Letter 1

We received our first mail from Africa the beginning of August. Inside was a photo, information about the area Iphamna lives in, our first letter, and a glance at what Iphamna's world looks like.

Iphamna

Age:  1 year.

Enjoys:  Playing with toys.
Health:  Excellent!
Spiritual Nature:  Is a church goer with his mother.

MBASHE Area Development Programme

Dear Friends

Greetings to you and your family from Mbashe Area Development Programme.

We are pleased to get and opportunity to meet you and the interest that you have shown to our community. We trust and hope this will be beginning of great things to come for our disadvantaged community.

The past year in Mbashe ADP:

We started the year off with meeting from different villages where the community welcomed us as a Christian organization focused on community development. We also received a warm welcome from government officials and departments showing their willingness to work with World Vision in order to develop Mbashe Area.

The past year in Mbashe ADP a year of education the community and recruiting children for sponsorship programme. Mbashe ADP managed to carry out the registration process with great success, parents showing interest and cooperation during the process.

Mbashe Municipality was unfortunate to have a tornado which destroyed some of the homes and damaged community property. World Vision was able to bring in smiles to those families as Mbashe ADP assisted the local municipality, district municipality and provincial government in helping the families with relief during the disaster period.

Best Regards.

Letter from Iphamna

Dear Sponsor (Taylor and Frankie)


I'm Iphamna's Mother.  I'm writing this letter on behalf of him because he can't write yet, is still young.  He is a one year old boy.  He is not in school yet, is still young.  He likes playing toys.  His parents are both not working. 


He is staying at Tyolm location in the District of Idutywa at the province of Enstern Cape where our former presidents were born Mr. Nelson Mandela and Mr. Thabd Mbeki.


In Summer is very hot and raining here. We also plant some maize and vegetables.  In winter is very cold and windy.  We also harvest some maize.  


Thank you for sponsoring my child.  May God bless you.  


From: Iphamna and Mother
Assisted By:  World Vision's Child Monitor




We are so excited to start receiving mail from Iphamna and his family and can not believe how much he has grown since seeing his first photo!  His birthday was coming up so we went out a got Iphamna a few things...  A blanket, some stickers, some clothes, a few photos of us and a sign that said Happy Birthday in his language.  

A World Vision Adventure

This is the start of our World Vision adventure...

Memorial Box Monday ~ Iphamna

Linny at A Place Called Simplicity started Memorial Box Mondays.

"In Joshua 4 Almighty God tells the Isrealites to collect stones and set them as a Memorial to remind them of God's power and provision. He then tells theIsrealitesto use those stones as a memorial; that every time they see them to tell their children and their children's children the stories over and over again, continually reminding them of God's faithfulness."

To read the full idea and an introduction to Memorial Box Mondays go here and readLinny's "How about Memorial Box Mondays? aka We will remember..." post.

Now about that little shoe...

Last weekend we watched the kids while Mom and Dad went to a graduation lunch with some friends. So like any other awesomely cool siblings we packed our bags and headed to Sea World! We watched shows, played at the water park, and rode a few rides. On the way out we hunted for a smashed penny machine to remember the day by, why did I bring my camera? While the kids were cranking I was waiting in the shade and happened to look down to find a dime. Lucky me! So I threw it in the stroller cup holder and shuffled out to the car.

That night we drove to Devine with the kids because the next morning we would be helping out with a garage sale. We all got a good nights rest (NOT!) and woke up bright and early to get things ready, load up the car, and place the still pajamaed children in their car seats for the drive. After we set up and got breakfast our next goal was to find something to keep the kids busy and so I employed them. I offered to match a nickel for every high-five they sold. Sounded like a great idea! Except for the fact that high-fives seem to be out of season. Brogan still helped me sell a few glasses of lemonade so I gave him the dime I found the day earlier.

We found a nice indoor sale that had enough junk to really poke around for something good in, and Teddi and Brogan sure did poke. Teddi now has the ability to smell like Cotton Candy any time she wants to for the mere price of 10 cents! And Brogan bought us something! :) He walked out smiling with his 10 cent purchase- a baby bottle! "This is for your baby!" he proudly exclaimed as he handed it to us. We were grateful but assured him that that time wouldn't come for awhile...

Fast foward to Sunday after church. We were scheduled for a meeting that got cancelled and by the time we decided to invite someone to lunch everyone had left. So we thought lunch together would also be nice and headed down the street to eat. We also found our way to Target, Home Depot, and Family Christian. We were just stepping into the last place to grab a CD with Taylor's birthday money, or so we thought. As soon as we walked in we were confronted with a tower of smiling faces. Each one was 3"x4", came with a name, where they were from, and the opportunity to change a life. World Vision was doing a campaign and we were well over due... We had always talked about sponsoring a child but couldn't seem to fit it into our budget... but now with no budget at all it just seemed right for some reason. (God is so funny.) Sorta resetting our budget with priorities in place. ;)

So after looking through so many photos and once again being overwhelmed at the number of children needing sponsored and the difficulty of just choosing one, a nice cashier comes over and shows us a sweet little boy who's birthday is coming up! "He's still a baby!" she says, and her excitement is almost enough to sign us up on the spot. But we tucked him behind a couple others and do our shopping before reaching a decision. We grabbed our CDs and decided that we just couldn't leave that little guy behind! It's his birthday next month AND he is wearing our number on his shirt! So we brought his smiling little face home. :) Ummm... Where did we put that baby bottle? And does Brogan also pick lotto numbers cause I now have a kid to feed...

Here are photos of the delivery of our new baby. ;)

(The Doctor errrr.... I mean cashier who helped us pick)

And, announcing the arrival of sweet baby Iphamna!

(Well I guess he arrived about a year ago, but now he has a special place in our hearts and in our lives!)

Into our Memorial Box will go this baby bottle, given to us at just the right time, to remind us that even though situations may not be perfect, there is never a wrong time to follow God's plan!

(Especially when you've been putting it off long enough to get beat by your little brother! ;) Proud of you Brady for making a difference with your love for Christ! Now we have little sponsor cousins! ;)

To find out more about sponsoring children through World Vision go here!