Isaac Update

“Thank You For Your Prayers…”

 

Just look at the little guy…in just a week and a half he has gotten so big.  The staff at the hospital decided to keep him for a total of 6 days making sure that Isaac was out of danger.  Since he has been home, he doesn’t stop eating.  Before he could barely make any noises, his cries sounded like the chirping of a little bird, but now when he is hungry everyone knows about it.  The older children are helping to take very good care of him and the other babies we have at the orphanage.  He is more alert and active then ever, enjoying the company of the mother’s at the house.  We will continue to pray that Isaac stays healthy as he puts on more weight and begins to develop his fine and gross motor skills.  He is going to be a big, healthy boy :o)

El Roi

“God Hears”

So often we pray and wonder if God is listening to us, whether or not he hears our prayers and answers them.  In the Bible, God clearly tells us that he does hear our prayers and he always answers them, even if we don’t always recognize it.  Only once, in the whole Bible, is God ever referred to as ‘El Roi’.  It was by a lady named Hagar, a maid servant to Sari (Abram’s wife) whom gave her to Abram to bear Sari a child.  God had promised Sari and Abram that he would give them a child and from this child would come many nations, but Sari (like most of us) became impatient and tried to fulfill God’s will on her own.  Once Hagar became pregnant, she treated Sari with contempt and Sari, in return, treated Hagar harshly.  So Hagar ran away into the desert, pregnant and all alone.  As she wondered in the heat of the desert, God heard her cry of distress and sent an angel to comfort and direct her with his words.  After her encounter with God, Hagar praised him calling him El Roi, for he heard her cry and answered her. 

God heard our prayers for Isaac and gave us a miracle.  We got a phone call Saturday evening telling us that little Isaac was alright.  God gave him enough strength to hang on long enough for the IV tap to rehydrate him and the medication to keep him from vomiting anymore.  They say that he is going to be fine and they were planning on releasing him Monday morning, but decided to keep him for a few more days to make sure he is really healthy.  Rachel told us that he is eating very well and starting to gain more and more weight!  We are hoping he will be very fat by the time they let him go from the hospital.  Please continue to pray that he stays healthy while he works his way up to the normal weight of a 1 month old baby.  Clearly this one has favor with God and we will always remember the day God saved him, bringing joy and happiness to many who have been praying and caring for him. 

As most of you know…God did fulfill his promise to Sari and Abram (Sarah and Abraham) giving them a son named Isaac. 

Isn’t it amazing how God works?!?!?!?!

Isaac means HAPPINESS

Intercession for Isaac

 

Calling all prayer warriors…

Our newest member at the orphanage, Isaac, is in desperate need of your prayers right this very moment.  His relatives brought him to us after his mother died of a serious infection in her mouth, this past Sunday.  This beautiful baby boy was born one month early, and is now 34 days old.  Isaac came to us weighing only 2.6kgs and has not been gaining weight, despite his frequent feedings.  After a night of vomiting, diarrhea, and not much formula, little Isaac was extremely dehydrated and immediately rushed to the hospital.  It took us three hours to drive out of the bush and get to the nearest, decent hospital in Zimba. 

Shortly after getting him registered and testing his vitals, the doctor saw us.  After a brief interview, the doctor quickly started Isaac on an IV, with medication for vomiting and admitted him to the hospital for a minimum of 4 days.   

Right at this very moment, this little boy is fighting for his life…I too want to fight for his life asking God for a miracle.  Please join me in continuous prayer for this little one, being very persistent with our pleas before our Father. 

 

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.”

Jeremiah 29:12

Spring Cleaning

 

Like most houses, the orphanage house was ready for a heavy duty spring cleaning. With all the babies that we have living with the mommies at the house, their rooms are getting quite crowded. So we thought we would rearrange the rooms so that the mothers can have more space, however, the mothers did not like that idea because the children’s rooms are infested with bed bugs. The bed bugs are a huge problem and they have been sprayed a couple times, but it hasn’t gotten rid of them yet. Since we have two other girls here helping for the week, we decided it was time to get everything out, spray really well, and clean the house from top to bottom.

We had the children and mothers get everything out of the house one evening and went in early the next morning to spray while the children were at school. We started in the ceiling and sprayed them out on to the ground. They were everywhere…once the whole house had been sprayed; we sprayed the beds outside, the mattresses, pillows, and anything else that we could not wash or iron. Everything that was washable came here to our place and we did laundry for three days straight washing all the sheets, blankets, clothes, curtains, pillow cases, stuffed animals, and so on…everything was hung in the sun to dry and then put under a hot iron. The moms and children had to sleep outside two evenings because the fumes were so strong and we wouldn’t allow any clothing to go inside the house until it was washed and ironed. We are going to be very strict on the children’s rooms and the washing of bed sheets and clothes from now hoping to eliminate the bug problem. We are praying that these efforts are enough to have removed all the bugs and the eggs. These bugs are very painful and we found tons of blood stains on the sheets from where the bugs were biting the children and leaving sores on their arms and legs.

Everyone seems a lot more happy now that we have cleaned out the house rearranged all the furniture and settled back in. The moms are in the biggest rooms in the house, with lots of play space for the babies (now they can have out all their toys, bouncy seats, and play pins without being disturbed by the older children). By having a space big enough for all the babies, the moms have the opportunity to leave all the babies in the room with one mom, while the others are able to get work done and the babies can be stimulated by things around  them. The children also seem happier cleaning out their drawers and junk they have been keeping, but no longer need. We are also having the children mend all their clothes that have holes or are missing buttons to teach them to take care of their things while they have them. They know they only get “new” clothes once a year, so they have to pace the rate at which they wear everything.

Through all this hard work, we are really praying hard that it solved the bed bug problem! Please pray with us that these bugs are gone and won’t enter into the orphanage ever again…they are hard to get rid of, but with God on our side, we it’s not even a small battle. It is a much safer and  cleaner environment for the children, babies, and moms :o)

Home Improvements

 

Living in the bush always leads to unfinished projects…Amber and Jako’s house (which they have been in for over a year) still was lacking inside doors, curtain rods, electricity in room, lights in rooms, ceiling boards, a finished guest toilet, and a finished guest shower. The goal is to get all these things completed before the baby arrives in December, along with all the building of the furniture for the school. Obviously Jako needs to be involved all around to get things done…so as soon as we got back from South Africa we went to work on the house. My thinking is that if I help him get the house things finished, Amber will be very happy and then we can focus on building furniture for the school.

In the past couple weeks, God has allowed us to make very good progress: Jako and I were able to finish the guest toilet (with a small basin), finish the guest shower (also with a small basin), put on all the inside doors, put lights in every room in the house, run electrical wiring to  every outlet in the various rooms, install curtain rods, put up curtains on every window, and handles on most of the doors.

With all the projects we have going on; two missionaries from town came out to join us for a week to help out around the house. These two girls have been such a blessing…they organized and inventoried all our paint to see what was available, they varnished all the doors in the house and the outdoor ones that needed it as well, they painted the inside doors, organized and cleaned the kitchen, help prepare daily meals, helped with laundry, inventoried medicines at the orphanage, worked hard on our orphanage spring cleaning frenzy, and they are planning on painting the bathrooms before going back to town. They were able to move our home improvements along much faster than we would have been able to without them.

The one thing I have learned since being here is that it is very hard to actually finish something you start in a timely manner. Often, no matter how much you plan ahead, something is bound to go wrong and being out in the bush, the materials you might need are not easily accessible. God is definitely  teaching me patience and to work with what we have…there are no Home Depots where you can go to get quality materials for projects and since nothing is ever as it should be, it always takes hours to make a new plan in order for the materials we have to work. Despite all the “TIA” moments, we are making progress and whenever Kalomo gets more wood, we will be able to order supplies for the school furniture and get to work on building shelves, cubbies, tables, and other things needed to get started.

Please continue t pray that we are motivated to keep working diligently, even though things don’t go how we planned. Pray that we have strength to finish everything before our departure to South Africa for the baby. Pray that we remember that we are working for the Lord and only Him…that  everything we do should bring glory and honor to him and him alone!

Immanuel: “God With Us”

 

While we were all in South Africa, we received a call from Charles telling us that we had someone bring us a two week old baby. The baby’s mother was in the clinic and expected not to live long and the father was nowhere to be found, so Amber gave permission to keep the baby and care for it until we got back here to evaluate the situation. Once we got back we heard many different stories about this baby and his parents. When we got it all sorted we heard that the mother was still in the clinic, however, she was physically and mentally ill not fit to care for the little one. We tried to track down the father, but whomever the grandparents thought it was, denied everything and left their village. Now the baby is left with a very ill mother and no father to speak of…a few days later we heard that the mother had passed away, leaving this child doubled orphaned and able to be taken in by MOL.

This little boy is named Immanuel and what a perfect name for the situation that he found himself in; only being in the world for two weeks and having no mother or father to care for him. Immanuel means “God with Us” and I think it is clear that God had his hand over Immanuel since the moment he came out of his mother’s womb. He is now happy and healthy at the orphanage getting the formula and nutrients he needs to allow his body to develop properly. He is surrounded by mothers and children who love him and will constantly show him the love of Christ.

Immanuel is now our 6^th baby and the 16^th child in the MOL Orphanage…we have 4 spaces left before MOL will have to think about building another house for the children who are coming their way.

I love how the community looks after this orphanage and the children there…they take pride in their work and often look out for children who are doubled orphaned, not receiving the proper care they need to survive. Men and women in this area are being transformed by the work that God is doing through this orphanage and that’s what it is all about!! Praise God…for He is ALWAYS with us!!

 

“The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”

Psalm 121:7-8

Welcome Sanford!

At the end of August we took in another little boy…Sanford.  Sanford is 4 years old and in desperate need of proper care.  He is extremely malnourished, has TB in his stomach, orange hair, a bloated belly, and a very unpleasant home life.  Sanford’s mother passed away in 2009 from heart complications and he has a sibling at another orphanage in town.  He was staying with his grandfather who had six other children he is caring for.  The grandfather's second wife refused to care for Sanford since he was not her child, so the little boy was not receiving regular meals, baths, clothes, or love.  The house they are all living in is made of sticks and no one cared enough to even put mud between the sticks to keep the harsh winter cold out.  I cannot imagine how these children are surviving, especially Sanford…only by the sovereignty of God.  Needless to say, he is the only double orphan living in that environment and after interviewing the grandfather and his children, everyone agreed that it was in the best interest of Sanford to move into the orphanage.  At the MOL Orphanage he will receive three proper, nutritious meals a day, his own bed to sleep in, clothes for all seasons, shoes on his feet, a bath every night, love from mommies, companionship with the other children, and the gospel…the most important thing of all!

Being 4 years old, Sanford realizes everything that is going on, but he does not understand why.   Please pray for this little boy…we had to leave quickly for South Africa after he came, so I have not been able to check up on him, but the morning we left, Belita said he was doing great.  The older children are working hard to make him feel safe and at home, however, I can only imagine how scary and uncertain a new environment can be for children at that age.  Ask God to comfort him when he is scared, to give him peace, to physically heal him, to allow himself to be loved, and to put a new joy in his heart.  We know that God knows all of our needs and takes care of them when we put our faith in him alone and seek his kingdom above all else!!

 

“But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.” 

Matthew 6:30-32