Thursday December 23, 2010
As Christmas approaches the Salvation Army prepares their children for the hard job of earning money for their home. The children sing and dance at RV parks, grocery stores and many other venues. I’m sue it must be their biggest fund raising time of the year. They are always a delight and their enthusiasm and gratitude for all that we give them is overwhelming. Once again we always get more than we give!!!
The vans carrying the children arrived around 1:30 on the Thursday that they were to perform. Here they are lined up and ready to start.
Getting ready to perform.
Last year the children only sang for us but this year we were treated to many of the many ethnic dances from the different states of Mexico and it was wonderful. We were informed that they are very tired by this time of the year and that they would still have to give an evening performance on this day as well. Even so they gave us a full performance with as much energy and enthusiasm as they had. Truly wonderful and our faces were sore from smiling so much.
Sweeties singing.
The older children are somewhat overshadowed by the cuteness of the little ones but some of that is because there are so many lonely grandparents in the crowd. The older children up to 17 and 18 help with the little ones and the little ones are always watching and copying the dances while they wait.
How sweet is she!
Many of the older girls are just beautiful with large winning smiles and it is so nice to see them performing the dances of their country.
This little guy was just a hoot!
The mouse dance!
Guess who the girls want to dance with.
Huggable? You bet!
This young lady was a real beauty!
The wind was a problem at times.
The penguin dance.
Just beautiful.
We heard the story of this young man who is one of the oldest in the home and it really makes you realize what a wonderful job the Salvation Army does. This fellow came to the home as a young boy having been abused in many ways and defended himself any way he knew how. It was a long road for the people who run the home to win his trust and turn him into the role model that he is now. He is polite, shy and a very hard worker. There is always hope!
A success story.
At the end of the dances the older dancers pulled some of us from the audience and we had the pleasure of dancing with them. This same young man pulled me to my feet and I felt quite out of my element as he is a very accomplished dancer. Eric had already bolted for the sidelines when he heard this was coming up. He said he was cold and needed to stand in the sun! No one bought that excuse even if it was true.
As the performances ended we were treated to hugs from all of the children. It really brings tears to your eyes to feel their genuine love, warmth and gratitude. Smarmy perhaps but you’d feel that way too when those little arms wrapped around you!
Hugs and kisses.
Sandi snuggles up to Jesus.
It was now time for the children to receive the gifts we’d bought. At the same time two of the smaller cutest children brought baskets around for donations and I hope we contributed lots of dinero because they really earned it. There were lots of nice gifts and even though we were one short because of an extra little boy it all worked out. Since we had lost one boy on our list I had an extra gift for a little boy and so no one was left out.
Politely waiting for gifts.
What did I get?
Pat and Jack Mozley had organized this and great thanks to them for that. Good job Pat!
Pat and Jack and the children with the donation baskets.
Following gift giving the children were instructed to line up politely for cookies and pop which they did. It was fun to see them just being kids even though they were so tired.
Snuggled in our chair having a snack.
I took lots of pictures (DID YOU NOTICE!) and I even managed to get a little video on the camera I haven’t learned how to run yet. Imagine how good I’ll be when I do! Just talk.
All in all a great time was had by all.
Eric, Betty, Connie, Ramona, Manny & Dick.
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