Hi friends,

I was busy congratulating myself for writing so frequently and realized last week that it will have been a month! Time sure flies in this life.

Last time I wrote, I had been enjoying a more relaxed schedule over the holidays and was bedridden with flu! When I began to feel better early into the new year, I quickly picked up the old familiar and BUSY pace of life with my babies at Door of Hope. I've celebrated birthday number 29, which means I have begun my 30th year of life! You know how it is (if you've hit the mark)... there's something about the approach that kinda makes you evaluate your life. The Lord is busy enlightening me with new hopes and dreams for the future and as it turns out... year #30 is going to be a pretty exciting one, I think!

I have so loved the return to my little blessings in Johannesburg. At the same time, with all of the transition that I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, it has been a BIG challenge. Our social workers have been working hard on the toddler cases and though great progress has been made, we still have five children in the house. In light of this, we’ve fortunately been able to slow the program’s closure down and focus on the right placement for the kids. They have been with us for years in some cases. For many of them, the obstacles in front of them as infants remain, and moving through the legalities is very time consuming. Please continue to pray for each of our oldest who remain: boys “A”, “T”, “D” and “little A”, and for our sassy girlie “P”. Adoption is still the preference for each of them, but fostering will also provide a family environment which would be superior to being transfered to another home. They are affected by the changes happening around them, and your prayers would be very much appreciated during this time. Pray that they continue to feel loved above any other emotion they may be experiencing as things change all around them. Pray that God will protect their hearts and continue to remove those obstacles set before them.

On the 17th of January we received another precious blessing through our baby bin. This baby girl was in dire medical condition and was rushed straight to the hospital by my colleague, Lindsay, as I was in Pretoria doing a handover with two of our children. When I walked into her room in the hospital, the Lord broke my heart for this baby girl. At 14 months, she was weighing in at only 9 lbs. She was malnourished and very ill. The Lord had placed a name on my heart and I had been expecting a tiny little girl to arrive and take it. The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew this was the beautiful girl I had been waiting for! Early on she was battling, catching one thing after the other and there were times it did not LOOK like she would make it. I prayed my Lord, who does not consider the odds and ask for daily strength for her. He has provided lavishly for his little daughter... today I finally brought our baby girl home! Her first name means “wildflower” or “beautiful” and her middle means “gracious gift of God”. More and more each day I see the flower part of her heritage presenting itself... she is blossoming every day before my eyes. Below are pictures of my girlie over the last few weeks... I’ll say it again, the Lord is so good! She has joined the Starfish, where I know she will continue to bloom and thrive!

We have had a SUPER busy week. In the last 7 days, we brought home 7 new little wonders - 3 newborns, a one month old, and 3 month old twin boys! Some have some definite hurtles ahead of them, but they are all such beautiful blessings! We are now one baby away from capacity and while that is exciting, it never feels good to be full. Our big babies and even some of our Starfish are ready for adoption, but there are major hold-ups now somewhere in the progress. Its wonderful to have our children as long as we need to, BUT there are Forever families out there ready to welcome these little ones home.

That being said, I am very grateful to have handed over 6 of our precious babas to forever mommies and daddies since the start of the new year! Please continue to pray for the procedures - that things will be done in a timely fashion so that these kids can get home!

I hope you’re all enjoying the new year! I can hardly believe it is already February... time flies. Thanks for checking on the kids! I’ve MUCH more to say, so I’ll speak to you soon.

Love and blessings, Beth