The details you never knew you wanted to know.

I'm not sure where to start w/ a blog. I certainly posses the gift of gab, but I ain't no wordsmith.
I'll start w/ a brief overview of our family. After I pull 'double trouble' off my diet coke! Double Trouble, as I affectionately refer to them, are Rainie-Grace and Rebekah. Age 3. Actually Rainie -Grace is 3 and Rebekah is 14 weeks younger than Rainie-Grace. Therefore, since Rainie-Grace just turned 3 Feb. 22, Rebekah will be 3 May 31. There. Glad we got that straight. Rainie-Grace is baby #5 in the birth order and after her I said,"We are done!!" I finally had another girl. Her older sister Sam was 13 y/o when Rainie-Grace was born and I had given birth to three beautiful baby boys, Brody, Brock and Brent, in the interim. Book ending our family w/ a beautiful girl on either end was perfect. I love my boys. However, there is nothing like holding your baby girl and knowing she is yours forever. My boys will marry one day and leave home. They won't call me for recipes or child rearing advice and I wouldn't want them to cling to their mama. It's not natural. My girls are another story. Sam leaves for college in a couple of years and while she says she's going to the furthest point from the Summers' compound I think she could be easily persuaded to come home for a visit under the right circumstances, those being good cooking and free laundry service. She loves this small town and says she has every intention of returning. Yippee!! Rainie-Grace is still very little and loves her mommy. And while I know I have a long time to think about her future I think her daddy has the best plan yet. Since Rebekah loves sweets, sweet rolls and just about anything covered in syrup their daddy has decided to one day buy Rainie-Grace and Rebekah their own shop. He has even named it, 'Bekah's Brew and Rainie's Rolls'!! I love it. And if I know Josh it will be next door to his office to keep his baby girls close. Well Rainie-Grace was obviously not our last. Rebekah was born here at the hospital locally 14 weeks to the day after Rainie-Grace and as soon as we heard about her we wanted her. She was born w/ a head full of red hair! And that was the icing on the cake for Josh. He had always prayed for a red head, seeing as he is a red head himself, and along came Rebekah. A beautiful wonderfully made baby girl. She was supposed to be adopted by another family but the adoption fell through when they found out she had Down syndrome. They were a young couple w/ no children and were uncertain of their ability to care for a child w/ special needs. We met her birth mother and told her simply we wanted to love Rebekah. Now for most of you who know me you know I always wanted twins. I love twins!! I always felt I was meant to have twins and this was as close as I was going to get. I nursed them both like twins. They slept cuddled up together in the crib like twins. They even suck the same two fingers on their left hand like twins!! It was meant to be. Well since we have brought Rebekah home we have had a change of heart about the size of our family. We had another baby boy last July bringing the grand total of children to 7. We can handle anything. yeah right. It is more like we ignore most everything. Not really, but I have learned to choose my battles and know my limitations. We home school and love it! We also run a non-profit called the upside of downs, inc. It is our goal to celebrate the many accomplishments of those w/ Down syndrome and to fund research and advocacy for the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS). While we often seem overwhelmed w/ the number of endeavors we take on, all of them are done w/ the sincerest of intentions and are truly works of the heart. We are regrouping and learning constantly how to better manage our time and resources. We live in a supportive wonderful community and have the most amazing group of friends and extended family. We are gearing up for our biggest fundraiser in the fall, the Buddy walk. It takes a good 6 months to coordinate an event of this size but we are pounding the pavement for sponsors and promoting the event in the community. Along the way we are likely to fit in a bowling tournament at Spring Hill lanes and our Best Buddy martini social and silent auction. Stay tuned for more details. With a family this size and this much to do it is likely to be very entertaining. More details about the buddy walk and upside of downs, inc. can be found at http://upsideofdowns21.com/