Sunday

Today was a great day of worship with our Grace Pace kids.  I had to laugh as I watched the little boys pouring out their hearts in worship only to immediately be "boys" as soon as the closing "Amen" was said.  Off they went wrestling with each other and just being boys.
 The hightlight of the service this morning was the song that the older boys did. What deep voices they have now.  I told them I remember when they had little boy voices, and now 6 years later, they have young men's voices.  It was beautiful! I was asked to share from the Bible this morning, so I shared on the book of Lamentations.  The book is all about the suffering, pain and desolation of Jerusalem after the Babylonians destroyed the city in 586BC. But in the middle of all the pain and weeping, their is the faithfulness of God. God is in the midst of it all, there with us. He is ethereal, yes, but He is also right here going through the muck and mire of life.  He is even here when we make the mess ourselves as the Israelites had. Lamentations 3:21-25.  Great is God's faithfulness.

After lunch, I pulled out a bunch of craft supplies and put them in the middle of all the girls.  They immediately got creative and had lots of fun.  I also brought fingernail polish, so our house mom and I were busy doing all the girls' nails.  Then, Sutida, the girl we sponsor, wanted to do mine!

I brought some things for the boys to do as well. The girls of course all wanted to give me their crafts, so if anyone sponsors a girl and would like to have one of their pictures, please let me know.  First come, first serve.
The girls took me on a tour of their gardens.  Each child has their own little plot to plant.  They were very proud of how they were taking care of their own little garden.

It was party time at the GROW home as they were celebrating four kids' birthdays and one staff member.We had hotpots for dinner.  A little fire under a special pan cooked a variety of meats and vegetables. Delicious!!! It is the kids' favorite! So the evening at GROW was filled with food, awesome cake baked by Ning, and karaoke. Of course gifts were given and they even enjoyed a birthday message and song from GROW president, Pastor Ivanildo, via Skype.

Sorry, for some reason I cannot attach the picture of the girls' artwork.  I will try again tomorrow. Hope everyone had a blessed Sunday!