Buddies

So, I am officially a buddy.
Yep. Its official.
So I started volunteering at my church in a special needs ministry for kids!
Its called RivBuddies.
What happens is an adult volunteer is paired up with a kid who has special needs and that volunteer walks around with him and helps him go to classes and is basically his little helper should he need anything or want to do anything. You get paired up with one or two kids so they can get to know you and you can get to know them.
All the kids in RivBuddies are boys. Yep, 16 boys. 14 of them have Autism and 2 have Down Syndrome, but don't let that fool you...
These kids are awesome!
One of the kids is Autistic and wears Cochlear Implants in both ears, he is also the director's son so he gets to hang out with the buddies in the Oasis Room or play games on his mom's computer. But anyhow, when he feels like it, he takes out his Cochlear Implants so he can't hear you.... This makes me laugh. But, since he is there for all three weekend services, again his mom is the director of the kids' ministry, his dad comes to pick him up between services and take him to where else but... Tim Hortons. He has to have his doughnuts duh! What I think makes me laugh the most is that on the board his dad writes things like "No Class... NO Tim Hortons" or "No Implants... NO Tim Hortons" Talk about a bargaining chip!

I am so excited to start interacting with the kids and playing parachute with them... PARACHUTE!! LIke that big colorful parachute you played with in elementary school? THAT ONE! I get to spend my Sundays playing with Kids... Awesome!
So excited!

I think I'm going to love being a buddy!