Happy Birthday Meredith!

Meredith we want to wish you the best Birthday ever. Hope you have a very fun day.
Here is a message from Liam and Lindie.

We love and miss you. Looking forward to seeing you in September.

When your Uncle Tony gets back he should have a package for you from all of us at The Village.

Food.Singing.Dancing.

Life has been crazy busy around here but the wonderful thing is we always enjoy it. Yes, some days are long and Brian has had a lot of construction work to complete but we are now able to enjoy the buildings that have recently been built.

The houseparents and children enjoy doing a small performance when we have visitors here. The Mamas cook a traditional meal for the visitors and they enjoy eating the meal in the children's homes. A few of the Mama's favorite meals to prepare include lungs, stomach and intestine & the latest has been a pigs head with kidneys and spleen. The children love to sing and perform for our visitors. The children and houseparents have practiced and acted out the parable of the Good Samaritan and then they love to sing. Papa Revival plays the keyboard and the children sing and dance. With the last team, we were able to all meet together in the newly built Team Lounge.

Kids Bible Club & More

I have so many wonderful things to share that I'm not sure where to start. I will begin with our last group that here. We had a group from Powell Ohio and a couple from Point of Grace Church during the first two weeks in July. They had a full two weeks of ministry related outreaches and kept busy with these outreaches in the Welkom community.

They helped with outreaches and canvasing around our church, Welkom Baptist Church, and also in the OD township area for Pastor Vincent. Spent time visit children in the hospital and trying to help brighten each child's day with a little gift, hugs and smiles. They also spent time with the children here at The Village doing crafts, playing games, singing and enjoyed a traditional African meal in their homes. The team also helped with projects around The Village in painting and getting our sign up on the playground. During the teams last week here they hosted a Kids Bible Club at our Church and did an excellent job!

We held the Kids Bible Club for 3 days with our last day having over 90 kids in attendance. Allison, one of our summer volunteers, took on the role of Ranger Alli and did a super job of getting the kids excited about learning about Jesus and singing everyday.

Painting the O'Tools House

playground sign 

Game Time

Kids Bible Club at Welkom Baptist Church

Ranger Alli with a few helpers for song time

Games and Craft time

Thanks Jim, Kim, Holli, Zach, Clara, Mick and Lori 

for joining with us in the ministry here at Restoring Hope Village. 

My Half Birthday

I must share that I have the best husband in the entire world. Last week, amongst the craziness of life, he remembered that is was my half-birthday and he surprised me with gifts, flowers, and candles. He had this planned far enough in advance to have something brought over for me from the States with the team that was here. A iMac Magic Mouse. What a guy!

Thankfully we had made brownies for dessert that night and he used it as my cake. To stay in the theme of "half" he put half the amount of candles on one-half of the cake. He's not only wonderful but clever!

To clarify why he surprised me with a half celebration, it is because my birthday is in December along with our anniversary and Christmas. He always feels like I get gypped because of that and we've joked about having half-birthdays and anniversaries but never have done it before.

Thanks Babe-love you so much!

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!

Face Painting

Nana and Pops gave Liam face paint for his birthday. Of course, Liam thought painting his face would be too messy but the other kids loved it. Brian had the honors of painting everyones faces. Liam preferred the pirate dress-up toys Meredith and Drake gave him, that required no mess. 

Meredith, Lindie, Kamohelo, Drake and possibly other kids worked diligently at making Liam many birthday cakes and treats out of mud. They all loved playing in the mud and being creative with their creations. The job was messy but they got it done. {And the mothers had a bit of laundry}