Greetings

 

Well, who would’ve thought that we were in for such an exciting  and upside down year. Everything started off so normally. It makes me think of the word of God, where He encourages us not to take it for granted that we will be around to see another day. We make our plans, but God knows what tomorrow actually holds for us.

 

As an organisation Covid 19 has impacted us, but not in a way that is unredeemable, it has not been easy for any of us having to adjust to this new way of living, but our babies have been safe and have been tucked away in their temporary safe care homes. 

 

The impact has delayed two of our international adoptions, but praise God one has been adopted locally, and this warms our hearts. Covid has put enormous pressure on our already fragile Child Protection systems and caused delays in processing paperwork and so on. 

 

We have 5 babies/ toddlers in care between 2 families. This is a big strain on family life and funds. Your prayers are coveted and finances appreciated. Both these already overloaded families opened their hearts and homes to new babies through lockdown, so we are blessed to have 2 newborn baby boys in care.

 

We have had a number  of folks show interest in temporary safe care and a new family should be coming on board soon. We have done some online information sessions, which we enjoyed, but they have not given us the fruit we were hoping for – more care families.

 

Our shop has survived, although we still owe our landlord a month’s rent from the time of level 5 lockdown. We have not managed to pay full rent for quite a few months, but we pay what we can, we are grateful for an understanding landlord. It is always in the back of our minds that we may need to ‘reassess’ our shop, but we love the position of it, the fact that it gives us a face in the community, a place to share our heart for abandoned babies, a place to minister to the community as well as a space to house our Resource Centre and where the community can share donations with those who are in need. We really need volunteers, as the burden of work rests on the shoulders of just a few and this is taking a toll on those who give copious amounts of time and energy to the shop/resource centre. We have resourced our families with thousands of rands of goods through the shop in this last season, so from this aspect it is a huge success.

 

We as a team are trying to find a new rhythm for meetings and planning, we are slowly getting back to the plough.

 

Being creative with new funding ideas has taken us (Renee and I) on a journey of starting a business. We are developing a branded clothing range which we hope to launch soon. Keep your eyes open for Y KNOTT GEAR.

 

We appreciate your ongoing support until we chat again.

 

Jane

For Team Joy