Bradyn celebrated his 4th birthday on October 12. We had a great day at the US embassy Rec Center and then spent a quiet afternoon with just our family at Mokolodi checking out some animals.
Below: Kids running to hunt for “dinosaur” eggs
Above: The men played a little game of Bocce ball
Below: Our trip to Mokolodi
Took advantage of our giraffe friend in the back for a cool pic of the kids…no one was in danger, we promise!!
Happy 4th birthday, Bradyn!
Yesterday, Taylor and I went down and spent the afternoon with the children from the Lobatse Orphan Care Center. If you haven’t seen some of my previous posts about these children, they are selected by a social worker and these are some of the most vulnerable children who have lost one or both parents most likely to AIDs. They live with a relative that most of the time does not want them. Most of the kids come in tattered clothing or clothing that is a few sizes too small, shoes with holes in them and yesterday a little boy had on socks that had no heel or toe in them. It breaks our hearts to see this, but these children are being loved on so much through this Care Center that is at Lobatse Baptist Church and their schoolwork is improving. The little boy in the 1st picture, Lame (Lah-may), is in 1st grade and is just learning to write and can’t read quite yet. The Care Center invests time in these kids and help them with their homework and teaching them to read/write.
The ladies that volunteer at the Care Center makes and sells products to make money to feed the kids daily and to help buy them new clothes and shoes. If you would like to support them you can go to http://www.reclaimedproject.org/ where you can buy products made through both of the Care Centers here in Botswana and all the proceeds go back to the Care Centers.
The ladies sow headbands, purses, quilts, and bangles, and also make necklaces/earrings out of paper.
When I see my kids sharing Christ with others around us, my heart overflows with JOY. We have been doing a women’s and children’s bible study on Saturday mornings for the past several years and my kids have been so faithful to want to go with me. Taylor, my 7 year old, has begun asking if she can teach, so she has taught a couple of times over the last few months. I struggle sometimes as I know my husband and I were called to the mission field and of course our kids have to come alongside of us and I wonder sometimes if we are “depriving” them of a life they could have in the States. When I see my daughter stand in front of a group of kids and share the gospel with them I see the Lord working in her heart and using her…He HAS called them to be missionaries as well!
Taylor has just learned to ride her bike now without her training wheels. Bradyn also has graduated to a big boy bike and will soon have his training wheels removed. Bradyn got his bike “passed down” from Taylor and it was very pink with lots of flowers on it, SO daddy and the kids did a project of painting the bike. It is now black and blue and is his favorite thing ever. The other day before bed we asked if he wanted to read a book and he asked to go ride his bike instead for those 5 minutes. Love these kiddos!
October 9 marked 5 years in Africa for our family. Oh how much the Lord has grown us! We are thankful for our time serving here and look forward to many more years!
2009
2014
