Give Kids the World

I know I've been lackadaisical about blogging... Now that I was questioned by numerous family members yesterday at Easter dinner (Hi Uncle John! Hi Aunt Lois!) about the rest of the trip I will go ahead and try to finish it!!!  

First arriving at Give Kids the World.

Faith's so excited to receive some "welcoming gifts" including the Shamu that she's holding.

This is truly a magical place. Give Kids the World is not located AT Walt Disney World - actually it's in a different city (Kissimmee, FL). It was about a 20-25 minute drive to Orlando to the theme parks, but it wasn't bad. Having the privelige to stay at the Give Kids the World Village was well worth it.

It's like it's own little eutopia.

 

Look at these "castle" villas. How cute are they?! The kids truly feel like they're in a dream world... every little boy is treated as a royal prince and every little girl (even siblings) as princesses. Many of the kids staying there are terminally ill, if not chronically ill or medically challenged.

This is inside the Castle of Miracles. Every child who comes to GKTW gets a star and gets to make a wish, then the "Star Fairy" comes and takes the star...and it goes on the ceiling the castle. There are over 50,000 stars, amazing!!

Inside the Castle....

Gabe got a tattoo!

Huge model train and village set up inside the Amberville Train Station (this is just a fraction of it)

Every day there were presents waiting on the table when we came back from the parks.

Carousel at GKTW... loved that it was handicapped accessible

The girls went horse back riding (it was too COLD for Gabe to go!)

The Candy Land- themed playground... again, very handicapped accessible... lots of ramps for wheel chairs to come up on top of the playground. It is so wonderful when the "different-abled" children are included in what other "typically developing" kids freely enjoy without a second thought.

The heated pool.. right across from our villa!

Fishing... (on one of the colder days at the end of the week)

Gabe and Lisa on the train ride.

The Ice Cream Palace... our favorite place, hands down. It was open from early morning til late at night... the kids could have ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if they wanted. Isn't that every kids dream? That's what GKTW is all about.

Christmas at GKTW, which takes place every single Thursday. The entire village is decorated with Christmas decorations (now, you know I could never do that because I hate decorating one time a year!!!) and they serve Thanksgiving dinner, the kids each get to choose one present, and meet Santa!

Then, PARTY! Christmas music, dancing, cookie decorating, snow cones, I was waiting in line for cotton candy when I took this picture, there were volunteers dressed as a snow princess and prince, christmas tree, elves, etc.

There were many moments while staying at the village that we'd be walking around or sitting in the Gingerbread House (dining hall)...

when I'd look around at all the volunteers.... (over 7,000/week, EVERY week, to keep the village running) and my eyes would begin to get watery... there are volunteers everywhere, serving the meals, cleaning up the meals, playing with the kids, running the carousel, making the ice cream, granting wishes in the Castle of Miracles, running the train...

It's impossible not to be moved by the spirit of generosity that is at Give Kids the World and to see these people lending their time and kind hearts to not only the sick children, but to the tired, hurting families.

I kept seeing a huge bus that said "Purdue" on it... for some reason, thought that GKTW had bought the bus from Perdue University to use... at the end of the week, found out that a large number of the volunteers were Purdue University students volunteering their time on their spring break!!

I got to read Henri Landwirth's book called Gift of Life... he's the founder of Give Kids the World. A very good, moving book... If you don't get the chance to read it, read this.

So........ do you see why I am so tired?!?! These are just some of the activities we did just at Give Kids the World... we also went to 3 theme parks and Downtown Disney!

To be continued...