September Update 2015

Hey Family All over the World,

Sorry for such a late blog post this month.

September was a pretty quiet month and I am so thankful. After the last couple months of crazy, it was nice to ‘catch my breath’ in a way. There wasn't much excitement that happened. Maybe thats why I have had a hard time writing this blog.

Late Winter Rain

Last Hot Air Balloon of the season in front of my house

The much anticipated repairs on the roof are finished! We thought that it would take about a month to fix the whole roof but it only took 2 weeks! What a blessing! All the Aunties and I were very nervous about the construction but it actually went very smoothly and quick.

a kitty cat is loose in the house

H has moved to a toddler schedule!

My mom had her surgery on September 22nd. My family said that within hours of coming out of surgery, she looked so much better. Sitting with her now and she is back to her normal self. Such an Answered Prayer. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for her.

Handsome little Man, S

Little Bird exploring the Jungle

Currently Sitting in my parents house breathing in California Air. Been here about two and a half weeks but I’m mighty Home Sick.. Home is where the Heart is and my heart is in the Deep South. I am enjoying my time with family and friends. Well ill write more about my time in America in the next blog.

Mommy in Traning

Would you Please start praying about possibly financially supporting me for next year? Ill be starting new again next year for funds and I could really use your help!
Thanks!

Whitney

Watching C's First Disney Movie: Frozen

My Princess is 14 months old... please observe how she is sitting in the Bumbo... She is just a tiny girl

TB eating her snack

Have you read this book before? I high recommend it! I read this book quite often for encouragement and honestly to feel like im not alone in what im doing. There is someone else that has a heart like mine and has a calling on her life to another country and for people who she loves. She also says a lot of hard things that I just dont have the courage to...

Organized Chaos

Hey Family All Over the World!

So much has happened in the last 6 weeks! Feels like a whirlwind of people coming through, emotions, new babies, adoptions etc.. to say I have handled it all with Dignity, Beauty and Grace would be a huge overstatement. More like just barely keeping my head above all the chaos.

In the middle of IA i got to return to Refilwe on June 30th for my little Princess’ Birthday! It was a great day full of cuddles, kisses, and smiles. The day was perfect and so refreshing for me to have a day at home. We had a Minnie Mouse themed Birthday. This girl loves her Minnie Mouse : )

A Happy Birthday to this little Spitfire! She is extremely strong willed and is so mischievous. C is very clever and determined. Most people would look at her small size (6 kg and in size 3-6/ 68 size clothes) and think she was a small baby but she is right in middle of her big brothers and sisters causing all sorts of trouble. She is not one to be cuddled but those rare moments before bed when she does, I wish time would stand still. We are practicing blowing kisses and her kisses are more full face kisses. It is so cute! I don't know why, but i am so thankful that God picked me to be her special auntie!! <3

In July we received two new babies! Little R and S are cute and developing their personalities quick! They are both around 2 1/2 months now and giving lots of smiles! They are the sleepiest babies and cant seem to stay awake during their bottles. Sometimes I wonder how they sleep at night because it seems like they sleep all day.

Little R

Construction is FINISHED!!!!! Having 12 small children and trying to paint the inside, redo tiles and getting new counters has literally been an experience I dont ever want to have again. The expression you tell your kids “Your giving me gray hair”? Way past that, more like my hair is falling out lol. In defense we were not suppose to be in the house in the beginning plans. We were also suppose to have our roof redone plus much more renovations but when the roof plans were put on hold we decided to continue with some of the smaller renovations. On some rough days it was hard to see past the dust, paint fumes and screaming babies to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The baby house looks incredible now and I am extremely grateful for the team that donated the money to help with some remodel. We are so Blessed. We were also very thankful for the crew of guys that came in to do the renovations. They were super polite and understanding of the little people’s needs. The crew of guys that came in are definitely welcome back anytime (just maybe not anytime soon : )

My Dear friend Bethan went back home to the UK. She came to volunteer with the Big kids on the Refilwe side for 5 weeks. Since it was just the 2 of us in my house we became quite close. miss her lots.

H and A looking Dapper

On July 22nd, Mr. K went to his forever family! He is an only child to a couple in Finland. They are very cute first time parents and the whole placement seemed to go very well.  K is Nicole’s “special baby” and it was a hard experience personally for me to watch Nicole say Goodbye to him throughout  his last couple days. I know that feeling well and I hold a lot of anticipation in the next couple months for my little princess and her placement coming soon. I definitely feel like all the aunties have a certain Empathy and Compassion on each other during these times.

K in Nicoles arms right before he met his parents

The Last Day of July City Life Church ( My SA Church) put on a Benefit Concert for the Baby house! Loyios Bala a famous Singer here in SA did a concert. All proceeds went directly to El Roi. R32,895 ($2,600 was raised!) We are so Thankful!

Auntie's with Loyiso

Nicole, Bongiwe, Karabelo, Evelyn and I

In August we received another baby from Impact Africa. Little E is just now 5 weeks old and already has quite a temper. She knows exactly what she wants and does not care to wait. : )

Little E

Happy Birthday S!!!!!! This little man turned 2 On Aug 4th!

 

 On Aug 19th two volunteers from my California church went back home. They came and went in these last 6 weeks. Lauren and Caitlin are so sweet and it was such a joy to have them around. It was a little piece of home for a short time. The three of us even got to go to Cape Town! 6 days, just us girls, it was amazing. God’s provision was all over the trip in the crazy and littlest ways.

 Last Week we received some very special updates! We got a current update from Giggles in the Netherlands and the first update from Rockstar in Sweden! Updates that actually get to us are very rare and few. It is so fun to see giggles really happy. He was pretty Grumpy with us and it makes me happy to see him happy. I really think that he just needed a Mommy and Daddy! They Sent pictures from Christmas and his presents from Sinterklaas. Also a sweet family picture on their first anniversary! I wish I could post ‘face’ pictures so badly!
I read Rockstar’s Update with tears rolling down my face. I miss him very dearly. I never expected him to be anything else but very happy. Apparently he is starting to grow out of some of his allergies! And, I am not surprised at all that he has picked up Swedish very quickly. I would love to be a ‘fly on the wall’ in their house and watch them as a family. P has never been a little brother before  so I'm sure he is learning a lot. The pictures they sent, are pure joy on their faces. <3

Mom update: She is struggling a bit. Generally when kidney’s fail, they can be left in the body and they dont have any more functions nor do any harm.  Of course my mom is once again, one in a million. Her body is attacking her transplanted kidney causing some trouble. She has a Dr. appointment tomorrow at UC Davis Hospital in Sacramento to hopefully get a surgery date. Hopefully they will take the kidney out so she can start feeling better. She is on a strong medicine that has some rough side effects till then. ( this in no way effects the dialysis. Her kidney hasn't been functioning for months)

We potentially could have three more adoptions this year! We really have no control over this side of the adoption process but its exciting to think that we could have three more kids with their families. Lots of prayers for social workers, government officials, the new families and the Aunties as we wait in anticipation.

Ill be heading to California in 5 weeks! Going to Soak up the California sun for the whole month of October. Really excited to meet with people and eat a lot of everything American : ) If you would like to have coffee with me, could you shoot me an email ( whitinafrica@gmail.com) or message me on FB?! The time will go by very quickly and I want to make sure I get to see everyone’s beautiful face while I'm home!

Would you Please start praying about possibly financially supporting me for next year? Ill be starting new again next year for funds and I could really use your help!
Thanks!

Whew…… I think that's everything that has happened in the last 6 weeks…..

Love, Whitney

Be Still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10

toddlers at auntie whitney's house

S

Small Queen bee E

Impact Africa Missions Discovery: Debrief

Hey family all over the world!

So I have returned from my internship with Impact Africa, and I'm exhausted. I want to be honest here, it was a really tough month for me. I was trying to convince myself that I was happy to be there but I wasn't. Instead of happily going where God asked me to be. I dragged my feet and went with a bad attitude. Basically told God, I'm here, I've listened, but I'm going to be happy about it.

I felt like my attitude was fine during ministry but as soon as we were done in the communities my sassy and sarcastic self would return. Ever look at yourself and just say, ick. I didn't like myself but I wasn't doing much to change it.

The Team

Ya, this lasted for the first week and a half till I decided I was done and asked God for my Joy back. He brought me to Colossians 1:9-13 specifically verse 10 "so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."

Ya was so not doing that but I wanted to be "fully pleasing to him" = attitude change

Kaya Sands

Despite a rough start, I did have a good time. I got to witness people being healed and people giving their lives to Jesus. 

Most of the month was spent walking through the communities, talking to people and sharing Jesus. I got to pray with a few women who wanted to give their lives to Jesus and got to see God heal aches and pains as we prayed. I loved getting invited into shacks and hearing people's story. They want to share so badly but very few people want to listen.

I think one of my favourite parts of doing shack to shack ministry is watching God "allow people to hear truth" for the first time. We didn't say anything special or have any special prayers but it's the work of the Holy Spirit moving in people's hearts.

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Romans 1:19

In Zandspruit Praying for Thabiso

Praying for Michelle and her Son

  We did a kids program which I had done before in a different capacity. It was super intimidating because we all got roles and mine was the gospel. I had to show a water and oil illustration about our sin and God, then review the Gospel, and lead a prayer at the end.  Talk about an embarrassing moment when the first time we put on the program I got the microphone and totally blanked on the story of Jesus. I don't remember what I said but apparently it turned out okay lol. After that, I prepared what I was going to say. Funny how much better things go when you actually plan ahead. It was really cool to hear a new curriculum and get some ideas for some 'potentials' backs at Refilwe.

First Day Kids Club

Last day Kids Club

I had a special moment in Diepsloot. We were walking around and we saw a women carrying a little baby. She let me hold Bryan, who was only 2 months old. Holding him in the middle of the squatter camp I had a moment in my heart of " this is what I'm good at and this is what I love." It was a conformation moment of being at the baby house. Isn't it a great feeling to know what your doing is right!?
   

Bryan

I could just continue typing about the things I learned, all the little moments and amazingly cool things that happened however, my blog post would be incredibly long. So one last thing I want to share then I'll close it up.

I love discipleship. I really enjoy getting to speak truth into teenagers lives, share my testimony and help figure out life together. A lot of the girls were much younger than me so it was cool to get to connect with the girls in my cabin.  On that note, I want to give a shout-out to Dilcia. She is a missionary in Nicaragua and someone I know I will be forever friends with. I honestly don't know if I would have made it the whole month without her. We discussed life, testimonies, shared laughs, encouraged one another and got extremely honest. We were able to process our days together since our views were a bit different from the rest already being in ministry full time. It was amazing to learn from her years of wisdom in life and in sharing Jesus. Watching this women share the gospel was amazing and inspiring.

Dilica and I at the Lion Park

Dilica Sharing Jesus

Night Safari!

Thank you to everyone who made this journey happen. Through helping me fund this project, all the prayers and those who sent words of encouragement during the internship. Even though it was extremely hard, it was SO worth it. I feel like I learned a lot about my Heavenly Father, myself and How to Share my faith.  I don't think I would have learned all these things if I would have stayed Home.

Standing on the Bridge to Diepsloot Extension 2

Thanks for Reading,

Whit