So, what was I saying?

When I last blogged, I said that my husband rocks and that we were expecting some company. I submit to you as evidence of both, the following pictures. Our company did in fact come, and my wonderful husband even offered to watch the kids so Mindy and I could go out and have some girl time. It's been a while since we've been able to go out, so it was a treat for us, and as you can see, the kids had a blast too! They always love getting to play with this sweet little peanut! (I have more pictures for you, Min...I'll e-mail those.) We brought home one of Mike's favorite meals for dinner to treat him for being so good to us....he admits to having fun with them while we were gone, and he even took some of the pictures....pretty good, huh? Here's the clan enjoying some dinner after the moms got home.

Well, that was last weekend, and then this Wednesday....more excitement. Timothy's Wednesday night clubhouse awards night at church. At the beginning of the year, we had our concerns about how Timothy was going to do at school, and also how he would do at church as he gets older and children started interacting with him more. His first Wednesday night of the year was a bit stressful. The children's program went all out, and they had quite the kick-off, but for our Timothy, it was a little too much to handle. He ended up melting down and then falling asleep on the floor in the middle all the action. Drop-offs have always been hard, any transition can be, but the next week was really rough for Timothy so I went to the church and sat down with our preschool ministry director and the lead teacher of Timothy's classroom. We talked about Asperger's syndrome and sensory processing, what makes Timothy tick and what makes him fall apart, and then we prayed together. These two ladies made every effort to make "Clubhouse" a place that Timothy had fun, felt safe and loved. Timothy accomplished more this year in clubhouse than I ever expected--memorizing verses, finishing projects, and making lots of friends.

So thanks, Donna....

and thanks, Sarah....for a great year!

Timothy's small group leader was Robin, and she was great with him. Every week I'd tell him it was time to go to clubhouse and he'd pump his arm and say, "awesome!" I worried that Timothy might slip into the crowd and not take part in many of the activities, but he loved his group and his teacher and he even completed enough of his clubhouse book to earn a gold medal this year. Imagine my delight when Robin announced that he had received the "outstanding participation" award for his group--this little fella was certainly a far cry from the wall flower I expected him to be!
This picture, of Timothy receiving his gold medal, you have to click on it. It will enlarge, and then you'll be able to see how proud my little boy is of what he accomplished this year.
Here's picture of Timothy with one of his bestest buddies from the year. (Austin won the "winning smile" award.....can you see why?) Now, I know what you've really been waiting for, and I did take video clips of Timothy singing with his friends. As you watch these, remind yourself that this is the same little guy that , a year ago, would have found himself a book and hid away in the corner to be left alone. Well, what do you think now? How about this for "outstanding participation?" (If you can't download these videos on your computer, I promise it would be worth your effort to find another place to watch them.....so sweet!)

This first video is of a song called, "Wild about God"

(He actually is supposed to be doing some of the "Hums" that he's doing....)

The words to the chorus of this song: and I'll go all out, without any doubt, I want mylife to SHOUT, "God is alive in me!" I loved watching this!

Today, was my last day at the clinic. I have volunteered at Sister Maura Brannick Health Center this year, and it has been a tremendous blessing. I've met some amazing people who get up every morning, go into work, and become God's hands in the lives of so many. This is one of those people. Anne-Marie graduated from Notre Dame last year and then spent the past year at the clinic doing about everything there is to do....among her many hats is supervising and training all the volunteers, and let me tell you, there are a lot of us. She's off to John Hopkins for medical school this fall, and I know God has big things in store for her. This amazing lady is Sister Maura herself. This clinic started because Sister Maura was burdened for others and wanted to do what she could do to help. She took a blood pressure cuff and went to a soup kitchen one night a week to take blood pressures. People caught her vision, and God has now provided this amazing clinic full of doctors and nurses who volunteer their time providing healthcare for those who otherwise couldn't afford it. God's plans are so much bigger than any we could dream up ourselves.....what a reminder her life is. I will miss seeing her each week.
Finally, I want to ask that you pray for my dad. Friday morning he's getting on a plane and heading to Nigeria with two other men from his church. Their mission is to pave the way for those who will follow them. They're going to map out villages that they find and find those who are open to future visits from mission teams. Please pray for God to prepare the paths that they will be walking, that He will go before them and protect them. Also pray for my grandpa, my dad's dad, who we just found out is in the hospital with pneumonia. Pray for his healing and for Dad, as I can only imagine how hard it must be to go at a time like this.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you enjoyed our update ;)

-shannon