Jack's new cousins (?)

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but I have a ton to say about our latest adventure (and lots of pictures)!

It started when Uncle Ry Ry came. We all hung out before Grandmommy had to head back to St. Louis. Jack made them play a lot of play-doh.

Then Uncle Ry Ry, Chuck, Jack and I loaded up the car and headed to Eau Claire, WI. What's in Eau Claire, you might ask? Ummm, pretty much nothing usually, but last night there happened to be a particular attraction - The African Children's Choir! In Eau Claire - strange, I know.

So for those that don't know, Uncle Ry Ry happens to work with the tour for the choir. He is known to them as Uncle Ryan, and the kids and staff LOVE him (this picture is of Ryan hugging Martin, who is particularly fond of him)...I've heard so much about the choir and the kids, and they finally came within driving distance of the Twin Cities! They performed at UWEC. We got there for the sound check, which means we got to run around the stage (Jack's favorite), look at the props, and meet the kids. Ryan introduced us as "Auntie Jamie, Uncle Chuck and ..... Jackson" because he couldn't figure out what to say about him. I think I'll call him their cousin. Then we sat in the front row and watched them do their run-through. Jack sat the entire time staring at the stage. Then we ran to get dinner, came back and saw the "real" show.

Uncle Ry Ry held Jack for the whole show in the back so he could see better. Chuck and I got to sit in the audience and have the closest thing we've had to a date in a long time! They only came back to our seats for the final song, during which the kids come down the aisles and pick people to dance with. They knew where we were sitting, and Suzan made a bee-line for us. She pulled Jack out, held his hands and danced with him in front of everyone. It was awesome! He was clearly in awe of the entire show.

"Awe" doesn't even start to describe the state I was in the entire time. I don't know if it is my excessive hormones or just the fact that these kids are amazing people who have seen unbelievable tragedies and remain the kindest, most gentle and hopeful people I know (probably it was a combination of both) - but I was profoundly moved.

Here's the website so you can learn more about them and listen to some of their music:

http://www.africanchildrenschoir.com/media/media.php?pageID=97

This link takes you to the page with a lot of the kids that we saw last night, but I highly encourage our dedicated readers to look at the home page, newsletters, etc. to learn about the work they do. I can't possibly summarize it all here.

Suzan is the last photo on the page I linked you to. She loved Jack - carried him around after the show for a long time. We hung out with the kids while they had their post-performance snack. Here are a few pictures...

This last picture has Martin burping his name into Jack's ear (a BIG hit with Jack), Suzan on the floor, and Ruthie sitting right behind me. Ruthie was one of my favorites (okay, I said that about every single child in the choir at one point or another). She's one of the older girls and has a prominent role in the show and in the choir in general - she really is motherly to the other kids. I loved her and she did a fantastic job. I can't remember the name of the child right next to Ruthie - maybe Ryan can help me with that. The one in the background with the pink headband is Travisan. She is both the tiniest little girl in the show AND the biggest firecracker! She went 110% all the time and I have no idea how her arms don't come off of her body while she's dancing - she's flinging them around THAT hard. She cracked us up.

Anyway, the entire experience was amazing - learning about the kids, watching Ry Ry doing what he does best (be an uncle - oh, and a tremendous producer and lighting designer), hanging out with my hubbie, son and brother all together, and being reminded of the fact that kids all around the world are so incredible and we have so much to learn from them all.