Wath I whod lick

The subject of J finding an always family came up very naturally the other morning when Lily was talking about going to Disneyland for her 21st birthday. J asked if she would be able to come and I said that she would be living with her always family by then not with us. The court may be moving extremely slowly but a decision will definitely be made by then (August) even if it is not the returning to mum that J would like.

We briefly talked about what kind of family she'd like and when I came down to breakfast I found this rather poignant writing by J.

Someone pointed out to me that it sounds a bit like our family (no swimming pool here though) so maybe J is bonding a bit to us after all even if it doesn't feel like it.

Since my last post we've had (and enjoyed) our housewarming party for the local Down syndrome association. More than 50 people (18 with DS and their families) fitted easily into our open plan downstairs.

Luckily the concrete wasn't poured that day but it was poured yesterday and I had to lock us all into the house to prevent any little footprints!

Whilst contaiend in the house and surfing the net, I managed to find and book some very cheap Qantas tickets to LA for Lily's birthday - she chose to travel on her birthday as she will then be able to celebrate her 21st in NZ and then again in Disneyland. This may not work as perfectly as she thinks as we leave Auckland at 2.30pm and then arrive in LA at 7.30 am which will feel like 2.30am to us!

Hannah has kindly offered to look after Isaac for the week - the thought of travelling with all his tube feeding equipment and doing Disneyland was just too much and TOO expensive. We almost decided the whole trip was too expensive but it is also our 30th wedding anniversary this year so we're taking it as a celebration of that too. (Paul has said "I'm not sure my dream honeymoon is taking two kids with DS to Disneyland" but Lily, Noah and I were able to persuade him otherwise!)