*Nataliya Grashina with the children at the Ohio "Family Fun Event"*

On May 18 the Marriage Ministry department of our church here in Columbus, Ohio, was holding a "Family Fun Event," which is just the kind of event WFWP promotes! They were short staffed and on a strict budget so WFWP offered to help out. In addition to donating $50 towards their food budget and $80 to complete the rental of a "bouncy house," three of our members volunteered their time at the event itself.

There were activities and prizes for toddlers, young children, and young adults. Cash prizes were given for parent/child teams who participated in the three central activities. It was fun to see the 3-legged races, the centipede ball pass, and the "roll in a tablecloth" caterpillar crawl. There were two commentators for the event, Erika Hayasaka and Jeff Archery, both in their early 20's, who kept the atmosphere exciting. The 25-year-old chef du jour, Luke Abrahams, kept us fully satisfied with his special non-ending hotdogs and hamburgers.

The indoor activities were mostly attended by mothers with toddlers. They fished with magnets, put goggle eyes on origami "faces", tossed foam Frisbees' and balls, had squeeze toys that shot soft Nerf missiles and "punched" large "balloon" balls that were held by a rubber band. Everyone who came in for an ice pop had to punch the balloons until they punched their age; for example, if you were 2, 2 times, if you were 52, 52 times!

The three young ladies that charmed everyone with their face painting skills taught me a valuable lesson: if the paint isn't going on smoothly, "warm it up." Fortunately this practical trick was discoverable only because the sun was so obliging. So the next time we have trouble with uncooperative paint, we will try a few seconds in the microwave!