Beauty of Need

I suppose once the blog bug bites, it infects quickly as I make my third entry today. But there is another story that needs to be told. I suppose I am excited to have more than 400 characters to share the important events of my life (Facebook).

These pictures are from one of the coolest things we have been given the privilege to do as a family. The Children of the World Choir came to my sister's church about a month ago. They are a group of orphans from the Philippines, Nepal, and Uganda who travel with this choir for 10 months to raise money and sponsorships for World Help kids around the world. It is an amazing group of kids, and they are a delight.

We had the absolute honor to be a host family to 2 of the girls, Evah and Zam. They were 7 and 10, the same ages as our girls Serenity and Sierra. We had them for just 2 nights, but they changed us.

We went to the Mad Platter and made a plate full of precious handprints around the world, complete with a heart over their home country Uganda. They giggled as their hands were painted, and they were amazed as they saw a photo of the earth from space.

We went to Picture People and had portraits made of my kids with the girls. We took the Ugandan drums and flag that Brian had brought back from Uganda just a few months earlier. It was wonderful to watch them enjoy the attention of my children.

And again, I watched my children lead me. They loved being able to assimilate these girls into our family for a few days. It was not service to them. It was absolute joy. They knew how to love and how to play and how to give.

They saw the providential hand of God to give us girls from Uganda, where Brian had just been. In fact, the first images one sees as they enter our home are of Uganda. The girls felt some sense of connection to their homeland, and it was great to see their amazement. And I delighted to also see my kids know that only God could orchestrate something so wonderfully unlikely.

I think that my children are learning that orphans and poor people and all races and every kid is just a person in need of love and friendship. It is a joy to watch them grow and teach me how to love. I cannot wait to see all God is going to do with them.

When we dropped the girls off to head on to their next concert, my children fell apart. They were devastated. They wanted to keep them forever! My Summit sobbed and said that he wanted them to have been born in our family, and his twin Venture said that he wanted the girls to brush their teeth with us everyday. These kids have the hearts of missionaries, and perhaps if I never get to go, it will be my children traipsing through jungles to spread the gospel to reaches unknown. That is a great source of joy for me.

I think we all share the same calling, and I think it enough to have plastered it to the back of my car on a bumper sticker with these simple words next to the earth: "Go. Give. Pray. Or Disobey. 'Is that not what it means to know Me?, declares the Lord.'"

So let us go and give and pray. And take our children with us.