April 2005 Newsletter

Hello all

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Proverbs 15:22

What encouraging words!

Although you always hear from me, there are a team of people who work with me, in making Sinakekele a reality, and I could not do this on my own. So - a big "thank you" to my committee for all their support and commitment.

In the last newsletter I shared with you all the gloomy things that have gone wrong at home. The last few months haven’t been too bad. The car cost a whop to fix (had to replace brake thingies as well), and then another window at home broke. Don’t know what it is with windows in my house at the moment. I have lived there for 6 years and never replaced one piece of glass. Now, I’m losing count how many I’ve had to replace in a period of a few months!

Added to this, as many of you know, was being held up at gun point in our home, in an armed robbery.

We are all fine, and God has been very good to us. He protected us from harm, and many people have rallied around us to assist with our losses. To each one of them – a VERY BIG thank you.

I am very thankful for God’s protection and for the wonderful people God has surrounded me with. My car has been recovered and should be back on the road very soon.

KIDZ NEWS:

Siya and Si are really enjoying school. Mary and Jake are a bit lost at home I think, but I will try and include some constructive play into their day now that I am around.

Simon and Siya took part in an easter concert at school. Simon went up on stage, but Siya (who usually has the most to say) – no can do! – no one was getting him to stand in front of all those scary looking people!

    

We spent the Easter weekend down at Aunty Daph’s house and that was quite fun. The kids enjoyed the outing to the bird park. We gave Jake a new look – see for yourself.

Ice cream’s at Aunty Daph’s house – very good stuff!

Siya is back on anti retroviral therapy, and so far so good. He is responding well, and we are very thankful to God for his hand on Siya’s life.

Simon and Jake are still having occupational therapy which is very beneficial to the both of them.

Mary is a real little people person, she loves to be kind, and to hug and love everyone.

Jake has hair that lends itself to dreadlocks, so our helpers have given him a new hairstyle. He looks SO cute! I haven’t taken a photo of him yet, but I will, and I will send it with the next newsletter.

Both Mary and Jake have learned a new phrase. "I don’t like it!" So – dinner time usually starts with – "I don’t like it!", then we taste it, and then we eat eat it – sometimes.

Simon and Siya also have a new phrase. "What happened?". So whenever anything is said or done, they ask the question. "What happened Mommy?"

Tazz and Jay are doing OK (sorry guys – I didn’t take any updated photo’s).

They were very brave during the robbery. Both of them remained remarkably calm, and Justin was amazingly observant and managed to give the police information about what they looked like and what they were wearing. (I couldn’t remember a thing!) Justin contacted the police straight after the incident, while I hit the panic button. I was so proud of both my kids. Tazz immediately reminded us to give thanks to God for our safety. No doubt it was traumatising for them though, so please do keep them both in your prayers.


OUR NEEDS:

Firstly, we need to maintain sustainability, and thereafter, find the funding for property. These are our biggest needs. There is much work to be done, and many babies being abandoned and orphaned daily. I am praying that God will make a way for us to move very soon, so that I can begin doing what God has called me to do.

Smaller needs are as follows:
Food

Daily expenses need to be covered (like electricity, phone etc)

Simon and Siya’s school fees needs to be covered (about R800.00 each per month)

Simon and Siya both do ball skills at school (R90.00 each per month). (I know this is not a necessity, but I could never tell them they cannot take part in this when all the other children in their class take part).

Siya and Jakes hospital consultation fees (R130.00 each per month)


Our wish list:

Property (My personal wish is the Flag Animal Farm).
A combi
A reasonably spec’d notebook that I can use for web design and presentations
A data projector and a data projector screen – for presentations


Happenings:

I have now finished working and spent the first week of May at the Love of Christ Ministries in Gauteng, with Thea and her family. The Love of Christ Ministries (TLC) is the ministry after which I am modeling Sinakekele. I also adopted Simon from TLC)

This is a ministry run by an amazing lady and her family, and it was VERY special to me, to start this new chapter of my life, at TLC. I did some "in service training", and learned a lot about how they run their ministry. It was a very blessed time and I really do admire the work that Thea and her family do, as well as their ethos and their dedication. Thea’s love for the Lord shines so brightly in what she does.

I am now planning to put what I have learned from them, into practice.

Our fundraising dinner went OK. We did not raise a huge sum of money, but did raise some, and the auction was fun. It was a really enjoyable evening, and we will certainly have another one in the not too distant future. Next time, will be better, I am sure we will have learned from the mistakes we made.

Umhlanga Baptist Church has started a "Bread and Milk" collection which has been working very well. Marge very kindly purchases bread and milk every week, and delivers it to us – which is such a big help. THANK YOU to all.

A funding organization called Cunina, from Belgium heard about Sinakekele, and came to visit us. I presented our vision to them, took them out to see the property that I have told you all about, and they then came back to my house for lunch and time with the children. I am awaiting news from them now and pray that they will be able to assist us with funding of some sort. Every bit of help we get will make it possible for us to realize our vision and achieve our objective – Raising the Future!


And from my heart:

Thank you to the young ladies from Morris Stella School, their families and their teacher who have "adopted" Sinakekele.

Thank you to all the people who have donated various items to us, and who come and help with the children. To every one who has donated material goods, money, time, professional skills etc, I say a very big thank you to each one of you.

I received an email from a friend, and I was really touched by her words. So, I decided to share her words with you all:

"I realised that I don't want to get to the end of my life and think "I've done well, we have a big house and lots of money for our children ". I want to know that I've been used to do something great for God."

I pray that each one of us will realize what the REALLY IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE ARE.

Yours in God’s service
Ruth