"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it ... how AWESOME is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate to heaven."

Genesis 28:16-17

It's so awesome to see how God is in all things, in all places.  It is easy to see Christ in these precious orphans, while much harder to see him in paperwork and lesson planning at school.  But HE is here, and He is there and He is in all parts of His creation.

Yesterday, we planned to go back to the orphanage.  We had not planned any activities to do with them, so quickly I drew a coloring sheet for them to color and we decided to teach them "He's got the whole world in His hands." I took a simple Bible verse the preschool had recited at Chapel that morning, and made some copies, and we were off.  I felt bad for not spending time planning, thought the coloring sheet would last only a few minutes, but we could spend time with them, and then plan it out better for next week.

So, we got there and they ran up to us, hugging us and climbing into our arms.  We got them to spread out, so that we could sing together.  They loved the song, and made up new verses - about the "elephants and the giraffes, in His hands."  Then, we passed out the sheets for them to color, and some old broken crayons.  You would have thought we gave them gold, they colored and colored and showed each of us every step of the way, and colored and asked us to write their names and colored and asked for more sheets, and colored them, until they were gone.  The kids colored for almost two whole hours. Unreal.  

It is so easy to show these kids love - even through the littlest things, my quickly drawn coloring sheets.  My two future roommates and I plan to go to the orphanage every week.  Each week we will rotate planning activities and the other two will help.  Since I have kids at the school who want to help, it is my goal to organize an after-school art group who will go with us to help with the kids, and hopefully help them see how they can give back to the community where they live.  I hope to have these kids help with the mural painting as well.  Please let me know if anyone would be interested in helping to sponsor a mural project at the orphanage.

My days are busy, but my heart is well.  I took time this afternoon to sit in the sun and read - good for my heart - I need to do that more often.  Tomorrow is parent day at school, so our classrooms will be invaded, but they are bringing delicious baked goods, so I am excited about it! Saturday night, we are going to a Ghanaian symphony downtown, and Sunday night we are going to a futball game! The Ghanaian "Black Stars" are playing Sudan.  It's a World Cup qualifying match - so it should be interesting!  I don't know how it will compare to the Auburn game this weekend - can't wait to hear how the season starts! War Eagle!