Sunday, July 31, 2011

Long-Distance Lifa

It was a big day in Mbonisweni today! Our friend, Keri Dodge, is training for a marathon in true African fashion... everybody's invited! Lifa and Mama Kacy get out of breath running the extremely short distance from GoGo's house to church, so our role in the marathon training is celebrating, party planning and water stations. 

We invited the whole family in on the fun!

The boys blazing the path to get from one water station to another.

Whew! Training is NOT easy!


African version of cheerleading camp.

Go Keri Go! Lifa cheering on our star runner!

The whole party was pooped by the end of the day. Juice break for everyone!

Friday, July 29, 2011

Temper Tantrums Together

A repost from Mama Kacy's blog on July 28, 2011


This week was a big week.

This week I got a perspective check – a deeper, higher, louder, brighter, bolder, and desperate awareness of how much I need God. 

Long day in the car!
Pastor Sthembiso, Lifa and I drove an hour and a half through twisty-turny mountains to pick up Lifa’s auntie on Tuesday, and continued another hour and a half through roads lined with SNOW and ICE to go to home affairs.

It was time to handle some business.
And we’ve established enough trust and relationship with Lifa’s biological family for them to know we’re on their side – the side that chooses the highest good for them and believes they are worth being called family to us at Ten Thousand Homes and in the Kingdom of God.

Lifa and his father do not have birth certificates. It’s a huge epidemic in Africa. Identity-less people growing up uncharted in their own country.

I don’t want to demean the reality or truth in them in any way, but our “identity crises” in the States look a little different. They often come with things like changing careers, leaving or cleaving to families, or changes in economic status. Birth certificates, social security numbers and knowing your birthday… for the most part, these things are a given. And if somehow your identity documents are lost, stolen or slipped through some judicial crack, there’s a policy, procedure and something written in black and white. Talk to the right badge; find the right stamp; and wiggle into the right system.

Justice.

I don’t know the statistics of how many children and adults in South Africa are living without something that acknowledges who they are and where they came from.
How could there be a statistic for a group of invisible people?

But I do know that these people are destined for a life that repeats the same messages of not being known and not being worth it over and over again: no education, no work beyond finding manual labor, no eligibility for government assistance or acknowledgment, and children at risk of being trafficked or getting sick without even being missed.

A broken system. A perpetuating orphan crisis. Children having children with no help, no acknowledgement and no way to break the cycle.

Not my kid.

Back to the business-handling part of this story:

Back seat party! Auntie loved the toys too.
We were ready. I packed the lunches, provided the transport and was loud-mouthed American shouting for rights for Lifa. Pastor was the one with the language, the pastor badge, the big-talk, the know-how, and the people in the right places. Lifa’s auntie was the one with the DNA, the ID, and the ID and death certificate of Lifa’s paternal grandmother (1964-2007). We had a plan of action and were ready to go apply for the birth certificate with high hopes and big faith.

Operation: Shout fror Justice was quickly (and temporarily) silenced an hour into home affairs with Pastor’s overwhelmed face, genuine sorrow, and the words, “It’s not going to happen.”

This is when the perspective checking started. In this desperate moment where, with each new piece of information that came in, the gap for justice widened.

I’m speaking on fathers this Sunday in my church.
And this week I learned that, as much as we want fathers to rise up to take responsibility for families and children in this country, it’s not just counter-cultural, but their rights are totally written out of the law. A father cannot register his child for a birth certificate. It has to be a mother or the mother’s mother.

And if you come to the place that we are suddenly finding ourselves in, when there’s no identity documents for either parent and no living grandmothers, shoulders get shrugged, exhales get louder and it suddenly becomes a, “We don’t know what to do.”

Where’s the policy? Where’s the procedure? Where’s the stamp? Where’s the badge?

I came here to be God’s hands and feet in the orphan crisis.
Now the orphan crisis is living in my house.
And he calls me Mama.

Photo by Clark Grigg
Lifa was set up to fall right into place in this perpetuating orphan crisis – to never have an id, never have the right to dream, and to have a long and hard road to find his place in the Family of God. Maybe even to continue the cycle. If it’s all you know, what else can you do?

Not anymore.

Lifa is not an orphan.
Lifa has a mama.
Lifa has a father who loves him dearly – enough to want the best life for him. He’s heroically taking a chance with some emotional white girl to break a cycle, to choose family, and to end the orphan crisis in his own family.

Photo by Clark Grigg
Two years ago Lifa was invisible.
Today you can’t miss him. He’s like a lip magnet!
Transformed from “the least of these” to “God’s Greatness”.

The way we love each other is teaching us and everyone around us family.
A former orphan is teaching others about the Family of God.
And living, loving and worshipping from his place in the Family.

This week changed me.

Where I was once timid, nervous and taken back by the great promise God has put on Lifa and I, I’m now proud to hold on to them, speak them out and run after them.

Lifa’s been teaching me allllll about temper tantrums.
I think I’m learning well.
I’m joining in the running and shouting.

I’m shouting out for justice and family.
My heart is desperately crying out for what I believe God is calling us to.
And I’m running after Him. And what He says. And how He says to do it.

“We don’t know what to do,” isn’t stopping us in our tracks.
It’s just turning us onto uncharted territory – giving us more space to run.

And we’re going to run hard. And shout loud.
And this “we don’t know what to do” place we’re in is going to give God glory such a beautiful stage.

Pastor, Lifa and I are going to social services tomorrow to ask where to start.

Stand with us.
Run with us.
Shout with us.

There’s a little boy and his entire biological family God is calling Home.
There’s a family living in a little cottage God is calling His.
There’s a nation full of voices to join in a battle cry for family and for justice.

Monday, July 25, 2011

Like GoGo Rosa Always Says...

The crazy doesn't fall too far from the family tree, and we're making sure Lifa doesn't miss one single branch!

I can't tell you how many times I heard growing up, "We can't have fun unless we bring the camera!" I'm not kidding... Christmas couldn't happen unless George Strait and Elvis were singing a Christmas song soundtrack to set the perfect tone for the video.

I'm always carrying a camera now - Lifa's just gotten used to it and workin' that cheesy smile we practice during our nightly teeth-inspection.



Just wanted to share some of the fun. Every moment is worth remembering with this guy. And GoGo Rosa says it doesn't really count as fun if we don't capture it and show it off!

He kinda runs the place now! Found him shifting away in the driver seat after church on Sunday.

 Lifa comes along for the ride - and the food - to both of Ten Thousand Homes' weekly feeding programs.

 So handsome. Dressed up like a little American in his Converse and polo!

 I think he's got a thing for blondes and can always be found on the base playground with Isabelle. At least he's got good taste! 


Saturday we had the BEST family day EVER. Mama Kacy and Lifa loaded up in the Mazda for a drive around Kruger Park. He loves riding in the car and singing to Jesus all day. We sang and sang, and I became more and more overwhelmed by how great God is in this little guy. We had the best time together, giggling, laughing and animal-spotting. So cool that our day-time outing can be a safari!


When we pulled up to the zebra, Lifa stuck his head out the window and shouted, "It's BEAUTIFUL!" He's the best. 


Every moment is better with this little guy around. He reminds me of how good God is in the smallest things - and sometimes he reminds me how much I need Him! We love you! Goodnight!



A Story Worth Writing


A story of Truth and Promises.
A story of Hope and Home.

A story of family in the most unexpected places.
A story about a little boy who God has called, “His Greatness”.


Photo by Mona Benton

Lifa is 3 ½-years old. He has been given such a tall calling and high favor in the Kingdom of God for being such a short little guy.

Lifa came into my life in March 2010, and since then, I’ve been honored to be invited into an incredible transformation. I’ve watched the power of loving one little boy transform my life, his life, an entire church in Mbonisweni, and hundreds of people scattered throughout the nations. The culture here in South Africa is being rewritten by the way we love each other.

Our story is founded on promises rather than details.
There are more unknowns than knowns.

But what we do know is we are family by the gracious love of Christ, and we are being transformed everyday by learning and loving together.

This is all too good to keep to myself.
So I want to invite you in to Life With Lifa.

It’s easy for all of us to get lost in the ups and downs of daily life. We happen to have a lot of really-high-ups and really-low-downs around here.

So we want to invite you in to be testifiers of Truth with us. To help us find, celebrate and increase the Hope. To cling to the Promises. To proclaim how good He is through our everyday. In fact, we really need your help doing it.

We are called to be family, and no one here is an orphan.
So, will you do this with us?

This blog is our story, His Truth and an invitation to family and friends to know the ins and the outs of what life looks like from this cottage we live in, right smack in the middle of the Ten Thousand Homes base in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Oh, and, um.. you can count on a lot of “proud mom” moments and photos for the family and friends who don’t get to be here with us.

Welcome Home! Thanks for coming!
We love you.
-Mama Kacy

Photo by Sarah Wallenstein