A day at the ranch

Sarah after playing

Sophie after playing

Sarah started her "career" of school at a therapy center. It was perfect for her and fit is so well with what we are trying to teach her. She was with kids who had a variety of different disabilities, do things differently, talk differently, relate to the world in a completely different way and I was thrilled to have Sarah in an environment where "different" becomes the norm. I love that she's become a friend to those kids who the world thinks are "broken". Sarah draws those kids into her life and loves them unconditionally and becomes their biggest fan. She seeks them out and takes care of them. She takes time to sit with them, understand them and play with them when other kids are afraid of them. I talk about "them" like they are strangers from another planet, it breaks my heart that people see them that way. Sarah would be the very first to tell you about their qualities she loves, the parts of their personalities that makes her giggle, the part of their hearts she treasures. In our eyes, they are not a "them" they are an "us"! It makes me as a mom so proud when she talks about her friends in loving tones, that she notices their differences and tells me "it doesn't matter, it's alright that he talks funny, he's my friend."

Anyway, while she was at "school", she met Brennan and they became fast friends. They ask about each other and miss each other terribly. We got a chance to see him the other day and as you can tell they had a GREAT time together. I love to see them playing, the innocence of youth is so perfect when you watch them working so hard at playing. We could learn a lot from their example.