Children of the world- ONE LAST TIME!

Children of the World have blessed us once more! It's amazing how close we have gotten to these young children. Last Friday on John's Birthday he received a very special phone call from Mark, one of the boys we kept from the Philippines. He was so excited to hear Natalie tell him that the children have been asking for Aunty Pepper and Uncle John continuously.

Again yesterday Isaac, our young boy from Gulu, Uganda called and reminded us of their performance in Lenior- just 35 minutes down the road! So of course we went to see their smiling faces once more.

It was a joy to hear all of their stories about their travels since the last time we have seen them. They were eager to share about the Disney World Trip that they were blessed with and had many new teeth and inches added to their growing bodies. They were so loving and it was unbelievable to imagine them each returning to their very own countries in a little less than three weeks.

The Filipinos will leave the group first and say goodbye a week earlier than the other children. Then the children from India will go home and then Chad and Natalie will have the privileged of going back to Uganda with the children from Africa and meeting and family that may be living. They have recently had to receive all of their shots and are excited and anxious about the opportunity to see what the children will be returning to. Isaac shared that he was excited to see his mother.

Natalie said there have been many days filled with tears as the children have had to say goodbye's to the ones that they have grown to love. As the children worshipped to "How Great is Our God", you can just imagine how easy it was for my eyes to well up with tears as I realized that this was it for spending time with the children and knowing that they are safe. It is hard to believe that many of them may have to return to hard home situations or no homes at all. One thing that I must remain grateful for is that they have learned to know that God is love for them and their might provider. As I watched a group of young boys lift their eyes and hands in worship, I prayed that God would keep that forever burning in their hearts and lives.