Friends at the Beach

Friday was a half day of class so to celebrate we had a "New Zealand" lunch meaning our director brought in a bunch of food for us to try that is strictly Kiwi made but that turned into a variety of stuff. So we had more meat pies (Mom- it's so good you got those mini pie makers for Christmas because I'm going to use that ALL THE TIME when I get home just a heads up :) ), veggie mite (again eat in very small quantities), L&P (kind of like sprite), doughnuts (long and filled with custard so "yum" as they say), golden kiwis (sweeter and not hairy), tim tams (best cookies ever!), pavlova (cake but more a hardened meringue), banana custard pies, and milo for tim tam slams. It was delicious.

Later that afternoon we had an outing with Julie and Beau to the beach. Julie invited on of her friends who has a daughter similar in age to Beau who also has down syndrome. The beach that we went to was very calm and shallow so that the kids could play. They brought chocolate and cake and juice for a snack.  Julie and her friend stayed on the beach mat while we took the kids out swimming. It was hilarious because Beau kept pretending to be a shark and trying to scare us. He would jump out of the water and splash us and then JC (the girl Beau's age) would start screaming because she hated getting splashed. She started just latching onto our backs and hiding behind us when she would see Beau approaching. We played games in the water until the moms said it was time to go. Julie dropped Beau of at her sister's house for the night and left Sara and I ate the beach to walk around and enjoy the water. Later that night after dinner Sara and I watched an old Cary Grant movie called Mother Goose. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. It's hilarious and of course it has Cary Grant :).

I'm so glad I'm living with Beau. He has already taught me so much about working with people who have special needs. His ability to love and serve is out of this world. He loves introducing us to people and he always says "these are my friends Sara and Katelyn." I used to be uncomfortable with people like Beau because I was never quite sure what to do or say but Beau is teaching me that I can just be myself. I love watching Julie work with Beau because she is so patient and loving. I've decided that all parents who have special needs children are saints since it is such an exhausting job. But it's also one of the greatest blessings at least that's what Julie tells me and from watching her I can tell that it's true.