I am delighted to be guest posting over at To the Max today, on the Parents website. It's a post called,
What People With Down Syndrome Bring To The World: EVERYTHING and I hope you will go over there and read it.
For those of you that are visiting here from reading my post there, welcome! I have to say, your timing is impeccable, coming by for a visit right when I'm hosting a celebratory giveaway!
It's good to have you and I hope you will stay awhile and we can get to know each other.
A quick blog introduction: this blog is organized into 3 categories: Disability, Travel and Family. If you want to read just one category (or another), simply stay in that section. If you'd like to read more posts on any of the categories, just search the blog for what you are interested in. I'm still catching up on reformatting my 1,000+ posts, so some posts might be a little hard to read. Sorry about that.
We can also connect over on facebook, or on twitter, pinterest, instagram (meriahnichols) – take your pick – I'm all over the place, but of course, it's just for you.
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Month with Moxie: Celebration Giveaway
Moxie was born in May 2010 with a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. She had already miraculously healed from her diffuse fetal hydrops and the holes in her heart. She was named "Moxie" as she had shown that she was full of it: courage. Verve. Vigor.
Moxie has challenged us to do the same: to live our life, our one precious life, with a little moxie.
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This month is Down syndrome Awareness Month and we are celebrating a Month with Moxie – living life with moxie.
We have a host of awesome Awareness Champions that will be helping us all celebrate by giving you really cool products they made or produce (see below for the full list of the Champions).
Today's Champion is Bella Tu: Bella Tu means "beautiful you" in Italian, and this is what owner/creator Lisa says about her art:
The art of personal adornment is a way of fulfilling a deep longing for individual expression and beauty. I love making beautiful, fun, funky jewelry that brings joy to people and helps them celebrate who they are. I love that my pieces, especially the necklaces in my word pendant series, can serve as inspiration. To me, Moxie means exhibiting spirit, sass, pluck, or courage in the face of difficulty – and that, is always a beautiful thing to see.
Bella Tu Jewelry is giving away this gorgeous must-have necklace for any daring, plucky person!
This inspirational word pendant measures approximately 0.5" (1.5 cm) wide and 3/4" (2 cm) tall, is handcrafted in fine silver, oxidized, and then hung on a 18" sterling silver chain.
For your own order –
**Word pendants can be custom made. Choose your favorite word or name. The length of the word will dictate the size of the pendant. Message Lisa through her shop for more details **
For this necklace, just leave a comment in the rafflecopter below or in the comment box or on With a Little Moxie/facebook –
What is beautiful to you?
United States only; Giveaway ends Monday, October 8th at midnight, Pacific time. Winner announced Tuesday, October 9th.
For more on BellaTu:
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Our Down syndrome Awareness Champions for this month are:
- Bella Tu Jewelry,
- Z Oils Essential Oils
- Carlito Creations
- MommyMoxie
- Bethany Lorelle
- kudu-lah critters
- Conny Wenk
- Signing Time
- Moxie Clothing
- Sweet Redemption
- Amathia Soapworks
- Ergobaby
- with a little moxie
- Moxie Girlz
Another Celebration Giveaway will be held on Wednesday! Stay tuned.
Meriah Nichols is a counselor. Solo mom to 3 (one with Down syndrome, one on the spectrum). Deaf, and neurodiverse herself, she’s a gardening nerd who loves cats, Star Trek, and takes her coffee hot and black.
I love this! I have brother with Down Syndrome and we are shouting loud and proud about down syndrome awareness month; which is how I found this on instagram! Great idea! I love the necklace.
My naked daughter, laughing her butt off, is absolutely exquisite to me!
When Everleigh decides something is funny, and her smile lights up her entire face, that is the most beautiful thing to me.
I love your daughter’s name SO MUCH!
To me, compassion is one of the most beautiful things in this world-whether it be a child showing love to a sibling or an adult helping a neighbor, it never fails to bring a tear to my eye.
Your piece on Parents is lovely and congratulations on the look of your pages for "month with Moxie!"
Beautiful to me is being real and honest with others and not hiding behind an image of perfection. Being beautiful is being open to "seeing" other people as they are — without putting on the negative filters we may have picked up in childhood.
I hope that as part of your awareness activities you take the time to contact The New York Times about its use of the word "retarded" yesterday to describe a vulnerable, voiceless man who was allegedly abused in a group home:
http://bloom-parentingkidswithdisabilities.blogspot.ca/2012/10/word-use-and-ny-times-you-disappoint-me.html
Cheers, Louise
Loved your guest post on Parents, but I always love your posts!!!
Truly living ans enjoying lufe is the most beautiful thing to me
My children are beautiful to me.
I added her to my etsy favorites (tamarc)
baby bunnies <3
I find beauty in all things simple. I think happiness is the most beautiful thing we have in our lives. And if only more people knew that, we'd all live in a better place!
being someone who struggled for so long with an eating disorder.. beautiful to me is equal to CONFIDENCE.
red maples in the autumn
my 14-month old's sweet little face!
beyondthewindow at ymail dot com
Hearing my daughter say my name, seeing my daughter show compassion, watching my daughter and husband hug, all of those things are very, very beautiful to me!
My sweet daughters (and my son in heaven) are beautiful to me!
Being at home with my family is the most beautiful thing to me!
What is really beautiful is when people do something to make the world a better place!
The courage of a child is beautiful to me.
fall leaves changing colours!
Laughter 🙂
~Life~
Thank you for the lovely giveaway
My etsy username is MoonRae
Happiness and love are beautiful to me!!
Beautiful is seeing my daughter's smile when I do the hippity hop dance with her. Thanks for the chance.
Beauty to me, is knowing who you are, and loving that.
Life is
My children are beautiful to me
Cynthia.Richardson@azbar.org
Beautiful to me means someone who is genuine, honest, sincere, loving, caring and participating and enjoying life to their utmost abilities.
Hearted the shop on Etsy
What is beautiful to me? Other than the general things like nature, Ill share a short recent happening that just came around the other day at my job.
I work for a call center for a major tv programming company, upon receiving a phone call from an elderly man I was only prepared to hear the same ole "I cant pay my bill" excuse… Well after lowering the bill some and doing all I could at the moment for him, something told me to go the extra mile for this man. I paid for his bill that month… something i NEVER would have saw myself doing– but i did, because something just told me to….
When I told him he was all taken care of and he didnt have to worry about a bill until next month, he started crying. He told me the only reason he got behind was because his wife had passed away 3 months ago and they had been married for 57 years.We talked for about 15-20 minutes on his wife.. I know anyone could have just told me this story; true or not, but the beauty behind it was that i believe him and felt for this man i didnt even personally knew. I think that was truely beautiful and sad. That this man had so much love for this woman.
Anyways- sorry to have typed a book!
Ashley
shopjinx@gmail.com
Falling leaves are beautiful to me.