To Dean, With Love from Danielle

 Dean's birthday.  August was an emotional month for me.  Having seen the decline in Dean's health,
as I have shared previously, it is unclear how many more birthdays we'll have with our boy.

 There are fewer things that give Dean joy than balloons and clowns...

Dean's older sister knows this,

so she arranged for a clown to personally come to the house,

as a surprise for his birthday.

Her clown name is "STINKER BELLE"

and she is great!

She tuned right into Dean and as you can see,

he was delighted!

The balloon headpiece was an immediate hit!

Dean's language skills have declined,

so he was pretty quiet;

just lots of smiles.

And then Stinker Belle asked if she could give Dean a

paint tattoo of his favorite football team--

while she painted, she encouraged Dean to ask her

"clown questions"--

What do clowns eat?

Funny Bones.

Where do clowns sleep?

On a trapeze.

Bee got a turn too...

Joseph too.

 Along with being a sweet, gentle clown,

Stinker Belle is also a talented artist.

She even made Dean an honorary clown--

he couldn't have been more delighted

and immediately wanted to go to Walmart and buy some clown shoes.

What good is looking like a clown at home, right?

Gotta get out and meet the people!

So that's what we did...

I even posted our trip on facebook to let our friends know

that if they wanted to see Dean in action,

his debut performance was happening, STAT,

at our local Walmart!

We did see a few friends up there,

and Dean loved it when others noticed his happy face.

Small joys, this one. 

His simple happiness inspires me

to want less and to give more.

As Stinker Belle was leaving,

I gave her a hug and thanked her 

for being a blessing in our lives that day for Dean.

We both got a little choked up.

She replied that it was she who was blessed that day.

I had also invited my FB Friends to send Dean

a birthday card

and he was pretty happy to receive those--

it sure made him feel special.

SO thanks to all of you good-hearted friends for 

remembering him!

Danielle also made a beautiful video in honor of his birthday--

she said later that her first thought was to have it for a

certain day in the future,

but decided not to save it so Dean could enjoy it too;

he kept saying, 

"That's me. That's me."

Dean is our magical child...

his has cast a spell on us

so that we have never been the same.

Thank you Dani for loving so well.