Pajamas Are Us....

...and this week, they will be with children in local shelters here. Our Pajama Party tonight was so much fun....... everyone walking in our front door with bags of pajamas and books.... and everyone was just smiling and happy to be here. They had pajamas in one hand, and a covered dish for the potluck dinner in the other hand. I've said this before, but I'll say it again--- we have such a great group of friends.

We collected 83 pajama sets at this party, and 29 books. With all the other books collected these past couple of weeks, the total number of books is 104. Most of the pajamas are for babies and toddlers and young children. I can already see that the least collected were for the teenagers, so I will have to speak to The Powers That Be at one of the local stores and ask if they'd be willing to donate pajama sets for the teenagers.

The weather was gorgeous today.... lots of sun, but not too hot, and we used the screen-porch as well as the living room and breakfast room and dining room. Young Miss C and her friends were in the TV room, and the laughter coming out of there was just joyful. The kids all came with pajamas or books, and nearly all of them made something (by themselves) for the potluck dinner. All the kids helped to straighten up after the party-- one of the boys even wanted to run the vacuum for me, but I told him that I would wait until tomorrow to do that. Miss C is staying here overnight....... she's all tired out from counting and re-counting books and pajamas. Every book and pajama set is tucked away in the plastic bins, and C is tucked away in her bed. Everyone else is sound asleep... I'm the only one wide awake--- too many words floating around in my head that need to come out.

Our "old" friends brought new friends to our party tonight.... all holding bags of pajamas...... I can see that we'll have to add some new names to our Charades list. And one of our Charades players suggested we start a Scrabble night... having two or three Scrabble games going at once. I had to laugh at that... I wonder how willing they'll be to play Scrabble here with us after my husband puts two or three seven-letter words on the board.

Some of our friends gave me good ideas for contacting people of different organizations in the area, so I wrote down all the information and I will certainly be calling them. With all the large corporations in this area, I should be able to arrange some Pajama Days around town. I told everyone about my idea for a Reading Center for the kids, so I'm hoping someone will have an idea for that as well in the near future. I've already had volunteers to work at the Reading Center!

And volunteers all around the Houston area continue to eMail me....... before the end of May, at least half a dozen separate pajama and book collections will have taken place around Houston. And I'm sure there will be more to come, because everyone will tell someone else, and before you know it, we'll all be up to our necks in pajamas. Which isn't a bad thing.

My rule is going to be "Pajamas in.... pajamas out." Keep them coming in, and keep them going out to the shelters and the agencies and get them distributed to the kids who need them.

What a great thing this is. I feel like I have found my true purpose, and I know why I was put on this planet.

It isn't the success of a person that counts... it's the significance. I hope to be significant in the Pajama Program.