice over at Ups and Downs is another extremely proactive parent. I am never surprised by the information or encouragement she is talking about on her blog. She was the one that posted one of my favorite bits of Down Syndrome encouragement ever, The Letter entitled "Normal Syndrome" that I have since posted about and passed on to everyone I know, it is nothing short of Brilliant! Also, Alice is always there with support for other's and has a very witty way of putting things! Thank you for your inspiration Alice! Need I forget, Alice is mom to 2 beautiful children, Alfie being her "special" one!

3. Jennifer over at Pinwheels, even though she has probably already won this award several times! Jennifer is one of the most eloquent, thoughtful writers you could ever hope to read! I rarely read one of her pieces published all over the Internet and in books and magazines without predictably tearing up! She writes very reflective, thought provoking pieces and always manages to insert a bit of humor in her writings. Jennifer is always the first to post about important issues in the Down Syndrome community and is also a contributor in the beautiful book "Gifts". I know that if we lived near each other we would most certainly "hang out"! She is mom to beautiful twin boys. Thank you Jennifer!

4. Christina over at Prince Vince Meets the World has one of the most adorable little boy's you've ever seen! She is really a woman after my own Entrepreneurial heart. She is in the process of opening her first shoe store in Austria and lets us live vicariously through all of her beautiful pictures. I often feel like I'm actually in Europe when I visit her blog! Her pictures are always AMAZING! I can really relate to Christina because I too opened my first Jewelry Store shortly after Lyla was born over 8 years ago, and love the challenges she is willing to face not letting anything slow her down. Vince is along for the ride and seems to love his life! Her blog is also always encouraging and supportive! Thank you Christina!

5. Kari over at Chanelle and Tristan was one of the first blogs I read before entering the blogging world. I loved how she writes about her beautiful son and has made one of the most beautiful video montage's you have ever seen about her life with her children! She is also a huge Down Syndrome advocate and is doing an amazing job all the while being a single mom! Her children are almost the exact same ages as mine and I can really relate to her! Please check out our Canadian neighbor if you have a chance! Thanks Kari for doing such an amazing job as a mom!

Ok, those are the fellow bloggers I have chosen to pass the torch to! I truly believe that so many more deserve this award, but then again, they have already probably received it! Thank you all for providing such inspiration. Following are the rules for you:1. Copy this post.2. Reflect on five bloggers and write a least a paragraph about each one.3. Make sure you link this post so others can read it and the rules.4. Leave your chosen bloggers a comment and let them know they’ve been given the award.5. Place the award icon on your site