I have just arrived back from our Children’s Home. Being “Oma” is hard work! Like always, I try to visit the children and sleep overnight but last night eight bodies piled up on my bed saying, “Oma, we want to sleep with you!” And where do I sleep? Well, that was not their problem; two little girls got under my blanket with the rest just looking at me as if to say, “do something”. It is then that you start fitting in mattresses like a puzzle in a small room. Soon there was space for all but me. Getting eighht little excited children quiet to sleep is another event. Now they are thirsty and like always, if one wants water - all want water.

Soon the room got quiet and I lay in the darkness listening to their breathing, thanking God for having 30 children I can impact with lots of love and proper schooling. Sleeping on the edge of the bed with two little sets of arms and feet taking the rest of the space on the bed is quite an event. Surely you know that little children sometimes talk in their sleep and my children are no exception. The point is that I am such a light sleeper that when one groans, I am awake and when the next one moves too much I think they are not covered. The next one tells me something in his sleep and I am instantly awake, not used to the sound of a child saying something that time of the night.

So in short, I kept the angels company all night watching over my children with “Oma” having rather little sleep, if any. This morning at 5 am they got up to get ready for school, not that it mattered, I was awake anyhow. VIC will pay their schooling this year again which will come to just over US$ 6,000 but I do it with joy for these 30 children in whose lives we can make a difference.

Now we are getting ready for Manokwari (our next crusade). We are leaving the apartment at 3.30 am and then on to Papua. Thank you for your prayer and love.

Suzette