Summer Beginnings

Hey Family all over the world,

October has been a very exciting month! We celebrated two Birthdays and two adoptions!
 

Baby EJ and Baby K turned one! We had so much fun celebrating their birthdays! 

EJ loved his cake! He shoved his whole hand into his cake and frosting was everywhere! His thoughts on his presents were less than exciting. Every present put on this tray was quickly thrown on the floor. After two times he decided that he was funny. Im sure all the parents out there know exactly what I'm talking about. haha

Miss K had a somewhat opposite reaction. She didn't care for her cake. She didn't  want to touch it although, she thought it was quite nice when an auntie helped her taste it. : ) She loved her presents. She loved her little Giraffe and baby doll. She didn't want to put her Hello Kitty rattle down.

All the big kids know the song “happy birthday” very well, so EJ and K were celebrated with what I think was the loudest ‘Happy Birthday’ to date!  Sad that our next birthday isn't till January! 

When the day gets hot sleep with a plotted plant. silly cat

I am excited to announce that Miss AB is with her forever family! God has been extremely kind with this situation since a year ago we were thinking she would need to go to a forever foster family! I am proud to say that she not in a  foster family but  legally adopted by a beautiful local family! Her mom is a pediatric nurse who is so sweet and loves pink just like her daughter. Her daddy is in the  police force and can scare all the monsters in her room and slay all the dragons for his princess. They sent a picture the next day and AB had cute Princess Elsa shirt and a smile. It makes my heart so happy. It has been a pleasure to love this little girl for the last 2 1/2 years.

Walking into her new house with her mommy!

Saying good-bye to her friends

Little EJ had a really rough start in life. Probably one of more traumatic stories I have had to hear. I am so thankful that his story didn't end on that day but he has thrived into a rambunctious 1 year old. He is now in the arms of his wonderful parents and brother (5) from Denmark. The pictures from his adoption are so sweet and precious. He rocked the plaid shirt : )

Reminder: 

 Dont forget to pass along my adoption Survey! My goal is to get another 15 people to fill it out before December 1st! It is completely Anonymous and will help us in the baby homes prepare our kids better for their futures and come along side parents to support them the best we can! The responses have been wonderful so far and very insightful. You can email the link, Post it on Facebook, Twitter, You can even rent a large billboard and post the link if you wanted to. lol That last option might be a little much. Thank you so  much for your help!





https://goo.gl/forms/Okz7oYnSwB5uGlt22

REFILWE has a Calendar!!!!!!!!!!  

Only Two Days Left to Order! The Calendars are about R200. Which ends up being around $14.50 plus it will ship to your door before Christmas! It is a great gift and has a lot of great pictures from Refilwe and around South Africa. Quick and Order one now! (pssst I have a few pictures in in the Calendar!)









https://www.givengain.com/cause/2671/campaigns/17416/


Also, the end of the year is coming up! Would you Pray about committing to support me for 2017? There is a few ways to do that.

-Support me Financially either with a one time gift or monthly support. Every Little bit Counts!
-Let me know you are praying for me! Prayer is so powerful!
-Ask me about my Needs list for 2017.  I would be more than happy to email it to you
-Have Coffee with me while I'm in America! (or if your in SA too) Time of Sharing, Encouragement and Prayer is so necessary while im home.  I love catching up with people, a lot happens in a year! Ill be in America For the whole month of December 2016!

Even though it is Summer I found a Gingerbread Latte

He loves his Lovie

Bye to little AB

This is Hans

Hans is from Holland and Volunteers at Refilwe helping with Repairs on Fridays. I had a 2 hour conversation with him about his life. Its pretty incredible. The earliest date he mentioned was 1944 but he was a little boy then so im not sure exactly how old he is but, he is about as wise as they come. He is the first person I have ever met (at least that i remember) who was in Europe during WWII. His Family went into hiding in this cottage for 10 months hiding from the Nazi's. His Dad was captured but he escaped before he was taken to a working camp. He hid in Holland till the war was over. I dont remember how long that was however, he said his dad was gone for a long time.  His mom, Baby Sister and himself stayed in the cottage and it saved their lives! He has pictures, paintings and drawings of this cottage all over his house. It was captivating to see how much it meant to him and his family. Every year he goes back to Holland and any family that is around gather to the cottage and retell the story. Apparently the cottage is now owned by the government and houses underprivileged kids from the city to the country on school holidays.
He misses his wife dearly who passed about 4 years ago. He showed me the white roses she planted and some of her things are still around the house too. I definitely had one of the moments where I thought "wow, I hope one day I get to have a husband who loves me this much" Im not trying to be sappy about it just was a rare thing to see these days and it  was truly beautiful. I wish I could have known her.

Zoo Trip

Lemur

Hi Family all over the world,


Thank you so everyone who supported our zoo trip we had a wonderful time!

Funny stories from the day:
It was  7:15am and there are 7 aunties running around trying to get everything ready. Can you imagine trying to get 9 babies under 3 out of the house and the number of things that must be in place? At once point there were a few of us laughing in the kitchen because it seemed crazy that we needed our whole team just to get everyone out the door. But we definitely did.

The first big animal we saw were giraffes.  They were in their house and something must have startled them because they pranced out and 4 out of 6 toddlers yelped out in fright. now please don't get me wrong we were a good 500 feet away so we were no where close to them but it was funny to watch them experience how big giraffes are. They calmed down a bit after the kids realized that they were not going to bite them.

I really do think that the big boys favorite part of the zoo trip was the fact that this dump truck and scooper truck followed us around the zoo. Im not sure what they were doing around looked like they were moving animal grass (food) around. I'm pretty sure I thought big boy S was going to pee his pants with excitement when it drove right in front of us. Forget the zoo, next time we should just go to a park of trucks haha.

 Everyone was so tired on the way home aunties included. The four big boys fought the sleepiness with everything they had on the way home so they could see all the cars go by. Few fell asleep but it was much quieter ride home. : )

Auntie Morgan and Baby K

Crocodile

 Dum Roll Please……..

I HAVE A CAR!

The Lord has been so kind and faithful inspiring a family to help me purchase a vehicle. I have developed a good friendship with the women who i brought the car from. A friend of a friend named Kevin helped me find a good car and make sure everything was done legally. I call him one of my South African dads now, he offered look out for me. (I have acquired a few)  Registration went very smoothly and insurance as well.  I definitely was in tears in some of the earlier process our of frustration but at the end of the day is worked out. I always want to take these moments to say God is so good.

There is always room for improvement right? There is always room to grow, to change, to learn new ways. I have put together a short survey for adoptive parents and those who have been adopted to help us, work in baby homes to do better! This questions will help us in understanding what a parent is going through and what is valued to them as parents. For those who have been adopted, we are hoping to learn what is important to them years later. It is completely anonymous so I'm hoping people will answer as honestly as they can. The more detail you can give, the more helpful it will be.

For those who are not an adoptive parent or adopted themselves you can help too!  You can  send the link to people you know who have been adopted or an adoptive family! I hoping to have as many  responses by December 1st!

Adoption Survey  <-----


Prayer: 

-Please Continue to Pray for Adoptions. Prayer is so powerful and our Heavenly Father is listening. Our Social workers think that the judges might sign a lot of papers before Christmas which would mean amazing things for our kids and babies around Joburg.
-Prayer for Supernatural Rest. I am in a season of life  where rest days are few and a lot of times I am relying on Jesus to get me through the day. Dont get me wrong there is something beautiful about relying on Jesus everyday however, I could use some supernatural rest in the short times I do get.
-Speaking of Rest, I have a trip to the USA coming up! I am going to California for Christmas! I am really excited and looking forward to it immensely.  Would you start praying about supporting me next year? There a few ways you can do that.  Supporting  Financially either monthly or a one time donation. Commit to pray, Prayer is so important! Ask me about my needs list! Gifting one thing off the needs list can be such a blessing!


Want to hear more about South Africa? I would love to have coffee with you while im home! Message me or Email me and we can start working on a date : )

Little Helpers

feeding with a fire truck ladder

River Watching

Good big brother

messy fun!