October...a month of awareness and celebrations

   This is going to be a month of many things...awareness, pumpkins, trunk-or-treat, fundraisers, celebration and BIRTHDAYS!!! 
  
   October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month  I will be posting interesting facts, new information and uplifting stories all month long.  You can read the first post in regards to DS Awareness, HERE.
  

Pumpkins!!!

     October also means Pumpkins!  At our church we have a huge Pumpkin Patch that is run by our youth. (After being coordinated and then continually overseen by our Youth Director.  Could you just imagine what excitement could ensue when mixing teenagers and a field of pumpkins!?!)  Families from all over the Island come to our Patch to hunt and choose the perfect pumpkin. There are lots of 'Pictures in the Patch' and the feel of Fall is always in the air when you're walking through rows of pumpkins. This is also a fundraiser for our youth group as they earn points by working at the patch, which they can then cash in towards trips and outings throughout the year.  It's a win-win!!  As part of the pumpkin patch, we have a Pumpkin Fun Day.  Which is pretty self explanatory.  You spend the day, having fun, at a Pumpkin Patch, with pumpkins!  There will be food, games, food and lots of fun activities (and did I mention, food?) I CANNOT wait for next year when Little Bear will be running around choosing her perfect pumpkin and enjoying the fun of a pumpkin filled day!!   And at the end of the month, after the patch is closed down and the final pumpkins are hauled off the lot, we have a night of Treats and 'Trunks'?  Yep, you read that correctly.  We have Trunk or Treat for kiddos to don their first second third final choice of costume (No child ever changes their mind about what they want to be for gathering goodies, right?  Especially not within days of the actual treat gathering!) and go from 'trunk to trunk' gathering goodies.  I have wondered the aisles of many stores scanning the costumes for what could be the 'perfect' find for a certain little girl next year.  I suppose I'll let her have some input as to what she'd like to dress up as.  Though her cuteness will probably get her all the treats she could ever want!  There will be games, contests, pumpkins, fun and guess what...FOOD!  It will be treats all around!
   
    October also holds a very special birthday.  My Little Bear will be 2!  This is a big.deal.birthday, for a few different reasons.  First, uhm, 2 is just kind of a big deal.  At 2, you're not really a baby anymore, you kind of fall into the ranks of being a 'toddler'!  And, well, being a toddler is a big deal!  This birthday, turning two, will happen in an orphanage.  That is definitely a big deal.  There will not be a family to celebrate with or presents to open or cake to devour.  (Whoa...no cake...I know, REALLY big deal there!!)  Anyway, the biggest deal about this birthday is that it will be her LAST in an orphanage! and THAT is the BIGGEST deal of them all!!!  Though she doesn't know it, she has a family who will be celebrating on the other side of the world.  Celebrating her for all of her two 'long' years, celebrating that her birth mother chose life for L so she  and I could find each other and celebrating that next year, we'll have the biggest birthday bash EVER! Family and friends to party with, presents to open, cake (LOTS of cake) to devour and the big deal for her birthday next year...she'll be home!

    As this is such a special month, I have a little fundraiser (well two actually, but will tell you more about the second at another time) to share.  For the month of October, we are holding...'Loose Change for Lizzy'.  I will be passing out cups... placing them at local business, sharing them with friends, putting one on my own desk... to gather 'loose change'. (you know, those extra coins from your pocket, the change from your drive through lunch at Chick-fil-a, the 'found' dollar at the bottom of the dryer).  I'm positive, if L could tell you herself, that the biggest birthday wish she'd have is to be busted out of that darn orphanage (and that is certainly MY biggest birthday wish for her!). Isn't cool to think that YOUR loose change could help make that happen!!  To find out more about 'Loose Change for Lizzy'.  Click HERE and you'll go directly to a post dedicated just to change...

   As for the second fundraiser...you'll have to keep checking back.  That will be happening during 'birthday week'.  (TWO fundraisers for a TWO year old girl...perfect right!)