heartbreaking and uplifting

Tonight I had the best experience. We had a Coaches Tour in Ironton Ohio and there were 7 of us that went. There was Michael, Sarah Dee, Nicolette, Sami, Kayla, Shane and I. I knew all day that today's tour was going to be special and it was in a very subtle way. When everything started to get going I notice 3 kids with their parents and they all looked very dirty and grungy but something about them caught my eye. I spent a lot of time with them over the night. I noticed that something seemed very special about these 2 little boys especially, Timothy and Brenton. Well while Sarah Dee was helping people sign up to be big green members I was the ONLY one (for the vast majority of the evening) selling raffle tickets. I was so frustrated but I knew that who was working and who was not would be noticed. I spent a good deal of time talking with the little boys and it just broke my heart knowing that this night was probably the high light of their summer. When everyone was getting ready to leave they went to get game schedule posters that we had sitting out for people to take. I heard one of them say "I want to get Coach Snyder to sign this!" and so I looked at Coach and said "Hey Coach can you do me a huge favor and sign a couple schedules for these guys?" Of course he said yes and he personalized one for each of the 3 kids and then did 2 generic ones for them to take home to their parents. The kids had no upbringing, they talked through the coaches talks, ran around like crazy but they were so sweet. It just broke my heart seeing them go home with bun bags of hot dogs knowing that was probably their breakfast for tomorrow morning. So I helped them make snow cones and did everything in my power to make it the best day ever. I honestly coulf have cried but knowing they were happy for even a couple hours and knowing I had even just the smallest part in it made me so thankful. Knowing that they had a wonderful night makes me so happy that I don't even care that 4 out of the 7 of us did absolutely nothing tonight. I will pray and pray for those boys and their family.