But sadly, that is not at all what these events are about. In a nutshell, it is an event that takes place at a location where kids in foster care can come and have fun. At the same time, families looking to adopt come to meet them and hopefully help them have fun. If families are interested in certain children in attendance, the case workers will make sure that they get to spend some time together. It's a good way to meet the children and get a feel for their personality. We are given a list of do's and don'ts for communicating with them as well as a list showing names, ages, interests, and their case worker's name.
The kids, at least the ones old enough to know, are checking us out, too. I wonder what's going through their minds. Some are afraid to look at you, afraid to hope, or just afraid. That's the sad part. But we try to draw them out, help them relax and enjoy being a kid, having fun, playing games.
We leave Hannah and Josiah with a sitter. They cannot help with this part of the search. We pray, Lord, may we somehow bless these children who come to the event with some joy. And may You help the case workers to find good homes for them.
Family fliers are passed out to all of the case workers. We meet case workers. We talk to them and they tell us what they know about the children under their supervision. Before we leave, we are asked to fill out a form to let them know if we met any children for whom we are interested in submitting our home study. We have yet to meet our match, even though there have been some that we thought were possibilities. We just have to leave that up to God.
(The pictures, with the exception of the first, are of our flier, which Theron lovingly designed. It's actually a relatively new thing that the case workers like to have. Don't know who came up with the idea, but it helps them to remember us. They say a picture is worth a thousand words.)
