Happy Birthday to you!

Birthdays are always a fun time at Granny’s House. Each child receives a birthday present and a personalized cake, and they get so excited about their gifts, that most of the time, they don’t even make it home before tearing apart the gift bag to see what they got!

Last week, as I was looking through our enrollment forms, I noticed that three of children from Africa (a set of 11 year old twin boys and a beautiful five year old girl) had a birthday coming up! I found them right away and said “Hey guys! What do you want for your birthday this year?” They all looked at me like I was crazy (which by the way is a look I commonly get from many of our kids!!).

“What do you mean?” asked one of the boys
“Your birthday! It’s tomorrow isn’t it?” I said
“I don’t know...” he replied.
“You don’t know?!” I thought

What! Most of our kids remind me months in advance that their birthdays are approaching! Not only that, they come with a list of “ideas” for their present!

It turns out, the kids didn’t know when their birthday was, because they had never celebrated it! In Africa (from what I’ve been told) many of their birthdays are not recorded, and few are celebrated.

Immediately Pam and I decided we needed to make it a big celebration. We bought a huge birthday cake, got the kids party hats, and celebrated their first birthday in America (complete with the “Happy Birthday song” which sounded more like a bunch of kids screaming at the top of their lungs than the actual song!)

The kids had a great time, and what a blessing it was to celebrate their first birthday party with them! Can’t wait till the next one!

BEAUTIFUL BACKGROUND NOISE

He sat at his desk day after day, as weeks turned into months and months to years, doing what many call "numbers crunching." Along with his staff, he analyzed spread sheets and reconciled financial statements, helping his clients understand the bottom line. He did this sometimes-tedious work all to the backdrop of laughter, as he watched kids bouncing balls, and jumping rope. At the time, Jeff Echelmeier, Williams-Keepers CPA owner, didn't know what was going on across the street from his office; all he knew was that he liked what he saw and heard as he looked out the window.

"It was always fun for me to see dozens of young children playing in the yard across the street from my office. I loved hearing the laughter and seeing the fun they were having jumping rope, playing kickball, or tossing a football"

For Jeff, the goings-on across the street provided some "terrific background noise," a happy distraction from the, all-too-often, tedious work of accountancy. It wasn't until he was talking to a friend who was helping organize the annual "Golfing for Granny" fundraiser earlier this year that he realized that this was the very group he'd been watching from his office window watching for years.

While gazing out the window, Jeff sometimes observed neighborhood children who were, obviously, growing up in difficult situations. It always gladdened him to know that the kids he watched day after day "had some fun and laughter in their day when they arrived at Granny's House."

Not long after that discovery, the Williams-Keepers Tax Department sprang into action and organized a silent auction to raise funds for Granny's House. A football signed by some of the MU Tigers, rounds of golf at various Mid-Missouri golf courses, a gift basket full of goodies, and a private airplane ride over Mid-Missouri were some of the items the Williams-Keepers staff bid on and purchased, raising nearly a thousand dollars for Granny's House.

We never imagined that our "background noise" could be so productive!
-Granny Pam

CPR Training

On Saturday September 12th sixteen Granny's House youth ages 5th grade through 12th grade made their way to the University Hospital to learn CPR training. It was a great day filled with a lot of active learning, as well as some great food at the Campus Dining Hall.

Little did we know...a Columbia Tribune reporter would be there! Check out the newspaper article in which two of our girls were featured!