Cherokee Day!

We had a great time at Cherokee Day this past Saturday! If you don't know what Cherokee Day is, well, let me tell you! Cherokee Home For Children is a children's home located in Cherokee, Texas. (of course!) Cherokee is teensy, tiny little town in Central Texas. The home services children from 2-18 years old. There are six cottages that the children live in, and also a basketball gym, recreation center, campus pantry, playground, tennis court, swimming pool, and a few other things that make the place pretty cool if you're a kid. The children's home takes in kids that need a little extra love and care. There are many different circumstances and reasons kids are there, but it is NOT an orphanage, which is actually what I thought it was, before we went to visit.

We worked there as the boys' relief houseparents from Jan '10 – Feb '11. It was SUCH a great experience for our family. It was very challenging, yes, more than you could ever imagine, at times. But it was soooo worth it and we wouldn't change it for the world. We all learned valuable lessons and made lifelong friendships there. We resigned our positions as houseparents soon after Baby D was born. We tried it out, but it was just too hard to devote attention to a 2 year old, newborn, and up to 8 other boys. Our replacements are pretty awesome though, so we know the boys are being taken care of!

Captain Fussybuckets spent almost half of his life there and apart from a small adjustment when we first moved there….he loved it. He loved having friends/brothers in his house, he loved all of the attention he got from other adults, he loved the sweet little church we went to there with the amazing Bible class teachers, the little friends he made there, the football and basketball games, and of course, the awesome gym, swimming pool, rec, and pantry. Yes, even the pantry. To this day, almost three months after we moved, he still pretends that he's "going to the pantry." The pantry is a building, kinda like a grocery store, that has necessities and goodies like bread, milk, cereal, juice, toilet paper, you know….stuff kids and staff need! He loved walking up and down the aisles, moving and rearranging the cans of beans, always trying to convince me to let him have marshmallows, etc, etc!

So, Cherokee Day is a day to stock the pantry, basically. It's a food drive. Churches from all over haul in huge amounts of goodies for the pantry and in return, a big bbq feast is held for all. Daddy's group, Escape, got to come in and perform during the lunch. (Escape Ministries is a Christian acapella group. You can find their Facebook page here) (shameless plug much?) The lunch was FANTASTIC! Even though it was 100 degrees or so….and my boys were getting tired and fussy…it was so worth it. Good food, good music, good friends, and we got to see some of the boys that we had cared for. SUCH a great day was had!

To check out Cherokee Home For Children…. check out their Facebook page or new website!

Now, this blog wouldn't be complete without pictures. However, this mommy had her hands full, and Daddy was singing and/or getting ready/chatting/eating/etc so, we have no pictures to show from this awesome day. So, here are a few pictures from when we were houseparents at the home. Enjoy!