"Visitors around the World"

Hello everyone, check out the image below to see "Where" visitors from around the world are viewing the Memory Books from Home blog. WOW, it's exciting to see all the different countries that are getting a taste of the Memory Books from Home experience through the images. Keep spreading the word.


Click on the image to see a larger view.

"Penetrating Eyes" - Mother of Peace

Being of tiny stature and only weighing 7lbs at 20 months this little girl can steal your heart.

Her eyes drew you to her instantly. As our team members drew close she would reach out her arms wanting to be held, even though she had just spent the day at McCord Hospital.

Inspirational Stroy {Adams Mission}

A confident young man just 11 years old, who has his mind set on using the talent he gained just before his fathers death.

"the gift of singing songs, glorifying God!"

His dream is to sing for young people his age the truths of the Bible so that they will give their lives over to God.

He goes on to say that he will do this all without payment and never to sing songs that aren't reflecting God's glory. He has put his dream forward by entering a singing contest at his school. He doesn't know the prize, just that he wants to win so he can sing for more people. He is hoping to make a CD of his songs. Wiseman reads the bible and is well versed in it's stories.

He sang with his head lowered as if in prayer for our team, there were no accompaniment instruments just the beautiful sounds from his voice leading all the other children at Adam's Mission. He lead and the others would echo him... it was a slice of Heaven! {Story written by Doranna}

News Update - Tamara

Received more info from Tamara on the current Memory Books tour, here are the highlights she passed along.

The training at McCord/Sinikithemba Clinic for social workers, child psychologists, etc went very well with 20 in attendance.

Yesterday training at Lily Community Center was conducted with 40 house mothers from Lily and the local Mophela area. Tamara expressed there was a whole lot of unresolved grief that the "gogo's" were carrying for their grandchildren.

Both sites were tremendous and we feel very pleased to have planted the Memory Book and grief counseling seeds.

Tamara is currently at Adam's Mission with Lungile for the last three Memory Book Clubs. She will give them three tubs of supplies for use at Sinikithemba to use in the play area.

While at Lily Tamara browsed the memory books. "Whew!, a lump grew in my throat seeing how precious they are." Some children have already done their hand prints project. The volunteers are doing such a tremendous job organizing them. They already have stored their crowns in their books as well.

Tamara will leave for Cape Town on Sunday, Mar 2nd. She also expresses her continued thanks to Malcolm and Bev who have been wonderful, oh and Chloe, who is the quintessential therapy dog!

Rwanda and The Congo - Tamara Update

I received an e-mail today from Tamara, she has returned safely to South Africa from her trip North into Rwanda and The Congo. She has much to tell and will be sending images once she gets settled in.

The genocide has left in it's wake many orphans, she received about 1600 memory book orders from her trip up north.

Interesting, while she was in Kigali, it was the same time as President Bush and she saw Airforce One at the airport.

Continue to pray for her as she finishes with her final meetings and starts her return home on March 9th.

Miscellaneous Update

It's great to be home, however South Africa will be forever in our hearts and we can't wait to return. Today's post are some random images from the return trip home.

Stacy, Andrea, Doranna, Beverely and Tamara



South Africa to host FIFA World Cup 2010
The count down has begun



Where to NEXT?



Mission 1 Accomplished.... We are ready for round 2!

Return Home - Washington DC

Tamara is still over sea's but the rest of us returned home safely. During our layover in DC, Doranna and I set out for a quick tour of the Nation's Capital.

Enjoy a few images and thank you for your prayers and support during our trip.

Video - Bernard Mizeki Primary

Enjoy the video of the children signing their school song. This is an answer to prayer for Tamara.

"When the children began singing a lump grew in my throat, and I became weak kneed because after praying for so long for God to tell me what he was going to do... instead he showed me." {Tamara}

Phinda

To our surprise Tamara had a little something in store for us. We were treated to a unbelievable experience. Please enjoy these "few" images from the weekend. I want to give you a glimpse of what we saw and experienced but you must wait for the full "slide show" to see how wonderful Phinda is and can be. Cheers and we will see you all soon when we arrive back home in Portland.

God's Golden Acre

We visited God's Golden Acre and had Memory Book Club. This was our last location during "this" trip to South Africa. Enjoy the images. We fly out tomorrow for home and look forward to expanding on the story that each image tells.

SOS Childrens' Village

We are back and ready to post more images from our last few days. Today (Tuesday) we visited SOS Childrens' Village. The staff and facilities are impeccable. Our travels today were not scheduled but we were open to follow the direction God had in store for us. Enjoy the images.