In the same weekend as the shower, we were blessed to be able to host a member of His Little Feet children's choir (www.hislittlefeet.org) in our home. The group consisted of fifteen orphan children, from India and Ethiopia, and one boy from Haiti. These children come from either Christian or government-run orphanages in their home countries.
Our child's name is Haua (pronounced how-a) - a ten year old boy from Aizawl, in the state of Mizoram, India. Below on the map you'll find Mizoram between Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma). Its interesting because the kids from Mizoram don't look one bit Indian, but rather more similar to the Burmese. Here is more information about Mizoram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizoram.
Our child's name is Haua (pronounced how-a) - a ten year old boy from Aizawl, in the state of Mizoram, India. Below on the map you'll find Mizoram between Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma). Its interesting because the kids from Mizoram don't look one bit Indian, but rather more similar to the Burmese. Here is more information about Mizoram: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizoram.
Haua is a very fun, silly, confident young boy who loves to play basketball, ride the scooter, and sing and dance. He spent a good hour trying on all the items in our dress-up box, singing and dancing around in each one, and sometimes even knowing the lyrics to popular American music playing from the iPod. Performing is definitely not just part of what he has to do being in the U.S. as part of a children's choir. It was so fun to see him so in his element in our house (with people he barely knew), as well as during their performance at our church Sunday morning. He was singing with all his heart, and dancing and playing his drum like he just loved it. I wish I had a video to share of that!
Along with each child(ren) staying at a host family's house is always a HLF staff chaperone, who basically acted like a parent to be sure the child was well behaved, etc. Haua's chaperone was David (pictured below on the right), a young guy from Ohio.
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| Watching Disney Planes Fire and Rescue - a first for Haua |
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| The police hat turned out to be the favorite costume piece, and was worn nearly all day Saturday by one boy or the other. |
On Saturday while I was at the baby shower, Jimmy took David and Haua to the WOW Science Museum to play. We didn't get a picture of it, but Haua's favorite exhibit was one that has a flash that captures your shadow against the wall even after you walk away. He got to where he timed it just right and did jumps and silly poses, too.
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| Inside the tornado force wind chamber |
Next they headed to the park to play some basketball - Haua's favorite, and a fairly new sport for the boys, which was fun.
Finished with lunch at the shoppe. Haua opted for PB&J. Kind of funny to me because when we lived in Spain, I remember how strangely received the idea of eating peanut butter with jelly was to the Spanish people. It was then that I realized it is a very American food, and maybe to most outside the U.S. it could be considered very weird. Not for Haua though. Maybe all kids' taste buds like that combo... who knows!
Later that night Haua was telling me about their lunch at the shoppe. He told me he met my dad, and my grandma and grandpa (whom I didn't know would be there, so I was surprised to hear him explain that in his broken English). He told me my grandma gave him twenty-five cents for him to keep, which he was quite happy about. :)
Saturday night before dinner the boys had a silly string fight in the front yard. Its still a mess out there, but they had a blast covering each other with string.
On Sunday morning our guests headed to Remedy Church bright and early to prepare for their performance. It was SO awesome to watch them perform. As they all came running down the center aisle up to the stage, and for the first 10 minutes of their singing, I was totally crying, happy, excited, and proud of them, just like a mom of her own kids. It really is amazing how attached one can become with a child in just a few days. And for the kids, what an unbelievable experience - nearly a whole year in the United States, touring approximately thirty States, staying with host families and creating hundreds of memories, not to mention learning to read, write and speak English!
At nap time on Sunday, when our guests had left, Caleb told me "Mommy, I want Haua to be part of our family." Landon responded, "He's our friend!" I love that they enjoyed having Haua and David with us for those three days, and that they are getting the experiences of learning about other cultures and children who are less fortunate than them. Such a great way to broaden their thinking, and we can't wait to have an opportunity to host a child again in the future.
If you are curious to see for yourself the His Little Feet choir performing, they will be passing back through our area the morning of Sunday, February 1, singing at First Baptist Church of Stockton. Come check it out - I promise you will be blessed and your heart will be touched watching them sing!!
At nap time on Sunday, when our guests had left, Caleb told me "Mommy, I want Haua to be part of our family." Landon responded, "He's our friend!" I love that they enjoyed having Haua and David with us for those three days, and that they are getting the experiences of learning about other cultures and children who are less fortunate than them. Such a great way to broaden their thinking, and we can't wait to have an opportunity to host a child again in the future.
If you are curious to see for yourself the His Little Feet choir performing, they will be passing back through our area the morning of Sunday, February 1, singing at First Baptist Church of Stockton. Come check it out - I promise you will be blessed and your heart will be touched watching them sing!!
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