Buckland Blog: Christmas party and the circus

Sunday 16th: We were so thankful to be able to go to this Christmas party again this year.

With Rachel and Hannah only getting back from camp later this afternoon, they missed out this year.
It was wonderful to see the change in Asher from the previous 2 years. I remember her not even looking at the horses, and then the following year just seeing and acknowledging their existence. This year, she was interested in looking into the horses face (looking into his eyes) and was very pleased about having a ride.
Perhaps riding for the disabled is something that may benefit her now. I need to try and get her onto their waiting list.
Hezekiah enjoyed his ride too.

Here is a video with most of the photos from the day. Too many to post them all.

Asher spent ages on the jumping castle. We were very pleased about it having the slide part, as it meant she didn't do too much jumping but the climbing got loads of energy out and she had a great time. 2 years ago she had a seizure after bouncing for ages at this event, so we were very pleased to get through the day without one this time.

Anastasia loved the bouncing castle side.

Today we also met our first ADNZ dog (Assistance Dogs New Zealand). It was lovely meeting his family and hearing a bit about their journey. We could see how much a help the dog was to their 9 year old son, and it was wonderful that the Mum, Michelle, was happy to just chat to me about it all. They encouraged us to get our application done asap. The waiting list is 5 years at the moment, so it's best to get it started as soon as we can. So this day marks the first day of this long journey for us too.

The face painting lady always remembers Ruth and loves creating beautiful art for her. It was a fun day for all and I am so glad we got to attend.
Tuesday 18th: BELOW: Michelle had invited us to come and visit during the holidays, so I didn't put it off and managed to take Asher, Ruth and Hannah for a visit on Tuesday. We didn't talk too much about ADNZ again, but just chatted about life. Her son was unfortunately a bit violent with Asher when we first arrived, so she had a complete meltdown. She spent most of the time down the passage. It must have taken me almost an hour to get her to finally stop screaming. Michelle was so understanding and I am so glad I stuck it out. The natural response was to just pack up and go home, but I'm glad I didn't.

I had such a good time talking to Michelle and with us both being Christians it was a very encouraging and uplifting time (despite all the stress with Asher's meltdown). It was good to be able to end the visit with smiles (after a few tears from both Asher and me before).
LEFT: Ruth got her Christmas Jumper finished this afternoon as she heads off to an HYP Leadership Camp tomorrow for two nights.
Thursday 20th: Hannah is doing so much reading this holiday. We often see her like this at the dining room table.

What a huge treat to go to the Circus this evening. The only negative was that Ruth couldn't join us as she was at camp.

We booked seats right at the front only because that was the best spot for Asher's buggy.
One extra advantage to those seats was that Hannah was chosen as the volunteer with the clowns. Well done Hannah.
I will leave the video to show most of the acts that I got photos of. I just included a photo of those spinning wheels as it was so scary. He skipped on the outside of the ball and then even did it blindfolded. It got us all very stressed and we were all very relieved when they stopped. :-)

Another very special highlight was just before these spinning wheels. They set them all up during the break, but after the act it took a bit of time to take it all down. So while they were busy, the clowns came out again to entertain the crowds. They had a HUGE blow up ball they they hit into the audience. It kept everyone laughing and entertained including Asher, but what meant the world to me was that at one point he slowed everything down and instead of just hitting it back into the crowd, he gently threw the ball to Asher. She was thrilled and threw it back to him. That small act of kindness meant so very much.
A video is an easier way of sharing home of the many photos I took.

Friday 21st: Anakin enjoying Hezekiah's hidden lap.

These 4 joined me with my walking group's "end of year" walk to the cafe for a snack.

It was so fun to watch Asher and Anastasia playing "catch" around the chair today. They have both played it with Hezekiah - so it was nice to see them managing to get it going with just the two of them.