outreachsouthafrica

WE'RE GOING BACK!!

2009-03-15T23:44:00.007+02:00

We are going back to South Africa in January of 2010!

We have a new blog located at www.SmithSA.blogspot.com

Back in Colorado

2007-05-10T17:38:00.000+02:00

This top picture is of Kendi getting dedicated in church. It was a special day.

It's been awhile since we've posted. Sorry to everyone that is wondering what is up with us. We arrived back in the states safe and sound. We've been living with Jenny's parents for now until we figure out what we are doing next. That is the big question that everyone wants answered (including us.) We have several options for our next ministry. We are excited about several things, but we want to hear from God as to the path that He wants us to take. So, for now we are being patient and waiting to hear from him. Please pray for us to have clarity and wisdom. We so greatly appreciate all of you that have to continued to support us. For now, we are still living off of the support of you all. There is a good chance that our next ministry will be church planting which will require us to retain our support. So, we ask that you prayerfully consider continuing to support us. We will definitely let you know when we have felt God's direction.

This is a cute picture of Madison and Kyler with their friend Jake. It has been so great to be able to spend time with friends and family again.

Cute Pics of Kendi

2007-03-23T15:56:00.000+02:00

Here are some cute pics of Kendi Grace. She is such a joy. Because she is #3 we are more relaxed and confident. Because we are more relaxed I think that we are enjoying her more.

Book of Hope Team

2007-03-23T15:52:00.000+02:00

We have some friends who are missionaries with Book of Hope. They have interns that come through occassionally and help around the shelter for a few days. Right now they are helping us to finish the bunk beds and refinish our play ground. We have to tear it down and strip the paint and re-paint it. It is a monumental task, but slow and steady wins the race.

Story Time

2007-03-23T15:31:00.000+02:00

Today we had some people from the public library come and do story time for the kids. It is nice to have special things like this to help break up the routine of the kids' day.

Bunk Beds

2007-03-23T15:12:00.000+02:00

As I said a few days ago, we had a guy from Georgia visiting the shelter who helped us make new bunk beds. Here is Mike and Johannes and I with some of the shelter kids in front of the beds that Mike built. They are awesome. They look beautiful. The Book of Hope team is working to help finish staining the beds. We appreciate all of the help that we get from volunteers at the shelter.

Restoration Church

2007-03-19T20:52:00.000+02:00

Here's some pictures from our church. The top picture is of the kids dancing during worship. It's always fun to watch them dancing and having fun during the fast worship songs. The bottom picture is (from left to right) Anna, from the shelter; Hope, David and Janis' daughter; and Madison.

Cute kid pics

2007-03-19T20:48:00.000+02:00

Here's a couple of cute pictures of the kids on the jumpy castle at Madison's birthday party.

7 years old

2007-03-19T20:40:00.000+02:00

I can't believe Madison is 7. That is the age that I really start remembering my childhood. I just can't believe that she is 7, she's getting so big. We actually didn't pose her for the bottom picture. She was just hanging out on the rock, probably pondering all of her new responsibilities that come with being 7.

Happy Birthday Madison

2007-03-19T20:34:00.000+02:00

Saturday was Madison's birthday. We had a party here at the shelter. We rented a jumpy castle. (They are ridiculously cheap here in S.A.). All the kids played in the water and had a blast.

Birthday Braii

2007-03-19T20:27:00.000+02:00

Last week we had a birthday braii (a South African barbecue) for everyone here that has a birthday in March. This included Jenny and Madison. Occasions like this remind us that all our friends here truly have become surrogate family. We are going to miss all of our friends here.

New Bunk Beds

2007-03-19T20:19:00.000+02:00

A few months ago we had some wood donated from a local lumber yard (Timbercity) so that we could build some new bunk beds. The wood has just been sitting around because I've been nervous to tackle the project on my own. I recently built Kyler a new bed and it looked like a cross eyed drunken sailor built it. So, I was not confident in my carpentry skills to build four new bunk beds for the shelter. So I was glad to have Mike, a visitor from Georgia helping around the shelter for the week. He has tackled the project with the help of Johannes and Daniel. They are doing a great job. The kids are going to love their new beds.

Hugo's New Family

2007-03-19T19:24:00.000+02:00

Last year Jenny and I had the pleasure of taking Lesego to meet his "forever family." This top picture shows him with his new mommy at the adoption. The bottom two pictures show him in Sweden with his older brother and mom. They recently sent us these pictures. They have renamed him Hugo. It is really cool to see him happy with a loving family. We wish this could be the case for all of our children at the shelter. We are so grateful for families like this that give our children a good home.

Miracle Grow

2007-03-15T16:22:00.000+02:00

You may remember that I shaved my head in January. Some of the men in our church shaved our heads and prayed for 21 days that God would heal a teen in our church. He had a rare disease that causes him to lose all of his body hair. The picture on the left is my friend Derek and his son, Mathew, and the teen that we were praying for, Godwin. On day 21 Godwin started to grow hair. The doctors can't believe it. They said that they've never seen anything like it. There is no logical explanation why he should be growing hair again. His hair is really fine, like a baby's hair. At first it started to come in blond, but it recently has turned black. It is certainly a miracle.

Farewell South Africa

2007-03-11T19:07:00.000+02:00

Hello Friends and Family,

We recently finished our first year working at the Lighthouse Children’s Shelter in South Africa. It was a year full of new experiences; a lot of fun, laughter and joy. We also had a lot of tears, frustrations, and sadness. It has been a pleasure to be part of rescuing children from the depths of poverty, sickness, and dysfunctional families. We’ve had the joy of being part of many adoptions. We’ve seen many children come to us on the verge of death as sickness and malnutrition take their toll on their little bodies. With the help of our doctor and exceptional caregivers the children have become healthy, joyful children. We’ve had some amazing experiences that we wouldn’t trade for the world.

As you probably know, we’ve made a two year commitment to serve here at the Lighthouse Children’s Shelter. Due to situations completely beyond our control we need to return to the U.S. early. As missionary associates with Assemblies of God World Missions (AGWM), we are assigned to work alongside a full time missionary. In our case, we work with David and Janis Betzer, the founders of the Lighthouse Shelter. They have recently made the decision to resign as AGWM missionaries. They will continue to run the shelter independently of AGWM. Because they are no longer AGWM missionaries, the shelter is no longer an AGWM project. What this means for us is that we will not be able to finish out our two year commitment to the Lighthouse Shelter. We fully support and love the Betzers and are thankful for the time that we had with them as friends, surrogate family, mentors, and pastors. We are not leaving with any bad feelings and sincerely pray for God’s blessing on them and the Lighthouse Shelter.

While we are disappointed to leave the shelter before our time is finished, we are excited to see what God has next for us. During our time here, God has burned missions into our hearts. We came here with a desire to be God’s hands to those who need to see God’s love in a real and practical way. That desire has not changed. We are praying and seeking God’s will as we begin discussions with various ministries that are a fit with what God has called us to do. We definitely feel like God wants us to be involved in missions in some capacity. If you support us financially, we ask that you would prayerfully consider continuing to do so as we move into our next ministry. We will certainly update you when we know the ministry we are transitioning into. If you would be willing to continue supporting us during this transition time, you can send in your support checks as you always have to AGWM.

We will be arriving back in Denver on April 4th. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact us.

Thank you so much for all of your support over the last year. We cherish the support, prayers, and friendship of each one of you.

Serving Him,Lincoln, Jenny, Madison, Kyler, and Kendi Smith
Outreachsouthafrica.blogspot.com
lincolnandjennysmith@hotmail.com

Crocs for the kids

2007-03-08T16:17:00.000+02:00

My mom and Gloria brought a pair of Croc shoes for each of the older children in the shelter. They had asked the women from our church in Colorado to buy and donate the shoes for the kids. Madison, Kyler, Lincoln, Dr. Neil and I all have a pair so the kids in the shelter have seen them before and were so excited to get their very own pair. The top picture is of my mom and Gloria passing out the shoes, the middle picture is Lewis in his cool camouflage crocs, and the bottom picture is of Madison and Keamogetswe (pronounced Kee amo kate swee).

Goodbye Ruth

2007-03-08T11:37:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a memorial service for Ruth. We wrote about her in our last newsletter. (We called her Naomi because we can't legally give the real names of children here.) Here is what we wrote:

This is Naomi (not her real name for legal reasons.) We picked her up from the government hospital when she was 2 months old. Her mother had given birth to her at the hospital and left her there. She was 2 months premature at birth. Naomi weighs just over 3 pounds. She is so tiny, that the baby growing in Jenny’s womb (at 31 weeks) currently weighs more than this little 2 month old baby. She is so small and fragile, you can’t help but be moved when you hold her. Please pray for her health and that she will be adopted into a loving family.

Last week Ruth passed on. It's always hard when we lose a child, but this was especially hard because it was unexpected. She had grown quite a bit while in our care and seemed to be doing quite well. The doctor told us that it is not unusual for a premature baby to die unexpectedly like this. Their tiny bodies are so fragile. What also makes this hard is that Ruth was HIV negative, and had been released by her mother, meaning that she could have been adopted.
Even though it is difficult to face emotional situations like this, we wouldn't trade the experience for anything. So much of life is mundane, structured, and seemingly meaningless. These kind of experiences remind us of the value and significance of the life that we have. I pray that when we leave the shelter that we don't become numb with the day to day life. I don't ever want to forget how precious life is and how it is so much more meaningful when you are helping others.

"I expect to pass through life but once. If therefore, there be any kindness I can show, or any good that I can do to any fellow being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again." William Penn

Group Picture

2007-03-08T11:26:00.000+02:00

This is the latest group picture of the Lighthouse Family. The bottom picture shows me and Kendi with our three groundskeepers. To the left is Job, in the middle top is Johanness he is our head groundskeeper, on the ground is Daniel. These guys take care of our beautiful property. We have a lot of plants, flowers, trees, and shrubs, plus a vegetable garden. They work very hard keeping it all looking very nice for the children. Plus, Johannes takes care of a lot of the maintenance issues on the property and building new additions. I've taught him a lot about electricity, so he is able to handle some of the electrical problems.

Power Outage

2007-03-06T11:42:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln writing. Here's some cute pictures of the kids. Madison and Kyler love to spend time with Kendi. Kyler tends to be a little spastic and gets Kendi all wound up, so we have to limit his time with her. Madison loves to help out in any way that she can.
A completely unrelated story that is a little funny, but not so funny when you have to experience it. Two nights ago at 1:30 in the morning the dogs start barking like crazy and the power goes out. I go out to check the breaker, because it is not uncommon to have our breaker trip for the property. Everything is fine so I know that the problem is with the power company. The next morning we call the power company and it turns out that the power is out because someone stole the power cables. Yep, ripped them right off the power pole. I've heard of that happening in South Africa, but this was our first time to experience it. So, we had to go get ice to put in our freezer to keep all the food cold. Jenny, in her usual organized fashion, had prepared something like 40 meals before Kendi was born and they were in the freezer. If it all melted we would lose hundreds of dollars in meals. The poor shelter caregivers were trying their best to prepare meals and bottles for 30 children without any electricity. The cook had several loafs of frozen bread sitting out on the bricks in the sun trying to thaw them out. We had to take the shelter laundry to Janis' house and another missionaries house to do laundry. With 30 kids you can't just skip a day of laundry and expect to catch up the next day. On top of that it was probably about 95 degrees yesterday and we had no a/c. I'm not complaining, it's just an interesting story about life in South Africa. So, the power company told us that they would have it fixed by the end of the day, which is typically 3:30. (My reply was a sarcastic yeah, right.) So, at 3:30 when it wasn't on we called and they said that it would be on by 5. At 5, still no power. So Janis started scrambling to find a generator so that the shelter could have power for the night. Our family had gone out to eat, because having meals in the freezer doesn't do you any good without electricity. When we got back, at 7:00 the power was back on. What a relief. I've got to say that I am impressed that the power company actually fixed the problem in one day.

Another cute unrelated story: In January I shaved my head bald. I wrote about that below if you want to go read about it. Every time I went to the shelter all the kids wanted to touch my head. One would come up and reach their hand up to touch my head an they would all come running. The cute thing is that they all say, "Also me, also me." So, now that my hair is growing back they still want to touch my head. Everytime I go into the shelter they all come running, "Also me, also me."

Family Picture

2007-03-03T11:52:00.000+02:00

Sorry we haven't posted in a while. There is a lot going on here, and I had forgotten how much time it takes to care for a newborn! We have thought a lot about updating this blog if that counts for anything!
We took this picture last Sunday, when Kendi was 4 weeks old. Kendi looks like she is being attacked by her own hand, but this is the best picture of the rest of us. It is really difficult to get 3 children to all look decent for one picture!

Kendi's First Week

2007-02-07T13:02:00.000+02:00

Here are some pictures of Kendi's first week. She is a really calm and mellow baby. She sleeps well at night, waking to eat then going right back to sleep. She is a very sweet little girl.

Olive Party

2007-02-07T12:49:00.000+02:00

My mom brought a can of black olives as a surprise for Madison and Kyler. We can't get black olives here and the kids have been wanting some. So, they decided to wait and celebrate Kendi's birth with the olives. They had their olive party the day we brought Kendi home from the hospital.

Kendi Grace Denny Smith

2007-01-30T15:33:00.000+02:00

Kendi was born on Sunday, January 28th at 7:55 pm at Ferncrest Hospital in Rustenburg, South Africa. She was 7.7 pounds (3.5 kg), we think this is about 7 pounds 11 ounces and 20.08 (51 cm) inches in length.
Please view her online birth announcement at
http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/o/oursababy/
and her hospital pictures at
http://www.netcare.co.za/live/content.php?Item_ID=121&BabyID=87235

"Kendi" is an African name meaning "The Loved One".
The name "Grace" is the name of an abandoned baby at the Lighthouse Shelter.
Madison got to name the baby the day she arrived at the shelter.
The name "Denny" is a family last name.

In the Labor and Delivery Room

2007-01-30T13:58:00.000+02:00

On Saturday night at about 11:30 pm I started having pretty regular contractions. I timed them until 1:30 am and they were coming about every 8-10 minutes apart. At that point I was pretty sure I was in labor and sent an email to friends and family in the US since it was 4:30 pm their time. I told them that I thought I was in labor, but that I was going to try to get a little more sleep before we went to the hospital. I slept until 5 am on Sunday morning, and during that time my contractions slowed down and eventually stopped. I thought that this baby was going to stay in forever. I joked with Lincoln that if we really wanted another child that we were going to have to adopt.
Lincoln took my mom, Gloria and the kids to church Sunday morning while I just stayed home and waited. Finally at about 3 in the afternoon the contractions started up again coming about every 10 minutes apart. They stayed at about 8-10 minutes apart for 2 hours and then suddenly at about 5 pm they started coming every 3-4 minutes and were getting very painful. Lincoln called my doctor at about 5:15, and I sent out another email letting people know that we were on our way to the hospital. I was admitted at 6:05 pm. The nurse took my vital signs and did all of the preliminary things then did an exam. She said that I was 4 cm dilated. She asked if I wanted an epidural and I told her that I probably did and she said we would wait until my doctor got there and let him know. When my doctor, Dr. Holcher, arrived at about 25 minutes later he checked me and said that I had already dilated to 8 cm and it was too late for an epidural. He told he would be back 30 minutes later to check on me again. While he was gone, at about 7:00 pm the contractions got much more painful. I was given nitrous oxide, or laughing gas. Believe me, I was not laughing. I am not sure that it did anything expect make my face feel like it was slipping off. At around 7:30 I had dilated to 10 cm and started pushing. This was absolutely, horribly painful and I think that I will need some therapy to get over it. Thankfully I only had to push for about 25 minutes and at 7:55 pm little Kendi Grace Denny Smith made her entrance. I wish I could say that the second I saw her face all memories of the pain were washed away in a moment of joyous bliss, but that would be a complete lie. I wasn't so much happy to see her as I was just to have her out. But within minutes she completely captured my heart. It is so hard to believe it is even possible to have so much love for someone that you just met.

Just minutes old

2007-01-30T13:56:00.000+02:00

The first time I held Kendi

2007-01-30T13:48:00.000+02:00

Right after Kendi was born, the nurse cleaned her up a bit and then put her directly onto me under my gown. (This is called Kangaroo care) I didn't get to hold my other two this way, and it was an amazing experience. Kendi had been crying, but calmed down right away. I could have held onto her forever this way. She was so sweet and cuddly.
After the doctor and nurse finished attending to me, everyone left the room and Lincoln and I were alone with Kendi for about an hour and a half. I got the nurse her and we just got to be alone together, getting to know each other. It was a very calm and peaceful time.
Finally at about 10 pm the nurse came and took us to the maternity ward.

1st Bath

2007-01-30T13:41:00.000+02:00

After we moved from the delivery room to the maternity ward, Lincoln went with Kendi to have her first bath while I got a little bit of rest. He said that she did not like the experience at all. She screamed almost the entire time.

1st Family Photos

2007-01-30T13:34:00.000+02:00

Kendi's first check-up

2007-01-30T13:25:00.000+02:00

Kendi's pediatrician, Dr. Moutan, came and checked on her on Monday morning. He said that she is perfectly healthy, or had "no factory faults" as he put it.

Going Home

2007-01-30T13:18:00.000+02:00

We were discharged by my doctor at 8 am, but had to wait for the pediatrician, our paperwork and the picture lady, so we didn't get to leave until around noon.

Meeting the rest of the family

2007-01-30T13:14:00.000+02:00

These pictures were taken just after we got home from the hospital on Monday afternoon, January 29th. Madison and Kyler fell in love with her immediatly. Kyler said that we need to have some more babies so that we can have our own baby shelter in our house.

4 Siblings

2007-01-26T14:27:00.000+02:00

We got a little bit of an update about the 4 siblings who were returned to their abusive parents a little over a month ago. The oldest 3 have been enrolled in their local school. The kids were removed from their home because the oldest child’s teacher spotted the abuse. Please pray with us that the children’s teachers and neighbors will notice very quickly if the children are still being abused. Also, we heard that the children’s father has been complaining that the kids can’t do anything without praying first. I am so happy that we had that influence on them for the short amount of time they are here. It is reassuring to know that even though we can no longer protect them, that they are in the hands of their loving Heavenly Father, and they know that they can turn to Him whenever they need to.

Baby Update

2007-01-26T14:10:00.000+02:00

No baby yet!
I went to my doctor yesterday and he was suprised that I am still pregnant. He did an ultrasound and everything still looks good. The baby is getting very big, she weight a little over 8 pounds now. If I am still pregnant next week they will induce labor on Wednesday the 31st. We have been having difficulty with our internet connection, so I may not be able to update again for a while. Hopefully we will have a connection when the baby is born!

9 Months

2007-01-24T13:50:00.000+02:00

The baby is due TODAY. Where is she? My doctor assured me many times that I would deliver far before my due date. I am not sure what the baby is waiting for?!? Maybe she knows that we don't have a name chosen for her yet and she is refusing to make her big entrance unnamed. I just don't know. We will post updates when things happen.

Baby Shower in a Suitcase

2007-01-21T11:28:00.000+02:00

This is Jenny writing.
Last night my mom and her friend, Gloria, arrived safely from Colorado. They were all too happy to exchange the cold and snow of Colorado for the warm summer here in South Africa. They had a good, but long flight, and both slept very well last night.
My mom brought with her an entire suitcase filled with things for the baby. Some friends back in Colorado had a "Shower in a Suitcase" for me. I was so excited to see all of the cute, girly stuff that people sent for the baby. It was late, and we were all very tired, but we just couldn't resist opening up and looking at everything. It is very difficult to find cute baby things here, and the baby items are often very expensive. So, this Shower in a suitcase was a HUGE blessing! Thank you to everyone who sent things for the baby, and for Madison, Kyler and I. (Lincoln kind of got left out, but we did get a shirt for the baby from Jen and Gareth that says "I love Daddy.")

Update

2007-01-19T08:15:00.000+02:00

Sorry we haven't posted in a long time. We've been really busy. David and Janis are still gone, Anna went home, and Ashley was with her mom who was visiting for 10 days. So, we have been the only ones that could drive and do errands for the shelter. So, we've been very busy and occupied. Ashley is now back so we are going to be taking time off. Jenny's mom comes in on Saturday and the baby is due next tuesday, so will be taking time off for family. So, you should be seeing lots of pictures of the baby soon. The top picture here is of a movie night that we had with some of the kids from the shelter. The middle picture is Madison with Gracey. We usually bring her over to our house for a few hours each day. The bottom picture is Grace on her "mommy Jenny recliner." I'm not sure what Kyler is doing in that picture. I think that maybe he is playing "ostriche."

My head got real hot

2007-01-19T08:08:00.000+02:00

That title is for you Napolean Dynamite fans. I'm hoping to find a wig that makes me look like a medieval warrior. For the rest of you, no I didn't shave my head because it was hot. Actually, the reason is that there is a teen in our church who has a disease that has caused him to lose all of the hair on his body. Eyebrows and everything. So, some of the men in our church decided to shave our heads for 21 days. The purpose is to make him feel more normal, by not being the only one bald, but we are also spending these 21 days praying for his healing. It is kind of like a fast from hair. Everytime my head hurts from being sunburned, or everytime I feel like an idiot because everyone looks at me funny, or everytime I see myself in the mirror and wonder who that guy is I remember to pause and pray for Godwin. You can join us in prayer if you want.

Colorado Christmas vs. Africa Christmas

2007-01-02T19:55:00.000+02:00

The top picture is at Derek and Rebeccas house Christmas day. It was a little cloudy, but it was warm enough for the kids to swim. We had a really nice time spending Christmas day with friends here in Rustenburg.
The bottom picture is at Jenny's parents house in Colorado. This is our nephew, Avery, as the family was shoveling some 98 feet of snow out of the driveway.
I really miss the snow.

Never a dull moment

2007-01-02T19:22:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln writing. We have had a very eventful holiday season. There is never a dull moment around here. This is a picture of Kyler on Christmas Eve. We went to Derek and Rebecca's house for Christmas Eve and had fondue. It was a lot of fun. As you can see, Kyler really liked the chocolate fondue. As we were preparing to come home at about 11pm we got a call from Ashley who is an American helping us at the shelter for a few months. She said that there were a couple of men at the shelter gate that were threatening to tear down the gate if she didn't open it so that they could bring the kids Christmas presents. Obviously she was a very scared and nervous. We talked for a short while and then she let me go so that she could talk to Adrian, the only man on the property at the time. A few minutes later she calls me back and says, "They're in the gate, call the police and come back right away." So Derek and I race back to the shelter not sure what we are going to find. When we arrive, Adrian is holding hands with the two guys in a circle and praying with them. We come up to the group and find out that they were just a couple of drunk idiots that didn't have the common sense to realize the time and come to the conclusion that 11pm on christmas eve is not a good time to spread good will and cheer. Apparently the story was that Adrian had let the two men in the gate with the intention of meeting them in the office to see what they needed, because he didn't realize how aggressive and beligerent they had been with Ashley on the other intercom. But as he watched for them by the office, Anna and Ashley rang his doorbell from the front of his house. So he went to go talk to them, missed the guys coming around the other side of his house, and the guys went straight into the shelter scaring the poor caregivers half to death as they came in to wake the kids up to bring them presents. Later that night I went over to talk to the caregivers and they looked like death warmed over. The next day I installed a lock on the shelter door so that they ladies can have a little more protection. Everyones adrenaline was pumping from the adventure. The guys left us very expensive bottle of j&b whiskey as a present for being so nice to them. So we all knocked a few back before bed. (I'm kidding.) The security company (whose name is fatal force, you gotta love the name) arrived about 2 minutes after the ladies pushed the panic button on the alarm. The police arrived about 3 hours later. So, I guess we know who to call when we need help.
On New Year's Eve we had another adventure. One of our little girls was returned to her Granny's shack in Freedom Park for the holidays. This was the social worker's decision, not ours. She was supposed to return to the shelter on December 30th. Well, she wasn't returned and on December 31st we became very concerned when we realized that the little girl did not have enough of her HIV medicine. With this treatment it is very detrimental to miss a dosage. The medicine must be taken like clockwork or the patient can become violently ill. So, we were scrambling trying to figure out what to do to get her back. None of us knew where the granny lives and the social worker wasn't answering her phone, go figure. So we finally found someone who knew where she lived, we went to the police station and picked up an officer to accompany us to pick her up. We expected trouble because it was New Years Eve, a lot of people are drunk, and whites don't go to Freedom Park often, especially at night, and the Granny has been very beligerent with us in the past. Thankfully it ended up being pretty uneventful. The granny argued with us, but there was no resistance. We were able to bring the child back to the shelter. We couldn't give her the medicine right away, because she hadn't eaten all day and it can't be given on an empty stomache. We are hoping that this will help the social worker realize that granny is not fit to have the child, when she can't return the child on time and can't give her medicine at the appropriate time with the appropriate food.
So we had a very exciting Christmas Eve and New Years Eve. I'm starting to feel a little like an emergency worker, like a fireman or paramedic. We are always on call. Sometimes it is for something trivial like getting toilet paper out of the store room, sometimes it is to receive a new child into the shelter, sometimes it is to handle drunks that don't know what time it is. But there's never a dull moment.

2006-12-24T12:06:00.000+02:00

Here I am at 8 months pregnant. I went to the doctor last week and he said that everything still looks really good with the baby. He said that she will probably be around 8 pounds when she is born. (Madison was 6 pounds 13 ounces and Kyler was 8 pounds 10 ounces.) The doctor also said that she has a lot of hair on her head. I was born with curly black hair (I'm not sure where it came from?!?), so it will be interesting to see if the baby has the same. Madison and Kyler were both born with blond hair. We have slowly been getting everything ready for the baby. Baby things here are so much more expensive than in the US, some things as much as 3 times more expensive! So, we have begged, borrowed and stolen as much as we can (ok, we haven't really stolen anything). But, we have almost everything we will need for her arrival. We are getting so excited!

Joy, Tears, and Frustration

2006-12-21T08:46:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln writing.
The last week has been an emotional roller coaster for us here at the shelter. Christmas time brings a rush of people wanting to help the shelter and bring donations of food and toys for the kids. A few days ago we had our third Christmas party. A lady in the community rented a slippy slide and jumping castle and provided a wonderful party for the kids in the shelter. Everyone had so much fun playing in the water on the 95 degree day.
The day before though was a day of frustration and tears. We received word that the courts had decided to release some siblings that we have had at the shelter back to their parents. When they came to us about 5 months ago they had wounds all over their body where their parents had beat them. When they first arrived they were so timid and fearful. Over the last several months it has been such a joy to watch those walls come down and see them fit into the shelter family. They became such a joy to all of us here at the shelter. The oldest sibling has such a bright enthusiastic smile, always willing to help and participate. For our first Christmas party the two oldest siblings participated in a human video where the main line of the song is "He knows my name, I am not forgotten." It was so moving to watch them act out the words of the song that talks about how special they are to God, how he has chosen them and named them before they were born. The second picture above shows two of the girls in the human video. Releasing them to their parents was painful for us. We have no choice, we have to obey the courts orders. It is so frustrating to deal with the courts and social workers that will return children to abusive situations. My only prayer is that God has somehow changed the hearts of those parents. God can do miracles. He can change hearts.
Yesterday a family in the community took all of the older kids to their private game farm where the kids got to see animals, swim, have a christmas party and have dinner. I didn't get to go, but I heard that it was a very special time for our kids. While she was there, Nomhle, our managing director, got a call from the same social worker that just sent the siblings back. She told us that she was coming to the shelter today to pick up one of our children to take her back to live with her Granny in Freedom Park for the holidays. Again, this is a situation where she was previously abused and neglected. The social worker wants this girl to return to Freedom Park permanently. In previous posts I've written about the conditions in Freedom Park. No child should have to live there, much less live there in a known abusive setting. Our hands are tied. Please pray with us that she is not returned permanently. Throughout this situation I've been thinking of the worship song that says:

"When the darkness closes in, still I will say 'blessed be the name of the Lord',
He gives and takes away, He gives and takes away,
blessed be the name of the Lord."

I can only trust God that he'll protect those children outside of our care.

Merry Christmas?

2006-12-18T14:13:00.000+02:00

Today we took Madison and Kyler to the mall to see Santa. Then we had ice cream for lunch. (Why not, it's Christmas.) We also went to the baby store and bought a present for Gracey.

There's just something not right about traveling in 100 degree heat to see Santa Clause. All my senses are refusing to admit that it is Christmas. It just doesn't feel like it.

Mega Force

2006-12-18T13:58:00.000+02:00

Today we had a motorcycle club called "MEGAFORCE" come by to bring Christmas presents for the kids in the shelter. (You gotta love their name.) They had a Santa Clause give all the kids a sack of toys, some sweets, chips, and juice. The kids had a lot of fun opening up all of their new toys. It was a little bit chaotic trying to keep it straight who's toys belonged to who, but we got it all sorted out. We are having to ration out the toys so that their room isn't trashed.
It was great seeing big burly bikers with a tender heart.

Baby Gracey

2006-12-18T13:52:00.000+02:00

Here's a cute picture of baby Gracey. She is such a sweetheart, she is realy winning the heart of our family. Dr. Neil says that he thinks that she is about 3-4 months old, but was probably very tiny when born. The kids are getting good practice taking care of a baby.

The Garden Grows

2006-12-18T13:37:00.000+02:00

A few months ago, Taylor and Maury, firefighters from Colorado, worked at the shelter for a week. Part of their work was preparing the ground and planting a vegetable garden. Well, they will be happy to know that their garden is growing. The corn is doing great. Everything else is coming along slowly but surely. We have carrots, spinache, tomatoes, pumpkin, squash, onions, and beetroot all starting to grow. Thanks Maury and Taylor.

New Baby

2006-12-10T20:42:00.000+02:00

Today we received another new baby. We are not clear on all of the details of her story, but from what we were able to gather is that her father abandoned her after the police began to investigate for neglect. No one seems to know anything about the mother. We think she is about 3-4 months old. The father gave no information about her, so we didn't know her name. Lincoln checked the baby in and Madison and Kyler were with him in the office. When we don't know a child's name, we get to pick a name for her. Madison has wanted to name a baby for quite a while, and today she got the chance. She chose the name "Grace". She has suggested several names for our new baby, but has never mentioned the name Grace, so she picked the name especially for this sweet baby girl. I'm not sure if Madison even knows what Grace means. We don't know where she has heard it. We will have to use this as an opportunity to teach her and Kyler about God's grace. This is a perfect illustration of His love and grace. It's an honor to be able to name a baby. I think that our family will have a special relationship with Grace. Anna got to name the last little boy that came in. She named him Joshua, declaring that he will be a mighty man of God. She definitely has a special relationship with Joshua. Joshua is a teeny tiny fragile little thing.

More pics of Christmas Party

2006-12-07T15:23:00.000+02:00

Here's some more pictures from our Lighthouse Shelter Christmas Party.

Sorry the pictures and words aren't always synchronized well in our blog, Blogger isn't the most user friendly program. (Either that, or I'm just a computer idiot.)

The top picture shows Anna, one of our volunteers from Florida who is working here for 3 months, and Nomhle, our shelter managing director, going down the wet slippy slide. Yes, they are fully clothed. No, I'm not sure why they are fully clothed. It's a shame they can't just let loose and have a little fun once in awhile.

The bottom picture shows Kyler with his best friend Malachi and Malachi's little brother, Matthew.

Lighthouse Christmas Party

2006-12-07T15:12:00.000+02:00

The shelter recently held a Christmas party for all the children, staff, volunteers, and families of staff. Everyone enjoyed it.
The top picture shows Sipho, one of our groundskeepers, playing Santa Clause. He was a very jolly Santa.

The bottom picture shows Madison with a unicorn painted on her face. Vanessa did face painting for all the children.

Lighthouse Christmas Party 2

2006-12-07T15:05:00.000+02:00

This top picture is of Pastor Adrian, our children's pastor, doing "magic" tricks for the christmas party. This is a character he does called "professor vuunderbar" (I spelled it phoenetically). Professor Vuunderbar is a german scientist that uses magic tricks and experiments to teach a lesson, in this case it was the real meaning of Christmas. The kids love him almost as much as the adults. He is very funny.

The middle picture shows the pool at the shelter that the kids swam in for the day.

The bottom picture is the slippy slide that one of our donors paid for to rent for the party. The kids loved it. It was a lot of fun, even though is was a little fast for the little kids.

Grandma and Papa

2006-12-07T14:56:00.000+02:00

Here's some more pics of Papa Jabo and Grandma Sandy (Lincoln's parents). Well, not the bottom picture, that was an elephant that was about 10 feet from our car on safari. The engine was off and he was walking right towards us. I think that Jenny almost went into labor.
This is Jenny typing now. I have to elaborate on what Lincoln wrote. The elephant wasn't just casually walking toward us, he was angry and looked as if he would charge our car at any minute. He was being very aggressive and it was more than a little scary! This is Lincoln writing now. How do you know when an elephant is angry. Does he frown? It looks to me like this elephant has a smirk on his face. Maybe one of his elephant friends told him a funny joke and he was coming over to share it with us.

Grandma and Papa Visit

2006-12-07T14:40:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln writing. The last two weeks, my parents were here for a visit. It was really good to see them again and for them to spend time with the kids. We did a lot of fun stuff with them. We took them on a safari and saw all of the coolest animals, which is unusual to see them all in one day. We saw giraffes, rhinos, wildebeest, impala, zebra, lots of different deer variations, ostriche, and for our first time, we saw lions in the wild. It was an excellent day. We did a lot of other fun stuff, but most importantly they spent a lot of time playing with Madison and Kyler.
They also got to go with Derek and Rebecca to feed the orphans in Phokeng, and with me to Freedom Park to pray with people and bring food and water. My dad also spent part of a day with Dr. Neil in Freedom Park. I think that it was a really good experience for them to see what we do. No matter how many pictures you see of poverty, and no matter how many stories you hear, you can't comprehend it until you stand in one of those tiny little shacks on a 100 degree day, see the flies buzzing everywhere, smell the mix of body fluids, sweat, parafin, trash and smoke. Then you can understand the effects of poverty on disease on real people. I'm glad that they had an opportunity to be here and share our lives with us for a short time.

I like the second picture here, because Kyler is holding the mirror so that my mom can do her hair. As we've said before there are no outlets in our bathroom so you have to do your hair in the bedroom. Kyler is being Grandma's little helper.

4D Sonar Scan

2006-12-05T09:06:00.000+02:00

Last week I went for my 4D scan. In the US you usually have to pay quite a bit to get one of these done, but here, everyone who delivers in a hospital gets one for free. I actually got to go 2 times. The first time the baby was head up, and the technician told us that it is almost impossible to see the baby's face when she is head up. So, we got a picture of her right foot, her right arm (I think, I can't tell for sure), and her left hand (top picture). Her foot is in the middle of the picture, her right arm is in the left going up diagonally, and her left hand is in the top left corner. The second time I went she was head down, but kept her arms in front of her face the entire time. We were able to see a profile very briefly. We didn't get a picture of the profile, but the scan was recorded onto a DVD. We were able to pause the DVD and take a picture of the TV screen. It is kind of blurry and hard to see. But, you can see her profile on the left side of the screen, with her right arm over the front of her face. Her lips are puckered up, and I'm pretty sure she has my nose. We are getting so excited to see her!

7 Months Pregnant

2006-11-23T12:32:00.000+02:00

I am 7 months pregnant today, Thanksgiving Day. I have been feeling pretty good lately. I just get very worn out by the end of the day. Tomorrow I am going in to the hospital where I will deliver the baby for a 4D sonar scan. (I didn't know there was even such a thing as 4D, I am not sure what the 4th dimension is?!?) If it goes well, we will actually be able to see what her face looks like. I am really looking forward to going, it will be a lot of fun to see what she looks like! And, still no names. We have kind of narrowed it down to 4 names, but still no sure thing yet. The names are Kendi (East African meaning "loved one"), Emmy (short for Emmilyn or Emmerson), Riley, and Ryan. Let us know which ones you like.
Also, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!! We are so thankful for a healthy baby, our family's health, God's provision and protection, family and friends near and far, and each one of you who reads our blog (we know there are at least 2 of you :) )
We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Visitors Blogs

2006-11-02T22:19:00.000+02:00

I encourage you all to visit the blogs of our visiting teams. Jen Starbuck was here with the Red Rocks team. Her blog is www.jenstarbuck15.blogspot.com.
Maury and Taylor have a blog at www.taylor-bischoff.blogspot.com.
I think that you'll find these interesting because they offer a visitors perspective of the shelter and South Africa.

Freedom Park and Red Rocks

2006-11-02T22:02:00.000+02:00

November 2, 2006
Today I took the Red Rocks team to Freedom Park. It was a very moving experience for them to see such extreme poverty. Every time I go there it is a new experience. This time I spent quite a bit of time talking to one of the care givers, about Freedom Park, her life story, and the plight of the residents of Freedom Park. She told me the story of Freedom Park’s origins for the first time. It is actually a really interesting story. Apparently Freedom Park began when women came to live outside of the mine in order to sell their bodies to the mine workers. The original name of Freedom Park was a word that when translated into English means “women to men.” The local tribal group that was responsible for this area, the Bapututswana (sorry for the misspelling), opposed the women living outside the mine for this purpose. They sent troops to kill the women and burn their shacks. After this continued for some time, the ANC (currently the ruling black political party) sent troops to oppose the Bapututswana. These troops supported the women and fought for them to be able to live there. Apparently the ANC won the struggle and changed the name from “women to men” to “Freedom Park.” I find it very interesting that the origin of Freedom Park basically started around prostitution. They are now reaping the consequences of those actions. Dr. Neil tells us that 70% of pregnant women in Freedom Park are HIV positive. The care giver we were talking to today told us how she came to Freedom Park after fleeing an abusive husband. She found a boyfriend in the mine. (“Boyfriend” is the term that they use to describe what is basically prostitution.) She told us “I got money for the weekend with him and got a disease for the rest of my life in return.” She is HIV positive, has a son in highschool, and a 4 year old daughter. She volunteers her time at the Freedom Park clinic to care for those who are dying of the disease that she will eventually die of.

Red Rocks visits Phokeng

2006-11-02T09:16:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln writing. The Red Rocks team visited the orphans in Phokeng last tuesday. We've written about these kids before if you scroll down to some previous posts. I wasn't with them, but I understand it was rainy and muddy most of the time, so they had to spend a lot of time inside Martha's tiny little house. Imagine 80 rowdy kids and about 8 adults in a tiny two bedroom home. The team taught them some kids worship songs, complete with movements. The team really had fun spending time with these wonderful kids.

Cindy and Latondo

2006-11-01T14:12:00.000+02:00

Cindy (from Red Rocks Church) come over to our house with a cute little guy named Latondo. While we were talking Latando fell asleep on Cindy's lap. He slept this way for quite a while. He is a cutie!!

Red Rocks Soccer Camp

2006-10-28T21:52:00.000+02:00

Today the Red Rocks team did a soccer camp in Tlhabane, a neighborhood of Rustenburg. Martin, our youth pastor, and 11 of his youth did an awesome job organizing the whole event. The youth group did some dances, sang some songs, and presented the gospel message. About 50 chldren showed up. Martin broke them up into smaller groups to do some soccer drills and exercises. The Red Rocks girls were "coaches" for these small groups of kids for the soccer camp. Our youth group kids also helped coach the children. Soccer is such a huge sport in South Africa, that all of the children had a blast, and the Red Rocks girls loved it too.

Red Rocks Team

2006-10-27T11:51:00.000+02:00

On Wednesday a group from Red Rocks Church in Colorado arrived. It is 5 women: Cindy, Jill, Jen S., Jen T., and Simone. It has been great having so many people from Colorado visit lately, but it is making us really miss Colorado. Yesterday (Thursday) Cindy and Jill spend much of the day in the almost 100 degree weather weeding the vegetable garden Maury and Taylor planted a couple of weeks ago. Both Jens and Simone went to Freedom Park to hand out food and water with Lincoln. The rest of the day they spend playing with the kids, and Jen S. (who we hear is the queen of organization) tackled the very unorganized storage room and school room. Today they have been doing play ball with the older kids. These are pictures of the team playing with the kids.
They are hard workers and have gotten a lot done already. They have also fallen in love with all of the children. We will have to make sure all of the babies are still here when they leave next week!

6 months

2006-10-22T09:57:00.000+02:00

Here I am at 6 months pregnant. I went to the doctor last Thursday, and everything is going very well with the pregnancy. He is now 100% sure it is a baby girl. He told me that my blood pressure is pretty low, which explains why I am completely exhausted all of the time. Other than that I feel really good, and the baby is growing and developing just as she should. We still have not picked out a name yet! I don't know why we are having such a difficult time choosing a name this time. We are taking suggestions if you have any!

Maury and Taylor's Week

2006-10-17T07:46:00.000+02:00

Maury and Taylor are Firefighters/EMT’s from the Denver, Colorado area. They spent last week working here at the shelter with us. We are so very thankful for their time here. They had such great attitudes and worked very, very hard.
Their first project was to plant a vegetable garden so that our children in the shelter can have fresh, organic vegetables to eat. They spent the whole first day turning the soil and pulling weeds. (No one in Rustenburg rents roto-tillers.) This was a very hard day of work which they did whole heartedly.
Their second project was to install cabinets and countertops to separate the kitchen area from the babies in the baby shelter. This is a requirement from the health department. Maury and Taylor had the difficult task of making do with mismatched pieces of donated cabinets and countertops. (As always, money is tight, so we had to do what we could without spending a lot of money.) It was not an easy project, but they put their minds to it and came up with a pretty functional room divider and countertop. We have another team coming in a week that will paint it.
During their time here they also spent time in Phokeng feeding a group of 80 orphans, they visited Freedom Park (a local shanty town) to bring food and water and pray with people in extreme poverty, and they spent the day with Dr. Neil as he visited three local AIDS clinics in some outlying villages.

Lion Park

2006-10-16T16:21:00.000+02:00

We took Maury and Taylor to the Lion Park last weekend. Here's a picture of the kids petting a baby lion.

Maury and Taylor

2006-10-16T15:37:00.000+02:00

Wow. Time flies. Sorry again for the lack of updates lately. We just got done having a visiting team from Fort Collins, Colorado. It was really cool to spend time with people from back home. Colorado people are the best. We were so thankful to have them working here. They did an awesome job and worked very hard.
They are going straight from here to climb Kilimanjaro. Those of you that know me know how envious I am of them right now.

Feeding Children in Phokeng

2006-10-10T12:11:00.000+02:00

We have started going with Derek and Rebecca (the YWAM missionaries) to a town called Phokeng to serve a meal to about 80 children on Tuesday afternoons. Most of the children live in child-led homes, and this is most likely the only meal they get that day. Lincoln and I just started going with Derek and Rebecca, so we don't know very many of their stories, but a lot of the children have lost their parents and adult family members to AIDS. These children have no one else to take care of them, so they take care of each other. Each day they gather outside of a lady named Martha’s house and wait for food. Some days there a meal and they eat, some days there is no food and they go with out. Derek and Rebecca met Martha who reaches out to the children, and also wanted to do something to help her and the kids out. So, they committed to bringing a meal once a week. In addition to providing love and care for these children, Martha helps get grant money for the kids (all of the money goes to them directly, or into accounts for them) and uniforms for school. Schooling here is free, and open to anyone, but a child must have a uniform in order to attend school. A school uniform for one year cost about $100 US dollars, which may as well be a million dollars for these kids who have nothing.

5 Months Pregnant

2006-09-24T18:57:00.000+02:00

I am 5 months pregnant today. Please remember that the camera adds 10 pounds! I went to the Dr. on Thursday and got the "your gaining too much weight" talk. He was very nice about it, and he is right. So, I decided to start eating better starting on Friday. Well, another missionary associate from the U.S. named Nate discovered a doughnut shop in town, and brought us a dozen doughnuts on Friday morning. Keep in mind that I have not even seen a real doughnut in seven months! I only had 3, which I thought was really showing great restraint since I could have easily eaten the entire box and not even told my family about them. Then that night we had a braai for Adrian Trapani's birthday and Rebecca (a YWAM missionary from the U.S.) made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing using a recipe from the U.S. Cake like that is also something we don't see here very often, so I had to have a piece. And I only ate 1 piece, (and some ice cream with chocolate sauce on top). I vowed to do better on Saturday, and only had 3 bowls of ice cream. (Lincoln found ice cream here that tastes exactly like a Wendy's Frosty.) I figured that I needed to finish it so that it would no longer be a temptation. So today, I told myself that I would have no sugar, it is 7 pm and I have had no sugar today!!!! For those of you that know me, that is huge for me! But the fat free mango sorbet in the freezer is calling me.

Do I really need a bath?

2006-09-24T18:14:00.000+02:00

That was the question Kyler asked right before I took this picture of his legs. He did get a bath in case you were wondering!

"We thank God for you"

2006-09-24T17:37:00.000+02:00

Last week we got a new baby in the shelter. He is 2 years old. His name means "We thank God for You." He has been in a government hospital for 5 months because his mother burned him. We are not sure how he was burned, but you can see the burn marks all over his back, arm, and side. It looks like she may have poured boiling water on him. Many of his burns have healed, but on his side under his arm he still has open wounds where the skin is growing back. Dr. Neil has been coming to change his bandages. The poor little boy is in so much pain and has gone through so much trauma that it at first took three of us to hold him down to change his bandages. (He's responding better after a few days now.) Dr. Neil told us that this wound should have healed by now, but at the government hospital they were cleaning the wound every day, which has actually caused it to remain open. He has us putting this medical cream goopy stuff (not it's technical name) on the wound every day instead of washing it. After changing his bandage the first day here, Dr. Neil gave the boy some candy. He is so untrusting and traumatized that he wouldn't eat the candy. (I think he thought we were trying to trick him.) I look forward to watching this little boy heal physically and emotionally as he realizes that this is a safe place. We truly thank God for this little boy.

Job Creation

2006-09-24T17:24:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln. Sorry for not updating the blog for so long, I’ve been really busy. Here’s a few quick things that have been going on. I've been teaching a class at SAST (South African School of Theology). I teach a class called "Doctrine of God and Angels." I enjoy it, but it is a real challenge because my students speak English marginally, but they don't read or write english very well, and don't understand complex theological terms. It is very challenging.
You may remember that I wrote about a child run home that I visited in Freedom Park awhile back. There are two teenagers, a twin boy and girl, and a younger 5 year old boy. The mother died from AIDS a year ago, and the father has been out of the picture for a long time. We decided to hire the older boy here at the shelter on Saturdays. Last week was his first Saturday at work. From talking to the childcare workers at Freedom Park they said that he was very happy to have his first day of work. Being able to hire him means a lot to me. Seeing such poverty, sickness, and hopelessness can be a little overwhelming. Ideally, you we want to help people help themselves instead of just giving them handouts. So it is very good that we are able to bring Tse Etse here to the shelter and teach him how to work.

Along those same lines I have found a 17 year old kid in Freedom Park to make these toy airplanes for me. They are made out of used oil cans and other trash. I bought a plane similar to this at an outside market in Jo-Burg. I had the idea to find somebody in Freedom Park to make similar ones. The idea is both job creation and a way to make a little money for the shelter. We need to find some way to market them in America, so if anybody has any ideas, let me know.
It feels good to be able to make a difference in the life of these two boys. There is so much need, but little by little we can make a difference.

Cute Kids

2006-09-18T15:34:00.000+02:00

Here is a cute picture of Madison and Kyler right after bath time. It is very rare that we get a picture of Kyler looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.

Water for Freedom Park

2006-09-18T15:02:00.000+02:00

Every week Lincoln goes to Freedom Park (an informal shanty town made of tin shacks with no running water or electricity) to bring food, water and God’s love to the people who live there. He goes with one of the in-home caregivers who takes him to the people who are in the most need. A lot of the patients are HIV positive and need to take medication. In order to be eligible to receive medication the patients have to be well nourished and hydrated or the medication will not work. So, Lincoln brings food and water. The food and water he provides is quite possibly the only food and water those patients will receive that week.
We have started asking people to save their empty water and soda bottles so that we can use them to fill with water to bring to Freedom Park. Each week our kitchen looks like a water bottling factory. (See picture above.) We are doing all that we can, but the need is so tremendous it feels like we are barely even making a dent. But it is great for Lincoln to be able to develop relationships with the people there and see that he really is making a difference in those people’s lives.

Anna Arrives

2006-09-18T14:57:00.000+02:00

Anna arrived on August 31st from Pastor Dan Betzer's (David’s dad) church in Florida. She will be working with the shelter until the end of December. She has come with a servant's heart and a willingness to help out wherever she is needed. We appreciate her all ready, and know that she is a wonderful addition to our team here at the shelter. It is amazing to see how God has brought her here at just the right time. David and Janis will be gone from the end of November until the first of the new year, Gordon & Michelle’s baby is due in October, and Derek and Rebecca will be moving off the property into their new house any day now, so having Anna here during all of this transition will be a huge help. From the time the idea of working at the shelter was presented to her, to the time she arrived was about 1 month. God has already done some amazing things in her life to get her here in such a short amount of time, and we look forward to seeing what else he has planned.

Baby Goes to His Forever Family

2006-09-01T15:33:00.000+02:00

Lincoln and I recently took baby Lesego to be adopted. Here is a picture* of him with his new mom, dad and older brother who was also adopted from the shelter about a year and a half ago. Lesego had been abandoned right before Christmas on the street near a clinic when he was about 2 weeks old. He was found by a security guard and after spending a few days in the hospital he was brought here to the shelter. Lesego went happily to his new family. He was completely at ease and smiled almost continually. He seemed to fit in completely, and it was more like he was being reunited with his true family after a short absence than just meeting them for the very first time.
After we left I was talking to Lincoln about how special it is to be a part of the adoption. We are the ones who hand the baby over to his or her new parents, we are in the room for their first minutes together. I told Lincoln that it is like being in the delivery room when a mom and dad meet their newborn for the first time. It is such a tender moment!
We see so many unhappy and tragic things here, it is wonderful to be a part of these joyous adoptions and see that there truly is hope for each of our children.
*Picture used with permission from Lesego's new mom and dad.

Vagueness

2006-09-01T12:14:00.000+02:00

You'll notice a new vagueness to our blog. We recently were told that it is illegal to give any information about a child, tell a child's name, or post a picture of a child accompanied by either information or a name. So you may notice that all of our past posts have had names and pictures removed. From now on we will have to give a fake name in a story, and we can't include a picture with the story. We can show pictures, but not accompanied by a name or story. I'm truly sorry to all of you who like to hear the stories and see the pictures. Please continue to pray for our kids, even if your prayers are a little more vague.

4 Month along

2006-08-24T20:09:00.000+02:00

Here is a picture of my expanding belly. I am finally starting to look like I am pregnant, not like I am just eating too much cake (although I AM eating too much cake!) I had an ultrasound today, and the doctor is 95% sure that we are having a baby girl! We are excited about having another girl. Everyone here has little boys, so it will be fun having a baby girl. (We won't get as many hand-me-downs though!) I have been feeling so much better lately, the morning sickness (that I get at night) is finally almost gone. Thank you for all of your prayers for me and the baby.

Happy Birthday Dr. Neil!

2006-08-21T12:34:00.000+02:00

I've written a post on the shelter blog about Dr. Neil's birthday party at the shelter. Click on the link at the top right of this page to go to the shelter blog and read about it.

A gift from God

2006-08-18T07:21:00.000+02:00

8/18/2006
Lincoln here. Yesterday I visited Freedom Park with Nate. We didn’t have a whole lot of time, so we only visited two homes. As we were leaving I was thinking about how that is a highlight of my week. I always enjoy ministry there so much. That made me think about how God has changed my heart in that regard. When I was in college I had to do a pastoral internship. Part of that was visiting people in hospitals and nursing homes with Pastor Anar Ohlin (who I came to love and respect for his love for people.) I hated hospital visits. I hated nursing homes. I’ve always hated visiting hospitals. Those situations have always been so awkward and uncomfortable for me. I never know what to say or how to act. To be honest, sickness and death is not fun, I’d rather go climb a mountain and experience life. So it is ironic that God has brought me here to serve the sick and dying in Freedom Park, and he has changed my heart to not just endure it, but enjoy it. God is good, and he gives good gifts to his children. Sometimes those gifts are not material items, but a new heart.

Wires, Wires Everywhere!

2006-08-15T15:34:00.000+02:00

This is a picture of one of the two single (as in 1 plug, not 2 like most outlets in the USA) outlets in our bedroom. You can see the extension cord with the red end plugged into the outlet. We had a South African helping us build the flats a few months ago who told us that in a bedroom all you need is 2 outlets, one to plug a lamp into and one to plug an alarm clock into. (HUH?!?!?!?!?!?) So, we have extension cords plugged into extension cords running all over our bedroom (and all other rooms in the house - there are only 3 single outlets in the kitchen.) You can also see a mirror leaned up against the wall. This is because it is illegal to put outlets in the bathroom here (above mentioned South African said that it is because too many people were injured or killed while blow drying their hair in the bathtub.) So, I have to do my make-up (we also have no mirror in the bathroom - most bathrooms are tiled floor to ceiling, some including the ceiling, so it is difficult to hang a mirror on the wall) and hair sitting on the bedroom floor near the outlet. This is the first thing you see as you enter our bedroom. Very lovely!

Stinky Pete

2006-08-14T15:10:00.000+02:00

I had an interesting conversation with Noel, the South African youth pastor that I go to freedom park with. We were talking about stereotypes. He said how when he visits other countries people expect that as a white South African that he is a racist. I said how I used to have a stereotype of what people from Canada were like. When I visited Canada I was disappointed to find out that they didn't all say "take off eh" at least every two minutes. I was honestly surprised that they acted and talked just like Americans. He said that he had a stereotype of what people from Colorado are like. When I asked him to expand he said that his stereotype of us is the character "Stinky Pete" from Toy Story 2. In his mind we all wear wide brimmed hats, with the front bent up, wear over-alls, and carry prospectors picks. (Obviously he knows that isn't true, but that is what comes to mind.) I thought that was hilarious. Nate was with us, so he asked what Noels stereotype of people from Oklahoma is. Noel said, "they all sing and dance on a stage." Stereotypes can be a funny thing.

Lighthouse Blog

2006-08-14T14:57:00.000+02:00

Jenny and I are now responsible for updating a blog for the shelter. It is lighthouseshelter.blogspot.com. I've put a link to it at the top right of this page. Now that we are posting to two blogs, you may want to check both blogs. We won't always duplicate the blogs, so there may be stories or pictures on one blog that the other doesn't have. Also, the shelter website is nearing completion. There is also a link for that at the top right. You can check that out for pictures and info. about the shelter that you haven't seen before.

Baby Adoption

2006-08-14T14:31:00.000+02:00

Today I, Lincoln, was able to take part in another adoption.

This was a special one, because Jenny went to the government hospital to pick up Suzie (not her real name for privacy reasons) shortly after we arrived in South Africa. So, we have been a part of Suzies life since two weeks after her birth up to her adoption. That is special to be a part of the whole process. Suzie is now around 4 months old and has gone to live with her "forever family."

Jenny is starting to show

2006-08-13T12:30:00.000+02:00

Hello everyone, Jenny here. I have been extremely sick and have not posted for quite a while. I am feeling much better now. Several people have asked for a picture of my new self. This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago (when I was 3 months pregnant). In the week before we took this picture my stomach just suddenly popped out. Overnight I was not able to wear my normal jeans anymore! I will post a new picture every month so that you can watch me grow!

Kyler's Party

2006-08-05T21:06:00.000+02:00

Today was Kyler’s 4th birthday party. The theme was Thomas the Train. It was a lot of fun. Kyler was giddy with excitement. We had 6 of Kyler’s friends over to our house for the party. Our children’s pastors Adrian and Vanessa provided some entertainment. They did such a good job. Vanessa did face painting and Adrian did a magic show, as well as 2 characters- a bird trainer ventriloquist show, and an Italian chef that makes biscuits (another magic show.) He was so funny, all of the kids loved it. Kyler got his first bike, which he was thrilled about.

Magic Show Pictures

2006-08-05T20:56:00.000+02:00

Kyler loved being the star of the show. Usually he is so shy, but he really came out of his shell today.
Adrian is so talented with his magic show and as a ventriliquist. I think that the adults enjoyed the show as much as the kids.

Kyler's Birthday Pictures

2006-08-05T20:49:00.000+02:00

Imagine!

2006-08-03T11:17:00.000+02:00

August 3, 2006
Yesterday I visited Freedom Park again. I hesitate to share some of the stories we encounter because I don’t want this blog to depress people. On the other hand, I wish the world could see what I see, and hear what I hear. This is one story that I feel worth sharing. We visited a child run home yesterday. The “man” of the home was a 16 year old boy. He has a twin sister (who we didn’t meet) and they have a 4 year old little brother. The mother died 2 years ago; the father has been gone for years. The 16 year old boy attends school at the crèche (the catholic run school in freedom park that is very basic, and extremely overcrowded.) He doesn’t have money to pay for next years school, so he was planning on dropping out next year; so Noel agreed to pay for his next years schooling, as well as for the 4 year old to attend crèche. We asked what the 4 year old does during the day and they said “he’s just busy going around to the houses here.” This means that the 4 year old is on his own all day just wandering around the neighborhood. The family has no way of making any money. They don’t receive grant money from the government because they don’t have South African citizenship. Their parents were illegal immigrants, so even though the children were born in South Africa they don’t have birth certificates because the parents were afraid of being exported. So even though the children were born here in South Africa, they can’t prove it and are therefore illegal. You literally can’t do anything in South Africa without an id book (your proof of citizenship.) You need your id book for almost any business transaction. You can’t open a bank account, you can’t receive any government services. You basically don’t exist if you aren’t a citizen. The sixteen year old sister is not in school. Later when talking to Noel about it we figure she most certainly is selling her body for money. There is no other way for the children to earn money. And they clearly had money coming from some where. Can you imagine if you were in their shoes? Parents die when you are 14. You have no job, no skills, no education, a 2 year old brother to care for, as far as the government is concerned, you don’t exist; and if they found out about you, you could be exported. How would you view the future? What hope would you have? Imagine that you are a sixteen year old girl that has to sell her body just to put food on the table. Can you imagine?

Miracles

2006-08-01T13:32:00.000+02:00

August 1, 2006
This is Lincoln. Johnny, (not his real name for privacy reasons) is one of our precious little boys here. His mom died from AIDS shortly after he came to Lighthouse Shelter. He is now 4 years old. Johnny has really bad problems with his skin drying and cracking because of the medication that he is on. He has excema from head to toe and he has to wear gloves so that he doesn’t scratch himself. Yesterday he broke out in blisters on his hands and arms from some sort of an infection. The poor little boy was in so much pain his whole body was shaking. He looked so pitiful. I took him to see Dr. Neil yesterday and he got some antibiotics for the blisters. We all felt so bad for him and we’ve all been praying for him. This morning in our weekly staff meeting Sophie and Nomhle our shelter directors told us that they could hear Johnny all the way from the office this morning yelling. “I’m healed, look at my hands, I’m healed.” It was so cute. Later in the day I was working in the shelter and Johnny came up to me to say, “Daddy, take me again. Take me again, Daddy.” He loves Dr. Neil so much, he actually wants to go to the doctors office. To me this was such a perfect example of how God uses people to be his hands, and to perform his miracles. It is nothing short of a God given gift and a miracle for God to send Dr. Neil to help heal our children.

Three more questions:

2006-07-31T10:53:00.000+02:00

My Uncle Nathan asked some questions awhile back that I’ve been posting about as I had time. Here are three more of his questions:

What is the weather like?
The weather is very nice and pleasant most of the time. Summers can be hot, but not too bad (I think around high 90’s at the hottest, but we haven’t been here a full summer yet.) Winter is really pleasant during the day, but very cold at night. Days are usually 70’s. Some days are warmer and some are colder. They don’t use central heat, so we heat our house with little space heaters at night

Do you go out to movies, if so what country do they come from?
Yes, there is one movie theater in town. They play mostly Hollywood movies. This last Saturday we went to see the animated movie “Cars.” They arrive here usually about 3 months after they come out in the states. The movies are very cheap. We can take our whole family to a movie, buy pop, candy, and popcorn for around $17.
Along those lines, we just bought a t.v. last weekend. There are only four channels. They play a mixture of American t.v. shows and South African shows and movies. They usually have decent American movies on at night. There are three different news programs, one in Tswana, one in Afrikaans, and one in English. Most of the South African produced t.v. shows and movies are pretty cheesy and not worth the time to watch. Generally speaking South Africa is still in the 80’s in their t.v. shows, movies, and music. For example, the t.v. show “Dallas” just came out here and it is a big hit. The American shows are usually about 3 seasons behind what is currently being watched in America.

Is it what you thought it would be like?
Our work here is pretty much what I expected. Because of a lack of money I’ve not been able to do as much construction as I expected, but that’s o.k. I’ve found other ways to be useful, and other ways to minister. This has also given me the time and opportunity to travel and help other missionaries with construction. This has been nice to have the freedom and opportunity to experience more of South Africa and see the work that others are doing here.
In regards to living here, I didn’t expect to have as many modern conveniences as we have. We can buy most anything that we need. Medical services are better than I expected. South Africa is more modern than I expected, and things are generally safer than I expected. In many ways South Africa is a lot like America, which has surprised me.

Segomotso, You're Home

2006-07-27T20:38:00.000+02:00

Last Friday night one of our babies passed away. Segomotso was 19 months old. She was very tiny from her illness. She had the most beautiful big, wide eyes. Segomotso has been at the shelter for about 6 months. We have not been able to start her on the treatment that she needs for her illness, because with this particular medicine you can’t start it with a sick person. You have to nurse a person back to relative health before they can start the treatment. The news came as a bit of a shock because we weren’t expecting it. We knew that she had been struggling for the last several days, but we didn’t expect this to happen so suddenly. She died in her bed at the shelter and Janis had to take her to the emergency room for a doctor to pronounce her dead and issue a death certificate. For most of the Americans here we are sad, but happy that she is in heaven away from her suffering. The care takers who interact with her every day, all day, are taking it a lot harder. This morning as I was praying and reading my bible I thought about how Segomotso’s short life has marked with suffering, pain, confusion, and loneliness.
Two words came to mind: “You’re home.”

Another World

2006-07-19T16:16:00.000+02:00

7/19/2006
I just got back from Freedom Park. Every time I go I learn something new. This time I was struck with the fact that the children there don’t know any other life. To them, Freedom Park is their whole world. As far as they know there is nothing better. Part of helping them is to let them see that there is a whole other world outside of Freedom Park. There is hope for a better life.

Game Farm

2006-07-16T21:45:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln. We just got back from working on the game farm. This is a 3,000 acre property that an African organization called “Reaching a Generation” just bought. Reaching a Generation is an organization that helps fund and connect other ministries. They help support the Lighthouse Shelter, and they are also a major contributor to Book of Hope, a ministry whose goal is to bring the word of God to every child and youth in this generation. Some friends of ours are Book of Hope missionaries, so that is how we got connected with the game farm. So, they just recently bought this property and we went for the week to help fix it up. We mostly did painting and I worked on repairing a wood deck. We had a lot of fun. They bought the game farm as an operating business, so they also acquired game viewing vehicles, four-wheelers, and obviously all the animals on the property. There are 3 main camps with chalets, kitchens, and pools; and one fishing lodge on the farm. It is a very nice property and they got an amazing deal. There are no predator animals on the property, so it is safe to be out among the animals. We saw quite a few giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, wart hogs, impala, and some water buck. I believe that they have around twenty species of animals on the property. It was a lot of fun. We worked quite a bit, but we also took time to enjoy the amenities and have fun. There is a viewing deck at the camp that we were staying at. I went out every night to enjoy the clear, cold night, and watch the stars. The first night there I was shocked at how quiet it was. I’ve never heard such silence. I’m used to going camping and being away from civilization, but in the Colorado mountains you always hear wind, or water, or crickets. It is never silent. It was completely quiet. There was no wind, airplanes, crickets, or animal noises. For the first time, I actually experienced “loud silence.” It was amazing. The top picture is of our safari vehicle. I've always wanted to have an old school land rover or Jeep, so just getting to drive this was a lot of fun for me. The bottom picture is the kitchen/dining room where we did most of our work for the week. I should also say that we had monkeys that hung out around camp trying to get food. The kids had a lot of fun watching the monkeys. That was a really new, unique experience for us.

Safari Drives and Working

2006-07-16T21:36:00.000+02:00

The top picture shows all the kids in the back of the safari vehicle. The boy on the far left is Josiah, the son of our Book of Hope friends. The two middle kids are Jacques (They call him Jacquito because his dad is also Jacques) and his sister Nicole. They are the kids of the couple that run Reaching a Generation.
In the bottom 2 pictures the kids are "helping" me work. They were hammering nails into the deck.

Quads and Giraffe

2006-07-16T16:56:00.000+02:00

These are some of the 4-wheelers that we got to drive on. (They call them "quads" here.) Jenny drove within 50 feet of a herd of giraffes while on the quad. How often can you say that you were out on a four wheeler and came across a herd of giraffe? The kids were a little scared at first, but eventually had a blast.
The bottom picture is of a herd of giraffes that we came across as we were leaving the farm. Right after I took this picture a whole group of 10 giraffe crossed the road accompanied by about 10 zebra, and 4 wildebeest. They all crossed the road together. It was picture perfect. I got it on video, but not on a still camera.

Robots

2006-07-05T16:23:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln. In a past post we've written about how they have these four way stops here that are death traps because no one seems to know when to go. Well, they've recently installed robots (stop lights.) We thought that this would really help the traffic problems. Boy, were we wrong. For some mysterious reason, people here can't handle the logic and order that a stop light brings to the flow of traffic. Within the first day of the lights being turned on we saw 3 accidents (and we were only driving a few miles.) Today there was an accident at the big intersection in town and someone hit one of the light poles, and now all the lights and robots are down. It is actually quite comical that something so common to us causes so much chaos here. What is weird is that there are other robots in town, so people are used to using them. It's just that they can't handle replacing a stop sign with a robot. Go Figure!

Water

2006-07-05T16:18:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln. I just got back from Freedom Park. I went out with Nate to go into the homes with a caregiver. We brought some bags of food to bring to the HIV patients in their homes and pray with them. It was a really good experience for me because this is the first time that I went without someone more experienced. We were with Tembe, an in-home caregiver, but we weren’t with any other pastors like I’ve done in the past. This time was also different because we walked quite a way through Freedom Park instead of driving. This was good to be closer to the people and see more of their life. Johannes has been teaching me some Tswana, so it was fun to get to practice some of my words. I talked to Tembe about possibly bringing in clean water in my truck. She showed me that the people buy water from a rusty tank pulled by a tractor. They pay 2 Rand (about 40cents) for 25 liters of water. She doesn’t know where the water comes from, but it tastes very salty. They have to boil the water to not get sick from it, but many of the people cannot afford paraffin for a flame to boil the water, so they drink it and get diarreah from it. We are going to see what we can organize to get them fresh water.

Somila’s new parents came to visit the shelter today. It was really cute, because when they arrived all the shelter kids came running across the play ground yelling, “Somila, Somila is here.” They were very excited to see her and meet her new family. The children become brothers and sisters and care a lot about each other.

Happy 4th of July

2006-07-04T17:03:00.000+02:00

Today we had a fourth of July picnic. It was a lot of fun to get together with all the Americans and have some traditional American food. Janis made apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. It doesn't get any more American than that. We played football and the kids had a ball playing with each other in the yard. The weather was perfect. It was just like a perfect fall day back in Colorado.

Dora

2006-07-04T16:57:00.000+02:00

Last night the kids and I read a bedtime story to the kids in the shelter. Madison chose Dora the explorer. It is a book that Madison can read, so she read half of the book to the kids. Everyone loved it.

2 Stories

2006-07-03T12:32:00.000+02:00

This is Lincoln. I wanted to give an update on the baby that I wrote about last month that was sick. (I'll call her Suzie, not her real name for privacy reasons.) She had been in the hospital for around a week. I remember at the time, the emergency room doctor made a comment "If she lives....". Well, I'm happy to say that she is doing good. She is looking so much stronger and healthier than when I was with her in the hospital.
Johnny (not his real name for privacy reasons), the new born who was found on the trash pile in Freedom Park a few weeks ago is also doing good. Dr. Neil examined him on Saturday and said that he is doing remarkable. Dr. Neil was telling me that a world renown dr. was looking over the case files of the children from Lighthouse Shelter. This dr. says that the progress and health of our HIV positive children is absolutely unbelievable. It is remarkable how well they are doing with the treatments that they are on. They key to their health over other patients on the same treatment is that they are watched and cared for so closely. They receive their meals and medicine like clockwork, which is the key to success on this particular treatment. Their blood counts and all of the other standards by which they measure health in HIV positive patients are incredibly improved from when the children came to us. We are so thankful to God for these healthy children, and we are so thankful that God has brought Dr. Neil to help us give these children world class care.
Janis just told me that we just received a new 3 year old boy. He was left at the taxi rank (a taxi station) in Pokeng (a neighboring city.) A taxi driver found the child with a sack of clothes and took him into Child Protective Services. That is all we know for now. We don't know his name, history, or medical condition.
You may ask, "What kind of mother would leave her child like that?" The answer is, "A desperate mother with no hope."
Pray for this child. Pray for his mother. Pray for Africa.

New baby

2006-07-01T15:36:00.000+02:00

We just received a new 10 month old baby girl in the shelter this afternoon. Suzie (not her real name for privacy reasons) was brought by her father and a police officer. The mother is in jail for allegedly trying to kill the child. She allegedly gave the child tablets and tried to hang her. The father said that he is working in Jo-Burg and can't take care of the child. She seemed to be healthy and didn't show any bodily signs of abuse. She was very scared and unsure of what was going on, but I know that in time she'll feel at home here. When we receive a new child, the caregivers have a checklist to go through to document the condition of the child. They bathed her, weighed her, fed her a bottle, and gave her clean clothes.

Team from Illinois

2006-07-01T15:29:00.000+02:00

Today we had a team of 40 people from Illinois visit the shelter. They have been working with another missionary at Jackson's Ridge, about 45 minutes outside of Rustenburg. They just came to spend some time with the kids in the shelter today. The kids ate up all of the attention. Nate Sanow, a missionary associate that we met at our orientation last year, arrived yesterday. He is the guy with the beard in the bottom picture. Nate instantly became a good friend when we met him last summer. The kids call him Uncle Nate, and Madison couldn't wait to see him when he arrived.

Adoption

2006-06-27T09:09:00.000+02:00

Today one of our children was adopted. Her new big brother and sister wanted to hold her. Every child that is adopted from the shelter has a scrapbook made for them. Jenny was working on this childs book last week and Madison wanted to add a page. She made a paper with a picture of the baby glued onto it. Madison wrote on it "I love you. From Madison." It was really cute. I wish that I had taken a picture of it.