We found out today that our precious little Eden is HIV negative!!! Woohoo!!! We want to thank our wonderful God, that in spite of the hospital's negligence in not giving her ARV's for her first two weeks, He has protected our little girl from getting the HIV virus. We are so thankful for His answer to our prayers, and the prayers of our church family and friends! Thank you all!

As mentioned in a previous post, Mike and Stacy's little one, Jonathan Jaden Calvin Lear, was born on Thursday night at 21:45, after a whole day of waiting for the induction to take, and then ending off with a caesarian anyway. Even though things don't always go as planned, we are still blessed at God's hand in protecting both mom and baby, and for the blessings of caesers when necessary! Even though things don't go how we thought they might, we know that God is in control and God is good!

So here, a few days later, we have a very happy and proud dad...


a tired, recovering, proud mommy...

and eventually, after much anticipation I got to hold my god-son for the first time.

Glen and I are proud god-parents and are looking forward to watching little Jonathan grow up in the way of the Lord, and are excited to play a part in that all the way!

We love you Jonathan - LOTS and LOTS!!!!

Just a little clip to show you how well little Evangelina and Sugar are getting on.

Enjoy

Eden is growing so beautifully. At 6 weeks she weighs 4.66kg's. Now that may not mean a lot to you, but she has picked up almost a kilo in 2 weeks, which means that she is a healthy little baby! She is starting to smile - a lot - and is also starting to sleep through the night, which I am very happy about! She hasn't done it consistently yet, but in the past 3 nights she has done it twice, so I am sure that it will get more consistant with time. Although she battles a little with winds during the day, it is getting better - which I am also very thankful for!

We don't have her birth certificate yet, as we are still waiting for the social worker, and so we haven't yet added her to our hospital plan. Once that is done we can have all relevant pending tests done, to find out whether or not she is HIV positive etc. Will let you know when we know. Please keep her in your prayers!

We are very blessed as a church to have two official Biblical deacons. We had our ordination service this last week, and we are just so excited at what God is doing in our church. Alex and Peter have been studying what a Biblical deacon and elder is since Glen has begun this ministry, and now we officially have these two men to serve us in this way!

We ended off the morning with a wonderful time of fellowship, as usual with special occasions!

The elder elect - Mike Lear, who was also supposed to be ordained on Sunday, was unable to make it due to his wife Stacy having her baby on Thursday, and only coming home on Sunday afternoon. His ordination will take place this week in the evening. We are looking forward!

When God does something, He does it perfectly! In His perfect providence, our holiday with Emiel and Lisa, which had been planned months ago, came at the perfect time for us to take some time off to get to know our new little one. We were priviledged enough to go to this beautiful resort in the Drakensburg, near Clarens. The views were just breath-taking - just what we needed to relax!



Our chalet was really top class, and situated on a lovely little hill, which was what occupied the kids for most of the holiday, especially when Glen turned some boxes into lovely slope sliders!



The girls enjoyed a lovely big loft upstairs, where they felt really 'big' with their own bathroom and everything!!!


Our days were spent braaing and of course eating, and our evenings were filled with fellowship and games and of course more eating...

This picture was taken during a really special time Glen had with Eden. He really knows how to make her face light up with a smile!

On one of the evenings the girls hung out watching a DVD and drinking hot chocolate. What a girly treat!

The boys hanging out...

Gorgeous Daniel...

Monkeying around...

Eden hanging out on Mom's shoulder...

...and lastly a little pic of her just out of the bath...

Thanks again Emiel and Lisa for this awesome treat, it was wonderful speding times together as a family (all 5 of us) and spending times as a family with your family (all 5 of you). Kiara Lodge is definately a suggested resort - absolutely lovely!

Some very proud grandparents...


and Aunties...

Here are some pics of Eden's first day home...