Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2015!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year From all the Aunties and Babies at El Roi!

I pray that everyone had a wonderful time with their families in remembering the birth of our savior.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his Kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from the time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Isaiah 9:6-7

My House Decorated for Christmas!

I spent Christmas with my twelve children. We have seven toddlers over 20 months so the day was full of excitement. Cindy, Bongiwe and myself were all trying to keep the day full of fun with a bit of structure (if we could manage lol) . I kept praying all day that we would be able to do the fun things I wanted to do, while trying not to have too many meltdowns from the 7 little people. And it was great! The small babies did great with the day  however, they were very much less aware of the day and had fewer interruption to their routine.  At the end of the day we all were like walking dead on our feet from exhaustion but the toddlers did great and we didn't have one time-out all day! Parenting Win!

Was excited for the kids to wake up and see the tree and "group" presents!

They all loved the tree!

Each toddler tried to take the ornaments off

Cute Photo Moment!

Little bit if mas chaos for the day!

We had Special Eggs and Toast for Breakfast! What a treat!

Cindy and I tried to go out that evening so we were not sitting home alone on Christmas evening. Didn't last very long.. we were falling asleep trying to eat dinner and giggling uncontrollably from exhaustion. We were all dressed up for about an hour dinner. I laugh about  how ambitious we were..  

Since my church has a Christmas day service instead of Christmas Eve services I wasn't able to go to church. A dear family from church invited me to have Christmas Eve dinner with their family. It was very nice to be included and be apart of a family during the holidays.

Cindy and I at dinner

S Loves his Truck!

It was hard to keep opening the rest of N's presents after he got his car

Baby A looked so cute in her Christmas outfit!

I have been thinking about all the babies who were able to spend their first Christmas with their families.

Rockstar (Sweden)- I Miss you calling my name all around the house. I miss your Cleverness and your hugs 

Edi (Sweden) - I miss your scrunchy nose Smiles and your screams when you get excited.

S (South Africa)- I miss your silly laugh and your look of naughtiness when your doing something wrong.

K (Finland)- I miss your grunts and your happy birthday song

My Princess C (Sweden)- I miss your smile and your cuddles. I miss your stubbornness and how you greeted me when i walk into the house.

Tiny T (South Africa)- I miss your chubby everything : )  I miss seeing your special relationship with toddler H. Never have I seen two small people take to each other as quickly has you both did.

Even though I miss all of you , It is nothing, compared to the joy I feel knowing that you’re so loved and will be so spoiled this Christmas. I wish we were getting updates and I could see how well your family has come together and  how perfectly you fit into your forever home. I trust that the Lord continues to hold you tightly in his hands and loves you more infinitely than I ever could.

Little Bird Loved her Toys!

AB was so funny opening her gift! definitely most entertaining

This is how H sat down on the Present mat. back to the camera lol

Prayers for 2016:
-10 Adoptions in 2016: I am excited for this next year and all the new forever families it will bring for our house of 12. Looking at all of our childrens’ cases, it looks like a lot of our babies have a good chance to be with their families next year.

L  didnt want me to take the toy away... i just wanted to take it out of the box

 -A Car: I would love to have freedom to get more involved at my church, get groceries on my own, help the other volunteers to get around, and lend my car to the baby house when they need an extra car. South African’s Economy is struggling these last couple months (Shame!) but it has made the Dollar very strong.  This cuts my expenses down quite a bit to only $6,500 for the car and my expenses (insurance, petrol, tags etc)  If you feel led to help me with this need would you email me whitinafrica@gmail.com. I know that God Provides for our needs in his perfect timing!

-Wisdom for the year: As I pray about this new year and ask God what 2016 will look like I hear: Whit its going to be hard. What does that even mean? No idea! I thought this year was difficult on many different aspects (My mom being sick, Mission Discovery, C’s adoption, being in america for 6 weeks, depression). To hear God tell me that 2016 is going to be hard, I feel like I really need to dig my heals in and make sure I have strong armor ( Truth, faith, Righteousness, sword of the spirit Ephesians 6:10-20) I covet prayers from you his next year!

-Baby House: We are going to have a lot of changes in the house in 2016.. between babies coming and going. Aunties leaving and new Aunties being training up. Possible Expanding to more children at the end of the year. New registration as a CYCC. Their are Changes coming to the house and sometimes they are easy and fun and others can be tough and straining on our patience.

M looking at his book!

Should have known better than to give him his ball first.. thats all he wanted

Thank you so much for your support in 2015. I pray that this coming year is full of moments where we all learn to trust God more and great moments to give glory to Him. I pray that we continue to grow into the Men and Women that look a little bit more like Jesus every year.


Cheers to a great 2016!

The kids decorated Christmas cookies!

They got to watch their favourite movie while eating lunch: CARS!