Today was a crazy busy (but wonderful) day. I serve as the Special Needs Liaison on a Commission for a local youth group, and we are in the process of launching a new project to allow Jewish teens with multiple and significant disabilities to interact in a social setting. The program we planned was in honor of the holiday Sukkot, which celebrates the Fall harvest. We planned a "Sukkah party" at one of the local synagogues. A Sukkah is a big open structure with a relatively open top. The sukkah was originally intended to serve as a shelter during the Fall harvest season, and you leave the top somewhat open so you can see the stars at night. The inside of this Sukkah was decorated with lots of harvest decorations, and there were picnic tables inside. We started off with a 2 hour training session for the teens who would be volunteering, and I thought it was an incredible session. We had over 20 teens show up and participate, and they actually seemed very enthusiastic about the new project! 10 of the teens stayed after the training for the actual program, and we had 10 additional teens with disabilities join the event. We started off with an art project - the "typical" teens worked with the kids with disabilities to make a clock. Then, the kids paired up and made a fruit salad and then ate it. The program ended with one of the teens playing guitar, and the entire group sat around singing songs together. It was such a rewarding program, and I was so impressed with how well it went! I'm quite excited for this program to continue.
The program ran a little late, and towards the end I was experiencing some pain and contractions. I raced home so DH & I could head out to our 2nd event of the day . . . a dinner in our friend's Sukkah. DH was running late from his volunteer event, so, of course, we showed up an hour late to dinner. I was in a lot of pain, and we had to refill my terbutaline because I was almost out. The contractions/pain continued the rest of the night, but I really was feeling better by this morning.
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