Last night we went to the corn maze for the youth activity for church. A family in our ward owns it. We helped them out a few months ago to prepare for the corn maze so in return they let us come for free. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the activity, especially Jean.
Jean is my cute little Downs Syndrome young woman. She is the smartest downs kid I have ever met. She comes from a family of 14 kids and is the youngest. I think with growing up with so many other kids and with her parents treating her like a normal person she has really learned how to be very independent. She can do more than most kids with the same problems she has. Her parents are definitely gifted in how they have raised her. She is the smartest kid in her Special Ed class and actually helps tutor the others in her class. She is also the happiest downs kid I have ever met as well.
She always runs up to me at church and gives me a giant bear hug and tells me she loves me (she does this to all the other leaders as well). If you are ever doubting your self worth, Jean is definitely the right person to be around. On Sunday she usually sits by me during Young Womens and loves to hang on me and hug me with dead weight and tell me she loves me about every 2 minutes. One of her favorite things to do is to just cling on someone else and let them hold her up....sometimes it gets a little claustrophobic but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!
Lately Jean has been starting to really open up with us leaders. She used to be a lot more shy but lately she seems to just thrive off of our attention. Last night she was in the silliest mood I have seen her yet. Every time I would say anything she would say exactly the opposite just to see the reaction on my face. When we were driving to the corn maze a few of the girls and I commented on a really cool house we saw. She instantly said, "That house is not cool!" and was just giggling waiting for me to say, "ya huh" and then she would say "nu uh" and back and forth and back and forth. It was really funny.
Anyways, Dan and I were Jean's partners throughout the maze. She has a hard time walking so we took turns walking slower with her and holding her arm. I think she found her new crush last night. She wouldn't let go of Dan the rest of the night once he started talking to her. She was such a hoot on the car ride home as well. We turned on the movie Madagascar for them to watch. Her parents told me she has only seem the movie once or twice but yet she was quoting the entire movie. It was the funniest thing to watch...she was cracking all us leaders up. She definitely made our day.
I the picture of her at the top of this post while we were in the maze and just loved it! The picture captured every reason why I love Jean so much and how special she makes all of us feel! She is definitely one of the many blessings I thrive off of from serving the with the youth at church.
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