Transition

Our family is in the middle of an exciting time of transition with our work here in South Africa.

The Lighthouse Children's Shelter has recently been transferred into the ownership of a local South African church.  This is a large church with many resources to invest in the shelter.  They plan to run the shelter primarily with volunteers from their congregation.  Having a local church take ownership has been the goal of all involved with the shelter since the very beginning.  In essence, we've worked ourselves out of a job.

Jeff and Abby Hunt, the other missionary couple we have been working with here at the shelter, will stay and help make the complete transition as smooth and seamless as possible.

The shelter is in capable hands, and after much prayer, consideration and wise counsel we've determined that this is the perfect time for us to move on to other areas of ministry where our time and skills are more needed.

It actually comes at a good time, because over the last several months I've been praying and seeking God's direction for our ministry here.  I've realized that I've been doing many things but I haven't done any of them well.  I feel that I should begin focusing more of my attention on the work happening in Phokeng with orphaned and vulnerable children living in child run homes.  

This transition will allow us to focus 100% of our energy on working with those children.  We are very excited to get more involved in Phokeng and can't wait to see what God does with that ministry.

The shelter has been our heart and soul for the last 4 1/2 years, but we have complete peace from God that it's time to move on.  We will soon be sharing more information here about what's happening in Phokeng.

We've been staying on the shelter property since we arrived back in South Africa in January.  Since we'll no longer be involved with running the shelter, we are moving into a 3 bedroom flat on a farm just outside of town.  The kids are excited to live on a farm.  I'll have to see if I can get them working shoveling manure!  Our plan is to stay at the apartment for a few months while we look for a more suitable home to purchase or rent.

Please pray for God's will and grace as we make this transition!

~Lincoln

Wordless Wednesday

What the Red Rocks Team Accomplished

The Red Rocks Church Team was here for 12 days, and what they accomplished in that short time is pretty amazing.  Things may have seemed a little disjointed and scattered at times, but Lincoln and I get to see the overall big picture and we know that what the team did will make a lasting impact on communities and individuals.

The Red Rocks Team:

- Built two homes for families living in deplorable conditions in a squatter camp

- Prepared a community garden for AIDS patients

- Built a guard shack near the community garden

- Got two computers set up and running with software for the orphan program in Freedom Park

- Spent countless hours loving and mentoring orphans and vulnerable children in Freedom Park, Phokeng and at the Lighthouse Children's Shelter

- Did two photo studio outreaches

- Brought food and water to destitute AIDS patients living in tin shacks

- Installed two deep sinks in the Lighthouse Shelter bathroom that will be used for bathing babies

- Did odd jobs around the Lighthouse Shelter including pulling weeds and painting

- Paid the salaries of the Lighthouse child-caregivers and groundskeepers for the month

- Visited patients in several different AIDS hospices with Dr. Neil

- Helped a young mother get the medical care she desperately needed.  She was so sick that she could no longer take care of herself or her 4 year old child.  The team arranged and paid for her child to be cared for while the mother recovers.


Many thanks to the Red Rocks team!!


~Jenny

Wordless Wednesday

Isabel is ONE!!

Our sweet little Isabel turned one on August 6th.  This past year has flown by!  We had some of our friends and the Red Rocks team over for her birthday party.

 Waiting for her guests to arrive.

Bel Bel and Gee Gee

Some of the party-goers.

Happy Birthday Dear Isabel!

Isabel has never had anything like this before.

I think she likes it!

YUM!!

Cleaning her plate.

Gift time!

Blocks and a soft, fuzzy Thumbelina blanket from the Red Rocks team.

Her gifts taste good too!

 Madison and her friend Grayce did a birthday song and dance.

Kendi kept joining in.

Grand finale! 

~*~*~ HaPpY ~*~ BiRtHdAy!!! ~*~*~

~Jenny

Red Rocks Team Helping Out at The Lighthouse Shelter

The team members spent some time helping out at the Lighthouse Shelter.  Many of them spent time holding and loving on the babies in the shelter.

 Kathy and Jon pulled weeds in the Shelter flower beds .

Janelle and Deb (in the background) painted the shelter's toy boxes to match the newly redecorated interior of the shelter.

Sean and Jeremy installed deep sinks for bathing the babies in the shelter bathroom. 

One day at the shelter, Dave worked on setting up computers for the Orphan and Vulnerable Children program in Freedom Park.  He installed new hard drives and updated the operating systems.  The computers had been donated to the OVC program several months ago but they haven't been able to use them before now.

~Jenny

Lion Park with the Red Rocks Team

We had a great time at the Lion Park in Johannesburg with the RRC team.

We got up close and personal with this giraffe.

Johannes, the head groundskeeper at the Lighthouse Children's Shelter, and his son, Refilwe joined us for the day.  Refilwe didn't know what to think of the giraffe at first, but later he finally worked up the courage to reach out and touch it.

 Madison petting the giraffe

 Lincoln said his tongue felt like wet sandpaper.

 We got to pet baby lions.  They were a little sleepy.

 At the Lion Park there are several lion camps you drive through.  This lion was just outside of our car window.

 I unrolled Kyler's window and leaned over him to take this picture.  Kyler was a little nervous to be this close to the lions!  You can see the unrolled window at the bottom of the picture.

 Two lions climbed up on the back of our car and were playing with the spare tire.  We're not sure why they were attracted to the tire, but it was an amazing (and a little scary) experience!

Take a look at those claws!!

 As we drove off, the lions followed our car.

 Here is some of the damage to our bumper.  If you have to have damage to your car, lion damage is definitely one of the coolest ways to get it!

~Jenny

Red Rocks Team in Phokeng

During the Red Rocks Team's 2nd week here they spent the afternoons in Phokeng at the orphan after school care program.

They did a photo shoot for all of the kids, did arts and crafts, played soccer and had a tea party for the girls while the boys played with Legos the team had brought with them from the US.  Most of the kids have never seen anything like Legos and had a great time building.

Madison brought some nail polish and painted the girls' nails.

The kids come to Martha's House after school and receive a hot meal.  For many of them, this is their only meal each day.

The Red Rocks team and some of the Phokeng kids in front of the playground Lincoln helped build.

Limited Internet Connection

We will have limited internet connection until Monday, August 16th.  We're not sure if we will be able to even check email, but we can check our facebook pages from Lincoln's phone, so if you need to contact us, try facebook.

Wordless Wednesday

Kyler's 8th Birthday!

I asked Kyler how he wanted to celebrate his birthday, either throwing a big party or having a friend over for a sleepover.  He chose to invite his friend Malachi (son of our friends Derek and Rebecca) over for a sleepover last Friday night.  

While eating his cake Kyler started feeling very sick to his stomach.

Lincoln rented a movie for the kids to watch.  Above, Kendi and Malachi are wearing 3D glasses, even thought the movie was not in 3D.  Kyler was feeling yucky and sitting by himself on the couch.

Shortly after this picture was taken Kyler vomited twice.  I told Kyler that Malachi was going to have to go home and Kyler was so disappointed.  He assured me that if Malachi could stay he would go nowhere near him and they could sleep in separate bedrooms.  Derek came to pick up Malachi at about 8 pm and Kyler went right to sleep.  I told them both that we can do the entire thing again soon, including birthday cake and ice cream!

The next day Malachi and Kyler were supposed to go with the Red Rocks team on a game drive at Pilanesberg and Kyler had to miss out on that as well.

One of the members of the team had given the kids some plastic animals and Madison set up "Pilanesberg" for Kyler in his bedroom so that he wouldn't miss out.  Lincoln had the camera with him at the real Pilanesberg, so I didn't get a picture, but it was so cute!  She had make a watering hole out of blue construction paper and there were several animals drinking out of it, she had a monkey up on a green chair (which was a tree),  there was a Polly Pocket car with a monkey trying to get in the sun roof, and a dead animal with a few other animals eating it.  It was very sweet of her to do.

Yesterday, on his real birthday, Jenny M. (with the Red Rocks team) took Madison, Kyler and Kendi for the morning and did crafts and a scavenger hunt with them.  They made a huge mess and had a blast!

Kyler requested pancakes and eggs for his birthday dinner, and I actually remembered to use our special "Celebrate" plate!

A few weeks ago we went shopping at a large mall in Pretoria and let Kyler pick out what he wanted for his birthday from us and Gee Gee (Jenny's mom who is here visiting.)  He chose a Build A Bear and some Star Wars Legos.

Lincoln's parents sent some money for Kyler's birthday and asked me to pick something out for him.  I got him another Lego Star Wars set, he was beyond thrilled!  He loves Legos and Star Wars!

Madison is growing up so fast!

Cute Kendi

Isabel

We are so happy to have Gee Gee here right now!

I made malva pudding for Kyler's birthday cake.

I made an extra malva pudding for the Red Rocks team.  They sang happy birthday to Kyler and gave him a set of Indiana Jones Legos.

Kyler had a great birthday.

~Jenny