Thursday, July 29, 2010

The best kept secret

Have you ever planned a 'Surprise' for someone only to be disappointed that somehow it leaked out and it was no longer a surprise???  That's what usually happens to me when I plan something... but NOT this time!  I'm going to let you all in on this, but first let me give you a little background to my story.  Somewhere bewteen 5 and 6 years ago, we took in 2 twin 14 yr old Korean girl homestays that lived with us for just over a year.  We LOVED them like our own children, they were amazing girls.  We enjoyed getting to know them really well, and spent many nights sitting up late talking and laughing.  They loved the Lord and even their Grandma had answered prayers when they left their home town to come to Canada, that they would end up staying with a christian family.  We too prayed with them often, and one of their requests was that when they went home to Korea that their Dad would start coming to church with them as a family.  Their prayer was answered just shy of them leaving us to return to their home, when they received a phone call from their parents saying  "we can't wait for you to come home so that we can start going to church as a family"!Praise the Lord.   Let me tell you that saying "goodbye" to them at the airport was one of the teariest days (well almost) of our lives. We hugged and cried and hugged and cried (get the picture!) and promised to always stay in touch.  We knew we would be spending eternity together in Heaven, but it still hurt to say goodbye.  I felt like a piece of our hearts had been ripped away, all of us felt that way!!  But you know how time and busyness has its way of eating up time...days turn into weeks turn into months...we would go 6 months and not hear from them, then we would get that looooong awaited email, and we would all squeal and scream with pure delight and gather anxiously around the computer to read their email.  We never dreamed we would ever get to see them again, at least not on this side of Heaven! WELL...to make a longer story shorter, they are coming to visit and stay with us for one week, and we have been able to keep this a secret from our children!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited we are.  This is truly a dream come true for us, something I thought would never be possible to happen.  Isn't our God great?  We have been blessed beyond measure to have these girls cross our paths in this life on earth and to think that we will get to hold and hug them and hear all about their life back at home is just more than I can imagine. They are young adults now and I'm sure so much has changed for them. Ooooooh I can just see...a few more late nights and lots of laughing and of course tears again when we have to say goodbye again, but I wouldn't trade anything for this short visit that is sure to leave memories that will last a lifetime.  So onto how we kept this a secret from our children.  It's actually only Dustin and Kassidy  who will be surprised because Corey wasn't even born yet, the girls have only heard of Corey they will get to meet him for the first time!  So Dustin and Kassidy know that something is happening and that someone is coming for a visit but they have NO CLUE who it is!!!  We have only been telling them that we are preparing as if the Queen were coming to visit.  So how would you keep your bedroom and tidy up around the house if the Queen was coming ??? You would do your very best and go above and beyond the call of duty to keep your room in tiptop shape!  They have made many guesses, (not one of them being the girls) and we just respond with 'trust us, this will be the summer of 2010 that you will never forget!  Well TODAY is the day!!! It has finally arrived!!!  We will be picking them up from the airport this evening at 9pm and this is going to feel like the longest day of the year.  The kids are busy making a 'Welcome' sign for their unexpected guest (they think it's only 1 person because we have been carefull not to pluralize 'Queen' in case it gave it away, hehehe) 
Please pray for them and us...that they would arrive safely, for a week filled with God honoring conversations, and a blessed time of just being together reunited for this short time and again for a safe trip when they return home. 
We are humbled that the Lord would grant us this most special occasion, we give thanks to the maker of heaven and earth.
Well here is a few pictures of the things that have been going on lately at our home.  We have been blessed with special moments and I have been able to capture a few of these on camera.


Baby sparrows getting ready for their first flight!

A small tree frog that the kids caught in our yard
Corey tuckered out after a long day of play.
The onions we harvested from our own little garden
Dustin and Corey enjoying a jump on the trampoline that was given as a gift.
Dad and Dustin learning how to use the scroll saw.
Look at the magnificent details of this dragonfly that landed on Dustin's finger!
Red Beets grown with love
Corey and I feeding Elvis the horse some grass from our backyard..
Dustin and Kassidy enjoying a game of frustration together.

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