Unwritten blog...

   I can't really write my blog today and I'll explain why...
   Last night our church had a festival with games and rides for families. We probably had several thousand people enjoying the fun, eating the traditional corn dogs on a chilly, perfect October night.  How could you not experience some pleasure just watching so many families, milling around, having fun with their kids - worries, for the most part, temporarily set aside.
   This morning there was a private event for kids who are in foster care and/or awaiting adoption.  Compared to the crowds last night, this group was miniscule.   Most of the kids were wearing some type of costume and they came in all ages and sizes and personality flavors.   The little teen-insies as my husband would call the toddlers - were not sure what all the fuss was about but loved  the candy and the adults clapping for them, even when they misunderstood the point of the games and invented their own rules :)  Like as in when a three-year-old   was told to walk between the plastic cones and try to keep his ping pong ball balanced on his spoon. The child looked at the adult, looked at the ball on the spoon, looked back at the adult and then just firmly put his little hand on the ball and walked right past all the cones in a straight line, made it to the finish line and then looked at the adults again like, "Is that it??'  But when he got to choose a wooden glider  out of a bag, his face broke out into smiles... as if to say, "These adults get thrilled over the craziest stuff but, dude, this glider thing is cool!"
   The older kids were sometimes more aloof - as one person commented to me, many had been in the system for a while and had experienced some major disappointments along the way; so they had learned to keep their distance. But even these kids, once they were going full tilt on some of the rides, were shouting for joy and just having a great time.
  And then there were the teens who volunteered to help with the whole event.  Adolescent girls  painting butterflies and happy faces on little cheeks or showing older kids how to string their own necklaces or bracelets.  While some of these young volunteers just "buddied" with a foster child, walking with them and making sure they got to do the things they wanted to do.  It was just neat to see a 16-year-old girl, all smiles, holding a couple of small children by the hand and jumping with them as they went from square to square for the "cake walk" or to hear the teen-ager say, "Okay!!! That was great!! Now what should we do?? Do you wanna get your face painted?"  and you could tell they were loving working with these priceless kids.
   Kids helping kids, if you will.
   But I can't really write this blog...
   Because the only way to really "write" this blog is to capture the joy on the foster kids' faces this morning.. and that is something I simply can't do with a keyboard.
   So glad I got to see those precious faces...
   Hoping and praying they all get good, loving homes.