31 for 21: Victory Song

*I've joined a blogging challenge for the month of October: Blog every day in October in honor of National Down Syndrome Awareness Month (Down syndrome is medically defined as Trisomy 21, and there are 31 days in October, hence the name 31 for 21). My posts will not necessarily be about Down syndrome, but I am writing as a person who 1) loves many people w/Down syndrome and other disabilities and 2) desires for others to be able to see what I see: remarkably unique people with much to offer to the world*

Let me be careful how I say this: I don't know if I won a victory today for sure, but it felt like it.  My meeting with my director (see prior post) included such statements from her as "You're absolutely right" and "I don't know why we didn't think of that,"  and it was a sweet gift from the Lord.  I really can't go on and on with details and I apologize for my ambiguity.  There are a lot of things up in the air, but my prayers regarding my voice being heard and my words being honoring to the Lord - those prayers were answered, and for that I am thankful.

But that's not what this post is about.  My post is about what happened after. I walked back into the room.  One of our clients had helped one of our staff make cake pops, and these were fresh out of the oven and looked amazing.  The client was so proud of her work, all the clients were excited about this especially fancy little treat, and everyone was cheerful.  I love when I come in to a room that is running smoothly and full of happy people.  I had one objective left to run with one of my clients, one which requires her to be actively involved in some sort of musical interaction (yes, I'll admit, I wrote this objective...).  This may involve having her play an instrument or singing along to a song. When it's me running the objective and I have time and my guitar, I like to do little mini sing-alongs in the room.  Today I did NOT have time, really, but I had my guitar and I had this tremendous amount of joy in my heart. So naturally, I busted out said guitar and got to work.  And several of the clients seemed to be hungering for my attention a little bit after I'd been out of the room in meetings all day.  A little crowd gathered, and we sang.  One of the favorites that many of them will sing (and this was NOT originally my doing) is Amazing Grace.  So we sang! Oh man was it awesome.  I was just overflowing with love for the Lord and his providence, and love for this amazing job He's provided, even when it's hard and frustrating and all that, and love for the amazing people that I get to sit around and sing with.  I didn't care that I was behind on paperwork and other tasks, for that moment it really didn't matter.  There had been a sweet little victory, and I got to celebrate with some people that are so very dear to me, people I'd fought for just moments before without them even knowing.  What a sweet, sweet day.