Christmas Party with the Kids from Glen Dhu

On Friday afternoon, Ethan and I headed over to Glen Dhu Public School to enjoy our annual Christmas party with Tavis and his friends at Glen Dhu Public School.  Tavis is one of four students with varying degrees of disabilities in a small class at Glen Dhu PS - Shaun, Jacob and Teresa make up the class.  Tavis attended junior kindergarden at Campbell School in Grandview Children's Centre.  Since then, he has been at Glen Dhu. 

Each one of these children in Tav's class has been helped by Grandview Children's Centre in one way or another over the years.  Mr. Howe, Tav's teacher, was gracious enough to let me speak for a few minutes about Ironman Texas and my fundraiser.  Even these parents were amazed to hear that there are over 1,000 children on the list waiting for the services offered by Grandview. 

Over the years that Tav has been at Glen Dhu, many children have come and gone thru his class.  To walk in and see each of these kids struggling every day is a humbling experience.  I make it a point to go around and greet each one of the kids and hold their hands - they are so happy and the smiles would melt your heart - and so would the smiles of their parents. 

Recently a friend told me I was just amazing because I keep smiling even though I have a special needs child.  I am not amazing.  I am a mom who smiles because she has a special needs child.  Tavis rocks my world everyday.  I know every parent of a challenged child feels the same way.  I have been blessed with a happy, healthy son and for that I am so grateful. 

In June, Tavis' friend, Daniel that he had gone to school with for seven years passed away at 16 years old. How his parent's survived losing their only child is beyond me.  I am thinking of them often during this season and wondering how they are getting through their first Xmas without Daniel. 

Ethan and I enjoyed our afternoon with Tav's friends.  Unfortunately, Glen had to work and could not attend. We watched a slide show of the kids' activities since the start of the school year, ate too many goodies and shared laughs with the other parents and kids.

Lisa