Tough week ahead, please start praying!

Hello everyone! I hope this finds you all well. We had a great night last night… we roasted smores, or did our best, i couldn’t find graham crackers and no Hershey’s bars, but we made due with other chocolate and crackers.  They loved it.  Daniel built a big, beautiful fire out back and we roasted away.

 I am making dump cake tonight for dessert and they are all salivating already.  I can tell sister really loves it when i cook.  When i came in the house today after cooking, she took my wrist pulled me to her for a hug, but the hug didn’t stop there… she picked my up like a child and carried me around and sat me on the table.  We couldn’t stop laughing.  Sister is a pretty quiet woman, but we have bonded so beautifully.  When i came here, i knew i would fall in love with the children, but i never expected to fall in love with the women like i have.  I love them so much.  Sister and i have a morning routine together now that first starts with hugs and kisses then her teaching me a little xhosa.  Then i help her serve up breakfast.  It is a beautiful friendship that transcends boarders and barriers…. I love it.

This will be a tough week.  I am taking two more kids in to be tested.  Please start praying for negative results.  I am getting one tested tomorrow at 1400 and another one tested on Wed. morning.  Please keep them in your prayers…… God is pretty amazing how He works.  Most of you know that one of my passions is to raise money for my nephew Leo who has a disease called neurofibromatosis.  Because of his disease, my sister and i (his mother) participate in marathons ( i think she has done 8?) to raise money for NF (neurofibromatosis).   But here at Ocean’s, i am suspicious that one of the children has it.  I am taking that child in to be looked at for that as well.  Please pray for me to be wrong and for everything to be okay…. I would love to be wrong here…..  

God just keeps revealing so many things and just when i think my heart can not witness another thing, He keeps me busy with the next.  I can’t believe it.  So, again my prayer warriors… Get busy. There is a lot to pray about this week.  I will let you know what the results are as soon as i know.  I love you all and please pray that i will have the grace to handle everything appropriately and that i will continue to feel sustained. 

 Thanks so much for your comments and love.  I really need it this week.The boys are still going strong… making friends and have real sister/brother relationships here.  Courtney is the most beautiful girl with such a compassionate spirit… (denise, she reminds me of Corinne).  She is a great addition to the group here. She has been helping me in the kitchen and i love braiding her gorgeous hair.Amy and Jimmy are still settling in as it seems jimmy has been ill with the same bug we got when we first came.  At least the middle of the night vomit routine was not during a power outage and i was prepared with bags.   It’s the little things to be thankful for!!  HahaSoon with pics of the dead rooster!!!!!!!Lots of love,Jennifer, joseph and james

can you say cramped?????

Hi my dear family and friends.  Good day today.  The new people,  jimmy, amy and courtney are all great!  God did it again and put together some of the easiest people to get along with.  It is hard being so cramped though, i must admit.  It is wearing me a little thin.  One of mama’s friends yesterday, has a bedroom in the bottom on her house, asked if i wanted to stay there… i started to salivate.  I am very tempted to do that and I am considering it.  I don’t know if i will do it or not because the boys want to stay here.  We will see what happens.   

Today, the girls and i sat down for a long chat about ‘girl stuff’ and their bodies etc.  We talked about all the changes their bodies are going through, how to handle them and some ‘pointers’ that i will spare you the details of.   That went really well and Courtney (14 i think?) was a big help.  It was nice having her perspective in a  ‘girl to girl’ talk.  She is very good at being vulnerable… it was awesome.  Then, we talked about discipline and rules and respect.  That was also a good time when Courtney was vulnerable and told me all kinds of things about all her rules at home (just kidding schaun and becky)! Haha  We had  a real experience and bonding time.  It was great. 

Thanks to all the wonderful people who sent things with the new group.  Theo, thanks so much for all the medicine… i can’t wait to see how God moves and puts them to use!!  Mischele,  you are awesome!! Sister did a little dance when she got all the clothes for cip and lisa and lisa did a dance when she got her doll.  Thanks so much.  Also thanks to everyone for all the great recipes.  I can’t wait to cook them, mom, i noticed your handwriting on at least one or two… thanks.  Sister is so excited for the spices, i find her picking up the baggies and smelling them all the time.  We made tocos tonight and it was perfect.  We had plenty and everyone loved them.  Sister said ‘i could eat these everyday!’.  I can’t wait to cook with her more. 

I have forgotten to mention that the little girl i saw last week, in her home with aids, was sponsored that same day from the states… i plan on checking on her Monday… i am praying the things i left with them helped.   

One of the most beautiful things i have learned from here and over my lifetime, is that people who have truly suffered or gone through hard times, develop qualities that i admire the most in people.  It is so true that God never wastes a hurt.  He develops their character and spirit and gives them the most beautiful qualities i have ever seen…. Compassion, perseverance, tenderness, strength, love, honor….. and many more.  I would much rather intertwine myself with people who have developed these qualities through hardship and pain than mingle with others who may look good and feel good to the world that wants things ‘packaged nicely’ and have never admitted their pain. ……We are all the same… but some of us wear ‘masks’ and some don’t.  i prefer the ones who don’t.   Look at the people Jesus chose to use, the people he chose to ‘hangout’ with.   

Okay, there was my editorial for the day, thanks for putting up with me…: ) i love you all so much and miss you all.   

Phumlani is still working his job and liking it.  I have had the best talks with him about his mom’s death and how he feels.  What strength this young man has… he has said the most beautiful things about her… ‘i will always keep part of her soul with mine, i will see her again some day and i could never take care of her like i know God could, so i can let her go and wait to see her again’….  boo hoo…. L  

Love you all and miss you! 

Please continue to pray for us…Jennifer, Joseph and James 

(this message was written yesterday, but i guess i didn't get it up right, thanks hope for telling me… like always, you are looking out for me and always keeping me on my toes… i love you) btw, things are much better here and i am adjustingto the 'cramped' space. 

I am turning into a savage!!

Good morning… morning for me anyway. I am writing early today because the other garage dwellers come today and i don’t know if they are going to want to get on the computer…  

So, big news… one rooster is dead!  I am turning into a savage!  I asked mama if she cared if we got rid of one of the roosters and she said ‘no, i have had my eye on one of those that are really fat’… haha. So, we rounded up the kids, got the neighbor guy and caught and killed the rooster.  It really was kind of cool because after it is dead, you pour boiling water on it and the feathers come out really easy.  Daniel was such a baby and hid in the house, wouldn’t even come and see how the yellow part of their feet is really just like a glove.  After it is in boiling water, it peels right off.  Anyway, don’t worry, there still is like 4-5 more roosters running around.  But i slept all night…. Ahhhhhhhh!  We ate that rooster for dinner.   

I have set up counseling for the kids here (HIV counseling) for them to participate in over break so they can all be tested soon.  I called Hope World Wide yesterday to see about getting ready to start training some lay people in the township so they can become ‘registered’ home care givers….Schaun, i have more thoughts about this as a route for the clinic and will talk to you about that later.   

Phumlani is too funny, i find him over my shoulder a lot when i am doing my hair or putting on my makeup.  Sometimes he even is making the same face as me (you know the one when you are putting on your mascara) when i am putting on my make up (on the rare occasion i wear some).   Today we are cleaning up the garage so that it can at least be an illusion to the new dwellers that we are living under some sort of order… but, come night fall, they will realize it was all fake!   Poor people.  

I have a lot to get done next week.  I am looking forward to the last part of my trip being filled with action and hopefully results.  I will follow up on those children i have seen, in the homes and at the schools, i will get the kids here tested (with the consent of the older ones) and have a plan on how to best approach a clinic for the future here.  Please pray i will have the time and available resources (transportation) to get all of this done…   I am also so excited to help the boys spend their mission money.  We exchanged their money yesterday and they keep coming up with plans on how to spend it…that is so awesome!   

By the way, happy birthday denise… i love you. can't wait to see you in august…. and mom, thanks for the encouragement but all that i have learned about being strong has come from you… what an amazing woman you are!

Much love to you all,  

Jennifer, Joseph and James 

          Hey it’s Joe, for the people that know the neighbors i am getting the kids a soccer ball because they always yell for from across the fence to come play with them. I am also getting them some new clothes. 

Thank you for the donations! 

Joe  

no more school! :)

Hello everyone…. Sorry i have been a little bad at getting my blogs out.  Most of the kids are out of school so there is a lot of things to do and no time to do them in…. my boys are done with school.  There is a long break here (until mid july) and then resumes (for just a week or two) so i told them they didn’t have to go if they didn’t want to.   I am so proud of them.  They have gone to a school in a different country and handled it very well.  I can see their focus changing now on what they want to spend their mission’s money on.  They are always talking about it.  Today they also decided that buying some soccer balls and taking them to the township might be another thing they want to do.  They keep seeing children playing with balls that are homemade from sacks.  So their list keeps growing. 

I took them into the township today to deliver another parcel and to check on some children.  We checked on another little girl today (10) who was in the worst condition so far. 

Her heart was racing and at rest, her breathing was very labored and fast.  I was afraid to touch her too much as it felt like i could break her. 

I looked over all her meds and found one bottle that had an expiration date of 2000.  I asked about that and i guess what they do is take their bottles with them each time and refill them, so the date is not accurate and they give them other people’s left over meds as well.  There was only one thing i could think to do differently for her and so mama and i went to the chemist and got her some things.  I will check on her on Monday or Tuesday…she could use your prayers right now.  I don’t know how much longer she can last like that…her eyes were so vacant.   

This ‘calling’ of mine has required the most strength from my spirit but somehow i am sustained.  None of this is of me, i would have ‘folded’ a while back.  God is at work everywhere over here… 

Okay, communal living is getting ready to get a lot harder… two more people come on Friday…i am starting to know why dorms are not readily available to adults… the kids seem to do very well in this environment, but i am dreaming of my own bathroom, my bed at home and a little privacy would be great!  Washing my face while someone else spits out their toothpaste and getting ready by flashlight is starting to become routine (which is scary) but i am dying to just have some comforts from home… :)    

We love you all, i can’t wait to see what you write, so please say something funny!  Haha

Love,

Jennifer, Joseph and James 

Good weekend – pictures added

Hi again.  We survived the weekend… it was busy but fun.  Friday Daniel and i took Phumlani to clean off his mother’s grave.  It took us quite a while to find her.  As we looked (to Phumlani’s best recollection) we couldn’t find her grave and Phumlani was getting more and more obvious with his anticipation of finding her.  We stopped for a while and then… eight palm trees down (four past the path in the road) and directly behind two nicer and stronger grave markers, was Phumlani’s mom’s grave.  He looked up close to make sure it was her.  We scraped away the rocks that covered her birthday and her date of death.  Then he used a shovel to scoop away some weeds that were growing up through the rocks. 

Phumlani said the only other time he had been to see her grave was when he had a fight with his grandmother and he thought it was best to take a walk and he ‘walked straight to her, without even knowing where she was, but i remember she is behind a bigger grave marker’.    

The sight of watching a boy clean off his mother’s grave was a humbling one.  He was visibly upset but very focused on paying his respects and cleaning her grave.  The panic of him thinking he wasn’t going to find her was enough to break my heart.  But he got it done and he breathed a sigh of relief on the way home.   

Saturday some people from the local church came out and tilled the garden and planted some cabbage, carrots, peas and i think beans?  But mostly it was a relaxing day.   Sunday I took the younger girls to one church and Daniel took the older girls to the another church (one with a youth group). 

The other garage dwellers and I are getting really good at learning to juggle many things together like showering so not all the hot water is used, getting ready by flashlight so not to wake up everyone else, washing our clothes in turn and brushing our teeth in turn… Daniel and i are working very well together with keeping gas in the cars (he likes to drive them until they are sucking fumes, he claims he learned that from his dad), taking turns driving the kids everywhere, looking for the keys to the cars, whose music we will listen to and compromising on whose turn it is to use the computer.   

Phumlani is loving his job still and gets paid this Friday!! Yea. 

My boys are doing great and have narrowed down how they want to spend there missions money.  They found a family (family with the boy whose mom died a few weeks ago) that they want to visit and figure out what they can buy the boys in family.  Joseph has already given away a pair of his socks because the boy only has one pair.  He thinks we might want to buy some clothes and maybe some blankets.  I will keep you posted on what they come up with. I am so proud. 

I love you all and can’t wait to hear from you guys. 

Lots of love,Jen, joseph and james 

Jennifer, is this the offending rooster?
 

Rainbows – pictures added, read again

Hello again.  Yesterday Daniel, mama and Iwent into Motherwell and delivered another parcel.  It started off as a rainy, cold and dreary day.  It was uneventful as far as any harassment today…. Yea!  We found the child that was receiving the parcel at school and had them come with us to show us where they lived.  Once we got there, i was cornered by the grandmother saying ‘i was promised i could go to
America’… i had no idea what she was talking about because she had me confused with someone else.  So i didn’t know what to do other than just say i hope she does get to go one day.   

After that I saw several children at the school and then made two home visits to children who are bedridden. 


One little girl ( in her home) has been unable to eat for quite a while because of thrush in her mouth.  She is very thin and fragile.  I could see the skin move over her bones in her face when she spoke.  Her eyes were bulging but still she managed to give me a smile.   When i looked in her mouth it was covered with what looked like a white sweater and tons of sores.  Luckily i still had a new bottle of medicine that worked on a previous visit to another woman with thrush.  So i gave it to her. 

God was so good today.  Every child i saw that needed medicine, i had just the right thing and i used all of everything i had.   

We also delivered the oranges and everyone loved getting them.  The kids just flocked around and a few even asked for more saying ‘i am hungry’.   

After seeing the children, i was feeling a little down and then around the corner was the most beautiful rainbow i have ever seen. God’s promise.  

I don’t know if the picture will reflect how beautiful it was, but it was huge. 

Today i made another home visit and again, i had just the right thing (inhaler).  So i went to the pharmacy today and replenished all my medicines, ready for the next week.  Tomorrow is a national holiday and all the kids are off school and everyone here (the adults) have gone away for the weekend except for mama, daniel and me.  Yikes.  Looks like we will be playing a lot of hide and go seek and a game they like similar to dodge ball.  Can’t wait……………………………………………….hmmmm.   Phumlani has another day of work on Saturday and sometime this weekend we plan on cleaning off his mother’s grave.  

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and i will be checking in.  We love and miss you all so much.  We love getting your messages and trust me, they keep us going and we read them ALL!!  

Love you,Jennifer, Joseph and James 

Photos!

Daniel in Jennifer’s clothes.
Daniel raises a ruckus with the children.

Our boy is all grown up! :)

Hello everyone.  Today was a great day!  Prayers answered all around.  I got the results back on the other little girl and her CD4 count was high.  Praise God!  Phumlani started his job today, his first job and he did great (except i had to run back and get his shoes that he forgot).  I drove him to work and it kind of felt like i was dropping one of my kids off at school for the first time.  I did a ‘drive by’ a little later and then realized i was being completely ridiculous.   I even took a picture. I will try to get that on later.  The computer place i go to everyday has a computer that is ‘my computer’.  I have become very possessive over it.  Someone was on it today so i couldn’t send my pics…i am there so much that the lady leaves for a break and has me watch her shop for her….:) 

I let the boys skip school today so that they could go with us to an orchard.  We filled the entire truck up (including the floor boards) with oranges and plan on taking them to the township tomorrow.  I will be seeing some sick children and checking on some orphans that Mama has heard about.  It promises to be another day of seeing what God has planned for us.  I can’t wait.   

The last time we were in Markman township, was the first time that people were hollering at us and saying ‘no’ to us being there because we are white (is what Mama said).  She said that they don’t always like us being there.  One man actually came up and opened our door before i could get to the locks.  I don’t think he would have done that if we wouldn’t have had the young girl from the school in with us and he was telling her dad he should sell her for ‘good fun’  to make money instead of begging for food….It was a hot day and there were a lot of people roaming around for some reason.  Please pray for the enlightenment of these people to see we are there to help and to do good.       

We miss you all very much and I can’t wait to tell you how our day went.   

BTW, Daniel ran four miles with me yesterday, he did great…. He is looking for sympathy today though… not a chance! 

Kisses to you all,Love, Jennifer, Joseph and James   

Communal living… gotta love it!

Hello all!  We had a great weekend.  The boys, Daniel and i went to the Addo elephant park this weekend.  We saw all kinds of animals including lots of elephants (duh).  It was a beautiful day and it was nice to just relax for a while.  But now it is time to get back to business… this week we plan on delivering more parcels, check on a few orphans that Mama has heard about and go to a couple of schools in the township so I can check out some sick children…. 

Can we talk for a moment about communal living?!!??  First of all just to give you a visual… we are living in a renovated garage.  There are six beds.  One room walled off (my room) from the larger room.  There is a toilet area and a shower area and one sink.  Now, our day starts off bright and early, as you all know, at 0430 with the rooster crowing.  It is more like phsycological warfare because he starts then they all start and it goes on, over and over and over again… So, i get up and shower or run, then i flip on the lights and start getting everyone else up.  Well, ‘getting everyone else up’ means i try to rally the troops.  I start with james (because he is the nicer one of all the others in the moring) then i go to Phumlani then joseph and then Daniel.  They don’t move a muscle.  So then i go to threats ‘the porage will be all gone if you guys don’t get up’, they start to stir.  By the time everyone is up and going and they eat their porage, it is time to all cram into the truck (like an SUV).  There are usually at least 14 of us in there in the morning.  We stop at three different schools.  Then mama, Daniel and i go and do some work. 

After the kids all get home… the garage dwellers are in and out frequently.  We go in there to journal, read, pray or listen to music but the goal is always to just get some ‘down time’… hahaha.  

In the bathroom there is always water outlining someone’s foot prints around the shower, the toilet is like a geizer when it flushes and the towels are often wet and on the floor.  There are all kinds of smells and noises that are unidentifiable in our room. The evening ends with the boys all making fun of each other and usually a ‘show down’ of some sort takes place.  After the final warning to get to bed, the lights go off,  the ‘Walton’s’ goodnight scene begins…. Goodnight Joseph, goodnight james, goodnight Phumlani, goodnight Daniel, goodnight john boy… oh….  

Despite the appetizing picture i have painted, there is always laughter, deep discussion, toothbrush conversations (we all understand each other now when we talk while brushing), sharing of clothes (Daniel put on my clothes as he has been without his bags), praying, journaling but most of all lots of love that goes on in that garage.  God had put together a wonderful thing in there…. i am sure you all wish you could be a fly on the wall… but no, i get to live that reality… :)  

God Bless and good night mom, good night sisters, good night dough boy, good night friends and family, good night all of you who are supporting us and praying for us…  

We love you so much, 

Jennifer, Joseph and James