It was a super Halloween!

[Guest guest]

Howdy Folks!

Kearns here in Virginia. I'm trying not to bite my finger

nails down to the nub over the presidential elections so I thought

it best to distract myself with you all.

I just wanted to tell you all about what we did for Halloween. As

all of you know, until you have a child with special needs, many

things in life are taken for granted. Since having Connor, my child

with RSS, I am now an active member of a local support group/ Early

Intervention program called Project . Through this program

Connor gets his Speech Therapy and Physical Therapy. Every fourth

Friday, parents of children with special needs meet at my church for

a support group meeting. We laugh. We cry. We share stratagies on

how to get our insurance companies to listen to us, but most of all,

I have met some phenomenal parents and children.

Two months ago, I got to thinking about Halloween. What is Connor

going to be? Do I have enough fake blood because Graham will always

be something gross and scarey. Is the vampire costume fixed, etc,

etc, etc. Then I got to thinking, " Hmmm, will Connor need his

stroller this year or not. " Then I really got to thinking, " Does

Connor have the energy to walk it this year? " I know many of you

who met him at convention would say, " Heck Yeah!, " but remember,

little feet have to work harder for the same distance as his older

brothers. Plus, we live in a hilly neighborhood. Needless to say,

my brain started to go into overdrive. The thought I was chasing

around was, " How can I make Trick or Treating as easy as possible

for Connor while still keeping it intact with the Holiday.

HMMMMMMMMM. " " Come to think of it, how could I make this holiday

accessible to any child wtih special needs because when I really

think about it, I've never had a child with special needs come Trick

or Treating at my door. "

And then, it hit me. Trunk or Treat! A special needs child can go

from car to car, on a level parking lot, in the daylight, and get

candy from people who decorate their car. This was something we had

done in the past for our church children, but hadn't done for a

couple of years. So, I pitched the idea to the church, they

said, " Go for it...but remember to invite our kids, too! " Then, I

pitched it to Project families. They said, " Thanks we'll see

you there! " So, on Halloween afternoon, in the parking lot of my

church, 25 families came, dressed up, decorated their cars and

handed out candy to the children of the church and some special

guests. 11 families from Project came. All of them had

special needs of some sort, but the most tender moment came for me

when Hannah (born at only 21 weeks gestation, who is wheelchair

bound, on a respirator and g-tube) smiled at me! Folks, Hannah may

not live to see the age of 10, but she will remember this

Halloween. Her mom dressed her up as Raggedy Ann - too cute!

Another family commented that it was so special to come to a place

and not have people staring at their Down's Syndrome baby. Yet

another family asked how could they help out next year! I had no

idea it would hit such a chord in the community and our church

family. Hey, even the local news showed up and featured us as, " A

safe alternative when Trick or Treating is just to hard for your

child. " As the director of Project said, " Children with

special needs are above all else, children. They need to be able to

act like children and do all the things that other children can do

easily. Today, we provided a small part of that experience. "

Sigh. My heart is beating pitter patter pitter patter with

contentment.

As many of you suspected, Connor tore up the parking lot, running

from car to car, jumping and doing his 'roar' voice at the other

kids. dressed him up as a pirate, but the costume came off in

10 seconds. That's o.k. Connor pretended to be some kind of monster

because he kept 'roaring' at people all afternoon. By 5:00 p.m. we

were closing down. Connor is staggering he is so tired and sugared

out. We pack up the van, thank all the people involved and head

home for the neighborhood onslaught of kids. My older boys go out

with their Dad. Not Connor, with a Pediasure bottle, his Halloween

bucket full of goodies between his legs, he zonks out in front of

the t.v. He won't let go of his plastic vampire, but that's o.k.

It's my hope that this is a Halloween that he won't forget either.

Take Care and God Bless,

Kearns

Mom to Graham (The Grimm Reaper); Cameron (The Friendly Vampire - no

blood wanted) and Connor, the Mightiest Pirate of the Seven Seas.