The early rains have arrived and with it the cold. Cold here is about 65 degrees. If one is used to the hot all the time, a 35 degree temp drop is drastic.  I looked around at our children playing with no coats or sweaters or jackets, very few even having any that fit or aren’t torn to shreds from overuse, and seeing their arms look like chicken skin or what we call goose bumps.  I thought, how am I going to get jackets for 130 kids God?  I came into the house and looked at my balance sheet and saw that the money just wasn’t there.  It was going to cost at least $400-450 USD.  Later I quit thinking about it as it was bedtime.  The next morning someone came up to me and handed me $400! Hahaha, God is so amazingly good to us!

I sent my operations manager into town to inquire about buying an entire bale of jackets.  Turns out we were able to buy two bales which was more than enough for less than $400.  God not only gives you what you need, He gives us more than enough!  I tell the children every single Sunday in church that if one doesn’t have a testimony then one is not paying attention to what God is doing. We went that next Monday and bought two bales of jackets which when opened yielded 178 jackets. Don’t you know that God gives out of His abundance?  He brought us all this for only $360 USD.  What a steal!  The children were so ecstatic.  No one complained, all were satisfied with their chosen jacket.  That’s hard to do with 130 kids!  I actually let the teenagers pick their own so that made it all the easier for me.  Me? I’m still wearing someone’s hand-me-down old sweatsuit type jacket which is no good in the rain. One day I will get a raincoat J

One Sunday a couple of weeks ago before church I was setting up the Superbook movie clip for our toddlers.  All of a sudden two of the older children run into my house out of breath telling me that there is a BIG problem.  Isaac, our five year old has fallen into the latrine pit.  So I grab this super long solar cable thinking that I could lower myself down to bring him up. I got there and he was already out being soaped down and washed.  People were crying and still upset.  I looked into the latrine and saw that one side of the cement floor had caved in and that huge chunk, about three feet diameter, had fallen into the bottom of the pit.  The pit is about 25 feet deep and filled with yuck. I was told that Isaac was in there with the door locked and screaming loudly.  Our watchmen heard him from about 100 yards away and went running. They literally ripped the door off its hinges, saw a ladder lying nearby, and lowed it down for Isaac to climb up.

If the other part of the floor had caved in to then Isaac would have been crushed.  I believe that either an angel or God had that ladder where it was for this. When we do construction the builder actually makes a ladder from scrap wood and then leaves it at the site when the job is finished.  There was no construction down there so the ladder should not have been there. As a matter of fact just yesterday it was up near my house, about 300 yards from the latrine. The Bible says that in this world we will have trouble, trials, and persecution but God will deliver us from them all!  Once we knew that Isaac was okay I told the children that we should sing the song, Thank You Jesus. We did and we prayed a prayer of thanks.  Then we went to church and worshipped like there was no tomorrow.  We will face many struggles in this life BUT God WILL deliver us from them ALL when we make Him first in our lives.

Another one of our girls, Hadiya, who is 16, fell as she was riding a bicycle.  She doesn’t remember anything about the accident so it is a mystery to us. She had a severe concussion so we rushed her to the hospital.  I mean we raced and bumped over dirt roads and we were singing and praying at the very top of our voices to keep her awake.  I was even making a siren sound for the in town driving. I know people thought we were loony. Hey, whatever it takes. Hadiya responded to nothing. We were slapping her arms, nothing. We pinched her, nothing. We did the sharp object poke and the pen to the bottom of her feet, nothing.  That’s how bad it was.  There are no CT scan machines here so all we could do was pray and wait.  Her face was swollen. We left scripture playing continuously on the Ipod next to her ear and later we played worship music. She lay there unresponsive for about 15 hours.  Then she came to herself and sat up.  What a glorious day it was – whew!  She is now home again.

And that was a quick snapshot of our month here at Iris South Sudan.  If you would like to be a part of our family and even help me direct it and eventually take it over, you are most welcome.  Come and meet our amazing kids and I guarantee you will rest in His glory here.