2010 Walk Now for Autism Speaks

Right before we got Cameron's official diagnosis, I came across some info. regarding the Walk to benefit Autism Speaks in Iowa.  I knew that would be the perfect thing for me.  I needed to redirect all these feelings I was sorting through with Cameron being diagnosed into something positive.  Autism Speaks is the largest non-governmental supporter of autism research in the United States.  All the funds collected at the Walks across the country go directly to autism research.  Because of the huge role Autism Speaks has played in the last 10 years, we are so much closer to understanding this puzzling disorder than we ever have been before.  And I feel so honored to be a small part of this puzzle. 

So Cody and I got to work!  Cody handed out flyers at work, we sent up donation pages on the internet, we sent out a letter to family and friends asking them to donate, we asked Facebook friends to donate, we recruited family members to help us gather donations, I baked cookies and sold them at a garage sale, we used funds we made from selling our unwanted things at a garage sale, I baked a cake and Cody took it into work...we worked our tails off trying to get donations.  We are, after all, two very competitive people!  I am proud to say that our team, Cameron's Crusaders, ended up being the Top 3rd fundraising team for the Iowa walk, collecting $5,140 from all of our wonderful family and friends who graciously opened their pockets and gave so generously.  I was also honored on Walk day as a Grand Club member and for being the Top 3rd individual fundraiser for raising $2,565.  However, I was only honored because it was my name on the page.  Cody worked just as hard as I did to get that money!  We also collected an additional $1,060 in checks that we mailed in under Cody's walker ID.  Unfortunately, it didn't make it before Walk day so he wasn't able to join me on stage for the Grand Club announcement, even though he should have been!  And none of this even counts the many donations that will eventually be matched by various companies.  I have not counted that all up, but it is well over $1,000 and probaby closer to $2,000!  We are just amazed and humbled by all of the support we have received over the course of the last two months.  It has meant more to us that we could ever express.

So enough babbling!  I have lots of photos to share!

Our 2010 Cameron's Crusaders--The Balch Family, The Eisenbarth Family, The Knox Family, The Youngman Family, my parents, Cody's parents, and, of course, us!

This is the shirt that we wore.  I asked my friends, Eric and Jayne Balch (who own a t-shirt printing company in Omaha, Nebraska called Midwest Impressions) if they would be able to print shirts up for us.  They went above and beyond with this shirt and it is better than anything I could have ever imagined!  And not only did they design and print it, they donated half the cost of the shirts to us!  Eric's dad, Ron (my dad's boss) donated the other half!  We are so grateful to them for working so hard to get them to us and for joining us at the walk!

The Grand Club Members on stage

These photos are just to give you an idea of the amount of people there walking.  There was about 2500-3000 people there!

 

Our team walking!

Owen and Lizzie--he always manages to find an older lady! ;)

Owen and John Balch

Lizzie, Cameron (who was a little hot and didn't want to have his photo taken), and Grace

There were also bounce houses, slides, refreshments, and a sensory tent there!

 

Matt, Logan, and Jess

 

They had these baby pools all around with ice and bottles of water.  Our water baby found one and would not stop until he was in it!  Daddy took his shoes and socks off and he loved it!  It is amazing how much water calms our little guy.  He is drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

Mom and Dad pose in front of the Midwest Impressions van for Ron!

After the walk, most everyone came back to our house for lunch and just to hang out.  The adults sat around and talked and ate and played bags, while the kids enjoyed the Wii and the sprinkler!  There are no photos of the kids in the sprinkler because they kept squirting people and I was too afraid to go near them with my expensive new camera!

Andy and Cody

Matt, Ben, and Eric

Eric

 

Claire and Owen (sporting some borrowed goggles)

We really couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.  The weather was great and the company was even better.  We've already got plans in the works for how to make everything even better next year!  So come on out and join us--we guarantee a great time!  And thanks again to all who donated and walked.  We feel so blessed beyond measure.

Back in Business!

Hello, to The Five People Who Still Check This Blog!  Many people have been asking me if I'm done with the blogging world.  After such a long absence, I started to wonder myself.  I love blogging and the release it gives me.  It's almost therapuetic for me.  I also love the fact that I can record our life easily, as I'm not all that great in the journaling and scrapbooking departments.  However, lately, I just haven't felt the motiviation to do it.  I think it's a combination of a lot of things, really.  I've been trying to get things squared away with getting services for Cameron (more on that later), I've beeing working on Walk stuff (more on that, too!), and basically I've just had so much going on that I'm still trying to figure out how to balance it all.  I'm not really sure God knew what He was doing when he gave me a special needs child because I am horrible with time management!

I think another reason I haven't blogged is that, as I said before, I often use this blog as my release.  If I write it down, get it all out, I feel better about it.  I've been working through a lot of feelings since Cameron was diagnosed and I've written countless blog posts about it in my my head.  But then I never sit down and actually pound it out because I don't want this to become The Autism Blog.  Autism is a part of our life, but I can't let it consume us.  I still want this to be the place where we share about what's going on in our family.  And yes, that will obviously include stories of autism but I want to be sure I'm sharing other things as well.

So, since I'm already doing so much balancing in life, I decided that trying to balance the blog on top of it was just too much.  So I took a break!  But now I'm back and ready to share all the good, bad, and ugly with you again!  First up will be photos and info from our first Walk Now for Autism Speaks and then we'll take a little trip back and recap the couple of months I was away.  So for the few of you who are left, I hope you'll stick with us.  I think the next year for the Muhses is going to be an awesome one and I can't wait to share it all!