A Night To Remember...

A few weeks ago, we had the privilege of attending the Watoto Children's Choir Concert in a nearby city with the Kachs( the Diaz family and Stephen B joined us as well!) If you have the opportunity to go see them, you will be grateful you did. Click here to check out their tour schedule. We had to cancel the week before due to sickness so the kiddos were holding onto hope that we would actually get to attend this week. As it turned out, the concert was held in a small inner city black church which was a great cultural experience in itself!

Two years ago we saw this choir perform (different children but same organization). We went with the Kachs then too and I so remember the ache in our hearts as we went without our African children. When we put the date on the calendar in 2006 we fully expected our children to be home with us but that was not part of the Lord's perfect timing. My heart was so full to be able to enjoy this night with them joining us in 2008. We have been listening and watching the video of the choir for 2 years so Mercy and Odesco were very excited to be going.
The evening was extra special with a meal shared before hand at the Kachs...after the performance we stopped at Mcd's for a snack and then the kiddos began scheming. Before we knew it, Jenkins and Stephen B were sleeping over at our house and Mercy and G were invited to spend the nite' at the Kachs. In the end, G decided to stay home with us and had some special time staying up late with Mommy making pancakes to fill hungry bellies effortlessly the next morning. This was a first for Mercy and I think G regretted her decision to stay back but we were able to have some special 1:1 time baking pumpkin bread on Saturday morning which took the edge off :) Mercy had a ball with J and Felicia and Jenkins and our boys did quite well too.

We hope to make the Watoto outing an annual event (as long as their schedule continues to bring them to our part of the country on a regular basis.)
Enjoy the pictures~
Love,
MamaB

Miss Felicia was preparing a feast as her mom was busy working in the kitchen. Mercy and G, seeing Felicia's love for cooking (and hearing how she carries her box of kitchen stuff to this spot every nite' while mommy cooks) , were thrilled to give Felicia their bin of goodies to add to her supplies! Sigh-they're growing up and no longer play with their toy kitchen.

The boys just love getting together... here they are in a calm moment! Typically they are chasing each other around with weapons or wrestling like bear cubs!

When I called the church hosting the Watoto Children's Choir for directions, I spoke to the women organizing this event and she told me her Liberian friend would be attending. Mercy was thrilled to meet her and her eyes got really big when her new Liberian friend told her she had lived in Monrovia, the city where Mercy was born.
Mercy before the choir performance..the mural behind her is the way I picture life in Liberia. Mercy often talks about toting things on her head - like the woman portrayed behind her~


Felicia, Jenkins and Odesco before the performance. All 3 are wearing the new necklaces purchased for them here. I especially liked the African mural behind them.

These kids were one blur of movement as you can see above...I had to turn off my flash and the pictures are all blurry --but I still wanted to post them. They all had an amazing testimony of God turning their sorrows into joy!

If you have the privilege of seeing this group in concert make sure you bring tissues...

It is definitely overwhelming to see how the Lord has moved upon their hearts ~that in the midst of heartbreak they joyfully declare the mercies of God !

These men are some of the adults who travel with the choir and played one of the songs with the kids...I just love the expression of sheer joy on all of their faces as they perform.

Singing praise to their King!

Sweet kiddos! Definitely a night to remember!!