The Tables were Turned

On Mother’s Day, we were so blown away by the Beautiful honor and love our children showed us Mamas! It was a special day indeed; some of our older girls had stayed home from church, claiming to be too tired to go to church! ;) It was during church, 2 of us missionaries got notice that we needed to have an emergency family meeting and EVERYONE needed to come straight home after church.

 It was this kind of emergency that called us home:

The table was set with beautiful flowers around each of the plated dishes of an incredibly delicious meal to honor and feed each one of us on this special day!! A meal made by our children’s hands and served with LOVE! There was a vase with freshly picked flowers and a Happy Mother’s Day sign posted on the wall and on the table was a card with personal written notes to each of us!

 It is this kind of moment, when you realize that Jesus is at work in such a mighty way and that we have the incredible privilege to be apart of something so powerful and life changing; that the children would initiate turning the tables and pouring into those of us who have laid down our lives to serve Jesus and raise the future leaders and world changers of South Africa and the Nations!!

Local Mamas Gain Eternal Fame

Here at Michaels Children’s Village, we are quite filled to the brim at the moment with our family goings on and needs; many of our older girls have activities to attend to requiring transport, tutoring in addition, including emotional support that require much patience and love. We are a small team of volunteers and yet, somehow, there always seems to be enough!! Don’t get me wrong, the to do list continues to be long as it goes beyond children’s needs as there are things to be fixed, parts to buy, emails to return, paperwork with deadlines and the list could go on. There are surely days that you go to sleep very exhausted not even remembering what you had done, yet we press on.

Our newest addition to the family!

In our family homes, currently all three of our mamas have at least 8 children in their house (all have at least one toddler, one of them has 2, one has 4 babes/toddlers!!!!). About two weeks ago, we got a call that there were two children, a 6 year old and a 1+ year old child that would both end up on the streets as there was nowhere for them to go, both emergency cases. Our mamas heard this, prayed and without hesitation said, YES!!!
Like I said, with natural eyes, we are very FULL and the needs of our children and small base can at times seem endless, yet in this upside-down backwards Kingdom, the Jesus from within our mamas said, YES!! Only Jesus can give us His eternal perspective and eyes to view circumstances and situations! And with complete trust that if Jesus said YES to them, then He will ensure that we have enough GRACE, LOVE, ENERGY, JOY… for each of our children. As I got the news from our mamas, I was moved to tears. If I am really honest at that moment, I would not have come up with the same answer they did. I am reminded yet again, I get to work with heroes and I get to call them Family. They may never be famous here on earth nor may their names ever leave South Africa or even our province of Mpumalanga for that matter. However, in eternity, in the only place where fame is forever, these mamas are famous and their stories are being recorded in the book of life!

Their eternal rewards will be rich then, but for now, they give tireless hours, waking very early, changing diapers, cooking, soothing crying babies, tending to siblings arguing or waking at night to care for a sick child! They are looking after our children, the ones that will become world changers, they will be leaders in the next generation and forever change South Africa and the world!!