A Rather Funny Link

I have been considering and re-considering linking to something that I recently read. It was a guest post written at a blog that I regularly read. It cracked me up, but it is somewhat irreverent, to say the least. It was written by the mother of a child with Asperger syndrome. It is a response to people who say inappropriate things about/to her children.

Since it is fairly common for parents of children with special needs to be confronted with these kinds of situations, I decided to link it, with the disclaimer that that there is some very mild swearing. I'd give it a PG rating.

So, having said all that, I hope you enjoy!

A Rant from Special Needs MommyLand

Unbelievably Awesome People

Well, as many who read this blog are already aware, the Registry was one of the top 200 "vote-getters" in the Chase Community Giving Campaign, hosted on Facebook. You know what this means? It means that Chase is donating $20,000 to the Registry!!!

This was a true "grassroots" effort, organized by many of our members. Several people noticed that the campaign was going on, and alerted their friends, who alerted THEIR friends, who alerted THEIR friends, and so on and so on. People posted links on their blogs, sent emails, created "voting events", posted to their Facebook walls, and more. Thanks to their efforts, we moved from the very bottom of the list of charities to finish at #34. Dr. Cody recently received the confirmation email from Chase, and now we're just waiting to hear the final details of the donation.

So, here's a hearty THANK YOU to everyone who voted, who encouraged others to vote, who did anything to help in this effort. What a fantastic group of people we have !!!!

Speaking of fantastic people, the Registry's conference just ended a couple of days ago. From all the reports I've heard, it was a resounding success!! Unfortunately, I can't blog about it personally, as I was not there. However, I am hoping I can ask someone else to write up a little something, or, at the very least, share some photographs!

A Touch of Envy

As I write this, I know that many chromosome 18 families are converging on Tulsa, Oklahoma for this year's Registry conference. Unfortunately, for a variety of reasons, it is impossible for me to come along this year. In fact, I've only ever been able to make it to one conference. That was in 2007, when the conference was held in Anaheim. And it was AWESOME. I had such a fantastic time meeting so many people that I had only spoken with over the telephone or email. I loved seeing families hanging out poolside, in meetings, at dinner, chatting until all hours of the night in the hallways of the hotel...

For a better idea of what goes on at one of these conferences, you should check out this video, made at last year's Vegas conference...

Las Vegas 2009 from Thilo Eckoldt on Vimeo.

It is a great time, and I just wish I could be there again this year. Unfortunately, it is not to be. However, I just wanted to wish all that are heading to Oklahoma this week-end safe travels, and a WONDERFUL conference!! Take pictures, and share them, please!!!

Just a Few Clicks

I know that many of the people who follow this blog are also a part of the Registry's Facebook group, so many have already heard about this...

Just in case, though, I wanted to post an announcement that the Registry is in the running to win $20,000!! The Chase Community Giving Campaign is underway, and they are awarding a prize to the top two hundred vote-getting organizations. As I write this, we stand at #42, so if the contest were to end today, we would be an award recipient!

However, the contest doesn't end today. It ends on July 13th. So, there is still plenty of time for other organizations to campaign to get more votes. This is where you, dear reader, come in!!

If you are on Facebook, go here to vote in the campaign! You'll need to "like" the application, and then go through a couple of other steps to actually vote, but please don't let those extra steps put you off!! Every single vote counts!

If you're NOT on Facebook, this would be an EXCELLENT reason to join! Give us your vote, and invite your friends to vote for us, too! Imagine what we could do with $20,000!!

Once you vote, feel free to leave a comment on the page that talks about what the Registry means to you. Adding a personal touch to the page is a great way to encourage people to vote for us!