Enduring Friendship...

Alan's friend Andrew visited today.  As you can see, Alan was delighted to see him.

Between Alan's illness, surgery, slow but steady recovery and the building work, it's been 7 months since Andrew's been here.  In the meantime he's been on holiday to Lanzarote and was keen to let Alan see the gifts he'd brought him; a smiling rubber ball and a fridge magnet.  He's such a thoughtful lad.  

Andrew's mum hadn't told him Alan had been so ill as it upsets him, so when he asked if Alan was ok, I just said he'd been a little poorly but was all better now and blamed the mess of the building work for making it difficult for us to have visitors.  He seemed to accept that.

He kept us going the whole day making plans for when he would be coming back.  He's coming to Alan's birthday party in a couple of weeks time and was keen to tell us he could stay for a few days after if we'd like that.  He was also making plans this evening with Alan's new support worker Ashleigh and so far he's insisting they are all going to the Enchanted Forest in October (this has become an annual treat) a football match, a trip to Aberdeen, a Busted concert, a music festival and many cafe trips for hot chocolate with marshmallows.  I am sure Ashleigh's head was reeling by the end of her shift tonight!  

Oh, and he's also available to come and stay from Boxing Day, right through New Year.  What a lad!  :-))

Kirsten, who was on duty this afternoon (and had met Andrew before so knew what to expect :-) took the pair of them to a local coffee shop after lunch.  This gave David and I the chance to talk properly about Alan's 21st birthday present.  

There was much to discuss as we had to be sure we were both committed 100% to the requirements of said birthday gift.  After leaving no stone unturned, we concluded that we are, so in a few short weeks, one of Carole's dog Lily's lovely puppies, will be joining our family.  I can hardly believe it!

I talked to Alan yesterday evening about the possibility of a puppy coming to live with us and he was very enthusiastic.  We haven't told him it's a definite yet.  Want to save that for a quieter moment and that was impossible with Andrew here today.

I have included some more pics of the puppies in my extras today.  Now the decision has been made, we are SO excited!!!