Happy First Birthday| Blog for Parents and Caregivers of People with Disabilities
Can you believe it? On July 21, 2011 ClimbingEveryMountain.Com celebrated its first birthday.
Fellow Climbers
Parents, Caregivers, Advocates, Friends
Parents, Caregivers, Friends and Advocates of people with disabilities need each other. Our journey up the mountain is exhausting and treacherous.
We climb, not because we want to, not because we think it is a fun challenge, not because “it is there”—we climb our mountains out of need—OUR CHILD’S NEED, OUR NEED.
For the past year, this blog has been a basecamp where interesting people from around the world add their ideas, personal stories, ups and downs, advice and expertise. To everyone in our Climbing Every Mountain Community, your love and friendship means so much.
There have been 120 blog posts of original content and 1,261 comments. Here are the first posts which explain what this blog is all about. I’ve updated a couple things, but the mission holds true. I hope you agree.
Shouting my Commitment | Is anybody there?
Climbing Every Mountain is a Team Effort| What this blog is about
I am thankful for each of your comments, emails, phone calls and the many other ways you have reached out to our team. Together we are better. Together, we can each work for inclusion in our own way, and the ripple effect will be that our individual efforts will change the world, not only for people with disabilities, but for all of us.
Google Analytic Statistics for July 21, 2010 to July 21, 2011:
There have been 12,184 visits to https://climbingeverymountain.com from 114 countries/territories. The top ten include: US, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, Philippines, India, Ireland, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand….
3,664 returning visitors. 19,216 Page Views. 1.58 pages a visit.
I’m sure some of these visitors were looking for The Sound of Music or some mountain peak vacation adventure, but I know many were looking for our basecamp for parents, caregivers and advocates. I know Google expects visitors to spend more time on the site and look at several articles each visit, but thank you for a terrific start.
Tech Support
Climbing Every Mountain has a terrific group of people who help with the tech support. I’m a novice blogger and they have held my hand and guided me up the social media mountain. Real mountain climbers need good equipment and guides, thanks for giving me a safety net and strong lifeline:
Tim Gary
Mindcue: Brilliant Ideas Deserve Brilliant Websites (security, tech support, hardware and software issues, fighting off hackers, bad guys, and encouraging a very insecure webmaster.)
Johnny B. Truant
Johnny creates inexpensive websites and helped me with the start-up, plus he coauthored, Question the Rules, a course for non-traditional thinkers.
Cheerleader Team
Alison Golden
The Secret LIfe of a Warrior Women Alison is my blogging partner and has been a terrific source of information and encouragement. We met at Question the Rules. She is a strong advocate for her children. Her gentle spirit and humor are her secret weapons in being a warrior woman.
A special shout-out to my friends at OVRWA. You help me believe in “happy ever afters” and pick me up when I post an article and get more spam than comments.
Learning to venture into the real community outside Disability World is one of the cornerstones of inclusion. If we want this for our children, we need to learn to build community for ourselves. Alison and OVRWA are helping me learn to be “normal.”
Mentor Team
Sylvie and Michel Fortin
Success Chef Academy Every Wednesday night, Sylvie and Michel serve up an “over the shoulder” look at how to create your own success story. In their informal style, they have taught me about the back and front end of an online business. I’ve come to depend on their advice and personal encouragement. Many of my future goals for Climbing Every Mountain are based on what I am learning in the Success Chef Test Kitchen.
James Chartrand
Men with Pens has also been generous in her encouragement. She is working for social justice in her own way, and reminds me each website must have simple design and good writing. It was her gentle push that finally gave me the courage to take the leap into blogging.
Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan has more ideas than anyone I know. He also takes those ideas and makes companies, and they make money. (That’s certainly different than anyone I know in non-profit and disability world.) He has a geek brain, but… he can translate it into everyday, everyman language. Chris made one tweet about Climbing Every Mountain and I got more traffic that one day, than in a month. He is the guru of social media and helps non-profits. Plus, he talks about his kids and parents. Pretty neat.
There are many others, thanks to each of you.
Aaron wouldn’t let us end a birthday celebration without a song. Blake Roberts suggested The Climb as a theme song for our Climbing Every Mountain blog. I would like to ask you to listen to the inspiring words and feel proud of everything YOU have accomplished this year. Enjoy the digital magic created by Blake Roberts and Snoopi Botten using DecTalk, an augmented communication software program.
Pastor Snoopi Botten and Blake Roberts have added their magic digitalized and visual effects to The Climb
(click on link)
Keep Climbing: Onward and Upward.
All my best,
Mary
Comments:
What was your favorite post this year? Any suggestions or comments for next year?
Popular articles:
America the Beautiful|Through the autism car window
For more about Blake Roberts and Snoopi Botten, check out Do you hear what I hear, Do you see what I see? for their amazing story.
The song link which Mary shared in 2011 is long out-of-date. Here’s a current link to the Dectalk version of The Climb. I also need to clarify something. Snoopi programmed and mixed the song. Although I did suggest it to Mary as the theme song for this blog, I was not involved in song creation. I still think this is the perfect theme song for Climbing Every Mountain. Here’s the current working link:
http://www.theflameofhope.co/songs/THE%20CLIMB.mp3
Thanks Blake, I’ll fix it. I did change the link for the “Do you hear what I hear.” Hope that all works.
Congratulations on one year, Mary! So happy to have been able to help you get started.
Thanks Johnny. It is a journey. You’ve also connected me with great people like Alison Golden and Tim Gary. I couldn’t have started my team without you.
Woot, woot, Mary! I remember when you first mentioned a blog to me and you were fearful. You disappeared and then reappeared in my life – how did that happen, I can’t remember? What a journey you’ve been on! Thank you so much for being my blogging partner. We have kept each other going in those dark early days when we poured our hearts out and had them broken when no-one was listening. You are a huge source of inspiration to me, not just about blogging but how you have and continue to conduct your life. I have learned so much from you! Long may your passion and blogging continue!
We’ve come a long way baby. Thanks for helping me Alison. I noticed on your website, you have the new google plus button… you are just an inspiration–always trying new things, always seeing the positive side of life.
CONGRATS! Not surprised….so proud of you…YES this is the perfect medium for you, your messages, your wisdom…12,000+ visits WOW..love it…Mary you have always been a visionary…and now you have a broader classroom to encourage others to learn, to think, to discuss….YOU are about DOING not just talking.
Look forward to future anniv…btw the virtual cake was delicious..yummy
Oh Patti,You always know just the right things to say. I treasure you and all the hard work you have done for Glen and all people with disabilities and their families. I’m so glad you are part of our community, your innovative ideas and practical strategies make our world a better place.
Wow. I’m honored to be on your list Mary!
It’s always been a pleasure helping out, and you should know that you are so far ahead of so many people for taking action and actually following through on your passion. You don’t let fear conquer you, you seek out help and get things done.
Speaking of getting things done, I *really* need to update my site. Too busy with other people’s projects!
Happy One Year Birthday to you and your site. Looking forward to watching things progress.
-Tim
Oh Tim, you made my day. I get courage to try new things because I have you in the background making it safe. You know you are a major reason Climbing Every Mountain is not still down in the valley of doubt (isn’t there a song about that?). Thanks again for all your encouragement as well as your amazing skills.
First “birthday”is always special.So: Happy Birthday!
Keep going 🙂
Jelena
Thanks Jelena. I think we have accomplished a lot this year, now we begin the toddler years.
One year? Woot. Woot! Now I desperately want a piece of cake. 🙂
These are low cal, too. Thanks DeeAnn there are some amazing people here, glad you are one of them.
Happy anniversary to Climbing Every Mountain!
Mary, your expertise, passion and dedication are extraordinary!
Thanks Ana, you are a special part of our team. Thanks for all your encouragement.
Congratulations on your one year anniversary, Mary! Great job!
Love you Becke, you are an inspiration to me and keep my spirits up.
Congratulations, Mary, Aaron and team! Your blog is definitely one of my favorites. Very, very well done!
Thanks Char, you are one of the new friends I’ve met. Glad you’re part of our team.