Ok...I've been slacking and never even announced the winner for March's contest. But rest assured that the winner was emailed. I would announce it right now but I can't remember it off the top of my head and I'm not on the right computer to look it up...just trust me.
Aprils giveaway is a fun and EASY one! It's all about Autism awareness. If you read my family blog you will know that I have a fantastic Sister that is the mom to twins that have Autism. We are doing a "Walk Now" for Autism on May 2nd to help raise money for this great foundation. If you want to read more about this from my blog please feel free...just click here.
Ok...so the CONTEST. First off...the winner will get not one, but TWO free items!
One will be a basic cinch bag and one will be a Premium Cinch bag...both are super nice. You get to pick the colors of both. You pick which one has the Autism Awareness logo on it and on the other you get to pick a design of your choice! (You can see all of my designs by clicking on the design button at the top of this blog. )
These bags are great for kids and adults alike. I have used them with my Young Womens youth group as well as my own kids for beach bags, piano music bags, dance bags, etc...very multi purpose!
The rules for this contest are SIMPLE, SIMPLE, SIMPLE...
1.) Please leave me a comment about how Autism has touched your life. Think!!! Most of you know somebody that has Autism.
And if not then simply google "Autism" and tell me one fact that you have learned about Autism.
That's it! I would of course love a shout out on your blog if you would like, but not necessary for this contest..although if you do and leave me a comment that you have blogged about my company I will enter an extra entry for you! And of course if any of you should so feel inspired to donate please donate to my sisters team here...this would give you 5 additional entries! ..and the money goes to the Autism foundation...not to my sister. Sorry...but I guess money kind of does "talk" here...but it's for a GREAT cause! The more funding we can raise the more research can be done to find out causes and cures for Autism, as well as important rescources for family and children affected by Autism. Seriously...families dealing with Autism need major resources for help and education and additional help resources for themselves and children so please help if you can!
If you have any questions let me know...otherwise get busy and have fun with this contest! I PROMISE I will announce the winner promptly on May 2nd.
Ok all I have to say is wow I love my sister. I am the sister in question in this post. I have twin boys who are diagnosed with autism. It has been a long road to get were we are at and we still have a very very long road to go. My boys Isaac and Jackson are 7 years old. They have the mentality of a 4 year old. They have very little actual language skills (they say about 10 words legiably). They speak to us in sign language and ALOT of grunting. The are fun loving boys who get excited over the smallest things. They love the dirt and water and would be happy to live in a sand castle with a moat because it would combine there two favorite things (they dont like them together to make mud because that cant slide through there fingers). I dont think there autism was caused by shot (I dont think any childs is caused by shots I feel if a child has autism they had it at birth and something triggered it like a shot). They were born at 36 weeks gestastion in Grants NM and lifeflighted to albaquarque (yea I know I cant spell it). Since that da they have had there ups and there downs more ups thank goodness. If you have any questions about autism you may want answered feel free to ask me (you can have Adrienne get you my information on how to contact me). I am more then willing to help out in any way I can and I truly appreciate all everyone has ever done for me.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Adrienne.
What to say about Autism... Well let just start with there is more cases of it found every day. There is no known cure for Autism and no really know fact of how it occurs. There are not enough schools for kids that have it that are affordable and that public schools need to work harder to help kids like this out. One thing I do know is that it takes strong people to be able to cope with kids that have it. One of my Best Friend's has twins that have autism and let me tell you I really dont know how she does it. She gets Kudo in my book for it. I just pray that they find a cure for it and help educate more teachers and people in general on it so these kids can bloom in the world that they are in.
ReplyDeleteI have a cousin who has Autism. I has been interesting to watch him grow up. He does not have a severe case but he has struggled trough his life. He is so sweet and all the little kids love it when Selby comes over to my mom's house.I really respect parents who have children with autism because it is not easy.
ReplyDeleteI honestly don't know anyone personally with autism, but my husband's sunday school class for the 9-year-olds has 2 autistic kids. It's amazing to see how he has created lesson plans to include them. I've never seen him to patient and so determined before! He's learning a lot and growing a lot each Sunday by being with these boys, and I love seeing how much those boys love him.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jennifer and my son has cerebral palsy, mild mental retardation, and autistic tendencies. With the other diagnosis and the fact that Robby has behaviors that scream Autism and others that scream not Autism, that is why he is diagnosed with tendencies, not acutally Autism. He is happy, smiling, social little guy that will spend an hour sitting and hitting his head on something because he wants to...laughing the whole time. He doesn't make much sense to me most of the time......some kids march to the beat of a different drummer....kids with Autism all have their own drummer.
ReplyDeleteMy 12 yr. old son was diagnosed just after his 4th birthday. After the initial despair and shock passed, I decided he was going to be the best he could be, no matter what. To that end, I devoted myself to learning everything I could about ASD, and to educating as many people as possible about it. I hoped that this meant people would be able to start treatment asap, and I wanted people to know that there is hope. I brought it up so often that my son, when 5 yrs. old, would stand in line at stores and start reciting, "Do you know about autism?" LOL! THAT certainly got their attention!
ReplyDeleteHello, love the bags. I have read some of the posts and appreciate when people share the ups and downs of their lives. I have an almost 12 year old son with Autism. Most days are good, but some days are bad. We have learned as a family to deal with certain behaviors, and to celebrate the accomplishments. IMO having a child with special needs makes you reevaluate your priorities and teaches you more about patience and understanding. And you certainly find out who your friends are. Education and awareness are key in this crusade to help families give their children a wonderful life.
ReplyDeleteHere is how Autism has impacted my life:
ReplyDeleteOur son was a normal little boy at 16 1/2 months old.
Up until he was 16 1/2 months old he was talking(saying 20-30 words) and speaking in 2-3 word sentences. He would sing. At 16 1/2 months old he loved taking his bath. He loved going swimming. He would play with his 3 sisters. He would play with his toys. He had met all his developmental milestones.
On March 23, 2007 we took him in for his well checkup. That day he was given his 15 month shots and his 18 month shots all at the same time. That was a total of 4 shots but one of these shots was a combined vaccine and it had 4 vaccines in one valve. So he really received 7 vaccines that day. My son had never really cried or screamed a lot up until that day. That evening my son screamed for 5 hours straight. He was having a reaction to his vaccines that were given to him that day.
After that day we lost our son, not physically of course, but mentally and emotionally. Who our son had been at 16 1/2 months old, he was no longer that little baby boy who was saying 20-30 words, talking in 2-3 word sentences, loving his bath, loving his pool, playing with his sisters, and playing with his toys. From that day up until today. My son's slate was wiped clean. He stopped talking(he does not even say 1 word) He is terrified of his bath and of his pool. He does not play with his sisters anymore. All he does with his toys is line them up. He does not play with them like he used to such as making his cars drive and making car noises. He just lines them up.
My son does not respond verbally to anyone. He does not understand when someone talks to him. He cannot tell us if he is hungry, if he is thirsty, if he is tired, if he is sick, etc. It is very frustrating for my son to want something or need something, but he cannot express that want or need.
Before March 23, 2007 my son was not scared of anything he never screamed because something terrified him, because he was not scared of anything. Now I can't even take him into a public restroom or our restroom at home because of the loud sound the toilet makes when someone flushes it. This terrifies him. The machines in public bathrooms that are to dry people's hands terrify him also. Our son stims everyday. I am sure you know what stim means. If not he has a sensory disorder. If his senses are overloaded he stims (ex: flaps his hands, shakes his head back and forth, turns in circles, puts his hands over his ears, etc)
Our life has changed and it will never be the same. I want my little boy back. I want to hear him say "Mama" again. I want him to look around the corner at us and say "hey there" again. I want him to put on his fishing hat from Bass Pro Shop and say "I'm the buddy" again. He has recently started hugging us. That makes us feel good. He turned 3 in November. I look at pictures and videos before he started changing and I just cry. You can tell the difference in the pictures and in the videos. It breaks my heart.