It is World Cup madness in South Africa (and somewhat in Swaziland). We finished with our last team on Tuesday and now we have a break until after the World Cup.

This last team, Warren Baptist, was a blessing to the kids and us. They are sponsoring two carepoints and so they also brought a LOT of gifts for the kids. I, Kriek, got to go out to one of the carepoints with them in the afternoons. It was good to spend some time with the D-team, the kids of the carepoint and the ladies cooking. I haven't seen many of them in a while and it was nice to be out there with them, to talk to them, to share the good news with them (about the baby), and to laugh with them. (I have realized that my heart isn't only for the kids, but it is also for these women. They have been abandoned by their husbands, by the fathers of their children; they are outliving their children, and sometimes even their grandchildren, and still they are serving God daily and serving the kids - without ever taking credit for it!)

There were three highlights on this trip! One of the young men on the team raised enough money for us to buy school shoes for each school age kid at both the carepoints and the team got to hand it out to the kids! This was really amazing! It was awesome to see each child walk around with a brand new, shiny pair of school shoes! You could see the joy, thankfulness, pride and excitement in the eyes of the kids. Then the team also did a big fun day on the Saturday with the kids. 358 kids showed up for the day! The team did a Bible lesson with the kids, they played games, they jumped on the jumping castle, and the kids ate a nice meal of rice, meat and salad. Everybody LOVED the day!

My favorite (except for the school shoes part) ... the team gave me a surprise baby shower!!!! We were so blessed by all the gifts they gave us! It was almost overwhelming! This Gerber baby is truly blessed!