October 2. Gifts.

The older, newest girl has a lot of questions on her first night.
"Did you ever live in a Christmas Box House when you were growing up?"
She was amazed when I told her I lived with my parents my whole life.
"I have a wonderful family," I told her, watching her eyes grow wide.
She told me how she'd only be here for two weeks, that she gets to go to dinner with her aunt Saturday, an out-of-building visit, because she begged and begged her case worker.
She told me the next night that she asked all the "grown-ups" the same question.
"It seems like everyone that works here lived with their parents. No one was in foster care!"
I explained that maybe because we've grown up in healthy, loving homes, we want to come and share our experiences with kids that haven't been so fortunate.
"Why do adults even come here?," she continued, "Why do they need people here?"
I told her about volunteers and staff, and how they take time out of their days or weeks to come take care of the kids, to feed and dress and care for them. She seemed blown away that people, adults, would want to come to such a chaotic place.
It was a little boy's fourth birthday yesterday. He's been there since the third week of August.
He and his five year old brother went out to McDonald's with their case worker.
All the kids got party hats and candy. We had cake and juice and we sang on the picnic table. He opened five presents, his favorite being the gift his big brother made for him out of an empty mild carton, a straw, a plastic bear, and some ribbon- it was a boat. Everyone cried because it wasn't their birthday and they each wanted their own presents. I started to react and realized, they're normal kids. Everyone wants a special day. Everyone wants a crown and cake with his or her name on it and presents and attention. Who knows how many of these kids has ever had such a celebration in their lives?
I thought about their parents, too. What are his parents doing? What are they thinking? How did they feel yesterday when they woke up on their son's birthday and had no access to him? Did they think about the last four years with joy? Did they celebrate even thought they couldn't see him? Or did they even remember he was born that day? Did they even notice the date? Have they been so separated from their boys for so long that it doesn't even matter?