Dear Friends,
The last few months have been full of ups and
downs. On the positive side, Grace and
Abby can now do somersaults, sing whole songs in English and Shona, and will be
starting preschool in January! It is
hard to believe how fast they have grown.
They look so cute in their new uniforms.
The uniforms were even made by one of our Fairfield children, Lizzie,
who is now studying Fashion and Fabrics in college! The HOPE children finished their exams and
are now on Christmas break for the month of December. They were all given food for a special Christmas dinner with their families thanks to generous donors. There were also donations of clothes and even 9 refurbished laptops for our oldest children!
On a sad note, when I went to immigration to apply
for a renewal of my visa, I was told that my file was marked
“non-renewable”. This means that I am
not even allowed to apply for another visa.
I will have to leave the country on the 18th of January. At this time, there are no other visas I
qualify for to stay in Zimbabwe. I will
therefore be looking for a full time ministry to work with in South
Africa. This will enable me to continue
raising funds and monitoring the HOPE program by returning to Zimbabwe several
times a year. I will also be able to
maintain contact with Abigail and Grace since the adoption process from the
Zimbabwean side is not able to move forward at this time.
The HOPE program will continue running as normal
under the supervision of the Fairfield Children’s Home administrators, Luke and
Cecillia. All ministries on the mission
have a strong set of checks and balances and these two who will be in charge of
the HOPE program when I am away are extremely trustworthy and reliable with the
HOPE funds. Please consider donating
through CornerStone whenever you are able so that we will be able to keep all
the children in school and continue giving those who are sick and malnourished
vital, nutritious food each week.
I will keep everyone informed as my plans unfold. A friend told me recently that faith is a
balance between believing God can and will perform miracles and knowing that
even if He doesn’t, we will choose to praise Him anyway. God has good plans for
all of us. Sometimes we can’t see the
bigger picture right away, but I have no doubt that something good will happen
from this situation for me, Abby and Grace.
I would appreciate your prayers for guidance during this transition
time.
Merry Christmas to you all!
Janine
