Things have been rough.  But through it all Charlie has been playing his Thinking Music (thanks Tanya/Teen Autism!).  There is one piece, the opening piece (which you will no doubt recognize, or it will be familiar to you), that drew me in the first time it was played.  Just listen… pure bliss…

Adagio from Piano Concerto No. 5, Ludwig van Beethoven:

From one YouTube user: …composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, between 1809 and 1811 in Vienna, as the Napoleonic wars raged across Europe. The name “Emperor,” has since attached itself to the concerto, though the name was not Beethoven’s conception, and he was renowned for having an intense dislike of any emperor or person who declared unwarranted authority over others. It may be considered an Emperor among his piano concertos.

This was the first Piano Concerto that Beethoven did not debut himself, as his hearing had deteriorated to the point where he was forced to accept that could no longer perform in public – one of his pupils was given the task.

UPDATE II:  It’s Sunday, the last day of my Cinco de Linco Loans Weekend Fundraiser for Lend4Health.org.  I set a lofty goal of $1000 in $5 loans.  So far, I’m up to $730!   If 10 of you would make a $5 loan to each of the 5 kids, I’d reach my goal.  Can you spare $25?  Remember, it’s a loan… you’ll get your money back!

UPDATE: I AM ONLY $270 AWAY FROM MY GOAL OF $1000 IN MICRO-LOANS FOR THE KIDS ON LEND4HEALTH!!!  PLEASE BE KIND AND OFFER UP A $5 CINCO DE LINCO LOAN (MAKE SURE YOU DESIGNATE IT AS SUCH)!  REMEMBER, THESE ARE LOANS, NOT DONATIONS.  YOU’LL GET YOUR MONEY BACK!

CLICK HERE TO GO DIRECTLY TO LEND4HEALTH TO SEE THE KIDS AND LOAN $5!!

There are currently SIX FIVE loans open on L4H: Aydan, Alec, Jordan, Tatum, Jaden, and Jonathan #2

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Did you see?  Did you see?  Brandon’s loan was fulfilled!  Yippeeee!  That means Charlie is the lone boy up on L4H requesting a loan.  As I said yesterday, I’m not sure if it is a conflict of interest for me to promote Cinco De Linco, and also be on the site requesting a loan.  So here’s what I’ve come up with, if you think it is, don’t participate this month (unless another child is put up on the site today); however, if you think it is NOT a conflict of interest, go ahead on over to Lend4Health and chip in!  We greatly appreciate it!

Here’s a shortcut:

**Here’s a thought, you could hold off until another child is put up on L4H, then make your loan and call it a “belated Cinco De Linco loan” – that would work!  So do whatever you are comfortable with!

It’s that time again! Please hop over to Lend4Health (Lend4Health.org) and make a small loan to adorable Kostantinos! Let’s get his loan funded!  **Don’t forget to designate your loan as a Cinco De Linco Loan – do this on the “Review Your Payment” page by clicking on “Add Special Instructions To Merchant”.

To date my loan-drive has raised over $800 (Tori, is this correct?)!  You can read more about my Cinco De Linco loans for L4H HERE, HERE, and HERE.  I started all this with Lincoln Loans (which evolved into Cinco De Linco Loans) HERE.

Also, take a few minutes to watch this special message from Tori over at Lend4Health!

UPDATE II 8:16AM Central Sunday: I see we’ve raised $50 so far for Ethan.  He only needs $125 more for his loan to be fulfilled.  Please consider hopping over to Lend4Health and loaning $5, $10, or even $100!  Imagine how good you’ll feel when Ethan is able to get the testing he so desperately needs.  It is the season of giving…

UPDATE 8:20PM Central Friday: I’ve decided to make this Cinco De Linco a weekend bender.  I see we’ve only raised $40… I think we can do much better than that!!  Right!?!  Come on… if you guys can just lend $5 … it WILL help Ethan, I promise!  $40 down, $135 to go!!  Let’s do this thing!

Okay, I admit it, I missed my Cinco De Linco fundraiser last month.  My excuse will not be acceptable to some of you, and for that I am sorry; but, here it is… I, Jeanne, the biggest arachnophobe in the history of arachnophobia, was bitten by a Black Widow spider on my wrist while rummaging around in our garage prepping for a garage sale.  If you’ve ever read THIS, you’ll understand when I say I went into shutdown mode.  A spider bite?  Me?  FYI: Red wine is a great way to self-medicate your psychosis away… well, it was for me.  Once I realized what was happening to my arm, I started seeing deadly spiders everywhere… of course no one else saw them… just me. I guess it’s kind of like when someone starts talking about bugs and some people start getting the itchy-scratchies.

Okay, no more dwelling in my poisonous spider hell, I’m here to raise some money for Lend4Health.  More specifically, I’m here to raise some money for little Ethan.  His mom has this message for us all:

Ethan is the oldest of three children, and he is a fabulous big brother. He received his official diagnosis of PDD-NOS from a psychologist on October 29, 2008, and saw his DAN! doctor for the first time the following day! She is wonderful, but we were all pretty overwhelmed with the amount of testing and the costs involved, but we will do whatever we can!!! The hardest thing is thinking that we will have to forgo treatments that could really help him because we don’t have the means financially. Please support our family in this process and we promise NEVER to give up on Ethan – how could we?!?!

Ethan’s loan request is for $605.  So far Lend4Health, through some very generous lenders, has raised $430!!  That means we only have to raise $175 to fulfill the loan!!  We can do that… right?!?!

So come on everyone, let’s all pull together in Cinco De Linco fashion (we raised $700 last time around) and get this boy’s loan funded!

CLICK HERE TO HELP ETHAN!

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Remember Charlie’s progress report a few weeks ago?  Well, the official report card came home today:

All A’s.  You heard me.  ALL A’s!

Along with the report card, the school sent home a bumper sticker, “My Child is an Honor Student at — Elementary,” (which Charlie immediately tried to stick on his Grandfather’s car), as well as a “Principal’s Honor Roll” ribbon.

After years of struggling to just BE in a classroom, to just be able to get through the entire day sitting in the class, this is a HUGE accomplishment.

“Huge” doesn’t even do it justice.

Way to go Charlie! 

My mother posted this comment on one of my blog entries and I thought it deserved to be published where everyone could see it.  In the comment she speaks to Angie (mother of Ethan & Alex, and Megan), Petra, and to all of you.  Enjoy:

TO ANGIE…We must all DARE TO BELIEVE! We must stand as one and Fight the Fight…for the children. You can BELIEVE IT when I say, we will all have you and your boys in our thoughts and prayers, as you embark on this new leg of your family’s JOURNEY OUT of AUTISM. You can BELIEVE IT when I say, we care about you and stand tall with you. You can BELIEVE IT when I say, you are not alone. You are a WARRIOR MOM. BELIEVE. HOPE. NEVER GIVE UP. FIGHT ‘TIL THE DEATH. THERE IS NO FORCE STRONGER THAN A MOTHER’S LOVE!

TO PETRA: (more…)

Seal has just released a cover of A Change Is Gonna Come (by Sam Cooke), the song playing during “Our Turn” at the Green Our Vaccines Rally (when we all held up our kids’ pictures).  Brings tears to my eyes to hear this song…  and it will always remind me of the GOV Rally, and our childrens’ beautiful faces… all those faces…. so many children…. watch the video… (more…)

I was invited by Kim Stagliano to write a piece for Age of Autism regarding the comments Charlie has made about what autism is like for him.  Initially I was thrilled… I mean, who wouldn’t want to be published on Age of Autism!?!?  It’s like finding the freaking golden ticket!

But, as I began working on the piece, I found I continually came up with other tasks to complete.  I was confused.  This was (is!) a big deal for me.  Age of Autism is… well… I’ll just tell you what I told Kim:  Age of Autism has been my companion through some very dark times.  It has been a beacon of light in an otherwise very dark tunnel.  I have met some very cool people on AoA, I’ve learned some lessons, I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, and I’ve yelled in anger.  So how could it be that I was given the honor of being published on my favorite site; but, trimming my toenails seemed to be more important?  Sickness.  That is what it was. (more…)