Old friends return

Mama'loves springing surprises and some special friends were on the receiving end of her latest one.

Brenda and Red Groves have been supporting Children of Watamu charity since the earliest days when Happy House was just a distant dream.

Said

They been loyal supporters, sponsoring children , raising money and visiting almost every year - sometimes more than once! They have, on occasions, brought with them their granddaughters, Lucy, Chloe and Grace.  

Chloe, who is with them on this trip, is in Said's sponsor family and Grace, who is at university, has been as a volunteer. 

Brenda is in Charity's sponsor family, Red is in Emmanuel's and Brenda's brother, Terry, sponsor Brian and Lovinne.

As Happy House has a special place in their hearts,  they have a special place in ours.

And to welcome them we had a surprise party, organised by the children, with songs, dances, plays, magic tricks, acrobatics, fashion show and
pple bobbing. Samson and Brian were the masters of ceremony making sure that everything ran smoothly.

From the moment Papa drove through the gates, with our visitors aboard, the afternoon was for them.

Everyone taking part had a ball, but one little boy stole the limelight - Chloe's Said.

He showed himself to be a master of multi-tasking. He appeared as the wolf in Three Little Pigs and then after a quick change popped up as the loudest dwarf in Snow White. When it came to bobbing for apples he dived in to surface with a apple on his first attempt.  Not tired out, he turned up on the filed with the acrobats -tumbling about and then topping a tower of the older kids!
Mama thanked Brenda, Red and Chloe for coming to see us and for all they have brought  with them for our family.
They all told the kids how pleased they were to be here and thanked them for a wonderful show
It was a really happy afternoon for all.

Gifts galore

Many thanks to Brenda and Red for all the wonderful gifts they have brought They 

filled three

 extra suitcases and a holdall full of wonderful items for our children collected or made by Brenda, or donated by their friends.

Stationery, clothing (including lovely shorts, skirts and aprons made by Brenda), toiletries, sanitary pads, educational supplies, Christmas decorations and toys were expertly

Brenda with Charity (r) and sleepy Elizabeth

packed to ensure not a single bit of space was wasted.

Some of Brenda's friends had made donations which she paid in to JustGiving for our classroom fund.
And we want to say hi to Anne Summers who has been following what is done here for a number of years!

Chloe also brought lots of items (there will be a blog about them later) but just a thank you to her colleague  Sean for sending some of his daughter's pre-loved clothes (picture bottom right).

There were football shirts for Said and Brian, plus pencil cases and clothes and a pencil case from Brenda for Charity. 

Lovinne  (left)  received a watch brought from Brenda's brother Terry, and Red had gifts for baby Emmanuel.

Everything they brought will go into our store room to be used as and when it it needed and will help replenish our stocks which are deleted after filling well over 100 bags with Christmas gifts for Santa to deliver to our kids.

Thank you to Brenda, Red, Chloe and to all your friends for being so kind,