Dear Family and Friends,

God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change...... Psalm 46 vv 1and 2

It’s funny how you can suddenly notice that things have changed. A while back I went into Pretoria with Kagiso and Tom, together with Mama Joye’s daughter Violinda and it was like we had entered a new era – the three youngsters disappeared off together while I did my bank business, and I had to call them on my mobile phone when I was done. They really are growing up. Kagiso is now 12 and loves to point out that he is almost a teenager; Tom at 11 is growing so fast I can hardly keep up with him. Nhlanhla has grown too, and announced earlier this week that he was going on a diet as his thighs are too fat – they are, of course, just very muscular. Tshepo has become chief baby minder, and can really be relied on to care for our littlest ones very proficiently.

One great thing about growing up on a farm is the wide open spaces and empty roads. Both Kagiso and Tom take it in turns to drive the cars from the road, through the gate and into the yard now, whenever they get a chance.

One really new development is that we now have an officially registered Home School. By the end of the first term this year it became obvious that Nhlanhla was just not keeping up with his classmates. He was tested thoroughly by an educational psychologist, and a special school was recommended. However, you will remember that we live far out of town. There are two possible schools in Pretoria, one with a hostel but no English classes for the lower grades, and the other just not a viable proposition transport-wise.....so the only option is to teach him ourselves. It is quite a demanding exercise, for us and for him, but we are managing to cope, and the bonus is that he has a regular invitation to our Host School (a private Christian School in Pretoria) to join other home scholars and the regular school goers for an hour of fun every Friday. That is the highlight of his week and fits in well with our trip to fetch Fetsi from his school hostel each Friday.

We have had a record number of children here over the past year, and are trying to downscale a bit now. It will be a help if we can be a little less busy for a while as we need to reorganise ourselves, to keep the temporary children separate from the long term ones. Please pray for wisdom for us, that we will make the right decisions, as we will have to have someone taking charge of a house for crisis care, and will have to move ourselves and the older children into one of the other houses.

The Hammanskraal Police Station has now finally discovered us, and it is now not uncommon to get a call over weekends asking if we can take in one or two small children who are in desperate situations. In one case, the mother was threatening to kill herself and her children, and in another a little girl of 3yrs was found wandering around Hammanskraal all alone, because, as it turned out, her father and grandmother had had too much to drink and had forgotten all about her. Our latest arrivals stayed for a month – a brother and sister locked in their shack while Mommy went out to party. The neighbours heard them crying and called the police, who then delivered them to TYB in the middle of the night. Of course such developments don’t help to keep our numbers down!!!!

On a more personal note, we got quite a scare during September when Mark suddenly developed an erratic pulse and yoyo blood pressure just a few days before our granddaughter, Dominique’s, wedding. He was admitted to hospital, in High Care, was wired up, given an angiogram.....but at the end the cardiologist could find nothing wrong at all. We praise God for that....the story could have ended quite differently. But in any case he was finally discharged the evening before the big day and was busy next morning doing his usual Mr Fixit job, getting last minute things done for the wedding, which was held at Juliet and James’ farm opposite. Of course, we really are getting older, and have to admit that we are not as fit as we used to be, but all the same the Lord is still giving us the strength we need to do what has to be done... and we are still regularly blessed with very able volunteers.

Kirstin has ventured into the big wide world and is working as an au pair in the Netherlands for a year. She celebrated her 20th birthday far from home. She is really enjoying her new environment, particularly her freedom of movement, being able to hop on a bike, ride to the station and from there go wherever she wants, depending on the state of her finances. She has met up with a few of our ex volunteers, which she has really enjoyed, and plans to see more of you before she comes home.

During quieter moments after dark Mark is indulging himself in an old hobby of his – amateur astronomy. The family gave him a 200mm (8 inch) telescope for his (70th) birthday earlier in the year and we live in an area where the sky is fairly unpolluted by light or dust – so the viewing is great. The older children really enjoy getting a good view of Saturn and its rings, Jupiter and its moons or being able to see incredible details of the moon. A while back he and Tom found the Andromeda nebula.

Meanwhile the Dinokeng reserve is still not open. We should have had lions and elephants by now, but for various reasons, which I will not mention here, we are still waiting. However we are really enjoying the animals that are here, and often get good sightings of kudu, zebra, impala, and others right outside our electric fence. One of our staff was blessed with 13 giraffes just a few metres from his cottage! The best thing about actually living in a reserve is that we get to know the various herds and some of the individual animals. Last summer we watched four young ostriches as they grew from little chicks to teenagers. Yesterday one of our neighbours saw a rhino and her calf on our farm. A couple of weeks back Mark and I saw a mother warthog with a batch of piglets no bigger than guinea pigs. We get to know the various “families” and it‘s great fun to spot the same group again and again.

Now we can hardly believe that Christmas is here again and another year is nearly gone. We thank the Lord for all His goodness to us, providing everything we need. And we thank all of you for your continuing support.

STOP PRESS

Just as we were about to sent this letter out we received a call – “Can you take another baby?” A tiny little boy, rescued from a pit toilet!!! So, we will be one more for Christmas than we were expecting! By God’s grace, there is still room at this inn! Fortunatly the Lord has a better plan for this little life than drowning in excrement!

He takes the beggar from the dunghill and sets him among princes” – 1 Sam 2 v 8

Please pray fervently for spiritual renewal in South Africa. While we are celebrating the birth of our Saviour, medical authorities are reporting a huge leap in requests for abortions these last two months.

Wishing you all a very happy Christmas and blessings in the New Year,

Mark and Chris