An Update :-)

 The sale we had at WalMart on Saturday went really well. There wasn't as many people (shoppers) there as we had hoped for, but all things considered, I think that it was a success. We were able to raise almost $200, which was great for such a short notice event. We want to say "thank you" again to everyone who donated products for us to sell at the event!

 We have lots of goodies left over from the sale: MadeOn Lip Balms, Paperless Towels & Little Wipes, handmade hair bows and adorable feltie clips (you can see examples of the felties here), beautiful handcrafted earrings by Peggy Moody, and some new products from Polder's Old World Market that you can't get in our shop yet! We'll be listing these items on Levi's Mountain (Facebook Group) for sale. All sales will be on a first-come-first-serve basis, so if you see something you would like, claim it in the comments section and message me :-)

Thought we would put some pictures on here from the sale that everyone might enjoy. That is Gemmie and I up there, and Loran and Alyssa down there :)

 Oh, here are those adorable hair bows and feltie clips I was talking about! I wanted to buy one of every design...lol.

 We brought along a lot of utensils from Polder's Old World Market that we made for the sale, and we also had a good supply of baked goods (the top seller, of course). Some of the yummy baked goods were donated :-) Thank you Peggy and Joline!

 Those are some of Gina Jordan's lovely paperless towels and "little wipes" below. We have quite a few of these left, and they will be for sale on Levi's Facebook.

 I cannot believe that we've raised over $4,000 in the last 2 months! Wow! Our goal is to raise another $1,000 before our trip to the Autism Treatment Center of America in June. I know that we can do it! Anything that we end up not needing for this trip will go toward our second goal for Levi...a prefabricated building that we can turn into his therapy room. We could not have gotten this far without so many people's untiring help. I cannot say how grateful we are for that. Thank you all, so much, for climbing Levi's Mountain with us!

<3 Angela, Levi's Mommy

Winners!

 We want to thank EVERYONE who participated in this last fundraising campaign for Levi's Mountain! Each donation was a huge blessing and put us that much closer to our goal. Thank you, thank you, thank you ALL! We ended up having 34 donors and we raised $464!!! We wish that we had a prize for each and every one of you!

Here are the four winners for our drawing!

Kim Fields: Our Best All-Purpose Spoon in  ($28)

Rachel Garner: Our Large Curved Spatula ($48)

Cathie Bullock: Pasta Salad Serving Set ($65)

Erica Hardwick: Spurtle Set of 3 ($75)

Congratulations winners! Please email us at abakersdozenmom@gmail.com and make sure we have your shipping information :) Thank you all, again, for climbing Levi's Mountain with us! 

<3 Angela

Coping with Sensory Overload

 Autism Awareness & Acceptance Month is almost over. Our good friend, Jeff Jennings, sent us a link to a really great article and a group of YouTube videos that do a good job of simulating the sensory overload that autistic individuals experience every day. When Levi is experiencing sensory overload, he may do one of several different things, but most commonly, he will plug his ears and put his pinky fingers in the cornes of his eyes ( which actually creates a pressure sensation and distorts vision, both of which help block out the overwhelming environment, but doesn't hurt...try it :) ) This is a form of stimming, and it's a healthy way of coping with sensory overload. It helps them *not* have a meltdown.

 Meltdowns are when an Autistic person can no longer cope with the overload they are experiencing and they panic. Many times, a meltdown looks like a temper tantrum to strangers, and to people who don't understand what is going on. 1 out of 54 boys have been diagnosed with Autism, so it's an overwhelming percentage in our communities. It can be helpful to remember this statistic when you see a mom with a child that appears to be pitching a fit...she very well may be an Autism mom.

 Here is the link that Jeff sent to us. I hope that you will watch the super short videos and pass them along. They are a great way to increase Autism Awareness and Acceptance.

http://mashable.com/2014/04/23/autism-simulations/?utm_cid=mash-com-Tw-main-link

 If you would like to donate to Levi's Mountain and help us get the specialized training we will be going to in mid-June at the Autism Treatment Center of America, click on the *Donate* button at the top of this page.

<3 Levi's Mommy, Angela

Join this awesome FUNdraiser, and WIN a prize!!!

It's Autism Awareness Month, and our dear friends, Jeff and Angie Jennings, are helping us campaign for Levi's Mountain! They are asking people to donate a single $1 to Levi's Mountain. One dollar bills add up really fast, so we decided to put a fun spin on the campaign and add a GIVEAWAY from Polder's Old World Market!!!

 And, there won't be just one prize! We're offering 4 wonderful prizes for 4 lucky winners. Mother's Day is coming up, and this is a great chance to get something lovely for Mom :)

 So here's how it works. Each person that donates at least $1 to Levi's Mountain AND shares this fundraiser on at least one social media site (facebook, pinterest, google+, twitter, etc.) will get their name entered into the drawing. We will be giving away 4 amazing prizes, which you can see below! From top left (clock wise):

Grand Prize- Spurtle Set of 3 ($75 value)

2nd Prize- Pasta Salad Serving Set ($65 value)

3rd Prize- Large Curved Spatula ($48 value)

4th Prize- Best All-Purpose Spoon ($28 value)

 This fundraising giveaway will run for 1 WEEK! We will be drawing winners next Wednesday, April 23, 2014. We need to spread the word and get as much interaction as possible! If everyone that sees this campaign gets just one more person to donate $1, we would reach our goal of $2000 in just a short time! 

Thank you all for your love, support and prayers! Levi is on his way to claiming Mountain Peak #1!!!

Donations may be made: here. 

Angela, Levi's Mommy

Note: If you have donated to Levi's Mountain in the last 24 hours, your name will automatically be entered into the drawing! :)

We're Almost There: Peak #1 of Levi's Mountain!

"May your dreams be larger than mountains and may you have the courage to scale their summits." -Harley King 

 We are so excited about our trip to the Autism Treatment Center of America! It's coming up really quickly now and we need to wrap up our first financial goal: raising the money for the trip (tuition, travel and housing). We need to raise another $1800-$2000 by May 1st! 

 This is really important, because raising the money for the trip is really only part of our goal! We need to start raising the money for Levi's specialized therapy room- an integral part of the Son Rise Program which we will be starting with him. As soon as we've finished paying for the trip, we'll start raising the money for a pre-fabricated building that we can turn into Levi's therapy room. 

 For those of you who are new to Levi's Mountain: Levi is our 9 year old son. He is a precious little boy who loves to laugh and sing and play outside, but he is severely autistic and completely non-verbal. Recently, we were made aware of a center in Massachusets called the Autism Treatment Center of America, that is having amazing success rates of helping children, just like our Levi, learn to conquer the challenges of Autism and communicate/have meaningful relationships. We are so hopeful that through the ATCA's program SonRise, we will be on the road to significant progress with Levi! 

 Like most programs, the cost of the training we need to start the SonRise Program with Levi is more than our family can swing, so we have been diligently running a fundraising campaign in order to raise the funds we need to help Levi and give him the opportunities he deserves! 

 So many generous people have donated their time, money and even products for the auction we held a few weeks ago! We have raised a lot of money already, but we need your help to keep on moving forward. Every little bit helps. If everyone gave just $1, it would add up to a whole lot of money! We could finish paying for the rest of our trip expenses in no time at all. We would be so grateful if you would pray about contributing to Levi's cause and climbing his mountain with us!!!   

 Thank you all for donating, for sharing Levi's story, and for praying!

Angela, Levi's Mommy 

"One cannot climb at all unless he has sufficient urge to do so. Danger must be met (indeed it must be used) to an extent beyond that incurred to normal life..." -Ax Nelson 

Levi is 9 Years Old Today!

Playing outside a couple days ago.

 Today is Levi's birthday! We've been preparing him since yesterday that we we're going to have a birthday party for him and by the time we went to bed last night, every time we reminded him about it, he would get a cute little grin on his face. This year, he was more aware of his birthday than he usually is. And it was so sweet.

 I can remember every birthday Levi has had and they have all been very hard. I'm not sure that I can explain exactly why, but I'm going to try. I'm not going to use fancy medical terms, just reality with real feelings that any parent would understand. I hope that's OK. From his earliest birthdays, we have desperately hoped that "this" would be the birthday that Levi actually realized we were having a party for him. That he would see that we had presents for him. At least look at them. That it wouldn't scare him when we sang, "Happy Birthday" to him. I'm pretty sure that I have cried at every birthday party we've had for Levi. I cant help but grapple with the gulf between the way things should be and the way things are. And I've worried and wondered, "Can he be happy while not enjoying the things 'normal' children enjoy...like birthday presents?".

 Through the years, we've had to try and maintain a healthy balance between "letting go" emotionally, of our expectations of that "norm", but keeping a passion of hope for conquering the challenges that we are facing with Autism. So much of this, we have learned, has to do with our mind-set. This birthday was easier for me. And I didn't cry (until I wrote this post). This year has been a year of growth for us all. We have had an increasing ability to realize Levi's special gifts and strengths, and although he does deal with some serious challenges, he is over-all, a loving, happy little boy. We have had to realize that in a lot of instances we have a much harder time with these sort of things, than he does. He's just as happy as can be enjoying his birthday party "his way". He doesn't have to "perform" a certain way in order to be happy.

Levi and Mommy at his birthday party.

 So, Levi had a blast today doing the things he loves to do. He rode Baby and Hammer, two of our three horses. He has come to enjoy riding the horses, and expects it to be part of his weekly schedule. He played outside in the mud puddles and splashed water in the sun rays. We had one of his favorite meals...hot-dogs and baked beans. We sang "Happy Birthday" to him very quietly, so he didn't get overstimulated (he still did, a little bit). He had a hard time eating his birthday cake, because it was the climax of the evening, and it was too much of an event for him...too performance oriented. So, we had to just put it away for a while, and he was able to come back to it later when the excitement wore off and enjoy it. He was able to open all of his presents, though he did it very quickly and threw each item on the floor in a exaggerated, methodical manner. He had a funny attitude, like he was humoring us and it was really a bit of nonsense to open presents. We were able to enjoy the humor in it, and let him open presents the way he wanted to. He did seem to pick out a few presents to focus on and have some fun with. His favorite present was a Bible, with a very soft cover, and soft, thin pages. One of Levi's favorite stimming activities is flipping the pages of books. He likes our Bibles the most, much to the dismay of many family members, and we decided to get Levi his own Bible this year. It was a huge hit and I can't think of a better book that I'd like to be in his hands than a Bible. Oh! I forgot, I did cry at this part of the story, but this year, it was tears of joy! Levi grabbed up his new Bible and ran to the kitchen to "flip" it in a quiet place. In 9 years, we finally made a home run on a present. I'm so thankful that the Lord inspired us to buy him a nice quality one that he really would enjoy.

 We love him forever! His kisses are precious and his hugs make me feel complete as a mommy (like Gemmie's ;) I have got to be the most blessed mommy in the world.

 Levi, thank you for giving us a beautiful birthday with you this year.

Levi's birthday cake.

 As always, I want to thank all of you for climbing Levi's Mountain with us. We are getting closer and closer to our trip to the Autism Treatment Center of America in June. We still need to raise $1800 for the expenses of the trip. We appreciate all of the prayers, financial contributions and help with spreading the word about Levi's story that all of you have given, are giving and will give! If you would like to make a donation to Levi's Mountain, click here. Thank you!

Angela, Levi's Mommy