The Midlothian Heritage Jaguars football team won their game, making them AAAA district champions. It seems to me they had a bit of luck on their side when the newest cheer team was at their final home game, cheering them on. The Pride Cheer team is a new cheer squad designed for the special education students wanting to participate on the cheerleading team. Thank you to Coach Kelsey Mayfield for being the champion for these three girls and boy. (boy not pictured here) The original cheerleaders are very excited to be a part of our kiddos' lives in this way. It's a beautiful thing!

Maddie absolutely had a ball being on the football field holding up the pom-poms and yelling, "GO JAGS!!" 

You guessed it: Spongebob Squarepants

For Maddie's Sake held its tenth Saturday Social, an inclusion dance with an Under the Sea and Luau theme. We had a great time dancing with several fitting characters like Spongebob, Arial, Surfers, and more. Over 170 people showed up and supported our cause by making a donation and dancing. Pizza, games, pictures, dancing, and door prizes were enjoyed by many. 

We are thankful for the volunteers pictured below. We had people helping from Midlothian High School and Heritage High School, as well as the board members of For Maddie's Sake, Inc.  

In my early years, my mom and dad struggled to make life as normal as possible for me. The fears they had when I was born 15 1/2 years ago was real. They never paid attention much to people who were considered disabled before then. My, how time has changed. While I still try to succeed at learning new words and learning to chew, my mom and dad just love me and are so proud of me no matter how much I know or do. They want what's best for me. All I want is to always have them in my corner and to have friendships for a lifetime. 

​My mom read this story On Radical Acceptance (& not fixing your kid).  It seems to me this is the way to be in this world.

Look at me! I'm dancing with all these tall people. Okay....okay....I'm little, but I'm loud!  All About Dance has a fun adapted dance program for kids like me.  It's pretty fun and I have lots of friends there. We all accept each other for who we are. It's awesome!  This year's recital was a Circus theme.

My mom, dad, Neader and Maw came to watch me dance. I'm glad I felt good enough to dance; I've been a little under the weather lately. 

You would not, could not, want to miss,
a Saturday Social inclusion dance such as this!
You want to come, so you say?
Wear your favorite Dr Seuss character
​to the most fun dance partay!

That's just what they did. On Saturday, April 9, 2016, people of all abilities and ages came either as they were, or dressed up in characters such as Cat in the Hat, The Grinch, Fox, The Lorax, Horton, Cindy Lou, and other members of Whoville from the story Horton Hears a Who. The most popular costume was Thing 1 and Thing 2. Maddie dressed up as Miss Thang with her parents as Thang Mom and Thang Dad.

DJ C-Dov (Curtis Rice) filled the room with lights, fun smoke, and of course dancing tunes. Yep, we did the Wobble, Cupid Shuffle, Macarena and more.  While some people were dancing, others were eating pizza ordered from Mo's Italian Deli and Cafe (downtown Midlothian) which was sponsored and paid for by laddermanhomeinspections.com.  And some had fun playing air hockey and foosball. Many people posed for pictures with the ever-so-tall Cat in the Hat and Things 1 & 2.

The dance was a huge success with over 150 people in attendance. This couldn't have happened without the wonderful volunteers. A shout out to them:

• St Joseph Catholic School Student Council - Waxahachie
• Midlothian Heritage High School Student Council
• For Maddie's Sake Board members and honorary board

We truly appreciate all of the people who brought their families to enjoy a fun night out while creating a positive environment bringing people of all abilities together for the sake of each other.

Hosted by the Arc of Dallas, the 2016 March for Respect event had 5,000 in attendance at the Main Street Garden Park in downtown Dallas. 

The March for Respect is a one-mile walk in downtown Dallas,  where people show their support for individuals with intellectual or development disabilities.

For Maddie's Sake hosted a group to participate and we gathered up 100 people from all over the metroplex. 

Maddie's mom and grandmother met many inspiring individuals in the disability community at the Third Annual Living with a Disability conference held in Hurst, Texas on February 21, 2015, hosted by Texas Parent 2 Parent. We enjoy visiting with people who share their experiences that can help so many people. It doesn't matter if you are a new parent of a child with a disability or whether you have been going through the motions for years. There is something to be learned by everyone.

Here are some highlights and things that make you go, “Hmmmm”:

• Is your child living a service life?  If your child is receiving services such as therapy on a very regular basis, whether in school or outside of school, he or she may be living a so-called "service life".  Your child may be better served spending time with family and friends so they can get to know them and help them gain their interdependence and encourage them, which helps their quality of life.
  
• My child living on his/her own, really?  Seriously, it's not out of the question. We met several adults ages 20 to 34 who are living in their own home or their own level of their parents' home.  Some have jobs, drive, and take public transportation. Some even have their own business making beautiful glass jewelry. It's pretty fascinating and it really does give me hope. What I learned is that it takes baby steps to get them to this point, and they still may need ongoing assistance, but living on their own can be a reality.
  
• Individuals 14 and older team up to learn "self-determination" skills!  So exciting! There is a new group starting up in Richland Hills that I would love to model after in Midlothian. The group is led by and for individuals with disabilities ages 14 and older to work together and learn from each other on building skills such as self-awareness, setting goals, information sharing, and empowerment. They adopted the principles from the National Autism Resource & Information Center - click here for The Four Principles of Self-Determination. I plan to attend their meetings to see how they format it so I can get ideas about starting one in our town.  The group meets the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month from Noon-1:30 pm at 7165 Latham Drive B, Richland Hills, Texas 76118 (lunch provided). If you want to attend with me, please contact me at 972.571.6904 or dixonchick@aol.com.
  

As usual, the conference was awesome. It's an annual conference and I hope that you can attend with me next year.  I'll be sure to send registration info in 2016 to the For Maddie's Sake email distribution list as soon as I get the information.

Donna Dixon, Co-founder of For Maddie's Sake, Inc., dixonchick@aol.com

Volunteers make everything right! We have lots of help creating successful dances. They help us make sure we have what we need. Any time we ask them to spend time making our vision come to life, they are there! 

We held an Appreciation Dinner for our regular volunteers and For Maddie's Sake board members in conjunction with our board meeting last night, September 6, 2014.

The Ranch at Las Colinas, Texas was a great place to have our dinner since they were so accomodating. Service was great and the food was unique and tasty. We had the best waiter (and professional photographer) who was so enthused with our organization and our cause, that he wanted to buy a dance picture album. We generously gave him one from our latest dance, "Halloween in March". Check out www.MichaelTrinityPhotography.com