A Week of Carnivals

This past week we did something a little different. All the kids were off school for holiday. Usually during this past week we have a holiday club where we have kids and teens club everyday Monday-Friday. This year we tried something new! We had carnivals in each community that Living Hope works in. Monday we were in Red Hill. Tuesday we had a day off to celebrate Braii (grill out) day here in Cape Town, woo hoo! Wednesday we were in Capricorn. Thursday we were in Ocean view. Friday we ended the week in Masiphumelele. As we prepared for the carnivals none of us really knew what to expect. we learned how to make balloon animals, prepared crafts, and learned some new games to teach the children. I remember being a little girl and loving when a carnival or fair would come to town. I knew I would get to go on fun rides, play games, win prizes, and eat food that would make my stomach hurt later that day but wouldn't care because it was so good! It was the whole experience that I loved and would get excited about, especially getting to share that with my friends. As we set up in Red Hill on Monday nobody really knew how the day would turn out. Kids starting arriving and they were so excited. They were ready to jump in and do everything we had planned for them. We made tons of balloon animals, painted a lot of faces, and played with the parachute until my arms hurt. This continued the whole week in each of the communities. It was really cool for Nathan and I to be in all of the communities this week. We were able to meet new kids and spend quality time with all the other life skill educators. One thing stayed consistent all week though. It didn't matter if the balloon animal you made looked funny. It didn't matter if the spider you drew on a kids face looked like a caterpillar. It didn't matter how crazy the day seemed once we were all packed up. They were overjoyed that we were there spending time with them for the day. One of my favorite parts of the week was on Thursday. I was face painting a little boy who was five years old. He was so excited to get his face painted and told me he wanted a spider on his cheek. I had painted a lot of spiders that day and most of them didn't resemble a spider in my mind. As I sat there painting, the little boy was trying not to smile when the paint brush would touch his face. I continued painting and when I was finished I showed him his face in the mirror. The look on his face was priceless. His eyes became the size of golfballs and his smile stretched ear to ear. He said thank you and gave me the biggest hug in the world. He stood up and ran away with his arms in the air screaming, "I'm spiderman!" It was in that moment that I was reminded of the simplicity in life. It doesn't matter if these kids have the best things, they are truly happy with the simple things. On Thursday that little boy was spiderman and that was enough for him. My prayer is that we all can find joy in the simple things in life. Time with family, the smile on our friends face when we tell a funny story, or the promise we remember when we see a rainbow. May we all strive to live life this way and to remember the simple things that bring us so much joy!