A blessed weekend

We knew that opening our house to the Matsiko World Orphan Choir would be a life changing experience but we didn't know what to expect.  Jon was a little nervous about bringing kids in because he didn't know what we would do with kids that age.  It turned out we have 3 girls all about 12 years old, stay with us and one female chaperon.  The group arrived Friday evening and we spent some time up at the church, letting the kids play in the game room and build their own pizzas.  As soon as they announced the housing assignments, the girls took right to Aaron.

We then headed home and got everyone settled into their beds.  The girls were so sweet.  Two of our girls were from Peru and just started learning English when they got to the US in January, they were great speakers.  The third girl was from Liberia and English was her primary language.  The group as a whole had 

and even split of children from these two countries.

In the weekend we spent with them we found out that this group of students were children who were considered at risk.  This means that they do have a family, of sorts, that they live with but their families are on the verge of not being able to support them.  The organization that they are associated with is similar to Compassion International and World Vision except their main focus is education.  They feel that the chance at an education through the university level will set these kids free and put them at a level above the average. We heard so wonderful testimonies about how much this program had help kids.  Two of the leaders who were on the trip were recipients of the money and have come back to help support the program.  These children will spend the year traveling through the US performing the most energetic show I have seen and studying.  At the end of the year they will return home and continue their education and help groom the next group of students.

Saturday we took them to the zoo and they had the opportunity to see many animals.  They had been to a zoo in another city but did not see all of the same animals.  They mentioned a few times how much they enjoyed the zoo.  As we were getting ready to leave the house, the girls became very interested in some of Aaron's toys that say the ABC's.  This was a wonderful opportunity for them to practice learning the language.

Jon and I had offered for the whole group to come over that afternoon to grill and swim.  This was a hit.  We had never had that many people in our backyard but it was wonderful.

Sunday was a day full of performances for them.  They performed at both church services and then at a local retirement home.  They were such wonderful guests, and helped with all of the meals/dishes.  It was fun to talk to these girls and learn a little about their lives and what life was like for them.  They were so appreciative and thankful.  Every morning they would give you a hug when they came down and said thank you for EVERYTHING you did.  We said our final goodbyes, Monday morning.

Both Aaron and Luna had a great time with the extra bodies in our house.  It was a little strange when I got home Monday from dropping them at the church, our house suddenly seemed very quiet.