A day at the orphanage

Some of the kids from the orphanage and neighborhood (with Lily, Anya, Katelyn and Lacy)  

Last Saturday our family and team went to the township to paint Pastor J's house and play with their 21 orphan children.  I was a little bit nervous about what it would be like, especially for Lily and Anya, because I wasn't with Christian when they visited last time.  But I knew it was an opportunity the Lord had for us as a family.  As we drove in to the township, my eyes bounced (along with the car) between all the women walking home carrying water jugs on their heads, starving dogs wandering around, kids playing out in the sand (their ground), and seeing all the "life" happening in the multicolored shacks.  There wasn't really a road...more of "a way" between the shacks.  We arrived at Pastor J's property, which consisted of a three small houses (one room houses the size of a motor home)~ one full of bunk beds for the girls, one for the boys, one for Pastor J and his wife and the babies~the church (a bigger room with a small kitchen attached), two outhouses, a trampoline and little jungle gym outside.  The property is fenced in, and felt "safe" in more than one way.  There were A LOT of children, and as Pastor J introduced himself he said many of them (aside from his 21) were kids from the neighborhood.  It was a Saturday, which I later learned was a day many of the parents of the neighbor kids spent drinking.  So they come to the orphanage to be in a stable and safe place.  So many sad stories there, but made us all the more grateful for the generous love of Pastor J and his wife.  He had to go shortly after we arrived, as unfortunately one of the young elders of his church (who he was training to take over) died suddenly that week from tuberculosis and he went to help make funeral arrangements.  It was a very close friend of his.  Please pray for Pastor J, his church, and the elder's wife and kids who are mourning his loss.

Lily and her new friend :)

Most of the team went right to work on sanding, priming and painting Pastor J and his wife's new house.  Shannon, Stephanie and I hung out with the kids.  The trampoline was a main attraction, and quite chaotic:).  I quickly realized that most of the children didn't understand English, as they speak Xhosa.  It was the first time in South Africa that I've encountered a language barrier...and it took me a little while to figure out how to round up 30 kids, and what to do with them.  Thankfully Stephanie had some game ideas and so we went inside to the church and played "Duck,Duck, Goose", "Red Light/Green Light", "Boom chicka Boom", and whatever else we could think of.  The kids were anywhere from 1yr to probably 13 years, so there was a wide range of energy and attention span:).  And although I was a little bit worried how Lily and Anya would do, they AMAZED me!  They joined right in and played with the kids.  And Lily hit it off with one little girl out on the monkey bars.  One of our Cru Community staff members, Rose, said she overheard Lily ask her if she would be her friend:).  Turns out the little girl is the first orphan Pastor J and his wife had, as she was found and dropped off when she was a baby.  Lily had a great time and when we got home she said she wanted to have her new friend over to play sometime, and wants to go back again to the orphanage!

We brought and made lunch for the kids, and the Lord multiplied the hot dogs and apples for the rest of the neighborhood children visiting as well.  For those outside of the orphanage, it may have been their only meal of the day.  Anya, being a slow and distracted eater, left her half eaten hot dog and apple on her plate to come find me in the kitchen.  When she returned, it was gone.  She came back crying, of course, and said the "big" boy took her food.  We quickly gave her another hot dog, and she was fine.  I wasn't upset, as I knew my kids would be able to eat again when we left.  I'm sure the boy thought she was finished...she normally only eats half her food anyway.  When we ended up having some "extra" hotdogs after everyone had eaten, I thought we could just put them on a plate and go around and offer them to everyone.  BAD idea- a swarm of hungry children quickly came to eat.  So instead, one of the older kids that helps with his "siblings" brought a handful of kids who he knew needed to eat more, into the kitchen for seconds.  It broke my heart that we couldn't feed all the kids til they were stuffed, and wished so desperately that they'd never go hungry again.  Thankfully, Pastor J and his wife are able to keep their kids pretty well fed most of the time.  They trust the Lord to provide, and he does.  Before we left we gave each of the children a "Kinder Joy" egg, which has chocolate in one half, and a surprise toy in the other half.  They were SO excited, and the little toys kept them busy for quite awhile!

Painting the primer on Pastor J's house-

It was a long day- we were exhausted!  Christian and the team got the house painted before the sun went down.  They learned a lot about the quality of painting supplies...brushes and rollers were breaking left and right.  But luckily it wasn't a big house- more the size of a shed.  It was a rewarding experience for all.  We continue to pray for Pastor J, his wife, and their ministry to their children, their church, and their neighborhood, and we plan to go back to help regularly.  Please pray that the Lord will bring justice- There are children that have been with them since they were babies that have abusive, alcoholic parents, and they are still fighting for custody and trying to protect them.  Pray the Lord will provide a way through all the legal red tape and change hearts and minds of the parties necessary so that all the kids will be in the safest, most loving environment (the orphanage).  Pray also that the Lord will provide all that Pastor J and his wife need; emotionally, physically, spiritually, and tangibly.  God's love is SO evident in this orphanage, and God is being glorified- even in the midst of such trial and need!

Playing jump rope in the church

Anya eating her hotdog...everyone else is finished :) 

Easter Lily

Fall is in the air, which seems strange and normal at the same time, but is beautiful!  We've had a few cold and rainy days, which sounds like it's how the winter is here.  However, our internal temperature gauge may be a little different, as we are dressed for summer most days when others have their sweaters and coats on!  What can we say?  We're from Colorado:).

It seems like there are quite a few "holidays" in South Africa in April, which has given us time to be refreshed.  Good Friday, and the Monday after Easter are public holidays here, so that was nice to have an extended weekend.  Although it rained all day Saturday and most of Sunday, the sun came out for the perfect amount of time for an Easter egg hunt after church in the yard of the Joostenberg Vineyard.  It was perfect!  We had a wonderful Easter celebration.  It didn't seem to be much of a tradition here to dress up for Easter, but the girls had been asking to wear their Easter dresses for weeks!  We used pink sand pails for Easter baskets had some plastic eggs for the traditional Easter egg hunt (thanks to the vision trip), but in South Africa they hunt for chocolate eggs.  Basically, Easter is way more commercialized in America, which isn't surprising.  It was quite nice to keep it simple.  This was the first year we've ever attended a Good Friday service, and that was very special in keeping focused on Christ.

Lily started back with her 2nd term of Grade R (Kindergarten) after Easter.  She had a 2 week break between terms, which seems to be the norm.  It will be strange that she will be in school now until the end of June, when she will get a few weeks off again.  I really like her school and "Teacher Trudi".  She is very compassionate and gentle with Lily.  I've been learning a lot about Lily's temperament and personality lately.  Our counselor referred us to the book "The Highly Sensitive Child"by Elaine Aron, and though I am only on the fourth chapter, it is making so much sense!  Lily is a highly sensitive person, along with 20% of the population.  It's not a disorder- just a temperament- like "strong willed" would be considered.  It's genetically determined and present from birth.  Basically it just means that Lily's own feelings and interpretations of others emotions and her environment are heightened.  Some of her types of "sensitivity" are:  Notices subtle scents and sounds, does not like crowds or bustling places, picks up on the mood of others, has interesting insights about what is going on with people, notices small changes in room or my clothing, prefers little or only gradual changes, hesitant in all new environments, slow to warm up again with someone she has not seen for awhile, notices small changes in people after not seeing them for a while, does not like to be in large groups when some are strangers, does not like to be the center of attention among strangers (or in any group), does not like to be questioned by a stranger, and does not like meeting a lot of new people at once.  Normally, people with this temperament are "labeled" as shy or introverted, but it is more encompassing than that.  I've gained so much insight and feel like I can relate more to Lily now that I understand some of what she must be feeling.  The book is full of very helpful and practical parenting advice.  There are many strengths to highly sensitive people as well!  Many times they are artistic, scientific, patient, empathetic, conscientious, spiritually interested, intelligent, kind, and have a high concern for social justice.  I see many of those in Lily, especially in her artistic abilities!  I just see God's hand in bringing all of this understanding together...Lily's Soetlief class in helping her to understand her emotions, her teacher at school is familiar with the highly sensitive child and is a highly sensitive person, herself, and my friend and teammate, Lauren, is a highly sensitive person with much in common with Lily.  All the while, the Lord has been speaking to my heart through His Word about His love being patient and kind, and being quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to become angry.  I'm so grateful for who Lily is, and I'm grateful to be able to understand her more to be able to communicate, protect, shepherd and love her in a way that will help her to become more of who she's created to be!
This week Lily accidentally ran into a boy at school and ended up with a busted lip!  Teacher Trudi called me to come see and comfort Lily.  She was calm and coloring when I arrived, but her lip was pretty swollen and still bleeding.  It's such an awkward place for a cut!  Even though she was fine, Trudi thought it best to bring her home for the day.  So we had fun:).  But that night and the next day the anxiety of going back to school and having everyone look at her hit.  She kept saying she wished she would have watched where she was going, that the cut would have been anywhere else but her face, that she'll be embarrassed when the kids look at her and ask her what happened, etc.  I had just read about how highly sensitive people think about how they could fail or what could happen, and how it can be helpful to plant the seed of "coping", by helping them know what they could say or do if those scenarios happen.  So I tried it.  We still had to coax her into school, but Teacher Trudi was very helpful in not drawing attention and understanding what she needed.  All went well, and her lip is already almost healed.  Poor thing!
The same day of Lily's accident, I took Anya to an eye specialist.  The sty on her eye has been hanging on now for 3 months!  And we found out she has one forming in her other eye now too.  The doctor didn't want to have to schedule surgery (he called it "theater") to slit it open until it was the absolute last resort.  So he gave us some drops and will continue with the ointment for 4 weeks and PRAY they heal!  Please pray that with us!  Thank you!
Ministry is mostly encouraging- a couple weeks ago Christian led 5 people to Christ!  Praise God!  And he's been having really neat discipleship appointments with the leaders and new believers he's meeting with.  After walking through the 4 Spiritual Laws this week with a new believer, the guy said "How many more of these do you have? Everyone needs to hear this- it's so clear!  We all need to share this with our friends and multiply our faith"!  They are all deepening in their love for Jesus and heart for the lost.
Our women leaders are still loving Jesus with their whole hearts, but we've encountered a few challenges in talking through personal convictions.  Please pray that Jesus will remain central, and the peripheral issues of behavior will all come through looking at truth in the Word, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Pray also for wisdom and humility as we continue to dialog.  Things are going so well, it's just like Satan to want to get in there and twist the truth, cause dissension, and confusion.  Pray against his attack and the "religious" spirit of things beaming more about what we "do".
Tomorrow we are going to Pastor J's orphanage in Gugulethu to paint their house and help with projects that need to be done before the rain comes.  We will take the kids with us and play with their 21 children!  Pray for a dry, sunny day, and that we can thoroughly bless Pastor J and his wife and kids!  Pray also for Lily, as I know it will be an uncomfortable day for her in such a new environment with new people, and seeing such need.  Pray for Lily and Anya in all they will be exposed to- that the Lord will help them process and learn from the kids. Thank you!

I can tell I'm changing...

I can tell I'm changing...in a good way.:)  I just can't shake the thought of those little kids in the orphanage where Pastor J and his wife give so much of themselves and have so much joy while not knowing how they will feed everyone that day.  The tension I am wrestling with is a good one.  I have so much.  Others have so little.  I really don't know what it means to go without.  I haven't ever really "suffered" in need.  I'm reminded of those kids when I'm buying groceries, when I'm buying clothes, when I'm debating what to wear and wishing for more, when the girls are begging for me to buy them a toy at the store, when I start to feel a little bit hungry, and when I splurge, indulge, or pamper myself in any way.  I see clearly here what I would not have said in the States...we are wealthy.  Not just in our blessings and provisions...but financially.  The way of life for many in the townships seem unsurvivable to me...no refrigerator, no bed, one room shack housing way more people than there is room for, the smell of outhouse, hundreds of flies swarming, no bathroom, no privacy, no food,  no job, no idea what the next day will bring.  I have so much to learn from them.  So much room to grow.  So much to pray about.  So much I want to "do" to help.
I still like to shop, be comfortable, know that will be able to eat when I get hungry, and buy my kids toys.  BUT, I can tell I'm changing...