October 24 – “Fall Festival Showers”

We headed up to the church early on to do what little we could to help set up for the big Fall Festival.  As it turned out, we had lots of help there, so it really didn’t take too long.  The crew even managed to get two bounce houses set up.  And the new nine square game that Lauren and Ed figured out how to build from scratch.  That was a puzzle in itself.  And in the end, it took nine or ten of us to hold it up until Bob and Ray could get it tied and staked down.  It held up fine for the event.  Thanks for the challenge on that one, Josiah.  I took Chris home around noon.  She was getting really tired, and she didn’t even argue when I made the recommendation.  And she took about a two hour nap.  Not like her at all, but she needed it.

 

The Festival went pretty well.  At least up until the rains came.  We saw several families from the neighborhood, and the youngsters who came all loved the games and bouncing in the houses, not to mention the candy and fun toy treats.  Dale and Doug provided musical background for us.  We had way more chili than we could ever eat.  Amber made some really good cupcakes.  I may or may not have had half of one – the top half.  OK, she scraped off some of the homemade buttercream icing and gave it to me on a plastic knife.  Kind of like a popsicle.  My personal favorite was the candy corn cake that Joanne made.  It was lined with candy corn.  It had candy corn on top.  The icing looked like candy corn.  Even the inside was the color of candy corn.  And oh, boy, was it ever tasty.  But if you don’t like candy corn, stay back.

 

I mentioned earlier that the rains came.  And when it became obvious that they were here to stay for the long haul, we decided to pull the plug on the rest of the event.  But the kids didn’t really pay attention to said decision.  They were having too much fun in the rain.  The adults got all the tables and chairs taken down and stowed, and everything else pulled under the building.  Well, except for the bounce houses and the nine-square game (which, by the way, survived the rains without any threat of collapse).  The wet bounce house slide had become the most fun addition to the games repertoire.  We finally let the air out of the fun so parents could get the kids dried off and head for home.  By the time we left, Chris was really beat again.  This time I was right there with her.  We headed to bed a little after nine.  Ah, the joys of an old folks bedtime …

 

Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”

 

Father, thank you for the folks who came out to help and enjoy the event yesterday.  And thanks for the rain, too.  The kids probably enjoyed that as much as they did the rest of the games.  Your purpose prevails, even in the little things.  Amen.