Anna was completely in her element, if she could be a princess she would be

Going out with a bang!

Every girl wants to be a princess





The kids are just adorable in these outfits

Holiday Spectacular with Sandi Patty

The kids wore tuxes and white dresses, and it might be the cutest thing in the world.




The dancing Santas




Sandi Patty and her performers singing "show business"





The kids were adorable elfs in training!

We found an old abandoned barn and took some pics

Swinging Anna, I can't believe this was the end of November it's so warm in North Carolina!




Johnson and Marvin are best buds




Hudson and Anna

We found a pumpkin patch near one of our churches one Autumn Sunday afternoon and decided to trespass and get some pictures!





Sometimes taking time to relax is needed, this afternoon it was

Singing for President Bush

Lesson learned today: when playing hang man, always use the same word twice~

After driving 10.5 hours yesterday, and getting an entirely short night of sleep, we were at the Ronald Regan house by 10 am, waiting to sing for the International Aid Summit. We waited for a few hours, and the kids entertained themselves by playing hang man and tic-tac-toe. I learned a valuable lesson from Hudson from playing hang man. He played two games in a row with me, and both times used the same word. This in fact, was quite genius, as it never in the world would have occured to me that he would use the same word twice. In final desperation, I asked him what the words were, and he in truimph, told me it was the same. Good idea i think, it fooled me!







After having coffee in a far too fancy tea cup, and lunch with the kids, they got into thier costumes to get ready for the performance. After going through security a second time, we were shoed into a holding area. The kids sang five songs, and we watched it on TV. After they sang, we watched the president of Liberia give a speech thanking Bush for his 40 some billion dollars he has given to Africa. It was special, to sit there with children who are from these poorest situations in Africa, and realizing that so many people are taking part in something so important.
After this, we were ushered into a rather dingy basement of a place, where we waited for a good 30 minutes before the president himself came for a picture. David, one of our boys, had lost a shoe somewhere in the mix, and now we were trying to place him in a position where the president would not notice his foot. For 30 minutes, we sat there, all posed and ready for our picture, just waiting for the man to show up. About 40 Secret Service people came through, Bush in the middle. He was nice, tall, as I expected him, and talked with us a bit about his family. He talked about his daughter getting married, how he cried like a baby and how beautiful she looked. Someone mentioned that we had two chaperones from Texas, so he began asking Amanda what county her ranch was in. She couldn't remember for the life of her, and afterwards I asked her if it was because she was nervous, but she said no, in fact she just couldn't remember.....


After a couple pictures, we were promised that they would send us a copy, the aunties and uncles in the back row, kids around the president. We couldn't take cameras anywhere near him, which i suppose didn't surprise me too much, but i was a bit dissapointed.

After that, we got ice cream and celebrated, and then took the kids to see the whitehouse. by this point, my feet in my boots that i just love were beginning to kill me, 7 hours in boots can do that to any person. So i asked Christine, one of our girls if we could switch shoes. She was more then happy to switch. :)
After that, we drove 6 hours back up north, heading back to finish up our church tour!

Thoughts after a 10 hour drive to Washington DC

I'm sitting here in Washington DC, thinking over the days events. We spent almost 11 hours in the bus today, and finished the evening with a reheasal for the children's event tommorrow. There are kids sleeping in the bed next to me, and as I sit here, although it's exhausting I am realizing what a gift it is to be content. To know that this is exactly where God wants you to be. My life is wierd. I think when I went home on vacation last week, I was reminded of how "different" of a life I live right now. My dad tells me, not in a bad way, but he says I could never do what you do. People tell us that all the time. As i was thinking over the vacation's ups and downs, I was reminded of a beautiful truth. When God calls you to something, He will equip you for it. As I look back on this year,it's really amazing to see the work God has done in my life, in these kids lives, and in our group. One thing I've learned this year is that God doesn't always call you to the easy things. And when you think something might be some way, it may turn out to be completely different. Tour has been hard and amazing, and fun and exhausting and fulfilling in ways that many people will never fully understand. It's been different then I thought, I've struggled with things I didn't know would be there, and been overwhelmed by blessings i never expected.
As much as touring can make a person so tired, when this happens... I've learned to stop, take a breath, and look at my kids. It's been over a year. Everyone in our group is still here, the children are still very happy. And everything about them, thier smiles, they're energy and crazy love for each other and our choir family shows one thing to me... restoration. This is a huge reason to thank my Lord. Wow, what a huge miracle it is, that God has brought us though 13 months of touring. Amidst long days, hard host families, stressful concerts and pressures that come from being in a tiny space with the same people constantly, here we are... 13 months in and things are still going well. What a reason to praise Him. and I see these children, who now have a future, one they could not have had before this, and it makes all the struggles completely worthwhile.
Anyways, all this to say, God never abandons those who fervently follow Him, He restores me, and gives me everything I need.

The Coast of Nova Scotia

Blowing bubbles

I think Nova Scotia might be an extension of heaven

The Children sang with the Canadian tenors

as well as Nikki Ronofsky

One x One pictures

The kids sang with Nikki Ronofsky, an upcoming Canadian singer




The kids on the red carpet!




Matt Damon with the kids at our One by One Event

One X One

The children were asked to sing at a one by one event in Toronto on Monday.I think because we didn't fly there, I didn't really realize how fun and exciting the one by one event was going to be. But, it was fun:) We arrive in Toronto on Sunday afternoon, after getting to go to church. Did I mention I never hardly ever get to actually attend church anymore? Well, during church that day, the Lord breathed some new life into me, so I was feeling refreshed, and better, ready for the event. We arrived at the hotel and immediatly had lunch at the hotel's nicest restaurant. We stayed at the Fairmont, the nicest hotel in the city. All of it was paid for by one by one of course, and so as we arrived and got settled in, I knew it was going to be nice. During lunch, Daddy Ray, the founder of the organization and Julia, another gal who works with the organization met us there. Auntie Amanda and I saw one of the actors from Lost, and heard news that Brad Pitt had been staying in that hotel the night before. The one by one event was part of the Toronto film festival, so there were some celebrities there. After lunch, we took the kids swimming, something they LOVE to do, more then just about anything so it was a nice break for them before rehearsal at 5. We had a one year celebration, yes we have been touring for a year, which is crazy to me. It's amazing that the Lord has brought us this far! The kids then reheased from 5-6:30 in a ballroom where Etta James, Frank Sinatra and Miles Davis had all performed. They also filmed scenes from "Step Up" in that room.Then we had dinner. We put the kids to bed and slept, knowing it was going to be a long day tommorrow!






Peformance Day!
My alarm went off too early, as breakfast was at 8, 6:45 am came too early. I got the girls up, and we had breakfast in a different restaurant. We drove to the venue, and waited around for an hour or so before starting the rehearsal. The children first rehearsed with Nikki Ronofsky, a 14 year old prodogy! She's amazing! I suspected she might not be that great, but in fact, she had quite a phenomonal voice. The children sang two songs with her. The Canadian tenors then came in to rehearse the song they were singing with the kids "Always There." They are a quartet of singers, and are also amazing, so it was pretty fun to be able to sit there and listen to them rehearse, it was beautiful. After rehearsal, we got to go back to the hotel for a couple hours, and the kids napped while we ironed thier costumes, so they were all nice for the performance. The children arrived back at the venue at 4:30 and walked the red carpet once. We then sat in a hot room for about an hour and a half and the poor children were sweating! But then, they were going to walk the carpet again, and this time we were all invited to walk it. So, we lined up and went outside, and just as we were about to go, Matt Damon pulled up in an Escalade. We got to walk behind him! :) We then went back and again, waited, of course. The children walked the red carpet for the third time, and then it was almost time to perform. By now, it was about 7pm... yes long day
The children sang two songs of thier own during the dinner. Which was going at about 2500 a seat. Barb, Jenny and I went back stage and were standing there and then Matt Damon came and stood right next to us. Barb decided to be brave and asked him a question, and we had a conversation wtih him for about 10 minutes! Well, she talked, I said yes, mhmmm and yeah, which i count as communicating!:) Anyways, afterwards, I think I was just proud of myself for being able to act normal around the guy, and he was nice!
After that we waited around for another 3 1/2 hours before the children sang with Nikki and the Canadian tenors. While waiting, I saw one of the actors from Grey's Anatomy. We got tickets to watch the kids perform during the actual performance. Nikki blew everyone away, and the kids were so cute singing I got the music in me, with her! The Canadian tenors also sang one song with the kids, and did a good job. By the time we got out of there, it was about 11:30 and we were exhausted, but everything went well, without a glitch. :)

Peggy's Cove

Nova Scotia's Beauty!
One beautiful morning, we decided to skip school for the morning and took the kids to Peggy's Cove, near Halifax Nova Scotia. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen! The rocks come over the ocean, and there is a picturesque little town for touring. We spent the morning taking pictures and the kids played on the rocks, and we were amazed at the beauty! There was an old woman playing an accordian and as she sang "you are my sunshine," the children chimed in. It's moments like that when I know I won't forget tour. Here are some pictures!

Busy Busy Busy!

We are currently in Bangor, Maine. We are beginning to put more rehearsals into our schedule to help the kids prepare for the one by one event coming up in a couple weeks. Matt Damon will be hosting the event, and "his buddy Ben"(Affleck) is supposed to be there as well!They will be singing with the Canadian tenors a song called "With you" as well as potentially will be singing a couple songs with a 14 year old Canadian artist who is up and coming, no, I can't remember her name right now, but she's not famous:) as well as singing a small set of songs. I'm excited for it, they'll be singing in Toronto. Stacey, our music supervisor is also begining the training for the kids to prepare for thier big series of performances at the end of our tour in Baltimore, Maryland. This will be a busy schedule with the kids singing with Sandy Patty every night for a dinner theater. So, the kids are busy busy busy with rehearals, and we are trying to keep up with school as well, so they are ready to take tests when they get home!

My host auntie hid a Jewish girl during the Holocost

The other day, I spent the night at a lady's home. She was an elderly gal, in her 80s. When sitting in the living room, I noticed that she had a certificate on her wall that said "Certificate of honor." I asked her what it was, and she began telling me a fascinating story. She was originally from Amsterdam and as a child, her family hid a jewish girl during the Holocost. They hid the girl for 7 years, and she had many interesting stories to tell me about her experiences during the war. Some of the ones that were of note were, that her neighbors one day were forced by the Nazis to leave for a concentration camp on a train (they were Jews). All of them were on the train, but one of the guys managed to jump off the train and escape. Pretty soon the Nazis realized he was missing, stopped the train, and sent soldiers out to find him. Miraculously, he managed to walk back and escaped into Holland, to freedom. She also told me a story of how all the people had to have ID badges. The Jewish badges had a "J" printed on them, so the Nazis knew that they were Jews. My host auntie's mom managed to switch out her picture for the Jewish girls' picture in the badge. So that Jewish girl's identity became hers. They had to teach her her name, birthday age, and all different details, because she said that the Nazis used to question people in depth, and she had to be ready for any and every question. She also told me how one day, she remembers the soldiers coming in and basically tearing thier house apart looking for Jewish papers, but for some miraculous reason, never checked in her dad's desk, where they were. They tore the house apart, and never found them. If they had, they could have been killed.
It's interesting to me, as I meet so many people, day in and day out. This woman had an amazing story to tell.

Feeling on top of the world, even by the ocean!


All over Ontario, there are rock formations called which the natives used to form to show others which direction where to go. Here, on the beach, someone had made a rock formation that looks like a man and woman sitting at a table!

Walking down lover's lane - at Green Gables!!

Jenny and I visited Prince Edward Island!! It was absolutly beautiful!

A morning at the beach!

Anna knows she's cute





Harriet






Chigamba's getting barried in the sand!






Jacob covered Jerome's face with sand! I like it, becuase the sand makes these black faces look light colored!

Ontario!!

Sometimes, life looks better from the top of a tree





















David was trying to get up the guts to dive, but in the meantime decided to just look cute on the diving board!















Seriously, could our kids be any cuter? I don't think so!