I woke up yesterday

morning thinking about my experiences of the day before.  I was smiling about some of these remembered images as they came into my mind.

A new calling I have at church is to watch Ethan, a little 8 year old boy who was born with Fragile X syndrome. This condition, which I have limited understanding of, is an inherited chromosomal syndrome that affects each child in different ways. Ethan has a sister who was also born with it, but she is affected by it in a much less severe way. Their mom is a single mother, and for her to be able to come to church and attend Sunday School and Relief Society is such blessing for her. For two years I've watched as Caroline, a very sweet and loving woman who volunteered to watch Ethan, has walked (and been pulled) through the halls as she's taken care of Ethan.   I've been amazed at her.  She has learned how to understand and work with Ethan in such a way that she is teaching him and helping him to respond more appropriately socially.  So, I'm hoping that with more experience I can do the same thing in helping Ethan.  But yesterday was my first day, and in my effort to not make any scenes and to keep Ethan happy, we pretty much did what he wanted to do.  Which leads me to what I woke up smiling yesterday morning.


Picture this if you can:  Me and Julie (a friend who I was so grateful was helping me), holding hands, turning in circles, and dancing as we walked around inside and outside the church.   We both felt so silly, but every time we tried to stop, Ethan would take both our hands, put them together, and start turning us until we turned circles and danced. It was hard to side track him from that, and even when we went in a classroom and played a primary song music video, all he wanted was for us to dance for him.  We finally got it so that only one of us was had to dance and the other could sit down.  Fortunately Julie is a fun and loving woman, so we let go of our inhibitions and just had fun with it.   We marched and twirled to the music and decided we needed to bone up on our dance steps.  It was a joy, actually. That first time, we allowed Ethan to teach us, but as I get to know him better, I hope I can teach him. 

There were a few moments where he sat still on my lap as we were in with the regular Primary.  But he is always moving and making loud noises and I worried he was being too disruptive to the other children.  But as I watched his expressions during that more quiet time, I felt such love for him and for the man he will be when he is no longer in his disabled body.   I thought of his mom, who deals with these issues everyday.  I thought of his Grandma and Grandpa, who have several other grandchildren affected with this syndrome.  I know these children bring much love into their lives, but I also know that it must be so hard both physically and emotionally.  They are the everyday people who do who serve and love and do what needs to be done, even when it is hard.   Bless them.

Today our adventures of the next few weeks begin.  I can't wait to get my hands on my Bishop grandchildren.  Seeing pictures and videos are such a wonderful, but nothing can compare to a real live hug!