This is it! Here they come.

The school bus pulls to the front of the building and suddenly the noise levels rise a few decibels. Children chatting, laughing, pouring through the front doors. I haven’t been inside an elementary school in years!

It’s career day and I’ve been invited to partake as a published author. This should prove interesting!

        I’ve raced off to Walmart to find something I can give the kids besides my book marks and business cards and leave with sacks filled with a variety of small toys. Of course the boys have to have something different from the girls, so I’ve spent a small fortune and probably an hour and a half trying to decide what is small and inexpensive. Decisions, decisions.

This is all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in the school and it’s being held in the gym.

 

 

         My books are displayed along the table, a large plastic bowl filled with the girls toys, another with the boys toys, and 2 large containers filled with funny his/her twisted straws. I have no idea how many kids I’ll be seeing but 300 toys and 300 straws should be enough, shouldn’t it?

Looking around the gym there are a variety of other professionals ready to greet the kids.         Displays are set up. Some have a bowl of candy to offer the kids, others have items to demonstrate. The fire department is ready       and a couple of policemen sit quietly chatting at their table.

The gym door opens.  Oh my gosh! The place fills with smiling faces. Boys and girls holding their pre-determined list of questions. They wander from table to table asking their questions and filling out their question sheet. A small group appears before me. Suddenly a kid screams,  “She has toys!”    

Forget the question sheet, forget I’m a published author, forget book marks or business cards. I can almost see them salivating. My table becomes the most popular in the room!

Now lets face it. The girls are more demure than the boys.    

They peek at the bowl filled with little girl rings, beaded necklaces, and cute plastic eye glasses. They ask their questions and then politely ask if they may have a toy. Girls are cute!

Boys, on the other hand, head straight for the bowl of toys and begin digging. They are no more interested in becoming a writer than I am in becoming a sky diver. Okay, not all of them are like that.

I am amazed though at how many really are interested in the various careers offered around the room. Some of the kids look at my books lined on the table and ask with astonishment, “Did you write all these!?” When I answer, “Yes, me and the Lord” I’m really surprised when they reply, “I’m a Christian!” This is a public school and it warms my heart to hear these kids openly and unabashedly speak of their faith.

As the day progresses I’ve run out of toys and my table has become less popular. Once the word gets out that the toys are gone the more serious-minded students linger asking their questions.

I’m sure by the time they get home with their sacks filled with pamphlets, business cards, candy, and trinkets that their reply to Mom when asked how their day was will be….. “To much information!”

      And me?…………………………………………..

~~~~~

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22:6

Author Sue Cass – “Dawn’s Light” – “Pursuit” – “Laying Down my Net-A Walk of Faith” – “Sacrifices of a Saint” – “Seek My Face.”

http://www.elahministries.com

www.suecass.tateauthor.com

elah501c@bellsouth.net

Blessings to you  🙂