Anaya

One of the most important holiday traditions for Hindus, Siks, and Jains is Diwali. This five-day religious holiday is celebrated sometime between the second half of October and the first half of November per the Hindu lunisolar calendar. For Sharon, Anaya, and their family, they practice vegetarianism during this time and pray to the god Maalaxmi (Maha Lakshmi) for good fortune and prosperity, and they offer her jewelry, food, and light candles for her.

In addition to their cultural religious holidays, Sharon and her family enjoy celebrating Christmas. They import a fruit cake from Fiji and get a soda called Pops from their local Indian store and enjoy exchanging gifts. Sharon wants her daughter, Anaya, to open her gifts independently this year. They plan to make the wrappings very colorful as Anaya loves color, particularly yellow.

Anaya struggles with behavior, and Sharon hopes improvements can be made with services she receives from the regional center. They feel grateful for their Service Coordinator, Jennifer, because of the resources she has helped them access and her consistent communication and commitment to help their family. With Anaya have mood swings, behavioral concerns, and needing continuous supervision, having services like respite have helped Sharon immensely.

As they celebrate the holiday season and enter the new year, Sharon hopes that Anaya will make improvements in her behavior. She is considering placing her in school to socialize her with her peers, but also wants the best for her daughter. Despite some of the stresses life brings, they feel excited about the positive changes they have made.