Blessed!

We were so blessed by our time with some of the girls from The African Children's Choir! We went to their concert on Sunday night and we loved it! They put on a very high energy performance with a blend of traditional African music and contemporary worship music. At the end of the program, we went to a room to wait until they matched us up with "our girls" (as Will and Helen called them!) We had three girls from the choir and their chaperone/choir director come home with us to stay for three nights and we had a wonderful time! This is the only decent picture that I got of the whole choir. By the time we met them, they had changed out of their costumes.

On Monday morning, we took them to the church where they had school and rehearsals. We picked them up that evening and had dinner then went to a local playground and splash pad to play and eat popsicles. They all had so much fun!

 Helen with "her girls"......A, J and F! Such sweet girls!

 Just had to include this shot of Mr. Dimples in his "emee emee" shirt. (That is what he calls M and M's)

This is "A" and she was the oldest of the girls. This is her second time to be in the ACC and she is such a beautiful girl. So kind, fun, smart and responsible. When "G" (their chaperone/choir director) was not with them, she took on the leader role and she was so good with the younger two girls. I loved this picture of her dancing as the water splashed up in a ring around her!

Back at home, the kids had fun playing in our backyard. I figured they would think we were crazy having corn in our sandbox, but I think they enjoyed it! We got lots of laughs over all the corn that was tracked in the house! I'd rather clean up corn kernels than sand any day!

 I took this picture when we picked them up at the church on Tuesday. "A" was sitting in a really cool chair that looks like a hand, but when they were all piled in around it, you can't tell it is even there! Oh well! It is a cute picture of them all! Can you tell that the girls were loving Will? He kept them laughing (as he does with us) all the time! He has the most fun personality and they just giggled at him the whole time!

 The girls LOVE to read! They were so happy with all the books we have! I have a huge shelf in my garage that is full of books and they loved it! Every time we would load up in the van to go somewhere, they would each grab several books to read as we traveled! They spent a lot of time reading!

 We also got out our box full of puzzles. I hadn't gotten out our puzzles in a long time and they all enjoyed putting them together.

 On Wednesday morning, it was time to say good-bye. We took a few pictures before they left. "A" always had Will with her every chance she got!

This is the only one that I got with "G," their chaperone. She was so sweet! She had been a member of the choir back in the 90's and she is now their director. We loved spending time with her. She actually had the day off on Tuesday, so when the girls were at the church for school and rehearsals, she got to sleep in and relax. We went to the library after we dropped the girls off so that she could sleep in, and then when we came home, we enjoyed hanging out and talking to her about many different things!

I took this last picture in front of their bus on the morning that we dropped them off at the church. Our kids really wanted to go to their concert that night in a town about 45 minutes from us, but we couldn't make it work out. The choir is going to be in my hometown of Brentwood this Saturday and Sunday. If you live in the area, you should really go and see them!

From The African Children's Choir website:

Since 1984, the Choir’s message has reached many millions of people across North America and Europe and as far a field as Australia.

Through the excellence of their performances they have raised substantial sums of money. This supports both the commitment of the organization to the ongoing care and education of the Choir children themselves and funds the education and welfare of many thousands of children in some of Africa’s most troubled and needy areas.


To date the work of the Choir has extended from its beginnings in Uganda to Rwanda, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Southern Sudan and most recently Nkomazi in the northern border region of South Africa. It targets children whose lives can be changed by the chance to receive the care and quality education that brings freedom from poverty and hopelessness.


They are the future of Africa.

On Tuesday afternoon when "G" was hanging out here at the house with us, she told us about the Music For Life program and schools and all that it does for these children. She showed us many YouTube videos of the choir and she knew many of the kids from the school in Uganda! She would point at them and smile and say their names and you could tell she just had such love for them all. "A" was in the choir that performed with Josh Groban on the American Idol "Gives Back" program and I thought I would end this post with that video. Get your tissues ready, because it is impossible to not be moved by this inspirational song and these precious children!