DownSyn Forum

I'm loving mine!

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On Saturday October 13, Barnes and Noble is hosting a book fair to benefit the GIFTS Outreach program. Barnes and Noble will give the program up to 25% of all sales accompanied by a Gifts Outreach boo ...

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine owns a vinyl lettering business (peel-and-stick decorative decals). I encouraged her to create some rear-window stickers to support Down syndrome awareness. She's now ...

Saw it at my ped's office! Excellent article, Valle. Way to go!

I still cry whenever I look at the photos.

I love the diversity of the contributors. Our cause is one that crosses political and philosophical and denominational lines. GIFTS is "living" ...

Here are some random thoughts about writing personal essays:

Read lots of personal essays.

Think about an experience or cluster of experiences that have been very powerful for you.

Do lots of ...

The first book started "growing" just over a year ago, when I decided I wanted to do a compilation of personal essays by moms of kids with DS. Women's personal writings are my passion--I'm e ...

I picked those categories because they were five things Thomas had effortlessly increased in my life. From what I could tell on the DS boards, other parents were having similar experiences. I also wan ...

Short answer: Keep writing! Do your homework, and don't give up!

I didn't know anything about publishing until shortly before I started GIFTS. JenEndyB gave me some info and recommended resources. ...

I write mostly during Thomas's naptime. But when we were putting Gifts together, I worked throughout the day, with him on the floor right next to my computer chair. I felt compelled to finish the book ...

I love that idea as well! We're excited to see Gifts II come together. Family members and friends of the kids featured in vol. 1 are welcome to submit, but for this volume priority will be given to st ...

Submissions are now being accepted for the second volume of GIFTS. Guidelines are available on our website: http://www.giftsds.segullah.org/Gifts_vol_II.htm

You'll notice that our focus is on stori ...

I'm SO happy that you ladies are loving GIFTS. Feedback like this makes every hour spent compiling the book all worth it, a hundred times over.

There's lots more info about the book on our website ...

By now you all know about the AmEx Members Project, where $5 million in funding goes to the winning community service proposal.

Right now the NDSS's proposal for a Down syndrome awareness project ...

The new edition of GIFTS, published by Woodbine House, now available for pre-order. Here's the link:

http://www.woodbinehouse.com/main.asp_Q_product_id_E_978-1-890627-85-0
Although they have the ...

No no, don't go, Suz. You didn't say "judgmental" and so I was putting words in your mouth. So I apologize for that.

You raised a great point. I had to stop and wonder what's driving me ...

That could very well be. But I don't think it's the only thing at play in our easy criticisms. Laughing

Most of my experience with EA was before my T was born. So my deepest impressions of the book ...

That's an interesting point about the donkeys/mules. I agree it's important not to classify kids with DS as a different species!

Here's my thought about the puppies/kittens. If I'm remembering corr ...

Yes, I'm realizing that I need to request a thyroid blood test for Thomas, and that my ped. apparently isn't aware that such a test is indicated for every toddler with DS.

Can we call them toddler ...

Yes. It pushes the limits of my trust. Just yesterday, in my writer's group, a friend warned me that a little passage in a book chapter I'm writing wasn't believable. "It's too specific," sh ...

I love Anne Lamott. And yes, I think Martha's trying to keep herself excluded from the "opiate of the masses" camp.

And while the scene with John reveals a lot of his interior landscape, it's still a secondhand account...I think the bare bones of what's inside us can be just too much to spell out on paper. A versio ...

Yes... "they" is just as lousy a term for parents of children with DS (and families that include a member with DS) as it is for individuals with DS themselves. I sometimes lapse into it myse ...

Sigh--if only quantity could comensate for quality! Laughing

Yes--I agree. Here's more mormon doctrine for you: We're all literal children of god. God (the father) and God (his wife) created our spirit bodies. We're all destined to grow up to be like them. All ...

I don't have a prenatal-diagnosis story to share, but my impression is that there's still a lot of negative pressure out there. When I was compiling _Gifts_ I heard many stories about insensitive prof ...

This writing style really captured me at first, but it got old after several reads. It feels somewhat manipulative to me now.

Well, she's very careful to not lapse into New Age or religious terminology. She says the books that usually discuss this kind of thing are too flaky for her taste, or something like that. I think she ...

That's an interesting question. I think her pain comes out in bits and pieces throughout the pregnancy account--it fuels just about every conversation and scene. It makes sense that John's comes in a ...

I have thought about this a lot since T was born--about how our expectations color our experience. Do I expect Thomas to be just like any other child, just a bit slower to do things? Am I going to pus ...

I like the quote she includes from Patricia Holland, about how some women bear children but never mother them, and some women never give birth yet mother their whole lives. That really makes me think. ...

I liked it. I thought it was fascinating to have the scenes featuring Adam him juxtaposed with the story of the pregnancy. Of course, what we all probably wish for is a whole book about Adam himself.. ...

Ack! The dreaded angels question!

I don't believe in angels in the way the psychic does (mystical beings that can take on human form if they desire).

I believe Adam is a human being. (As is Tho ...

The line that most changed my life is John's accusal of Martha: "Why can't you love him just because he's a little boy?"

I fell apart when I first read that. I realized how conditional my ...

I read EA several times before Thomas (son with DS) was born, and once afterward. Each reading has been a different experience. The first time I read, my heart busted open. I had a very strong emotion ...

Email me at giftsds@segullah.org

Gifts is now available for purchase on Amazon.com. The estimated shipping wait is 3-5 days! (Earlier this week it was 4-6 weeks).

Use the PURCHASE GIFTS link from the Gifts homepage to order your ...

Boy, cierrasmom, I wish you had submitted that story to Gifts! Very powerful. You should write it up for Gifts II. We're trying to branch out from mom stories so we will only be including a limited nu ...

ooh--yes!

like the ring in Tolkien.

great observation!

I related to the marriage based on nothing solid--that was my parents' marriage. Both members needy and desperate but unable (or unwilling) to connect with each other.

I related to the emotionally ...