21 Days to Go: Hugs and High Fives Available

Reed @ Turtles ’07
Photo taken by Andy Wiersma

Often our drive to and from school is very revealing about what goes on there.  By listening carefully to my kids, I get to hear what is REALLY going on in their world.  I  laughed out loud at what I heard on Friday’s drive after the football game.  Here is a recap:

S: C, you can’t come up and hug me at lunch anymore.

Mom: (not saying anything, but eyebrows raised)

C: (sadly and way overtired) Whhhhhhyyyyyyy?

S: If you do, then I have a mob of 2^nd graders who want hugs or high-fives.

Entire Stevens clan minus S: (erupts into laughter)

Since I have more than once been described as the Pied Piper of Children, I love that my kiddos have definitely inherited that gene.  I adore that my kids love younger kids, and they are never too cool to play along.  The shared kid-loving gene is often at the heart of our service.

Our family has been serving in the church nursery for a long time.  We have had all kinds of fun times with little ones.  Earlier, a favorite memory popped into my head of Reed and one little boy who thought he was the funniest thing ever. Reed would put on puppet shows with the alligator hand puppet for hours.  That silly alligator had some crazy adventures filled with shenanigans and hijinks.  Reed doted on his pint-sized buddy.  Yet, no matter how hard he tried could he ever get the boy to say, “Reed”.  Physically he could say it, but he just always called Reed, “Guy”.  Every time he would see Reed, he would call out, “Hey Guy!”  Reed played along and always acted put out.  It was adorable.

Any event (big or small) planned by our family will always have something for kids to do. It is just who Team Stevens is as a group of people.  The Reed-A-Cheetah Kids Zone was our best way to make Reed’s Run appealing to the littlest ones.

For a $5 wristband, families get a really good deal on good clean fun.  Reed loved inflatables; so, we have inflatable games that the kids can go as many times as they want.  There will also be clowns doing face painting and making balloon animals.  Temporary tattoos are available.  Last but not least, honoring Reed’s love of art, there will be art activities for the kids to create.  The bonus: all the activities are supervised.  All in all, a good deal for a good cause.

Now if only we could find an alligator hand puppet to show up and share his crazy adventures, it would be perfect.  Can’t promise any fuzzy reptiles, but we will have lots of hugs and high fives ready to share!