Thirteen Days into a twenty year old DREAM!

Today is day thirteen of having our little “Beloved” in our home.  He is a loveable, social, clever little chap who sleeps well at night, except when he is teething of which we have had two such nights so far and he does not think napping when the sun is out is a good idea.  I believe it has a lot to do with being afraid he will miss out on some adventure… he really does not want to miss a thing!

The journey to take him on as our child probably started in seed form in our hearts twenty odd years ago, and one of the major factors hindering the decision to do this sooner was not the size of our hearts, but the size of our home and the amount of money in our bank.

Two years ago, I attended an orphan summit in Pretoria and I found my heart really challenged to believe God to even use us with our constraints.  I really believed we would soon be opening our home.  I did not share this with Holger yet, as I wanted to be sure it was God and that I could say yes to him.  The passion to do more for orphans burned in my heart as a brighter flame.

It was not long after this that Moriah-Jane, who is currently residing in Frankfurt Germany came and showed me an article about adoption and told me that she would adopt one day and then checked in with me why we had not.  I explained our constraints and she challenged my faith.  I then had the conversation with my family about what had been stirring in my heart. 

Life got busy and I was working through the impact of my pastor and boss’s death on my work and soon the thought was not foremost in my mind any longer.  We also were joining a new mission station and trying to see how we could get better supported and funded in the work we do.

In May, last year I led a Camp Africa camp for The Connect Network in Somerset West, and I had no idea when I signed up for this camp how it would change my life FOREVER!

I was exposed head on to the foster care system of our country.  I met the children up close and personal on the camp and I felt myself drawn into their world and the mothers that took care of them.  It was not long and Barbara and I were writing new material and running parenting workshops for these mothers.  In this process though I was deeply changed by their faith and the sacrifices they had made to take care of some of the most vulnerable of our society.

After that camp and during the process of training Holger and I were discussing with Kin Culture our potential role of being Foster Parents with them.  I was very attracted to the idea of Kin, firstly because of the community of believers involved and their incredible passion for children.  It really felt for me like I was coming home…

It did not take long for us all to figure out that the stirring in our hearts was what they had been praying about too.  They had been looking for people like us.

Things moved very quickly for us all once we were sure that together we could all bring a vision to life together.

When we got back from Germany we moved onto the farm where the project runs and into the first home set aside for a family to take in up to four foster children.

A week later we had a little one year old crawling around the house and even further into our hearts…

In the last week, we have had our three little girls who will hopefully join our family very soon visit us.  Both days they were here were very special days and we clearly have all chosen each other.  The farm is an ideal environment for children to grow up.  I cannot wait for the girls to come for good and to then very soon see more houses being built on the farm and other families similar to ours join us in this community and be a part of seeing their four beautiful “new” children enter their homes.  This journey is so exciting for me… I am blown away to be a part of this and for the incredible home we have and the amazing neighbours and my house doctor.

Please pray that our three little girls will join our family very soon.

Please pray for their little hearts and heads as they make sense of it all and for my family too as we adjust to the huge changes we have gone through.

Thank you Beloved for sleeping long enough for Mama to write this!