I'm hanging out over at ellenstumbo.com

Hello friends,

It has been a long time since I updated this blog. I mean to come back here, but keeping two blogs has been harder than I thought it would be. I have more writing commitments and deadlines, so I find myself with little time to update here.

But, I haven't been absent, I am still hanging out on Facebook and twitter!

As for blogging, I am writing over at ellenstumbo.com. I have to make a better plan to keep up on this blog, but on the meantime, I hope we can stay in touch.

To make things even easier, I wanted to extend the invitation so you get all my posts delivered directly to your inbox.

Subscribe to ellenstumbo.com

Let's stay connected!

We Need Your Help

If you are not familiar with Not Alone, I encourage you to hop on over and take a look. I am humbled and honored to be a part of the team behind Not Alone. We have only been a round for a couple of months, and already I have been incredible blessed and encouraged by it.

 

So here is the scoop...

 

66 million. 

 

That's how many unique visitors that About.com averages e-v-e-r-y month!  And here's the link on About.com where you can find people reading and disussing being a parent of a child with special needs, life, and faith:

 

Oh...that's right.  There isn't any.

 

Sad but true.  You can find a variety of links on About.com concerning Christianity.  And special needs.  But none where the two intersect.  I want to change that and I need your help to do it. 

 

I don't think I"ve ever shared this with you but the vision I crafted for our blog is simply this:

 

"To make Christ-followers by sharing God's love with parents and grandparents of children with special needs with the hope of building community through shared stories of life, faith, and parenthood."

 

The focus of Not Alone is to lead parents one step closer to Christ...or depending where they're at in their walk...to deepen their faith in Christ.

 

Having a higher level of visibility on About.com will allow us to reach a much larger audience of parents who need to hear a Good Word.  To know that they don't walk alone.  To read that there is a God who loves them and their child unconditionally. 

 

To be selected as the Favorite Special Needs Parenting Blog 2013 will require that all of us vote regularly.  And to use our social media to ask those who trust us to vote too.  I would vote a hundred times a day...but I can't.  I can only vote once. But one vote counts.  It makes a difference.

 

We are easily the largest blog in this contest but currently in 3rd place.  The challenge with a big blog...just like a big church...is that everyone thinks someone else will step forward to get the job done..and in the end...nobody does. 

 

Each day that you're on Facebook, please vote.  It only takes 75-seconds.  Ask others to vote with you.  I don't want to miss out on the chance to share our life-stories and God-lessons with parents who so desparately need to hear that they're loved, that they're not alone, that there is One who desires to have an eternal relationship with them.   

 

We have a section for prayer requests on our blog.  There are 900+ comments that parents have shared.  Make a resolution right now to take a very short amount of time each day to vote for Not Alone.  Here's the link:

http://specialchildren.about.com/b/2013/02/19/vote-for-favorite-special-needs-parenting-blog-3.htm

 

God bless and thank you for joining us in our effort.

The Self Promotion Post

As I continue to pursue writing (specifically, writing books) it means I need to reach out and promote...myself.

So, I am cutting straight to the chase.

I am working on a  book proposal about the real emotions of international adoption. Exciting! Yet now a days, proposals include numbers and such. Like for example: How many people follow you on twitter? Do you have a Facebook page? How many visits does your website get per day? How many email subscribers do you have?

It is pretty overwhelming, and I don;t expect to wow the agent or a publisher with my big numbers.

Nonetheless, I still wan to let you know that I am around all those social media sites.

First, I have a writer blog and you can visit it HERE. I don't share many personal stories, but I post 2-3 times a week. My posts deal with parenting, adoption, special needs, and faith.

I also host a wiring prompt linky, and would love for you to join us if you have a blog and need some ideas, or simply would enjoy writing with other people. This has nothing t do with self promotion, I would simply like to write with you!

If you are on twitter, you can find me HERE.

And lastly, I have a Facebook page. I share photos, funnies, links to articles I have enjoyed on topics about parenting, special needs, adoption and faith, sometimes I sadly announce I ran out of Nutella, and sometimes I share some great resources on the topics mentioned before.

It would be great if you would "like" my page. You can find it HERE.

So that's it. Self-promotion is over. I would appreciate your support and if you are building your platform, let me know so I can help you too!

Trying to stay afloat!

Wow! I look at this blog and realize how much I have neglected it! I have been doing okay with guest posts, but even some weeks I am really dropping the ball.

The truth is, I have too much going on!

Last summer I began to really push my writing as a freelancer, and I have had some pretty amazing jobs. One is on-going and I absolutely love writing about the things I went to school for (Psychology, and Christian Counseling). But if I have limited time, the job takes precedence over the blog. I have also been doing editing and it has been fun! I met a pretty remarkable woman that had a sister with down syndrome and her short memoir is fascinating! Editing a book takes up a lot of time!

I am also on the board for the International Down Syndrome Coalition for Life. The IDSC is doing great things in the Down syndrome community. It is an honor to be a part of this group. I have been dropping the ball here too, but thankfully our awesome leaders are understanding and they have not fired me yet. Thank you!

I attended a Writer's conference in October and an editor said she would take a look at my book proposal. I have been diligently working on it, and was going to send it in next week. Then I read a post by another agent who suggested to wait for those book proposals until the new year, since this is a really busy time for them. They have lots of projects to get caught up with and they need to finish things up by the end of the year. (The book is about emotions in adoption for the parents. Parents also go through a lot during adoption, it's tough, hard, and also wonderful. How does one handle the different emotions of adoption? I know of a woman that was diagnosed with PTSD after adoption. This is real, it's happening, and we need to start talking honestly about those feelings).

I am also teaching Zumba. I LOVE it! Just got hired by the YMCA and I will also be teaching dance again. If you have been reading my blog for a while, you know it has been a dream of mine to teach an adaptive dance class...I am getting closer to that dream!

In pursuing my writing professionally, I am working hard on my Writer website/blog. Please stop by if you have not had a chance to do so. When I only have a chance to do one blog post, that is where it is going.

I am still around, just trying to get organized and trying to juggle too many projects at once. Not to mention I have 3 little girls that need time and attention!

On the meantime, I would love to connect with you via facebook! I do stop by there everyday and share thoughts, photos, posts, and ask for recipes sometimes :)

Reading this over, it almost sounds like an excuse not to blog, but I have been feeling pretty overwhelmed lately, and that is the truth. Sometimes at night, I just want to sit with my husband and watch a show, or read a book.

But I am still here, and I will try to update as much as I can. Nina is doing amazing since taking the magic juice, we have seem improvement in a lot of areas, especially cognitive. Like not just little things, but WOW!

The rascal is also on a roll, and there is much to share about her development. She has Down syndrome and she is certainly not a typical child, but goodness is she amazing and is she a star! Speech is also coming along, and some days she even likes me almost as much as her daddy (some days).

Ellie wants to be an author. I realize how much she looks up to me, and I am humbled and reminded that I need to be the woman I want her to be. Oh the responsibility! Oh the pleasure and joy to be her mom!

And Andy, well, he is just amazing! Our 10th anniversary is coming up and I am madly in love with this man. And I swear he just gets better looking with time.

That's it! I thought this would be a short update, but I kept writing. So there you go. Life so far.

And would you pray the Loraines move to our town to do ministry with us? Thanks.

Creating Community for Writing/Blogging Moms

Last year, I took a writing class for moms through The Momoir Project. We had readings, on-line discussions, and of course, writing. I loved it.

My favorite part about the class were the writing starts. A short snippet that would plunge us into writing about our mothering experiences. And as much as I enjoyed writing about my happenings as a mother, I found it meaningful to read the beautiful, heartfelt, and honest stories shared by the other moms. Every new story was an invitation to be a part of their story. Their stories challenged me, brought me to tears, or made me laugh out loud. These writing exercises became something I looked forward to.

When the time came for me to have a professional writer website, I knew I would keep a blog there about my mothering experiences (hence: A mom that writes). But I also knew that a blog revolving around my stories would be lacking something, and that something would be the richness of stories that other moms (or bloggers) have to offer. I don't want it to be Ellen's mothering adventures only, I want to create a place rich with our stories. This, this is the heart behind the blog, this is what the writing prompt is all about.

So I am inviting you, my fellow mom, to join me. I want to hear about your mothering stories. I want to know about the hard days, those where you cry many tears because you feel so alone. I want to hear about the days where the laundry is piled high, and there are no socks to wear. I want you to share about the laughter heard around your home, and the life-long lessons you learned because of your children. I want to celebrate with you even the simple milestones that happen in your living room floor as your child takes his first steps. I want to know what it is like to see your daughter all dressed up for prom, or going out on a first date.

Let's share this crazy thing called "motherhood" together. Let's write our stories for ourselves, for our children, and for one another. Let's be a group of mom's that write, and let's do it together. 

Will you join me? 

You don't have to join every week, I know too well how hard it can be to get a blog post up sometimes. Write along when you can, you are always welcome. And if you are a writer/blogger that is not a mom, I think we still have a lot to learn from your stories, so we would love to have you join in too.

I am really looking forward to reading your stories!

Someone suggested I e-mail the writing prompt during the weekend, since that is when they have time to write. I want to make this is easy as I can on you, busy moms, so if you would like to receive the prompt in your inbox every weekend, leave me your e-mail in the form below and you will be all set!

Sign-up to receive a writing prompt in your inbox every weekend!

And would you pass this along to your writing/blogging friends? I believe that together, we can create a beautiful community of moms. Okay, now I am really done!

Like this post? Share it with your friends!

Help Me Improve My Blogging

I know I am not the best blogger. To be honest, I have struggled to find my niche. The thing is, I consider myself a writer, not a blogger, yet blogging is about writing. This is my personal blog, but my life is not interesting enough for you to keep coming back if I don;t have anything to offer.

So I have a big favor to ask, would you consider taking the time to answer some questions and help me out figure out this blogging thing I do?

1. Why do you read my blog? What keeps you coming back?

2. If you were to describe my blog to a friend, what would you say?

3. What topics are the ones where you see my best writing?

4. What topics are of the most interest to you?

5. If you could give me one piece of advice to improve my blog, what would it be?

I really appreciate that you are here and that you read my words and therefore I want to create content that makes you want to keep coming back.

In advance, thanks for answering my questions and helping me out.

Photo Credit

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.

Blogging Awards? Sharing the Blog Love!

I didn't know there was such a thing as "blog awards." Did you know that?  So how fun to receive an award!

Kelly from Ahimsa Mama nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award. Thanks Kelly! Kelly is in my writing class and she is a great writer! She always leaves me wanting to read more.

And Sarah from Moments of Exhilaration nominated me for...either the Versatile Blog Award or the 7X7 Award. Ha! I don't even know! Sarah has really challenged me to write with integrity, no holding back, no pretending, but being real.

 Recipients of this award are asked to:

• Thank the person that nominated their blog for the award with a backlink to them.
• List 7 things about themselves.
• Award 15 newly discovered blogs with the award and notify them of the award.

Seven things about myself:

1. I am originally from Mexico and Spanish is my first language. Which by default, means that English is my second language. At least, it used to be! I don't have anyone to speak Spanish with and most of my thoughts, writing, and dreaming happen in English now. My mom and sisters like to make fun of me when I speak Spanish now.

2. I do not know how to cook anything Mexican, just in case you were wondering about that.

3. I LOVE nutella.

4. Before I had Nichole (my daughter with Down syndrome) a friend of mine shared with me she had a dream of having a special needs ministry at our church, specifically, a VBS for kids with special needs. I told her it was a great idea, but I thought at the time "I probably would not be a part of it, special needs is just not my thing." Ha! One more time....HA! I am so very passionate about this now!

5. I said when I was younger I would never marry a pastor. Ha! Again!

6. My favorite snack is a nice tray of cream-cheese stuffed jalapeno poppers.

7. Currently, I am watching the show "Monk" and I love it!

So I am sharing the blog love and nominating other bloggers:

Gillian from Pocket Lint. Another pastor's wife that does not pretend to have it all together. Her honesty will refresh you!

Marnie from Greene Parenting. My favorite when it comes to talking openly about adoption. And she has such a witty sense of humor you will love her!

Beck from Beck Far From Home. Yet another pastor's wife. She has an incredible heart and I am sure her words will bless you.

Jessica from Our Family For His Glory. I have known Jessica since we were in college and she really is amazing! What you read is who she is, and she is a great mom that has her priorities straight. She is not perfect but she is doing the best she can and I hope to be like her someday.

Joy from Joy In This Journey. I recently discovered her blog and I love that she is not afraid to write about what is "messy." There is something about being authentic, isn't it?

Kasey from These Five Of Mine. She writes beautiful devotionals and inspirational pieces. I have asked her to blog post for me some time!

Bethany from Our Perfectly Imperfect Life. She has 2 girls with Down syndrome and she is an incredible photographer. Do I need to say more?

Jolene Philo from Different Dream for My Child. Jolene is a champion for all of us that have children with special needs. It is not only her books but her blog that offers so much to us parents as we navigate the world of disability. I am a huge fan of Jolene!

Glenn Myers from Deep Wells. Glenn is also an author, I will be sharing his book "Seeking Spiritual Intimacy" with you soon. Glenn was one of our college professors, his classes were always my favorite ones. He is also my husband's friend and mentor, a second father to him. I would encourage you to visit his blog, you will find how to seek spiritual intimacy, you will be moved, challenged, and encouraged.

John Stumbo from John Stumbo's Blog: An Honest Look Into a Mysterious Journey. I am not just saying this is a blog you should visit because this is my husband's uncle. John has wrestled with God, really. Have you ever wondered why God has allowed something bad to happen in your life? Why God will not offer healing the way you expect Him to? "God is in this, and God is good"

So take some time and visit these blogs. Great stuff.