Kevin and Anita are caregivers for an elderly man with down syndrome. Leroy is 64 years old, and has the mind of a six year old child. It takes a lot of being around him to understand what he is saying.
His days of vacation (and most every other day) consist of coloring. He always has a coloring book and his bucket of crayons handy. Yesterday, he started his coloring at about 12:00 pm, and colored for the rest of the day!!
He loves it when anyone stops for a moment to look at his masterpieces. One interesting element in his art, is that he colors an entire page, from corner to corner, one color.....and only one color.
Nikki loves to sit and color with him, and he is always gracious enough to let her use many different colors on her page!
Yesterday, I overheard her saying to him, "Leroy, you are doing a great job!!" That made him very happy!
Another one of the things that I love about Leroy, is that he loves to sing!! I had our TV tuned into Serius Spirit, so, there was worship music playing from it most of the day.
As Leroy colored, he also sang. His words didn't match any of the songs, but I doubt that matters much to His Creator!
Last night, Aaron and Cher joined us for a BBQ, and after we ate, we sat and watched a Phillips Craig and Dean DVD. Leroy sat on the sofa and sang along. When the song would become very worshipful, he would close his eyes and raise his hand in the air and sing! When the song was exciting, Leroy promptly got to his feet to dance!
When Randy Phillips prayed on the DVD, Leroy closed his eyes and with tears streaming down his cheeks, he mumbled over and over words that to my ears weren't understandable, but to the ears and heart of God, I believe they were words of authentic love and adoration!!
The rest of us tried not to let him see us watching him......but as I sat there and watched this old man, who has spent his entire 64 years being like a child, I felt something happen inside of me.....Christ asked us to come as little children, just as Leroy was doing!
Many of us are going through battles, maybe feeling like we are fighting things that are too hard to bear. Last night, I realized that I could also come as a child to the One who knows all, sees all, hears all....
Posted by SheilaDy at Tuesday, June 24, 2008
UPDATE: Leroy went home to Heaven yesterday (April 19th). He lived 67 years-- the last 7 he lived with our close friends, Kevin and Anita Haight. We will miss him!!!
