Children of the World

This weekend, our church hosted the Children of the World Choir. Beginning their 8th year, the Children of the World International Children’s Choir is currently on an exciting 10 month tour across the United States. These 47 precious boys and girls (split into three traveling choirs) come from several different countries and speak many different languages. They represent millions of children around the world, just like them, who need help and hope for a brighter future. These children are on a mission to share Christ's love and encourage others to become a Voice of Hope. They are a ministry of World Help. Click on the picture above and you can hear a few songs they do. They were fantastic! I would encourage all of you to learn more and schedule them at your church!

We were privileged to host three of the boys in our home for the weekend. We hosted Isaac, an 11 year old from Uganda, Mark, a 7 year old from the Philippines and Gaidon, a 7 year old from India. I've never hosted people from visiting groups like this before, but always thought it would be neat. And we certainly have the space for now! So, we had them from Friday evening until Sunday morning. We had a great time! Jacob was really excited because it was his first official sleepover!

The boys have been in America for a couple of months now, so it's not all so brand new to them. They were a delight to have around! They were very mature boys, and I'd imagine because of their lives. They loved our toys, loved playing with our kids, loved the remote control Ford F250, loved Thomas the tank Engine, loved hot sauce and ketchup, and loved ChickFilA! We took them to a Corn Maze and they really enjoyed that too.

Thankfully we had Robert...otherwise we would have been lost forever!

Mattie hangin' in her new mackdaddy backpack from Tante Jeni!

The boys on the enormous pumpkins!!

And enjoying the bounce house.

This is Isaac.


And Isaac loved Mattie!


This is Gaidon. (Guy dun)


Mattie with her heavy pumpkin!


And all the kiddos!

At bedtime, I sat on the bed with all the boys and we read books. They really enjoyed this. I read three or four long stories each night and they were riveted!

And the hardest part was telling them good night. It just broke my heart that they didn't have a mommy and daddy telling them good night every night, and would probably never have them. Oh! The heartache these children have been through, and children like them every day! These boys were so brave, staying in homes with American strangers every night for a year, but it's so much better than their alternative! They asked to pray each night and wanted good night hugs. They were so welcoming of hugs and roughness and we were very sad when it was time to say good-bye. Jacob and I fought tears and he said, "I wish those boys were ours." That about sums it up. Can't they just all move in??