Crazy, but such a fun week!

My group that helped me organize and box up about 10,000 books for our kids!!

Part of the group at the Craig's House for Heather's birthday!

I have had a busy few days in the sense of interviewing potential house parents to choosing the kids who will be living in the Tree of Life Children's Village. You would think that would be the easy part but honestly it was very hard and heavy weighing on my heart. Holly and I met on Wednesday with over 20 potential house Mom's to be raising these children in the village. How exciting it was to know that some of these women will be loving on the children in our village!! It was a long day of talking, but productive...then afterwards we all went over to our offices in Chilenje to visit some of our LIFEWAY girls. They had prepared a special birthday surprise for Heather. It was sooo cute all what they did! I literally think she got 30 cards from them since it was her 30th birthday. 

While we were there, I got to spend some sweet time with Emma and Beauty so below is a video of Emma singing. She wanted to sing a song for my mom...or Auntie Jan. :) 

Friday afternoon we all headed out to the "Big Land" (aka - The Tree of LIFE). We worked the rest of the day getting organized with the upcoming week. Saturday, we spent the day at the villa reading through and assigning kids to their NEW homes at the Tree of LIFE. Long, but good day. 

Sunday we got up and headed off to church!! One of my favorite things here in Zambia. It was located in Matero - a compound that actually has children and families living in trash bag houses. And if you can imagine a wood frame with black trash bags draped all around it. It's definitely something hard to even think about. Anyways, the worship and preaching at church was amazing!! God is at work and He knows what we need to hear from His word. We grabbed lunch and then me and the girls (Holly, Heather, and Paige) went out to the Tree of LIFE to work. It's becoming our second home. We have a lot of work to do this week in getting it ready for KIDS!!! The first set of kids will be coming Friday!! :)

Please pray for strength, energy, good health, efficiency, and time management. We had a long meeting last night discussing everything this week and it really will be a miracle if everything happens. We have the opening on Thursday and then we will be bringing kids in on Friday. It's going to be one of the most powerful days when we see our own kids walking in complete freedom, safety, a positive environment, and to just be around those who love them!! 

Praise the Lord for what HE is doing!! Thanks for sharing this experience with me!

I'm off and running for the week...I'll be spending most of my time at the "Big Land" prepping the homes!! 

Love you all!