{"id":141696,"date":"2024-10-24T13:27:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T17:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/?p=141696"},"modified":"2024-10-24T13:27:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-24T17:27:21","slug":"genuine-gigis-inspirational-stories-from-our-families-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/2024\/10\/24\/genuine-gigis-inspirational-stories-from-our-families-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Genuine GiGi\u2019s: Inspirational Stories from our Families\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Rusciolelli family<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were excited to sit down with Deborah Rusciolelli and learn about her amazing family. Deborah and her husband Bill met in Charlotte and have been married for 29 years. They have 9 children (yep, 9!). Bill retired from the Marine Corps about 6 years ago, and now is an electrical engineer with a firm in South Carolina. Deborah home schooled their children.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rusciolelli\u2019s are a strong Roman Catholic family, with a priest and a nun among her adult children. Celeste, who has Down syndrome, is 12 years old and #9 in line. She came 8 years after her next oldest sibling. Deborah had some pregnancy issues, and she cherishes Celeste as a great gift. All the kiddos are out of the house now, with the exception of Celeste.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why GiGi\u2019s?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GiGi\u2019s is a great place to take Celeste, especially as a compliment to home schooling. GiGi\u2019s gives Deborah a place for social and extracurricular activities, and Celeste absolutely loves going. The Rusciolelli\u2019s remember being at the grand opening of the Playhouse with Luke Kuechly, and how excited they were about this new community meeting place for their daughter and their family.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GiGi\u2019s has programs for all age groups. Deborah particularly valued the little kids story times, tutoring, and the popular LMNOP program (an interactive program for parents and young children to learn basic sign language and other forms of communication).\u202fGiGi\u2019s offers programs during the day, which continues to support home-schooled children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah expressed how important it is that GiGi\u2019s offers these programs free for families, and they are a valued supporter of GiGi\u2019s. Recently, Deborah met a family vacationing in Charlotte that found GiGi\u2019s and came by for a program. They had a great time meeting other Ds families and enjoying the day. Deborah loves the accepting and embracing atmosphere where people can just pop in and find immediate friends. All are welcome at GiGi\u2019s, whether they have Down syndrome, other diagnoses, or neurotypical \u2013 they can join in at any point.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflections on the Down syndrome journey<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah said, \u201cAnything worth having is worth working hard for. Anything we do in life \u2013 if it is not hard, you aren\u2019t doing it right.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah worked with \u201cBe Not Afraid\u201d for many years. The organization serves families that have been given a poor pre-natal diagnosis, and helps parents choose life for their child. 100% of the families who work with BNA report they have never regretted their decision. The life of the child may be a few minutes, a few years, or many decades. Many of these children have Down syndrome, and Deborah focused on these families.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah continued, \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as the perfect child, the perfect marriage, the perfect life. God uses these things to make us stronger. We do what God puts in front of us to the best of our ability, with joy and gratitude.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our families at GiGi\u2019s experience the joy and love that a child with Down syndrome brings into every room. They view them as incredible blessings. Deborah said, \u201cCeleste is the joy of our family \u2013 she is the favorite child of every sibling.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rusciolelli\u2019s are in the process of adopting another child with Down syndrome. Deborah always wanted a child with Ds. Celeste is a prayer answered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you to the Rusciolelli\u2019s, and the inspiration you add to our community!  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rusciolelli family  We were excited to sit down with Deborah Rusciolelli and learn about her amazing family. Deborah and her husband Bill met in Charlotte and have been married for 29 years. They have 9 children (yep, 9!). Bill retired from the Marine Corps about 6 years ago, and now is an electrical engineer…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141696\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gigisplayhouse.org\/charlotte\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}