Wednesday: Happy Birthday, Liam!

Jena started the day with her first job site experience with her trainer from CHOICES job skills training at the DI.  She saw some people that she had worked with years ago as a young missionary which was fun for her.  Gary picked her up as I had a meeting with Brandon Hatch, the CEO of DBH as we prepared for an upcoming public hearing on some Mental Health stuff in our state.  Brandon lives in our ward and is actually the other Gospel Doctrine teacher with me and was our former Bishop so we have many ties with each other. I will be taking the lead on some activities for parents of adult children with mental health issues. It is because of our friendship and connections that I think Brandon is willing to take a big step into the unknown to make a difference for families of those with psychosis related illnesses.  I am sure there will be more about that later.  However, we had a great meeting talking about priorities in our state and he gave some good guidance on things to highlight during my public statement.

As we tried to find the best time to have cake and ice cream with Liam, we settled on Wednesday afternoon at our house.  That way, Gary could slip away as he needed to attend his last training for the Syracuse Temple which is going to be dedicated in just a few hours (we are so excited.)

Anyway, back to the cake--Liam is a big minecraft fan so that was the theme of his cake.

So cute and yummy, too.

Jena made a poster for Liam's birthday and using her phone drew him a Batman symbol

This coffee table has been around since 1989--from Hong Kong. It is getting worn on the top, but still solid and the perfect size for playing games with grandkids...or opening presents as in this case. It was fun to share our new space with them.

We also had Minecraft paper plates, but no pictures.  He told me he had a great birthday turning 10!

Wednesday was a good and productive day! On to Thursday.....