Courage and happy families!

Hello friends

What a busy and challenging time we have had lately!
It seems that now that the world is in full swing, the challenges of having separated the two mainhouses are being very keenly felt.

Mom has a house full of raging teenagers, each one adding their furious fuel to the fire and I have my hands full with bouncing preschoolers and homework laden school goers! We barely see each other anymore because our usual time of "catching up" at night is no longer possible. Poor mom is carrying such a heavy burden and her kids are at such a "stinky" age, the majority of them seem to delight in causing mayhem and drama! Blah!

That's where the Courage comes in. Courage to keep going, Courage to stay strong and purposeful and courage to not compromise the standards in the house!
The word has become so laden with depth and meaning for us because to avoid an absolute meltdown a week ago, I stole Mommy away to go watch a movie and it was called "Courageous", it was such a wholesome and uplifting movie. We both came away feeling enriched and energised.

You all know that the whole point of TLC is to help form, celebrate and support FAMILY, so here are a few pics that spoke to me :-)

My happy girls watching the Microlight's flying above the local airfield on a Saturday morning!



My happy hens, the proud mommies to 17 new chicks! 

This was EXTRA special! Our beautiful boy, Warren finally found his Forever Family! He was placed with his new Mommy and Daddy on Friday and he is SO LOVED!
The initial 2 days were about relationship building and whilst his age makes it harder for him, I firmly believe he will be happy and settled in next to no time. We did a lot of preparation and the family had the right balance of closeness and allowing for space. It was beautiful to be a part of this!

I have to go now but could you all pass around this little need for us?

Our Trampoline mat is about to become "HOLEY"! They cost about R3000 to purchase new and another R700 to have it fittted or installed. Those who have visited will know how much joy the kids get out of this particular playground item and we desperately need to get a new one!

We love you all

Pippa

Three definitions of home

Hello Friends

I have been reflecting over the last few days about the meaning of :H~O~M~E

It occurs to me that each of us have similar but varying definitions for the word.

This week I have been privilege to see 3 definitions in action.

Firstly. I was approached just before the weekend last week to try and help in a most desperate situation.

There was a young girl (7yrs old) ready to be discharged from Baragwaneth Hospital. She had been there since a violent assault almost took her life in November. Physically she healed well, the damage done to her throat after it was slit had mostly healed but her broken little soul will take a lifetime.

The problem came in that whilst her mother is desperate to take her back, the man who was responsible for the attack has not been arrested and she fears for her life and the life of her 5 yr old son, on a daily basis.

Obviously we would want to help but bringing the children here was not an ideal option. After some leg work we were so blessed to find AMCARE (The outreach run by the Alberton Methodist Church). They are going to assist the mother in skills training and get her a certificate in catering and the social workers have a foster family near where the mother lives who will take the children for the interim. Our hope is that the man is arrested and the mother equipped to give her children the HOME they deserve.

The Second Experience

Lookie gets a home of her own





Many of you will remember my darling Lookie from the post long ago (http://pippaspassions.blogspot.com/2010/11/back-to-basics.html)

Well through the last few years she has been lovingly supported by TLC friends abroad, facilitated by Judy Gilmour and Liton Ministries. In late November we discovered that the house she had been living in had been registered in the name of her late sister and that her niece had inherited the house.

The niece immediately set about getting Lookie evicted and my poor old lady was once again faced with being homeless at Christmas.

But God is good and Lookie's supporters rallied around her.

This week we were able to watch her very own "HOME" being built on a plot of land in Jackson's.

This is how it went!

Lookie shows us the land she was allocated



The Builders measure up the length

They offload window frames, glass, doors, steel and wood!

They then told us "You can come back in an hour and it will be done!"  We all laughed ofcourse! It takes longer than that to build a child's playhouse, surely?

Anyway, we went and visited Zoe's project, Mama Tracey's Miracle Creche. As always she was doing a tremendous job and the children all greet you with a VERY LOUD cry of  "HOW ARE YOOOOOOOUUUUU!"   It is so sweet.

After an hour we went back and to my surprise ...

There was a house where we had stood!

Lookie was so very happy.

The next day we went and delivered sand and cement for the floor to be completed and I will be giving her several items for her house that we recieved lots of when we made our appeal for the new farm.

Last but not least ...

We placed a baby this week. Not an unusual event by any means but more or less the first of the year. She went to a beautiful, local family and what was unusual was that I got to spend a good deal of time (a couple of hours) getting to know the family and really connecting.

It reminded me of what a privilege we have doing this work.

Making babies feel at home then sending them truly home ... what a gift.

Thank you to everybody who helps us do this work. Thank you for being stirred when we are stirred, for reaching out when we need it and for allowing this great would to continue.

To all of you who know us closely, please keep mom in your prayers. It has been a physically exhausting few weeks for her and she is struggling to keep her head above water. Please send up prayers for her rather than messages to her as these  at the moment are adding to her stress because she feels overwhelmed when she struggles to answer everything.

Last but not least!

PLEASE will our South African friends sign up to sponsor us on the MY School Card system. It costs you nothing but will help us tremendously! Email pa@tlc.org.za fpr details!

WE LOVE YOU ALL

Pippa