Joshua's Hands

I am joining Carin at Forever in Blue Jeans for her weekly challenge to get mom in the picture.  If you've not been in the picture this week, it's not too late!  Here's my four step plan to recovery.  1-Grab the camera 2- grab a kid 3- take a shot 4-post it!  You can't ask for easier than that.  I can't wait to see you in the picture!

Saturday, after some very rainy days, the sun came out.  Eager to get out doors and enjoy some good fresh autumn air, we accepted our friends' invitation to join them for a fall festival in Virginia.

A local family hosts this festival every year on their farm in memory of their son who died in an accident when he was sixteen years old.  Everything is completely free, including food.  It is so well done.  We spent four hours there and the children never stopped moving.

The games were so creative and everyone got a prize at every game.  As a matter of fact, when we arrived each child was handed their own tote bag screen printed with the logo for Joshua's Hands.

The very first activity when we arrived, was musical chairs... or musical hay bales.  We love to play this game at home and play it often when we have large crowds in to visit, so the kids jumped right in with enthusiasm.  

I was quite impressed at how well Samuel did at balancing on the beam while handling two trays.

Katrina and I chit chatting about sewing while the kids play and the men talk about engineering, no doubt.

The wind was very strong.  Elisabeth was kind of scared by it and wouldn't leave my side for a long time after she almost blew over.

In one of the barns, volunteers were directing the children through some fun crafts.  Did I mention how everything was Christ centered?  Ellie quickly tired of the colonial type wreath she was making so I ended up doing most of it while she focused her attention on the bright red lollipop.

And then there was the hay ride.  Our group filled an entire wagon.

In which we got to sit very close with our sweethearts

since there was NO room to spare.

Brianna really getting into the spirit of it!

She's really competitive like her Pa.

Kaitlin coaching Elizabeth on the finer details of Hula Hoops.  I never could figure that one out myself.

When we sat in the tent for lunch, without the sun, it felt quite cool.  Elisabeth crawled inside of my borrowed jacket to get warm.

There was a tent filled with fun dress up things.  This was the favorite of the kids.  I don't know how much time they spent there coming up with different fun. 

But they sure had a lot of laughs.

The volunteers had a blast dressing Elisabeth up.  Of course, this is her specialty.  She plays dress up all day, every day, since she could sit up.  Actually, even before she could sit up the kids would dress her up.

Terry was a good sport about letting every one dress him up in the limited masculine items.

The kids ran and swung on the playground and in the many play houses out by the barn

while we watched the live auction.  This is the first live auction I believe I have ever been to.  It was fun to watch.  Terry and Allen were relieved that Katrina and I didn't get a number to bid, as there were quite a few items, like hand made bags and beautiful quilts we were both interested in.

All in all a wonderful way to spend a Saturday with the family and friends.  After such a hectic time the previous week, and with a number of hectic weeks to follow, it was so good to just take a breath and do nothing that was on my to do list.

Also, it was neat to be at a non church activity where we didn't have to worry about the way others were dressed or what they were talking about.  If you know what I mean.  The Christian Farmer's were running a tent, the Giddeons were handing out Bibles, there was a puppet ministry putting on little skits centered on Christ, butter making, planting bulbs for Christmas, a petting zoo, pony rides and on and on the list could go.  Not one thing that had to be censured.

And all God's people heaved a sigh of relief.

Until next week,