Good Morning!!

Last Wednesday (July 1), Cornee, Sam, Melody, Rachel, and I went to Soweto. Soweto is an overcrowded township that is stricken with poverty. The streets are lined with shacks made with aluminum siding by the government and they refer to them as “informal settlements”. It was really sad to see the poverty and the state of their houses…it gets so cold here at night and surely their houses do not provide enough warmth. I was reading in the newspaper just this morning how a man (who was already ill) was found in his shack dead because of the cold and he didn’t have enough blankets and clothing to keep warm. It broke my heart to see this condition also knowing that most of the kids that come to Door of Hope come from Soweto. Soweto is also the main place where the protests and violence of Apartheid took place. We visited the Hector Peterson museum that walked us through the events of Apartheid. It was a very informative day, but my heart was heavy with what I learned and saw.


This past Saturday (July 4), Rachel and I took out two of our kids for a day of fun! After we have been here a month, we can start to take out babies that are older than 4 months, so we took out a 4 month girl and an 8 month boy. We had to pack a baby bag, take a driving test, and show that we can put in a car seat. In the baby bag, we had 4 bottles, purity with a bowl and spoon, 2 bibs, 6 nappies, wipes, bum cream, a towel, and their charts…it was a big bag. So after we passed all the tests, we headed off to the Glen Mall for lunch. We fed them their bottles and purity while we waited for our food. It is so crazy how many questions we got about the kids…if we had adopted them, where they came from, where we come from…It was really neat to get to tell people about the Door of Hope and why we are here. We even got to give our waitress the phone number of Door of Hope because she has always wanted to work with children at an orphanage. The kids were so good and were constantly looking around with wide eyes taking in all the different people and places. After we left the mall, we came back to Uncle Colin’s house to read books and give them their last feeding. They were pretty tired from the day, so we got them back to the Baby House and got them ready for bed. It was such a fun day and Rachel and I plan on taking out kids as much as we can!


On Sunday, we went to church with Uncle Colin to The Baptist Church of Rosettenville. We got there an hour early because Uncle Colin leads a prayer meeting before the church service to pray for the pastor and the different prayer needs of members in the church. After that, we stood at the entrance of the church and he introduced us to almost everyone that entered. Auntie Margaret, who works in small babies, was there with her family. It was so good to meet them because she talks about her family all the time. There were so many different kinds of people that made up the congregation: Africans, Whites, Indian, Oriental…it was so neat to worship with so many different nationalities. This church has an English service at 9, a French service at 12, and an African Languages service at 2. It does an awesome job of trying to reach all of the community that surrounds them. I cannot believe we just have one more Sunday off before we come home!


This week we worked Monday through Friday. It has been SO good! All of our babies are healthy, so the whole family is back together and we are back on our normal schedule. The schools here are on winter holiday for 3 weeks, so we have had a lot of volunteers come through. We have 2 really sweet girls that have come every day this week named Alexis and Shari. They sometimes come on the weekends too. They are so helpful and really fun to talk to. I've had fun getting to know them more this week. On Wednesdays through Fridays last week and this week there has been a group of 16 middle to high school students coming from 12-2. It is so overwhelming to have them all in the house at once, but they get a lot of stuff done! They clean windows, bathrooms, the kitchen, help with the laundry, mop the floors, vacuum…the house sparkles when they leave. They also help with the feeding of the big babies and play with them. When they leave, the babies cry because they are all not being held and getting one-on-one attention…but we quickly distract them with music time or taking them outside.

I have realized this week just how big some of our babies have gotten and how much they are changing! One of our boys that is 6 months is really behind developmentally because he was born really pre-mature. Just this past month he has started smiling and looking people in the eye. He has started talking a little when he given one-on-one attention. He has really bad eczema and his skin is slowly getting better.

One of our little girls, who is 5 months, used to hardly ever make a sound- she was always so quiet and unresponsive to people and toys. She rarely even cried and smiled. Over the past week and a half she has become a chatter! She talks so much, even when she isn’t being held or given attention. When she smiles her whole face lights up…her nose scrunches up, her eyes sparkle, and she usually lets out a high giggle. It’s so awesome to be a part of these kids lives for 2 months and get to see them growing up.

Last night, we went to a Thai restaurant with some of the volunteers to celebrate Cornee and his time here. It was so yummy…it might be my new favorite food! We got Cornee’s email address and plan on keeping in touch with him. After dinner, we went to Milky Lane and got some marvelous ice cream! Pray for safe travels as he leaves at 7:30pm (1:30 NC time) and as he starts back to work on Monday.


Tomorrow (Friday), we are going to lunch with Auntie Veronica and her daughter. Rachel and I share the same schedule with Auntie Veronica. It is so neat to see how our relationship with Auntie Veronica has changed since we got here. At first it was really hard and we butted heads a lot. Auntie Veronica is an intense woman and likes to have things done her way…and quickly. Rachel and I struggled to do things in a way that pleased her. Rachel and I pray every morning on our way to work and many times the focus has been on healing our relationship with Auntie and teaching us how to love her. It is so cool to see how God has given us an amazing friendship. As we have gotten to know her, we have formed a great team and she calls us her “new daughters”. I am looking forward to meeting her daughter and getting to spend time with her tomorrow!

This morning I was reading Praise Habit: Finding God in Sunsets and Sushi by David Crowder and God really spoke to me. The chapter was on Psalm 146:

Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD, O my soul!
I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.
Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.
…
The LORD sets the prisoner free;
the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
the LORD loves the righteous.
The LORD watches over the sojourners;
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The LORD will reign forever,
your God, O Zion, to all generations.
Praise the LORD!

At the end of the chapter, Crowder writes, “Salvation life is the sweetest of living. The psalmist begs us here to pursue such soaring life, to pursue such a heavenly God rather than remain fixed on the ground, living as unredeemed humans. Read again how the psalmist attempts description of the indescribable mercies and savings of God. Read as he calls us to someplace above the gray, through the clouds to a place where there is hope and healing, where justice and mercy rule, where the King of Creation cradles the widows and the orphans and the fallen, where the blind see and goodness is champion. This is our God. There is no love greater or more beautiful. I would stop you in the street to tell you this.”

God has been teaching me lately to make the most of every opportunity that I am given to proclaim the mystery of Christ (Colossians 4:2-6). Reading this passage this morning renewed my passion to proclaim the great love and grace of Christ. I pray that Christ fills me with boldness to be light in darkness and that I will proclaim the gospel clearly.

So…something funny happened this morning. We tried to do some laundry because we haven’t done any since we moved here from the Gospel Resource Center. We couldn’t exactly figure out the washer and could never get it to do the spin cycle…so Rachel and I had to squeeze out all the water from our clothes and hung them outside to dry. It will probably take several days for out jeans and jackets to dry. We opted out of doing our second load until we can ask Uncle Colin to teach us how to use the washer. Our fingers were numb…if anything, it was a good laugh. I am definitely thankful we have dryers in the States.


Here is my July work schedule:
2-3, 6-8, 11-12, 16-17, 20-22, 25-26, 30-31

Our last day working is August 3.

I will be home in 27 days! Our time here is going by so quickly!


Prayer requests:
-Russell is now permanently back home in Virginia. Pray for him and that the administration can find a replacement soon.
-Continue to pray that Door of Hope can find a social worker.
-This week they will be matching up several babies with families!! Pray for guidance.

Praises:
-Baby House 1 in Berea has opened!
-One of our boys got adopted this past Monday and a girl from the Starfish program is leaving this coming Monday!

Happy belated birthday Sarah Callahan!!!! Much love!