Special Olympics Saturday

This morning I woke up at 5:00 am to get ready and be over to the church by 5:45.  We all met there, had doughnuts & kolaches, and then caravanned to the stadium where they were having the Texas Special Olympics.  The opening ceremony was last night, but they had enough leaders and didn’t need me there for that.  I saw this sign and had to get a picture of it.

There were about 200 of our youth that served as volunteers today.  They got these pins, which I thought was cool.

They all got to wear bright yellow shirts w/ this in the bottom left hand corner.  Arise & Shine Forth is our theme for the year.  The Special Olympics (SO) organizers would tell us how many volunteers they needed at each place, and off the youth would go to help.

We were assigned to go help at the soccer fields.  They had about 4 games going on at once.  Our youth would stand around the field and help get stray balls, clap and give encouragement, and make sure there were cups full of water ready to go.

Some of them were also in charge of keeping score of the game and writing it down in the binders we were provided.  The youth that I saw were great and talked to the players and interacted w/ them.

At the end of the game, we would form a tunnel for the players from both teams to run through.  We would hold out our hands for them to give us high 5’s and we would cheer for them as they ran through.  It was awesome!

It was so much fun to talk to the athletes and get to know them better.  They just radiate love and acceptance and kindness.  I was so emotional and teary-eyed several times throughout the day.  I had been asked to take some pictures to use for a newsletter and some of the scenes I was able to capture were so tender.

Our bishopric is amazing.  They are all such great men and I’m glad they were able to be there.  Bishop was so cute about going around and talking to the athletes and encouraging them.

The SO forgot to include us in their volunteers lunch count, so we had to scramble to provide lunch for our kids.  A couple of leaders ran to Costco and got chips, apples, bananas, and stuff to make turkey sandwiches or pb&j sandwiches.  Sis. Lee and I were laughing b/c we were helping w/ the lunch and got to slice tomatoes w/ a plastic butter knife.  It all ended up working out great and ran really smoothly.

I am so glad I get to serve w/ her.  She is so much fun and was wearing around one of the girls’ hats.  We were SO THANKFUL that there was a breeze for most of the day along w/ cloudy weather in the morning.

It got really hot in the afternoon once the clouds had burned off.  We made sure to remind the youth to drink lots of water and reapply their sunscreen.  The place we had lunch was close to where they were announcing the winners for the soccer games & javelin throw.  Anytime there was someone on the awards stand, we would run over and clap for them while they got their award, and then we would hurry and make a victory tunnel for them to run through.

By the time the soccer games and lunch and awards were over, it was only 2:30.  It felt like 8:30.  We were all so hot and sweaty and tired and didn’t want to walk back to the stadium, so we took the shuttle bus they had.  I can’t remember the last time I was on a bus, and I don’t remember the seats being that small.  My hips are so wide that I couldn’t even walk down the aisle straight.  I had to turn sideways!  And, when I sat in the seat, I couldn’t sit straight forward b/c my legs are too long.  I had to sit at an angle.  LOL!  I was just thankful to be on an air conditioned bus and to be off my feet for a little bit.

We got to the stadium and watched some of the track events for a little bit while we recuperated.  Everyone gathered there around 4:30 and we headed to a nearby park for dinner.  I was so tired that I drove over there and we had everyone put their camp chairs in the back of my car and I took a few girls that had had to sit out b/c of heat exhaustion.  We had hot dogs, chips, carrots, water, and cookies to eat.  Our ward put our chairs in a really nice and shady spot and we just sat and talked about the day. 

Then we had a 45 minute testimony meeting to share our experiences of the day and how we felt.  I talked about Nick and how I’ve always had a very tender place in my heart for people with “different” abilities (not disabilities).  They have such an incredible capacity to love and are not inhibited by a lot of the social things that we are.  I shared how great it is to serve others and how everyone benefits from service.  It was a very touching meeting and it was great to hear the impact this day had on the youth.

After that, we went over to the stadium for a dance party w/ the athletes from 7 – 9 pm.  I think that was everyone’s favorite part of the day, b/c we got to interact one-on-one w/ the athletes.  We ended up leaving around 8:30 b/c we were so tired and wanted to get home before too late.

While I was gone all day, Lexie & Jon & Andrew & Autumn went to an aquarium where they got to see sharks and touch sting rays.  Autumn was so excited to tell me all about it when I got home.  I’m so thankful that I didn’t have to worry about Autumn at all.  I had some dinner, took some Tylenol, and then we went to bed b/c it was late and my body was aching so bad.