African Children's Choir Performance

Tonight, Brittany, Brad, the kids and myself all went downtown to see the African Children's Choir at the Wortham Theater and it was spectacular! I had seen several months ago that they were coming in town, so I told Brad that for my birthday, I wanted to get tickets. We didn't tell the kids we were going until we left the house so we could surprise them! The were so excited since they had seen many videos of the African Children's Choir on the internet. The entire drive down there, they were full of questions. Elijah was a little confused, we think, since he kept telling me that we were going to get "our babies from Africa"!

We arrived a little early (which is monumental for us!) and were able to watch another group of kids performing traditional African dances in the lobby. They were amazing! We finally went to our seats that were only 10 rows from the stage and no one was blocking either of the kids' view! All of the children were from either South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda or the Congo. They ranged in age from 7 years to 11 years and were so precious! To see those children on stage was truly breathtaking for me! Even though none of the children were from Ethiopia, it gave me such pride knowing that my children have such an amazing story and heritage just being from Africa! They danced and sang with such joy and passion that was truly contagious throughout the audience! Isabella and Elijah were totally entranced with the children and their performances. Elijah stood most of the time dancing around and clapping to the beat and Isabella was truly taken by the children as she stood incredibly quiet (which is rare for both her and myself!) noticing every little detail about their performance. They both kept asking what the children were singing about and we were able to read from the program to help them understand.

Every one of us enjoyed it so much and felt like it gave us a little taste of what we will experience when we travel to Ethiopia! There was no video or flash photography allowed during the performance but when they came back out for an encore performance, everyone was snapping pictures, so I, too, couldn't resist taking a few. I even was able to catch ther end of their performance with this video:

We all felt drawn to these kids, but Isabella was pleading with us to adopt some of the kids. She cried at the end of the performance because she said that those children needed mommies and daddies and she didn't want them to be lonely. She is a very compassionate little girl, very astute and in-tune with others and their needs. It made me happy to see her compassion demonstrated so freely and deeply but at the same time, I was a little sad that she was struggling to understand why we couldn't adopt those precious children. In that moment, I was struck at how the Lord has been working in our children's hearts along with our own. Throughout this adoption process, it is clear that He has grown within our children a sensitivity, and a burden, and a love for children who are different from them and whom they have never known. We are so thankful for that precious blessing in our lives!

As we left the theater to go home, Isabella was very sad and was disappointed it was over, and wanted desparately to meet some of the children. However, Elijah was full of energy and dancing freely to the African music playing in the lobby. This picture perfectly demonstrates the demeanor of them both after the performance.