World Down Syndrome Day 2013.....in the books!!

It has taken me 3 weeks to put together and process all of the emotions from March 21, 2013...what a magical and wonderful day!!!

Last year I decided to start this "little" project of making Down syndrome awareness ribbons and hoping that maybe 50 friends and family members would wear them on March 21 and show support and raise awareness.  I was blown away last year when I made over 100 ribbons!  I figured I would do it again this year, and maybe I would make 80 more?  Oh how surprised I was...180 ribbons later, I am still shocked and overwhelmed!  This is just a little snap shot into what my "ribbon world" was like!

I put a post on Facebook asking if people might be interested and sure enough, the requests came pouring in....and I was so happy!!!  I also asked Rory's teacher and Brendan's teachers if they would wear ribbons.  Brendan's teacher is so phenomenal that she set things in motion for that day which were bigger dreams than I had!  Bigger meant making 90 ribbons for all of the staff of the school to wear on March 21!  Away I went and happily cranked them out!  I also made information cards for the teachers on resources that they could use in their classroom on that day.  Here is what that delivery looked like...

The kids teachers also did a little research on their own and found out that the campaign for World Down Syndrome Day was "Lots of Socks", so their thought was..we can do this!  Sure enough, here is the message that got sent out to all of the families who have children that attend the school..

It's one thing to get these messages, it truly is another thing to see it carried out.  I wondered no more on March 21.  Dropping Rory off at school and I almost became a lump of nothing when I saw kid after kid wearing their crazy socks, and also to see the staff wearing their ribbons!

 Oh my Oh my...socks socks were everywhere!  What an incredible show of support!  My cheeks hurt from smiling so much!

Another incredible event of the day took place during morning announcements at their school, this was another grand idea from Brendan's teacher...

I was so proud of my kiddos!  Rory helped to write the script and Brendan, well Brendan was in charge of being cute and charming!  I was so touched by the staff who saw me and commented on how well Rory described Down syndrome and Brendan, such a wonderful morning!

When I came home after that to check in on Facebook, wouldn't you know there were so many pictures people were sharing of themselves and their family, friends and co-workers wearing their pins.  I now present them to you....

I promise you that our family will never, ever, take the love and support of our family and all of our friends for granted.  No one ever HAD to wear a ribbon, they all wanted to.  It's all of them who spread awareness and acceptance of Down syndrome.  This has never been a journey that we have been on alone, and we never will.

From the bottom of our hearts, a sincere "Thank You" to all of you who have been with us on this journey, we couldn't do it without you....