A Day at the River

So, I tried 4 times today to upload a few pictures to our blog, but to no avail as you can see (or not see in this case). I really wanted to give you the visuals that I had today. After school I took our kids to the river to look for dinosaur bones (we knew we would not find any and were just enjoying using our imaginations). Along the way to the river, it seemed like we picked up a kid from each house we went past until there were 8 of them following us down to the river. I am feeling a bit like the pied piper in a fairy tale story but with children following me and not rats. I thought they just wanted to be with my kids because white children are a bit rare, but more and more I find them sitting by me and talking to me and coming to me when they get hurt. Once again I expected to be close to the BG children and I am, but I am surprised at how many neighborhood kids I am getting to know.

Anyway, once we were to the river, my kids and all the other rolled up their pants ( or should I say I rolled up at least 6 pair of pants despite having only 3 kids, hahaha) and waded into the icy water and then dug in the sand with the spoon and cups I had brought from home. Elijah and his friend Luky were digging a huge hole so they could make a mine. Faith found some clay and began rolling it into balls so she could collect them, Mercy was just digging in the sand and getting dirty (I know you are all shocked that my 3 year old would do that right), and then 5 of the neighborhood kids started sliding down the sand hill on the bellies. Wow did they get covered in dirt (those are the pictures I wanted to show all of you)! Then 5 of them decided to go farther down the river and strip down to their underwear and take a swim, brrrrrrrrrrr. My kids were not even tempted to join them and just laughed at how crazy they were to swim in the ice cold water. During this time one little boy just sat down next to me and kept smiling shyly at me while all the other kids played. I guess he just needed a little adult attention so I tried to give it to him even if he has no idea what I was saying ;) After an hour and a half at the river, we packed up and headed back to BG and as we walked by some of the kid's houses, they said goodbye and headed back home. We picked up a whole bunch more kids as we walked and they happily walked us back to BG.

As we were walking by one house, Luky told us it was his house and he is the friend of Elijah's that we have "employed." I saw a little girl who has been coming to BG's fence often and I asked him who she was and he said it was his sister. I think she is barely 3 years old! It made my heart happy to know that not only are we helping Luky and his older sister have food each week, but we are also helping this little girl have food. Elijah told me today that Luky said thanks for the big bag of papa we gave him yesterday because when he went to bed his stomach was full. It brought tears to my eyes then and it did again as I wrote that. Last week satan tried to paralyze me by the need around me in hopes that by my being overwhelmed, I might not be able to help. But God has given our family wisdom to help this family and Luky has been so grateful and thanked us each time we have given him his "wages" of food and school supplies. Thank you God for helping us, help him and I also thank God that although I can not help all 8 kids (nor the 30+ others who live close to BG) who were at the river with us, I can be their friend and sit with them, laugh with them, and cry with them. God is good!
God Bless You All,
Anita