Splendid Mayhem: Boxtops for Education

Welcome To Holland

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Boxtops For Education

Favor to ask! Logen's school is collecting boxtops, Campbell's labels, and Tyson labels. They turn them in and the companies send them $ or educational products (such as new computers for students). Logen's school earned 2,100 last year. This is the 2nd year for the school to be open, they are hoping to make up to 20,000- which is the max amount Boxtops will allow.

If you buy any of the above products- I would LOVE it for you to save them for me and send them via postal mail. I can comp you for the postage (save them up for 2 or so months and send them to me in bulk to save in postal fees).

Here is a link to all of the products you can clip 'boxtops' from, there are MANY!!
http://www.boxtops4education.com/AboutBoxTops/Products.aspx

If you do any online shopping- here is a link to shop through. There are discount codes here- it will also send a portion of the sale to the school. Email me and I can give you the details for his school.

http://www.boxtops4education.com/Marketplace/Deals.aspx

If you are able to help and do not have my address, send me an email and I will glady send you my snail mail addy.

THANKS IN ADVANCE!