"My bed." "Love." "Family."

These are just some of the answers that nine homeless children who spent time at Water Street Mission thought of when asked to create drawings about what a home is.

The children and their drawings were then photographed and the photos exhibited at Prince Street Cafe during First Friday.

The exhibit will continue through September.

"I love the photos. They really capture the resiliency of kids in a lovely way," Daral Boles, director of Women's Ministries at Water Street Mission, said.

"The children's drawings depict simple messages of love, family and faith," Maria Schaszberger, director of communications at Water Street Ministries, said.

"The exhibit shows that moving out of homelessness involves more than finding a house."

Children are "innocent bystanders" when it comes to being homeless, Boles said.

"Many residents say they are at least partly to blame" in becoming homeless, "but children have nothing to do with it," she said.

"When children come into the shelters, they are incredibly intuitive to the feelings" of hopelessness in their parents, Boles said.

And while they're in this situation, "they become the temporary or permanent caretakers of their parents. They are anxious to comfort their parents or act out to get their mom's attention," she said.

But when the children are at the mission's child-care center, she said, "you watch them stabilize and reconnect to their ability to play."

Kimmy Raush, 18, of Lancaster, said of the exhibit that it was "really touching to know someone's doing something, letting everyone know people in Lancaster need their help."

Lancaster resident Frances Carr called the exhibit "cool."

"You can see from the expressions on their faces that (the photographer) did a good job connecting with the kids," she said.

"You wouldn't know from far away what the subject matter was. All kids look the same. You can't tell a homeless kid from a not-homeless kid," Carr said, explaining that she, too, had once been homeless but that not many people today would ever know it.

The children's art, Carr said, was "great, awesome. They were totally colorful and doing their own thing. Nothing seemed to be totally scary. They had flowers and hearts. They say you can tell how kids feel by their drawings, and (these children) seem to feel OK."

Carr said these children can help people feel more connected to all people in situations like this.

She said she hopes this exhibit will create more interest in volunteering or donating to homeless shelters.

"I used to donate to Salvation Army or Goodwill, but now I donate to the shelter," Carr said.

E-mail: lvaningen@lnpnews.com