CABF Race for $250K LAST few HOURS to VOTE!!!!!

YOU NEVER KNOW HOW YOU CAN SAVE A LIFE!!!!
Help Youth Who Suffer From

Depression or Childhood Bipolar Disorder!!!!

 These are the last few hours to help the children we know,

and those we don't who suffer from depression and or bipolar disorder

HOW?       VOTE VOTE VOTE - SHARE SHARE SHARE

1) Pepsi Refresh Project: http://www.refresheverything.com/CABFhelpsmorekids
2) Find us on Facebook http://tiny.cc/cabfhelpsmorekids
3) Text your Vote: Text 104174 to PEPSI (73774) (Normal text rates apply).
4) Follow us on Twitter !!!



Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF) Love it!

Now why not help promote this idea?! Please tell everyone you know and ask them to vote, share and spread the word in these last few hours.  Imagine you are saving the life of even one little person out there; YOU just might be!

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About Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF):  CABF is a national, parent-led organization that provides information, support and advocacy for 500,000 website visitors annually. CABF advocates for youth with depression and bipolar and is highly respected for its scientifically credible information. Early intervention can save lives!Idea links

1) Pepsi Refresh Project: http://www.refresheverything.com/CABFhelpsmorekids

2) Find us on Facebook http://tiny.cc/cabfhelpsmorekids

3) Text your Vote: Text 104174 to PEPSI (73774) (Normal text rates apply).
4) Follow us on Twitter !!!

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Idea Location:

Kenilworth, IL


•Expand awareness of depression & bipolar disorder in youth

•Educate parents about symptoms and treatments

•Enlighten the public about teen suicide

•Eliminate the stigma associated with childhood mental illness

•Extend hope to families raising children with a mental illness


Overview

Youth depression and bipolar is seldom discussed. It affects 7% of all children in the U.S., yet only a small fraction receive treatment. We plan to launch an outreach campaign to inform parents about the symptoms of mood disorders and how to find help. The outreach will be accomplished via:

-Detailed Communication Plan

-Online ads

-Bi-weekly webinars

-Weekly podcasts

-Daily social networking

-150,000 brochures & 3 mailings to psychiatrists

Experienced CABF staff members will coordinate the webinars, podcasts and volunteer training. Our trained volunteer corps of 100+ around the US are ready to assist new families and youth who reach out to us in crisis. CABF has the capacity to refresh the lives of so many more youth!

Christmas Wishes

I would love to find a way to really be Santa and fulfill all my children's Christmas Wishes, (well sort of) there are many reasons why not only is it NOT possible (it's three pages long for Lord's sake!), but just not sensible by any sense of the imagination.  Even if I had the means to provide for them all that they have on their wish list it could quite possiby be a truly terrible thing if I actually did.  I sure would love to see the delight on their faces though!

We have been extraordinarily fortunate to not only be able to have me home while the children are all young, but to be able to have had the means to provide for all of our children. They have had the luxury of having everything they need and even many things they certainly don't need; I'm not going to say that it was not a struggle.  They have what seems like waaaaaay to many games, puzzles, blocks, LEGOs, dress-up clothes & costumes, craft supplies, books, books, and more books.  There are extranious toys strewn everywhere all the time.  So in that sense, it's a struggle as well.  HA HA.  We have however, chosen not to endulge them with the expensive electronic stuff of today's life.   They are certainly not happy with that.

The things at the top of their lists are Nintendo DS, X-Box 360, Wii, their own lap tops, i-pods, i-pads or i-phones, guitar hero, and what-not.  You can certainly tell they have cable.  It is crazy what marketing can do, don't you think?!  The kiddos have a few friends with a Wii and several with the DS thing, but no one they know has anything else.  They don't even really know what they are, but they sure think something like that would make them happy. Yeah Right!

I was raised with the basic escentials and the nagging feeling that I was missing out on something too, but I think it helped instill a sense of drive; through which I've found many creative means to my desires.  Now, when I want or need something I use my resourcefulness to either substitute for the real thing or obtain said item in the most cost effective means possible.  I don't think I would have developed the skills necessary to problem solve so creatively if it were not for the feelings of longing as a child.  We are largely products of our parents and I thank them for doing the very best they could for us.  I love my parents dearly. Thank You Mom and Dad, with all my heart, I love you!

Here are my Angels!

Here are my Angels!

OK, There are at least a hundred or more eggs ... My fish must have been at it all night!
(BTW, This is not my clip, but yes the angels do look similar :) )

REAL baby angels for Christmas!

We are going to have hundreds of angels for Christmas this year!!!!!!!!



Angels Mating Ritual...

OK, I thought I had all male angel fish; imagine my amazement and delight when I fed them this morning and found about a few hundred or so eggs were firmly attached to the surface of the filter tube.  At first I didn't know what they were and I cried, "What the heck is that!?"  The fish seemed overly agitated and protective.  Two of them standing guard over the area, nipping at others that came near and supper attentive, never taking their eyes off the area.  When I realized what they were I thought, "OMG, how can I protect these little guys?  I need another tank!"  I quickly searched and discovered they'll hatch in just 3 or 4 days!  Yikes!

What a great Christmas gift though, the kiddos will be sooooo excited!

There is nothing more mesmerizing for me than watching my fish.  It's so calming,

maybe it will work for them too this season. 

I'm going to try to post a video here over the next few days, of the parents' wonderful attentiveness.  So please come back and watch.  It is just beautiful!  The male and female are right there watching the eggs all the time, cleaning them checking them and rechecking them.  Remember the scene in the beginning of the Nemo movie with Cora and Marlin (I think that was his name) and their excitement over their eggs?  That is exactly what my Angels are like right now!  It is just too precious.  :)

More than Moodiness

When I'm in the trenches, riding out the mood storms of my household, I am just striving for each moment.  I'm in survival mode.  When the chaos has passed - and I / we can breath again - it is hard to shake the stress of those moments.  As time passes however; and things are going well, I often find it hard to recall the intensity with which we were writhing in whatever the mood happened to be.

Watching your child erupt into an unpredictable mass of wild aggression, verbalization, and opposition is a dreadful thing.  Hearing them scream, cry and sob in desperate saddness, and expressing that they wish they were not alive, is more than heart breaking.  In addition, to hear statements from their mouths of their desire to kill because of the anger inside is more than terrifying.  Witnessing your child's out of control behavior and looking into their terrified and wild eyes is an extraordinarily tough thing to experience.  There are moments I never want to remember and wish I could forget.

Paradoxically, there are times that I struggle to evoke the strength of memory necessary to accurately revisit the intensity of emotion felt in a particular crisis situation we endured.  I think that over time, the love I have for my children helps to fade the horror of the behaviors I've seen.  I hope I am not becoming desensitized, but when I look back on things, the image I see tends to have buffed edges and smoothed out lines.  When things are going well, I tell myself, "Things can't really be as bad as I thought they were."  .....