May 2007 NEWSLETTER

Hello all


It has been a good few months since my last news letter and I am really sorry about this. I have been working full time again since January which results in not much free time. The little time I do have to spare is used up by the children and I usually just plop into an ineffective heap at the end of the day. SO ..., I have neglected the writing of a newsletter. :(

On the up side, I am very thankful for God's provision through this job, and although it is a very busy job (that's an understatement), I do enjoy it. It is kinda "comfort zone" - Territory that I am comfortable in. I keep telling myself that I must not allow myself to become too comfortable. If God says "go", I must be willing to let go.

As most of you know, Pastors Salina had offered to let us lease some of their land for our building. They have instead decided to donate to Sinakekele about three quarters of an acre of land which is separated from the bulk of their land by a road - as per picture below. There is also a possibility that we will be able to obtain the strip of land adjacent to this and I will know more about this within the next month.

I am currently in the process of arranging for the land donated by Pastors Salina to be transferred to Sinakekele, but before this can happen their land must be sub-divided. I was given the name of a quantity surveyor, who informed me that he himself was adopted, and thus would do the sub division at no cost. How amazing is our God?

All we will need to pay will be certain council / administration costs in this regard. Once the land is subdivided, we can go ahead and arrange for the piece of land to be transferred into Sinakekele's name.



Through a wonderful couple in our church, who assisted me in an application to a specific Trust fund - we have secured R200 000.00 towards the building costs / capital expenditure. Through another wonderful lady who has an international contact we are anticipating a donation of another R200 000.00 towards capital costs.

Oh man isn't this just so wonderful!

We are aiming at erecting prefabricated buildings (made of wood), which work out more economical than building with blocks and which go up within a period of about 6 - 8 weeks. Prior to starting the buildings we will need to fence the land of course.

We are going to need additional funds to accomplish our objectives but we are very excited that things are starting to move forward, and we really hope that we will be able to get up and running and serving again soon.

The initial costs of getting up and running, at bare minimum are probably about R750 000.00. This is a conservative figure but would enable us to move out to the farm and open our doors once again to the babies. And of course our prayer is that every little life we touch will find the perfect family.

My wonderful young volunteer from Switzerland, and her brother, organized a rock concert (her brother plays in a rock band), in aid of Sinakekele. The proceeds will be used to purchase a vehicle that can be used for transporting the children to and from school. Currently the volunteers have to come with me to work in the mornings and bring my car back to use for fetching the children.

This means that I have to get a lift home from Westville each night, so a Sinakekele car will be most welcome.

To every person who assists us in whatever way - through prayer / encouragement / meeting our material needs / funding / finances - such a very big thank you goes out to each and every one of you. Bless you all.

For those of you already registered on the "My Family" web site, go and take a look - Cindee has updated the site with new pictures of the children.

For those of you who are not registered - this is a secure website where we can put up photos of the children, news, comments etc. It is a really fun site, and it costs you nothing to register. If you would like to gain access to this website in order to see new photos / post your own photos or post news, please send an email to cindee@sinakekele.org.za and she sill arrange for your registration. You will LOVE it!


KIDZ NEWS:
From left to right - Simon, Siya, Mary, Jake

Siya, and Jake have just celebrated their birthdays. Siya turned 6 and Jake - 4. It is hard to believe that they have grown so fast.

Who wouldn't be proud of such a beautiful bunch of munchkins!

Siya is on a drug which is not usually supplied as a free anti retroviral drug, and chances are that the hospital that supplies it to me for free is going to be unable to do so in the next month or two, as they will now be getting their drugs from the state pharmacy. This means that we may need to start purchasing this particular drug privately. The hospital is motivating for this drug to be provided and we await their response to the motivation.

Siya has done SO remarkably well on this particular drug, (he does not really have any other options left when it comes to ARV's) - that I will do whatever it takes to ensure that he continues to get his monthly supply of Abacivir (Ziagen).

He is such a smart boy. I really feel that God will use this boy in a powerful way. He loves talking about God, and praying for the other kids when they are sick or have hurt themselves. The other day when I scolded him for not taking his medicine straight away when I had given it to him - he told me he was not concerned because he wanted to go to God in heaven. He has the most incredible imagination and I think from spending time talking about heaven and what it is like, he has created his own image in his mind and he is ready to go there!

Needless to say I had to tell him that we don't get to decide when we go - God does, and that God has a special purpose for his life here on earth.

Simon is doing very well, and although he has just (at the age of 5½ ) started having his 3 yr old tantrums - his school teacher is very happy with his progress. He is pretty much maintaining his own within the class and is keeping up. I am 100% positive that he is going to do just fine and will achieve all his dreams and ambitions. He needs to get going with speech therapy as soon as we can afford it as this will assist him with his ability to communicate. I think once the OT has finalized her assessment in the next 2 weeks we will stop the OT and start speech therapy. I am really thrilled with his progress this year. The cost of the pre school fees has been worth every penny! Simon has lost about 8 of his baby teeth already. It is so funny - because he barely even notices when they fall out. He now has this sweetest toothless smile.

As Mary had never been to preschool before - she was started in a class with children about 6 months younger than herself. She was doing superbly well and was moved up to her correct age group at the beginning of the second term. I thought the transition would be more traumatic for her, as she was very unsure of being separated from Jake, but she managed fine, settled in quickly and is doing really well. She is such a little honey - always watching out for her "baby" brothers. (Never mind that two are twice her size). Mary loves to read, but she cannot resist picking or tearing any little bit of anything that looks like it could be picked or peeled. So, after some of my lovely books started looking really worse for the wear, we decided that magazines would be better in her hands than books.

Jake is still with the younger class. Although he is a month older than Mary on paper, he is still very much the baby. He is such a comical little boy and keeps us laughing at his antics and his comical way of talking. Jake was a bit of a bully and I started getting letters from his teacher complaining about him bullying the children at school. (SO - after a fair two warnings that "children who bully other children can't go to school" - he was left at home one day. Now - Jake just LOVES going to school. He didn't really believe me, and prepared himself for school in the morning, put his bag on his back and waited at the front door. Well, when he realized that we were really leaving him at home he was devastated. So was Mary. We left Jake at home crying and took Mary to school crying. The punishment had the intended results though, and that was the end of the bully. He regularly reminds me "that he didn't hurt the children today".

Tazz is doing well and enjoying all her sport, sport and sport. She is really growing into a beautiful young lady. This is a typical Tazz statement. "Tazz is cool". Tonight she said "let's go for an ice-cream and celebrate the coolness of me." Oh - she cracks me up!

Justin is doing fine and is getting ready for exams which start in a couple of week's time. He will soon be getting ready for his matric dance which will be fun for him.

His best friend has just lost his mother in an accident. We pray that God would provide comfort and peace to his family at this sad time. Justin has really been a wonderful friend and has spent as much time as he could with his friend. He felt so helpless to see his friend so sad. They are really close buddies.

Justin passed his Bike and car licenses earlier this year which is SO wonderful. He is able to take himself where he needs to be, and is also able to assist with fetching and carrying Tarryn on occasion.

I think I am about to start suffering from empty nest syndrome - even though my nest is not empty. At the end of this year, Justin will have completed his schooling and will probably go overseas for a gap year. I don't know if I am ready to let go. How could it have come so fast? Just the other day he was my little boy! ! !

I will have to get a good picture of the two big ones - sorry don't have one right now. I will post one onto the My family web site.


VOLUNTEERS:

HOORAY - It is SUCH a huge relief to have volunteers. I was really starting to feel frazzled and the whole family was taking strain.

First Cindee and Melissa arrived in March and in April Megan arrived. The girls are such a wonderful help and because there are three of them they are able to have sufficient time off. The whole family is feeling the relief of having help around and things have improved immensely. Our old volunteer and friend Carolyn will be coming for 3 weeks in August and we are all really looking forward to seeing Carolyn again. Carolyn is the young girl who put the life back into baby Jakes eyes, when he first came, as just a hollow little scrap of humanity. Carolyn - you are not going to believe how big your baby boy has got.

The volunteers have integrated themselves into a local church where they are really happy. It is awesome to see them all on fire for God. They have made friends with the young adults at church and now have a social life which is wonderful.

I feel so blessed!!!
(From Left: Megan, Melissa, and Cindee)


NEEDS:
It is still a bit of a struggle making ends meet each month. Rentals are few and costly so we are really trusting that God would move us to the farm sooner rather than later.

Space is also a problem. The three volunteers have rented a flatlet along the way, but this is not ideal as they really can't afford it. Our house is not suitable as they never have any "off time" if they are staying in the house. Beside which it is very cramped. If we do not manage to move onto the farm within the next few months we will need to pray for free accommodation somewhere close by for the volunteers or alternately a house with a cottage - within our budget.

Our main aim right now, is to get the funds we need to get us onto the farm. Step one - Fencing. Step 2 - house no 1 (to live in), and step 3 - nursery for babies (so we can start reaching out.). Pastor Salina has offered his flatlet under his house as accommodation for the volunteers until we can setup a volunteer cottage.


And from my heart:

I went to the official opening ceremony of Grace Family Church. Bill Hybel from Willowcreek church (USA) brought the message, and I was really convicted by his message. Bill invited everyone to pray the following prayer: "Lord, I invite You to rock my world - today." - And then, he said - be ready to carry out God's instructions meticulously - and watch and see how God uses you. . .

I pass on this invitation. . .

Blessings
Ruth



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