Friday, April 13, 2012

A Blog Party?

I found out that there is something in the blog world called a "Blog Party." Maybe you know what this means, but I admit I am a writer, not a blogger. The more I learn about blogging the more I learn this is true. However, I could not pass away the opportunity to connect with other bloggers that have children with special needs.

I would recommend that you start reading this essay: Road Marker 321. It is the first of a series of posts I wrote about receiving and dealing with Nichole's diagnosis. It is raw, but it is real. Becoming a special needs mom sometimes welcomes us with tears and sadness. Thankfully, we find great beauty in unexpected places.

But let me tell you a little bit about our family:

Andy and I were married 9 years ago. We were young and we have done a lot of growing up together. He is an incredible man.

We were only 24 when we became parents to one pretty sweet baby girl. We loved being parents and we thought we were pretty stellar at this job, so we signed up for it again. The problem was, our second baby girl greeted us with an extra chromosome, which means she has Down syndrome. She rocked our world. Dealing with her diagnosis was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in life. However, I quickly realized that we had been given one of the greatest blessings in our lives. As a matter of fact, Nichole changed us so much that we adopted a little girl with Cerebral Palsy just 2 years ago.


Our daughter with Cerebral Palsy had a rhizotomy a year ago at Mayo Clinic and her life went from "she will never walk" to now walking independently! It is absolutely incredible! You can read about that journey here.

Feel free to look around and learn more about our family.

Lastly, I just have to share their pictures with you!

I hope you stick around for a while. You can follow with google connect or subscribe to receive my posts through e-mail.

And if you blog about special needs, please leave me a message and share with me about your family and your blog.

And if you have no relationship to the special needs community, I would still love for you to share about you and your blog. I will stop by and say hi.



Ultimate Blog Party 2012

27 comments:

  1. Hi Ellen
    I've only been blogging for two weeks, am mum to Reuben (5) and Isaac (2), who has cerebral palsy. In the short time I've been in the blogging world, I have found so much encouragement, hope and support. Pop on over to my blog and see what's been happening in our world.

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    1. I will definitely stop by. And welcome to the blogging world! Yes, our on-line community is incredible!

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  2. I've just recently started reading. My son Ben is 8 months old and has Down syndrome. He's great. :) I blog about our family, so it's not really a Ds blog, more of a place for me to record memories for myself and to keep friends/family updated. I've appreciated reading your posts. Thanks for being so transparent about your parenting journey.

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    1. Oh I love babies! I could ask you a hundred questions! I will definitely stop by your blog and say hi :)

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  3. What an amazing story! You have beautiful children and I'm looking forward to reading more about them, starting with the journey to walking link you suggested.

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    1. Welcome to my little corner of the internet. I will definitely stop by yours and learn more about your family. :)

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  4. Hi! Awesome! I'm so glad to have found you! Our daughter surprised us with having Down syndrome, too. I was 27 when she was conceived (ew, ick, did you think about that word at length?), so it really wasn't even on my radar. Big surprise. Like you, we also have two kids with special needs, except, Casey came first. Our eight year old has autism. I'm pretty sure he prepared me to have Abby. That's why her diagnosis wasn't the shock it would have been.

    We'd been down that road before. It wasn't all bad.

    Anyways, I look forward to reading more!

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    1. HI Lexi, I am going to go visit your blog! So let me ask you something, when it comes to Autism and Ds, which do you find most challenging? I know for me CP has been more of a struggle than Ds. I always love to hear from parents that have more than 1 kid with special needs!

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  5. Hi Ellen, it is so nice to "meet" you during this UBP 2012! We have one son, Isaac, who is adopted and has various and sundry special needs. We had no idea the road that God would lead us down as parents to this little man; but we are grateful for it and for him. He is our pride and joy!!! :)

    I'll be following you @Twitter. I am @ObtainingMercy there. Looking forward to getting to know you!

    Alesha Kay

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    1. Hello Alesha! Oh how I love adoption, since Nina joined our family that way. Did you know your son had special needs before you brought him home? I will definitely stop by your blog!

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  6. Coming over from the Bloggy Party! How fun! You have a beautiful family! Amazing photos of the girls...I love them....I have a boy with extras..would love to have you join me!

    Tracy
    Dear Life From a Mom of Boys

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    1. I found you and I am following you now :) Your family is gorgeous!

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  7. I will definitely stop by and say hi :)

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  8. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I am now following yours! It is so nice to meet other special needs moms! My daughter has multiple issues and is medically fragile - but we have no known diagnosis. I am looking forward to getting to know you better!

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    1. Sarah I am looking forward to learning more about your family. What is it like not to have a diagnosis? Sometimes it bothers me that my children wear labels, yet at times it is nice because those labels connect me to other people that walk the same journey. What has it like been for you?

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  9. Ellen - Hey my fellow pastor's wife and mom of 3 daughters! Thanks so much for visiting my blog - and for following! But mostly, thanks for leaving a comment so I could come find you here! I love connecting with other moms, but especially those with special kiddos. I've found such an amazing, encouraging, and supportive community through blogging. Look forward to learning more about you and your family. (now following your blog, as well as Twitter - my Twitter handle is @lanalrush if you'd like to follow there, too.)

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    1. I love what you guys do for the special needs community! does your church have a special needs ministry? I would love to talk to you about that!

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  10. Hi Ellen! Thank you for stopping by at Life with Three Special Needs Children. I look forward to reading more of your blog and learning about your family.

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    1. How fun to find out I was already following you on twitter!

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  11. Stopping by from UBP12...what a beautiful family you have. Precious gifts! Love your story. Heading off to find ways to follow.

    Blessings,
    Trish

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    1. Thanks so much for stopping by. I visited your blog and got to know your family a little bit more. So glad we connected.

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  12. Returning your visit from UBP. I love your site! Thanks for visiting my site (www.createdinhisimage.net/blog)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Elizabeth. It is always great to connect with other families that have kids with SN.

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  13. Another Blog Party visitor. Just starting to look through your blog and loving it. Thanks for stopping by and saying hi on mine!

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  14. Anonymous3:02 PM

    Dropping by from UBP (and you stopping by my place). I have been poking around here and find your stories to be like a hug.

    The diagnosis is tough, no doubt about it, but striving to see the good things is what matters most. Because I know my Lil Man has taught me some things I would have never done/known with out him in my life.

    I look forward to following your blog!

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  15. Ok, so I, like you am not sure what a blog party is. :) And I am visiting here because I already follow you. I love your posts. I have 3 boys (all under 2 1/2 years-old) one of whom has cerebral palsy. Thank you for your great blog! I am a very novice (not very often) blogger at www.our3littlemiracles.blogspot.com

    Even though I don't know about this blog party, I have found some more blogs I am going to check out just from these comments.

    Thanks!!

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  16. Stopping by from mommaof4cutiez.blogspot.com Just recently started blogging and am looking for other moms to connect to with similar interests. Ended up at your lovely site. =) I have 4 kids, one with special needs, autism. Currently homeschooling all 4.

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