Leanne. “Then suddenly, Steve said, ‘well, let’s talk about [my] goals, shall we?” While it made all of us laugh together, it dawned on me he was picking up figures of speech and common phrases he was hearing in Cody’s and Jonny’s home.” As Steven has become more independent in choosing and doing the things he wants to do, his life is now action-packed with a busy schedule of participating in sports year-round— bowling, softball, baseball and track and field to name a few—and he often watches professional games with Cody. Steven also likes the food industry: He works at the local Palmer’s Deli bussing tables, doing dishes (he’s even learned to use the restaurant’s industrial dishwasher), taking out trash and performing general cleaning. “I like Palmer’s Deli, because it’s a good pace for me. One day, I even got a tip from a customer!” he proudly exclaimed. According to Cody, Steven’s activities do not stop there. “When he wants to—which is almost all of the time—Steven goes on vacations with us. We recently returned from a vacation in the Ozarks with almost 30 of our blended family members, and he learned all of their names by the time we left! We’ve also taken him to Minnesota where he visited the Vikings football Museum, and he wanted to go to Chicago for his birthday.” “What I want for Steven is for him to be happy,” said Leanne. “He needed a purpose in life, and I believe he’s found one by doing things he loves and making other people happy as well. He’s just the light of my life—he’s such a joy.” Cody, Steven and Jonny enjoy hiking together.
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