Taking the Scenic Route

Tears of happiness.  Seriously, this church is amazing. 

As is usual, Zach spent the entire time between leaving the service until he went to take a nap deconstructing the sermon, but he found more that he agreed with than disagreed.  That is a good thing.  He has determined that he really doesn’t like most of the church service besides the sermon (at any church), but the sermon is good enough to be worth the other stuff.  High praise from him.

The choke-back-tears came when we were enthusiastically offered the equivalent of a paraprofessional (something about Angel wings…didn’t retain the actual name yet) to go with Zane through at least the Sunday School, but I didn’t catch if they also go with them during Children’s Church or not. (but it wouldn’t surprise me).  What *I* heard when I heard that was that, for the first time since he was born, I will be able to attend a Sunday School class.  The person was excited to offer it too…they had recently designed the program and so far there was only one person using it, the daughter of the program designer.  (her child is a year younger than Zane and has Down Syndrome). 

Not only that, but another person at the church has started a program that provides Respite Care to the community once a month, and other churches are starting to participate to provide the same service on other weeks.  They staff it with licensed professionals leading some volunteers.  Can you imagine…4 hours where Zach and I can go out and do, whatever, without having to have my mom drive an hour.  The church is located right in the middle of “date” territory too…the nice theater we like is across the street, as is a huge bowling/game complex and a lot of nice restaurants.  Heck, we could just go back home and sit in a quiet house for a few hours if we didn’t have the money for an actual date.  That is so amazing.  I had heard of the service through other avenues, but hadn’t found out when/where, ect, and I assumed it was a service you paid for.  It isn’t.  Is is at no charge.  I could just cry. 

Other things I liked:  They had the kids looking up a verse in the bible, and the bible was NIV (my favorite) with a kid-friendly format.  (Called the Adventure Bible )  I was happy to see them trying to use an actual bible instead of just the story. (although the language used seemed really high level to me, but that could be because my “normal” is so different)  They also started the whole SS session with all the kids in a group singing a few songs.  That was nice too.  I didn’t recognize one of the songs, but I did recognize the other…it was a Raffi song.  We even have that song.  I don’t know all of the sign language they did with it, but I know some of it to teach him and I can ask the STs if I can’t figure all of it out.  It wasn’t signed exactly, just on key words, so that will help.

We have learned that Zach has to be the one to drop off Zora.  If I drop her off she throws a huge fit.  She takes a bit to warm up, snuggling with somebody for the first 5-10 minutes, then she is off to explore and play.  Today, when we went to pick her up after the last service, she was asleep.  *insert jaw drop here*  I was shocked.  Really, really shocked.  lol.

I know there are lots of people who will say that they just “can’t live without” this thing, but it sort of horrifies me.  It is only mitigated by the fact that the advertisement for it plays more like a Saturday Night Live Skit because it is so insanely obvious that it’s purpose is to never freakin’ touch your child with, ya know, your actual hands or body or anything, ever, for months.  Sweetpeace

eta:  OK, honestly I can see a limited use for it, like for moms who find it physically difficult to hold the baby all the time, like for the times when my back hurt so bad.  However, it is really only useful if you have one child because most older kids would see it as playground equiptment and it would just snap off.  I also seriously doubt either of my kids would have liked it…it doesn’t move fast enough.  lol.  I think the potential for overuse is really high though, so I sort of cringe when I see it.

We met up with the newly forming ASD playgroup for some fun at the Nature Center.

It was relaxing and fun.  Very glad we went.

It was a wonderful day!  We ended up not getting Zora a costume, but despite our disappointment in not having a little Yoda trailing our little Jedi, we were very pleased that Zane said it was ok for her to wear his pumpkin costume.  (a much treasured costume for him). 

Yes, much to our surprise and delight, Zane chose a Star Wars costume.  It was the Anakin Skywalker costume, technically, but they were out of the Jedi costumes in his size and he was insistent that he wanted one of those.  (Honestly, I did try and steer him to a fireman the Nick, Jr. characters like Diego, he was adamant, despite the fact he has never actually SEEN any Star Wars movies)  Zach was positively giddy about the choice.  We seriously thought about getting him an Obi-Wan costume so he could dress up with him.  (if money wouldn’t have been an issue, we would have done it in a heartbeat).

Zane now has the words “Jedi” and “lightsaber” in his vocabulary, and says both with an uncharacteristic enthusiasm.  lol.  He loves the lightsaber (a flashlight where the “saber” part unfolds out and in) almost as much as Zach, who “tested it out” in the backyard for a while after he went to bed the night we got it.  I love my nerds.

The kids both went to the ST appointment today in costumes, then we went by Carrabbas to use a gift card that surprised us in yesterday’s mail (from Zach’s dad….we were so excited) and enjoyed a delightful and surprisingly relaxing meal (Zora made a mess with her vigorous bread dipping and general desire to share everything, but hey, she wasn’t screaming at any point, so that makes it a success).  Then we went to a “trunk or treat” put on by a church in the parking lot of Dillons (Krogers).  That turned out to be a really good thing to do.  There were games at every trunk, followed by a treat.  We were planning on doing the mall, but after the more “real” fun at the “trunk or treat”, we decided to try a real neighborhood and headed down to the College Hill area.  It is one of those neat older nice neighborhoods, lush with trees, Tudor and Craftsman architecture, and well landscaped, that tends to be populated by professors and established professionals (we have been there several times for college events…as the name suggests, it isn’t far from the college).  We found a street that looked right out of ET with all of the trick-or-treaters running from door to door, parked, and joined in the fun.  It was like a slice of America you only see in movies.  A very enchanting evening.

A young padawan studies how to manifest a spider (at the ST)

A few pictures of the costumes before it got too dark.

Mom underestimated her attachment to the Twix bar when I brought her over to try for some pictures.

Becoming “One with the Force”

Twix bar returned to her, she was a much happier Pumpkin

At the “Trunk or Treat”

Instead of tossing the bean bags like her brother, she took them and started putting them in her bucket.

Basketball.  Let’s just say this is clearly not his sport.  He somehow managed to put a spin on it that had it curving back to me, standing 3 feet behind him, with every throw. 

She also tried to put the ball into the bucket, but we stopped her this time.

They made “pumpkin faces” at one trunk stop

He loved the remote control car race

It was too dark to even take out the camera at the house to house trick or treating, but just imagine us walking down the sidewalk, with the lightsaber lighting our way in the dark, tree lined streets.