Walking the long road to church is great fun if you sing the entire way.

MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD. Today is Sunday. Sunday in New Hope Homes is a BIG day. The kids put on their Best clothes and walk about 30 minutes to a near by church. We create quite a stir with the parade of sweet faces, the Mommies, Aunties and 3 white women (Sarah, Kelly, Donna). We just smile and welcome them with Good Morning!…How are you? in Kinyarwanda as they stare , point and giggle. I was dressed in my Rwandan finest so they get an extra kick out of the Moozoongo (white person) dressed in their customary clothes. Wonderful worship songs were sung along the way. We came early enough to catch the 2nd half of the English service. The preacher preached up a storm and light up the community. He talked about how people need to 100% whole by themselves and committed to God and to find a person of that equal footing as finding someone to complete you or having them view you as completing them won’t be successful. The kids sat patiently for nearly 2 hours like little angels. Then we moved to the balcony for the 2nd service – the one in Kinyarwanda – we stayed another hour or so before the kids simply got too hungry to stay. These kids really understand the Joy of the Lord and love to give praise. They know that people are praying for them every day. The life they lead prior to coming to New Hope Homes gives them the perspective that few people can comprehend. After church it was lunch and nap time. Excellent. The afternoon was more play time lead by Sarah and Kelly. They did fun games like red light green light, tag, etc…then I added Simon Says and hide and seek. Lots of laughter was mixed throughout. We also had a chance to video the kids singing some more songs…mostly praise songs in English and Kinyarwanda. Kelly’s angelic voice lead them in a few of the numbers. Transition time followed as the kids hosted a goodbye ceremony for Kelly who is heading to Uganda tomorrow. Sarah is joining her for 2 days and will return back to us. The kids sang some special songs for Kelly and the tears began to flow. Saying goodbye is so hard for these kids. When you’ve been orphaned or abandoned saying goodbye plays a different tune in your heart and head. For Esther the departures are literally gut wrenching. It is painful to see her sob massive amounts of tears. These kids LOVE having visitors but the goodbyes are hard, especially for wonderful people like Kelly and Sarah. I held English lessons for the Aunties over dinner prep and for the Mommies during clean up as there is no rest for these wonderful people. The Mommies are especially proud when they remember any English word. I pray that all those who come continue to minister to the adults as well as the kids. Sande and Isaac both love to take photos so they had my camera for good portions of the day. Alas as I reviewed photos tonight, the lens had a few too many fingerprints on it. Oh well, these’s always tomorrow. I am feeling 80%+ now so I will probably my endless shooting spree tomorrow. I will miss the joy that Kelly and Sarah bring to our home. I’ll be solo until Sarah returns in two days and Liles arrives the following. Liles is the son of Roxann Goertz with whom I worked for 20+ years. Rox has been a big supporter of New Hope Homes and when she was visiting me in NY a few months ago asked If her son Liles come join me. Liles hopes to soon enter the Peace Corps so they both thought is would be a great bridge experience. Liles is bringing 4 computers with him and some outstanding educational software that he scoped out and chose. The kids can hardly wait for him to arrive. Today we make a joyful noise of praise for each of you.