Several updates

I just wanted to share a few updates with you. Mercy had her bandage removed and redressed yesterday and I am happy to report that there were no signs of infection. She has been so tough and brave and I am happy that her hand is healing up nicely. After 2 days of it being tender, she just got back to her regular old self and acted as though it never happened ;)

The staff member who inventories our donations was out sick for over a week and did not come to work to unpack all the boxes. He is back and so he and the 'Me' who is in charge of the baby houses have begun to unpack the boxes and inventory all the donations we have received. I asked Bryan to get a few pictures of them so he will hopefully have pictures of the mounds of donations soon.

Bryan and I received some really cool T-shirts that the Holland Christian girl's basketball team had made to support Beautiful Gate. They have done several fundraisers for Beautiful Gate as well and we wanted to say thanks. Also we received 2 donations this past school year from students at Zeeland Christian. One time, students did a pop can drive for us and collected cans from around Zeeland. If you know any students who are on the basketball team or at Zeeland Christian who have been involved in supporting us and/or Beautiful Gate, tell them thanks from us! It is so amazing when young students understand how important it is to help others and to care for orphans. Their love and service toward God are such an amazing testimony and example to all of us.

My last update is on the little baby girl who passed away. Family was located according to the police, but the family is either unsure the baby is theirs or may not be able to pay for the burial and service so may release her back to us. We do not know when she will be buried nor by whom at this point so we will keep you posted when we know more. The police are going to get back to us soon.
Anita

Mercy 0..... Cactus 1

So, some of you have asked us what we do on our Saturdays off. I am here to tell you that we like to spend them at the local hospital. Not volunteering, but giving them more work to do (and some of our money :) ). Today started out like most Saturdays. And after a short trip to town this morning, Anita and I decided that a nice family hike up a local mountain would be nice. Anita packed the lunch stuff and water. After parking near the local chief's house, we proceeded up the mountain. The first part was only moderately steep and the kids did a great job. So, Anita and I decided to keep going to see if we all could make it to the top. About 90% of the way to the top of the mountain, I had to help the kids go over a large rock. Mercy decided to start leading the way up from there (which was okay by me, as it started to level off again). Then Anita and I heard a blood curdling scream from Mercy. About 20 feet up from us, she had slipped and put her hands out in front of her to catch her fall. Unfortunately there was a cactus where her left hand had landed to stop her fall (she properly fell face forward toward the mountain to stop her slide).
When Anita and I arrived at the scene, we noticed blood on Mercy's hands and some thorn-like objects coming from her hand. So, I started picking out some of the easy ones. And that was when Anita and I noticed that there were two very deep thorns in Mercy's palms and one that went all the way through Mercy's ring finger! It was at that moment that I knew we were in for a long day. So, I gave my backpack to Elijah and picked up Mercy in my arms. The family then had a long decent down the mountain (remember, we were 90% to the top). I hurried as fast as I could (without falling myself with Mercy in my arms) to get back to the truck. Once there, we headed straight for the private hospital near Beautiful Gate. Mercy proceeded to get x-rays and then had minor surgery to take the thorns out of her left hand. All went well at the hospital and we are now back home at Beautiful Gate. Mercy is still a little groggy from the anesthetic (they had to put her out for the surgery). The first thing that Mercy said when she woke up was, "I feel weird!" She immediately went back to sleep.
Please pray that Mercy does not get any infections in her hand from the deep thorns. We did receive antibiotics for that and also some pain medicine. She is such a trooper and now I owe her a large candy bar for being so brave. The cute part is that she is intent on sharing her candy bar with friends and family.
So there you have it. Just another Saturday in Lesotho! :)

God Moment

Yesterday, as I was preparing to go for a walk with my friend Donna, I grabbed some change and put it in my pocket. I NEVER grab change and put in it my pocket before a walk because I like to tell the truth when people ask for money and I say I do not have any. I just felt like I needed to have some money today. We went on our walk and nothing unusual happened and no one asked for some change. On my way home I went past a tuck shop (small store) and thought about getting some fruit for the kids but we did not really need any so I kept walking home.

Once I was home, I hurried outside to take my laundry off the line. As I was busy doing that, Luky (the orphan boy we have hired to pick up litter) told me he would like to talk to me. He waited patiently for me to finish with my laundry and then told me that he is unable to cook the papa I gave him on Monday because he is out of propane and paraffin (something like kerocine I think). I began to be worried because I know we can not go out and buy him a tank of propane (don't have a car, etc). So I asked him how much it would be for paraffin and it sounded like he said R50 but when I asked again he was saying R15. I prayed that God would guide me wisdom and then I remembered the money it my pocket. I prayed there would be R15 in my pocket and so then I would know that I was suppose to help him more than just the food I have been providing each week. I pulled out my coins and sure enough I had R15 exactly. I just had to smile as I put it in his pocket. God guided me as I asked for His wisdom to know how much to help Luky and I really feel peace that our family is here to take care of him. God brought him to us for a reason and I love how obvious God's answers can be sometimes.
Anita

Our first Good-bye

Back in 2009, I came to Beautiful Gate with a mission team and one of the main jobs of our team was having the men build a memorial wall for children who have passed away while being cared for at Beautiful Gate. I never thought at the time it was being built that I'd be back here and the moment that Bryan and I have feared for the past 7 1/2 months has happened. We will be adding a new name to the wall.

A little baby girl who was sick from the time we got her a few months ago and has been in and out of the hospital with pneumonia, possibly TB and complications with HIV has lost her battle and has gone on to be held in Jesus' arms. She will be missed and I am glad that the Bo 'Me' were able to hold, feed, and love on her for the brief time we had her here. I did not get to hold her much as she was sick a lot, but my family and I have been blessed for being able to be a part of her brief stay here at Beautiful Gate (she was not placed for adoption yet for those of you who are adopting from BG and follow our blog).

I don't know when we will have her funeral or what role Bryan will have to play in that ceremony. I don't know the words yet to explain this loss and the causes of it to our children, but do plan to allow them to be a part of the funeral if they choose. I know God will comfort the Bo'Me' who cared for her and He will give us the wisdom and grace to handle this very sad loss of such a precious little daughter of God. So I will write more later but want to leave you with this poem from the memorial wall at Beautiful Gate...

Only a baby's grave-
A foot or Two at most,
Of tear-soaked earth, But a loving God
knows what the little grave cost.

Only a baby's life-
Brief as a perfumed kiss,
So quickly it goes,
But our Father knows
We are nearer to Him for this.

Boxes and Birthdays

Well, TIA is the best way to start this email. I know there are many of you who donated to Beautiful Gate and were hoping to see some pictures of the boxes being opened, but the 'Me' who inventories our supplies was not available last week so we have not been able to open the boxes yet. It is important to have her do this inventory as she is the one who puts things away in storage and hands out needed items to the houses, so she needs to know what is available so she does not buy items we don't need ;) That being said I hope (with my fingers crossed) that I can get some pictures next week.

On a different note, today was a fun adventure with a little pre-birthday celebration for Elijah and Mercy. Our friends Allan and Donna took us to a little game park about an hour and a half away, in South Africa. Once we got there and the kids got to play on a little playground for a bit, we began our adventure to go see a few wild animals. Well...Allan and Donna made it up the VERY steep hill, but we did not because our truck did not have 4 wheel drive so..... poor Bryan had to back our truck (Beautiful Gate's truck that we borrowed) down the steep hill (he is an amazing driver, I never could have done that) and Allan had to turn around at the top of the hill and come get all of us.

So, we had 6 adults and 5 children in Allan's Surf. Not exactly comfortable, but we were not going to stay at the bottom of the hill and miss out on seeing animals. We saw a few Meerkats, Zebra, Kudu, Spring Bok, Wildebeests, peacocks and several ostriches. The kids got to pet an ostrich which was cool for them but we did not get too close to many other animals. The kids had no idea we were going to see animals today, so it was a fun birthday surprise for them. Now, they will be prepared for our next safari because now they know that you have to drive around a lot if you want to see the animals ;) Maybe next time won't be so crowded either. I thought it was a wonderful way to spend the day with friends and to celebrate their birthdays which will be on Monday!

The Boxes are HERE!!!

Bryan and his friend arrived back to Beautiful Gate this afternoon and they had ALL the boxes with them! There were 56 boxes full of things for Beautiful Gate! So amazing to see them all on the back of the trailer as they pulled in. It was in the afternoon when they arrived so they put the boxes in a storage room and tomorrow they will begin to open and sort the boxes. Bryan will try to get some pictures of them as they are opening the boxes and we will do our best to post some pictures tomorrow! We may have waited for months to get this shipment, but it is here and the wait is over. I can't wait to see what has been donated and am so happy that so many people were able to think and care about the children here and have given so generously!

Some Good News

Great news! Our container has been cleared from South African Customs in Cape Town and we will now be travelling to Beaufort West on Monday to get the donated goods for Beautiful Gate and our own personal belongings that we shipped in the container. Originally, the container was supposed to arrive in Cape Town in the middle of April and get to Beautiful Gate by late April. Here we are in July and we are finally getting to the last steps. The container was delayed out of New York in February and so our container made stops in Israel, Djibouti, Durban and finally Cape Town. Once it arrived in Cape Town, we had to wait for it to clear customs. This was made longer by the fact that 1 in 5000 containers are searched, and guess what?.... Our container was the "lucky" 1!!! So, after seeing that we are not smugglers, we are now cleared. I will be driving (with Ntate KB from Beautiful Gate) to Beaufort West on Monday. On Tuesday, we will then meet up with Todd Clevenger (who has made all this possible....Thank you Todd) and help with unloading the container. Once that is completed, Ntate KB and I will return to Beautiful Gate (probably on Wednesday morning) and start to unload the donations for Beautiful Gate. This has been an amazing process from the beginning. Satan has tried to stop this container so many times. But, the Lord's plans will never be stopped and we (Beautiful Gate) are eagerly awaiting it's arrival. Once again, I cannot thank all of you who have donated to this container! The kids here at Beautiful Gate will be truly blessed by all of you!

Also, on another positive note, Anita and I may have taken care of our "car issue" as well. Not exactly what we had planned on, but here is the story. On January 29, Anita and I went to Durban and "purchased" a car from a dealer in a shipping yard. This was done because you can buy a "better" car for less money. Over 22 weeks later, we are still in Lesotho with no car from the dealer. After many efforts to contact the dealer, we have finally heard from the dealer that the car will not be sent. So, we have "donated" a lot of money to this dealer with nothing to show for it. But, at least this has given us closure on the issue of waiting for the vehicle. (We will also be looking into legal action to try and get our money back, but that seems unlikely at this point). But, on the bright side, God has shown us another (much safer) option for our vehicle. There was a previous Beautiful Gate volunteer that was here that is going home to Australia (not Alan and Donna) and is looking to sell his vehicle. That vehicle is already registered in Lesotho and will be in Maseru on Monday (hopefully). So, when I get back from Beaufort West, I hope to inspect the vehicle and potentially purchase it. The best part is that I will know exactly where the vehicle is (no waiting for a crook in Durban to ship it). It is a completely different vehicle from what I ever dreamed of, but Anita and I feel that this is what God has planned for us now. It is a 1998 Land Rover Defender 90. Check it out on google. It is not much for looks, but it will allow us to go ANYWHERE in Lesotho that we want to go. Some of the roads in Lesotho are for 4x4 vehicles only and we will be able to take any of those that we want. It will be a lot of fun to explore more of Lesotho than we ever thought possible. The vehicle is short on storage space and not great on cruising mileage, but will be awesome in the mountains of Lesotho.

So, next week may be very busy for me but also complete 2 of the 3 most stressful things in my life right now. The third is culture shock and I don't know that there will be an easy answer to that. But, Anita and I continue to thank God for His provision. We still have "ups" and "downs". but God is faithful.

To Him be the glory!

Bryan