Its Time to Catch-Up on Life

Life has been in a hectic state recently but I must take a few minutes to bring things up to speed. "Where to start" is the million dollar question. I guess I will start with everyday life.

Life has been good, hectic but moving forward in a positive stance. Our family is doing great and enjoying life. We've had many blessings over these past few months with many new visitors and returning friends from the States, Lindie's birthday, we have made new friends here, Charlie's growing-up quickly, lots of great times with The Village family and now the O'Tool family has rejoined us.

I have learned a lot over these past few months, which have been our busiest months in a long time. God graciously gave us the strength we needed to maintain The Village, work personally with the children and host teams while our co-workers were away. We feel so privileged and blessed that God desires to use us here, even when we don't deserve to be used by him.

I have been learning a lot and have been convicted that I need to recognize and seize the moments the Lord gives to me to help those around me and not to let my daily "To Do list" get in the way. I've been going through a Bible study book with the 3 oldest girls that deals with the Fruits of the Spirit. I have learned so much myself and its been a blessings to learn along side these girls. We enjoy our times together on a Tuesday evening with a cup of tea and studying.

We just finished studying about kindness and goodness. "Kindness is a sincere desire for the happiness of others; goodness is the activity calculated to advance their happiness". What a great reminder, goodness begins at home and in this stage of our life, our home encompasses The Village. To actively love and advance the happiness of those around me daily. {from the book A Young Woman's Walk with God by Elizabeth George}

As a mom of 3 young children plus the 13 living at The Village and employees, it becomes so easy to let my own agenda get into the way of the teachable moments that literally fall into my lap. I'm sure all of my other friends that are moms can relate. Or at least I hope so ;)

These past few months have passed by quickly and it is now our turn to return to The States to enjoy our family and friends. In 4 days we leave South Africa. Wow. We are looking forward to it so much. We hope to see many of you while we are back.

Where Has the Time Gone?

Where has the time gone? I seem to find myself thinking about this often these past few weeks. I have so many things that I want to share but the time hasn't allowed for that. I'm not even sure where to start.

* The O'Tools left us about three-and-half weeks ago and things have been very hectic since their departure. We miss them greatly but are so thankful that they can be back in the States with family and friends at this time. They are also busy traveling to churches and sharing about Restoring Hope Village and the work that is being done here.

Louie and Amber are a true blessing to us as friends and co-workers here at The Village. The Lord gave them to us as partners in His work at Restoring Hope Village and we are better servants for the Lord with them along side us. We miss you guys a lot and can't wait until your return in September.

* Our little Charlie turned 6 months about 2 weeks ago. He already has 2 teeth, has become very mobile with rolling over and over and can push himself backwards underneath the couch. He loves giggling, eating his toes and recently has started growling at everyone. He's such a perfect little addition to our family-we love you little Charlie!

* Construction at The Village is full steam ahead. The Lord has provided the funding to get our volunteer/guest housing started. Our first project was the Guest House that is a fully self-sufficient house for our volunteers that here for more than 2 weeks. Currently we have 3 girls here for various lengths this Winter (your summer) ranging from 2 months to 8 months.

We also have started our team bunk house and team kitchen and lounge area. We will be hosting 4 teams during the next 3 months and we pray that these areas will be done enough to be in use by July.

Right now we have a team from Point of Grace Church here helping us finish the playground Castle structure for The Village. It is requiring lots of heavy lifting and even though the team is small in number they are giving it their all and getting lots accomplished. Thank You Jean, David-Louis, and Frankie.

* We also have many more blessings to share but that will be for another post.
Let us know what you think about the Castle Playground!

Update on Our House at The Village

Its been a while since I'v posted pictures on the progress being made on our house at The Village.

This week Brian installed the windows, so that really made the house look real. They also started to layout out where the walls are suppose to go and fastening the footplates to the concrete floor. The bathtub and shower are sitting in the house now and the interior of the house has been plastered. Brian started doing this and quickly discovered he needed to hire this part of the house out. He's never plastered before and it was taking him too long.

Pictures are always better-so here ya go.

{back of our house before windows}

{bathtub and shower}

{a local company sent a backhoe and driver to help us on a Saturday.

The were able to backfill the sewer trench, dig a new trench for electrical service and

backfill that trench in one morning}

{Lindie enjoying some raisins off the dirty floor}

{There is always a little bit of time for fun with daddy}

{front of the house with windows in}

So Much Accomplished!

Wow, where has the time gone? The Point of Grace team has been gone for a week already, I have lots of blogging to catch-up on. Even with the team gone, this week remained hectic just trying to get things done around the house and the usual weekly chores.

The team was a lot of fun to have around and the amount of work they accomplished was unbelievable. The first week they were able to build the entire exterior of the house, visit Dunamis Christian School and bless 17 children with new school backpacks and supplies, visit children in the hospital and gave them small gifts, have lunch at DJ's house in Thabong and a few more things.

Here are some pictures of their first week.

{stacks of cement blocks that the team hauled over to the property.

These things are heavy, each weighing 32 pounds}

{Lunch time at the property with the team}

{By Friday, just 5 days of building, the team built the house to roof height.

The gable ends took a lot of work}

The weekend was busy but not as physically exhausting as the work during the week. We gave them two days to recuperate. On Monday the team put up all the trusses for the house. The day was a bit windy and dusty, so not overly ideal for the task at hand, but they managed. Tuesday the sheet metal went up for the roof and the team was able to secure all the roofing and start the facia work.

On Monday, we found out that the house we are renting has been sold and that we need to move by the end of November. Well, we weren't really excited to hear this news but the Lord's timing is perfect. We just need to keep relying on Him and trusting. In light of this news and because the shell of the children's house is up and the roof on, the team chose to help Brian and crew start on our house. Wow, what a blessing and praise.

On Wednesday, the team started hauling over more cement blocks in preparation for our house. By the afternoon they were busy laying the blocks. Thursday they finished hauling over the remaining of the blocks that were made and by Friday lunch time they had laid all the blocks. They were able to get the front of the house to window lentil height, the sides about half done, and the back needs a bit more. The team really saved Brian, Louie, DJ and Brilliant a lot of time and hard work they would have had to do on their own. Thanks Guys.

Pictures from their second week.

{Day 6 of construction, putting up the roof trusses}

{Day 7, installing the roof}

{Our house after 3 days of work and the team couldn't go any further

because we they used up all the cement blocks that were made}

{working on installing the sewer pipes}

Thanks Mark & Sara, Mick and Lori, Tom T and Tom L for all your hard work, wonderful spirits, friendship and fun. Come back again anytime!

Hosting Point of Grace Team

On Sunday Brian picked up a group of 6 from Point of Grace. All the team members are returning for their second, third or even the fourth time. So, its kinda like welcoming family back.

Because we don't have guest housing built yet we are hosting 2 two members in our home, 2 at the O'Tools house and 2 at some friend's house. Amber and I make lunch and deliver it to the property and everyone gather's at our home for supper, team devos and games in the evening.

The team arrived in Welkom Sunday night around 10pm and we had them working by 10AM Monday. By lunch time on Monday the team had already moved 280 cement blocks, that each weigh 32 pounds, to the property. After lunch, they jumped right into learning how to lay the blocks. By the end of the day, they had walls window high all the way around and the walls without windows were a bit higher.

This morning the team visited Dunamis Christian School and received a nice tour and then gave out backpacks and school supplies to children who needed them. The kindergarten and preschool classes sang songs and recited scripture for us. It was a wonderful morning and we were blessed by everything.

The rest of the day was spent building the house--yeah. The walls are almost roof high. You can clearly see the outline of all windows and doorways. The progress being made is awesome, encouraging, and exciting. Everything is now becoming a true reality. Trusses have been delivered for the roof and windows are ready to be picked up.

Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow and over the next two weeks.

Starting the 1st Children's House at The Village!

{The Guys from ISU}

After working two 12 hour days of shoveling cement, sand and stone into cement mixers, the guys from ISU jumped right in, on Wednesday, to start the foundation of the first children's house. These guys worked so hard and fast, that they dug the majority of the foundation in a day. Their goal was to dig and prepare the foundation by Friday, so the foundation could be poured on Monday. Ambitious goal and they achieved it.

{The guys digging the foundation for the children's house}

Thursday they finished digging the foundation, compacting the top stone, laying the plastic down and installing the steel for the foundation. Friday half of the guys made bricks with Louie and the other half formed up the foundation. By the afternoon everything was ready to go for Monday. {Exciting}

{Brian talking with a building inspector during the pour, all is A-O-K}

Around 6:30AM the guys started in shoveling and mixing cement again. This Monday, the weather was awesome-sunny, warm, and no wind. When I visited around 9AM, with a delivery of muffins, they were already 1/4 of the way done. The guys were working super fast. {of course they had a lot of experience from the week before}. When we delivered lunch around noon, the guys were more then 3/4 of the way done.

{lots of sand, stone and cement to shovel}

{the guys using the humongous screed}

They finished pouring of the foundation by 2pm and had everything cleaned up by 3:30pm. {Super exciting!} We now have 2 foundations completed and will soon be laying bricks and making houses!

{Brian power troweling the foundation}

Hard Working Team!

This past Monday, a group of 12 guys {Brian, Louie, Lenard, DJ, Brilliant, Ben & 6 guys from ISU team} tackled a huge job in weather that wasn't ideal. It hasn't rained here in about 2 months so the dust is thick when the wind blows. Monday morning we woke up to drastic change in temperature and strong winds making the property very difficult to tolerate. This didn't deter the guys from working very hard. At 6:15AM they all gathered to start pouring the foundation of our house!

On Friday they did everything they could to get all the preparations in place to make Monday go smoothly. The guys mixed all the cement by hand so we stored 3 cement mixers and a bobcat at our house over the weekend. Around 7:30 the cement started to be mixed and shortly after being poured into our foundation. After one load of cement 1 cement mixer broke down, that is another reason why they rented 3 mixers, so they could keep going even if 1 broke. Thankfully they were able to get it fixed quickly.

{they would mix the cement and than pour it into the

bob cat bucket and Brian would dump the cement where it was needed}

Amber and I tried to keep the guys well fed and hydrated throughout the day. We made many deliveries to the property of mid-morning snacks, lunch, afternoon snack and even planned on serving supper at the property if needed. The guys never stopped to eat, they took turns running over to get a sandwich, grab a muffin, drink and then right back to work.

The day was long and hard but all the guys worked together like a real team. Everyone knew what needed to be done, did their job, helped each other and stuck it out till the end.

{finished product}

The very next day the guys were already talking about getting the next foundation, the first children's house foundation, ready to pour before they leave. Wow, what a great group of guys.

Thanks for all your hard work, great attitudes and for being so fun!

{Good Friends}