My Last Group

Well I suppose I don't have many more of these to write. I just got done with my last group yesterday. I have to tell you, it was one of my favorite groups! It's no secret that the kids groups are my least favorite. Well that all changed when I was paired with little Niamh (neeve). She is nine years old and has downs syndrome. Niamh is the sweetest child in the entire world. (Even sweeter than my nephews, I must admit!) We spent the entire weekend playing catch, reading, and cuddling! She is so cute and sooooo funny! Her day on Saturday had a rough start. Danielle (who I've been with before...the one that constantly roams and doesn't sleep) grabbed Niamh's glasses off of her face and bent them almost in half! I took Niamh to get them fixed at the Pavillions. She was so good! She held my hand the entire time through the mall and waited with me patiently while we got them fixed. On the way back to the bus, she ran ahead of me and tripped and scrapped her knee! The poor thing... Even after all that she was back to a great mood and we continued on in the day. We took the kids to an indoor playground called Hurly Burly. It was the best place to take them!! It was safe and fun and there was something for each kid, which is hard to achieve with our groups. Niamh had a blast! Darren was giving Kate a bit of trouble on the way back regarding his constant request for crisps (chips for us Americans.) (It's really cute when he says crisps with his lisp. It turns out to sound like "crips.") Kate told him that he can't eat crisps all day long. He thought about that and then responded, "YES. I. AM.....CAN!!!" It was soooo funny!

At the end of the day, Danielle was walking past Niamh and I in the hall. Like a flash of light Danielle went straight for Niamh's hair! She latched on and wouldn't let go even with Canada and I pulling her away! Poor little Niamh. Even after all that Danielle did to her, she still talked to Danielle and asked how she was. She's so sweet! Before bed I took her upstairs to have a bath. She LOVES bath time! She even brought bubble bath! So we had a fun time splashing and playing in the bath, and she gave me no trouble when it was time to actually wash her hair. haha

The next day we finished up at the Swords house and headed over to the Malahide house for games and a treasure hunt. (Another group needed the Swords house that afternoon.) Niamh loved the treasure hunt that Kate set up, and even suckered Kate into two more hunts! After the hunts, Niamh sat on my lap and we looked through the photo albums. Every time she saw me in a photo she said, "There's Claire!" or my personal favorite, "Claire and her smile. Gorgeous!" haha Her parents came to collect her a little early, which was a real bummer! I had a hard time saying goodbye to her. :(

The group was led by one of the managers, Kay. I haven't mentioned Kay much because we don't see her much. She does a lot of behind the scenes stuff. I have to say that I enjoyed her as a leader immensely! She was a perfect back up without being overbearing. She was relaxed and organized the entire weekend. The wrap up meeting was actually productive! She gave us positive feedback (for each volunteer!) and some things that could make groups better in the future. You're probably thinking that this is how a wrap up meeting should go. Well sadly most of them are complete wastes of time. Mostly we just say how we feel about them and then that's it. This was so great! We left the group feeling really positive about our work. It was a great way to end my time here!

Normally we have a few days off after a group, but this week is weird. We had a minister come to the house today to see if he wants to help the funding for CASA. Because of this we invited six members over to the house for a few hours to show him what we do here. I got to see some of my favorites which was so great! Now everyone is gone and I'm going to relax! I have a few days off which are filling up with plans fairly quickly. Thursday is meetings and then Kate and I are gonna go see my two favorite members Gillian (who sings Neil Diamond with me) and Paul Lockery, the one who arm wrestles me and sings me my song. It's going to be so great! I'm dreading coming home after that day though... Friday is another day of visits. I'm gonna go see a bunch of our members at one home, and then head over to see Dora and Marian (!!!).

I can't believe I have just a bit more than a week left! Ah! I wish time would slow down just a tiny bit!

Well I suppose that's all I have for now. Maybe I'll get one or two more in before I come home. Love you!