Bezaleel News – November 2007

Dear friends

As we approach the end of the year, this newsletter allows me to gather my thoughts regarding the year behind us and reflect on God’s goodness to us during it. That He has been and more. His unchanging love for us, the wonderful people He has given us to share in the care of our children, His strength that brings us through difficult, stressful and exhausting times, the joy we experience at answered prayer and the wonderful gift of each day He gives, to fully serve Him where He has placed us.

As always the children keep us on the run with never a dull moment. On Wednesday some of the children and I attended the Music Star Evening concert that Lizzie and Thabo played in. It was their final function for the year. During the music festivals Lizzie received numerous certificates for both piano and recorder. She also won a floating trophy for the U14 best wind instrument player. Lizzie has just begun to play the flute. We are hiring the instrument until such time as we can buy one. At the beginning of next year she will also play the treble recorder. Homeschooling allows her to focus on her playing and I include it as one of her major subjects. Both Thabo and Ruth received certificates for their playing and we are pleased with their progress. When Salvador comes to practice with Lizzie for the Sunday meetings each week, all the children join in with rousing clapping and singing. Ernest has completed his soccer season and is looking forward to the next one. He enjoys kicking ball with Aaron and what with the Bezaleel and Ebyown households there is no getting away from soccer. Rosie gladly wears her splint and has learnt to plait cloth and tie shoe laces with the freedom it affords her hand. Thoko continues to grow in leaps and bounds. Her father Christopher has been diagnosed with TB and is very ill. Please pray for them both. Little Themba is a contented little boy and is far less traumatized when he goes home to his dad on weekends. As he gets older his understanding increases and he has become accustomed to the routine. Please pray for David, his dad. Progress on the home school front is promising, with all the children progressing well.

The children’s results from their bi-annual blood tests were good with regards to the HIV, all obtaining undetectable viral loads and normal CD4 counts except for Walter who has a slightly raised viral load. Our present concern is Ruth’s high cholesterol and tri-glyceride levels as well as Thabo who has elevated levels as well. Walter and Thabo’s medicine regimen has changed to a dual combination drug Kivexa, and Stocrin which they only take at night, consisting of 3 tablets. One of Themba’s drugs has changed to Ziagen due to him developing lipo-atrophy. Precious and Little Themba’s medication stay the same. Ruth’s medication has changed to a protease inhibitor called Reyataz to try and reduce cholesterol and tri-glyceride levels as well as Stocrin, 3TC and Norvir. She takes 6 tablets at night only. Ruth has just had a billirubin blood test after a month to determine levels in her liver as it is one of the side effects of Reyataz. Her cholesterol and tri glyceride levels are also being checked. We received the results today, showing no adverse reactions and a slight lowering of her cholesterol levels. This is good news. Walter, Thabo and Ruth will have blood tests again after 3 months to see their response to the new regimens. I continue to do research on HIV, heart and cholesterol and nutrition to try and bring appropriate changes to the children’s diet to better improve their health. Heart disease as a side effect is becoming more evident the longer some people are on ARV treatment. Just about a month ago the boys were climbing our apricot tree and Walter fell off, ripping open the inside of his knee on a branch. I took him to casualty at our doctor’s rooms to be stitched. He received internal stitches as well as 9 stitches on the outside. He was given a tetanus shot and antibiotics to combat infection. Walter was very brave and after 10 days I removed the stitches and the wound healed nicely.

The weather continues to surprise us and has quite an impact on the children. Soon after my last newsletter where I mentioned record rainfalls that plunged us into a long, cold winter we had snow for the first time since 1981. It began falling during the night and at about 3am in the morning, Allen lifted the little ones from their beds one by one and carried them outside to see the snow. All the children were thrilled with exclamations of “Wow”, “It’s Christmas”, “It’s like Lord of the Rings” and, “It’s like Narnia”. We telephoned Dianne at Ebyown and had her and Erin up photographing the snow. It was of course much more exciting for us as we don’t see snow too often. Clayton took a day off work and he, Allen and the children built a snowman and threw snowballs at each other. After the start of an extremely hot spring, with temperatures reaching high midsummer levels the rains came. It has been wonderful with179mm in just over a month. Everything is green and the evenings are cool. On the 1st November, the beginning of our summer, Benjamin came running into the house calling me to come and see what God had made. It was a magnificent rainbow arching across the sky. Ben kept exclaiming, “Thank you God, thank you God.” We had just recently studied Noah and the Ark and God’s promise sealed with a rainbow, never to flood the whole earth again. Allen has built a beautiful pond in the garden which attracts a lot of bird life. We have a pair of Egyptian Geese nesting on a tree nearby. We also have frogs in the garden and they laid their spawn in the pond and tadpoles hatched. We have also had silkworms progress through their life cycle. The children had a living demonstration of the life cycle of frogs and silkworms which is a really fun way to learn. Our hen has just hatched 14 chicks and our duck is sitting on eggs. The children delight in all this and it strengthens their awe of God as they observe His creation with its seasons and new birth about them.

Speaking of new birth, Thoko, Walter, Thabo and Ernest made a profession of faith in our Lord Jesus. It was a very special time as Allen led them in the sinner’s prayer and we discussed the implications of their decision to follow and serve God for the rest of their lives. Lizzie, Ruth and Rose had made a commitment some time before and now all the older children are believers. They asked me the other day about water baptism so we are going to instruct them concerning it and Allen will baptize them soon. My times of bible study with the children are rich and it is a wonder to see the children grow in their love and knowledge of God.

Allen and I have decided for a number of reasons to begin adoption proceedings in the new year with Walter, Thabo, Ernest, Ruth, Rose and Benjamin. Thoko, Themba, Precious and Little Themba have fathers and we are unable to adopt them at this stage. They will never the less remain to all practical purposes like our own children. One of the reasons I’d like to share with you is the importance for us to demonstrate to the children through our own lives in a very finite way the commitment our heavenly Father made to us when we became His children. According to Romans 8:15-17 we received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out “Abba! Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Also according to Romans11:17 we being a wild olive, (gentile) were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree. (Israel). In as much as our heavenly Father through His love for us has covenanted fully with us, so we wish to demonstrate our love to the children by fully covenanting with them. When we do this our grants will fall away and Allen has started a small business as a service provider for wireless internet to make up the shortfall. Please pray that he will have success.

Jowie, Mphati and Mongi have been with us for 10 months now and have reached a place where Jowie has been able to come to terms with her and Mongi’s status, be well informed concerning HIV and its implications, be consistent with ARV treatment and find a good support group run by a medical doctor treating HIV/AIDS conditions. They are all physically well and have consistently been so and Jowie has reconciled with her family and is ready to go home. We will miss them all and we are grateful to God for His impact on their lives and the opportunity to share the gospel with them.

Since August we’ve had some wonderful fellowship with Jacob and Calvin from the UK when they visited Alethea and shared God’s word with us. We’ve also had Marg and Pam from Australia helping out at Ebyown and it was a joy to spend time with them. Presently Marianne, Hannah and Jonathan are visiting Ebyown from Sweden and they have enriched our lives as we’ve got to know them. Each one who has visited this year has been a blessing to us and we thank the Lord for them all. About the middle of September Alethea moved from our home to Ebyown on Sunday mornings. The everyday demands and teaching the children became too stressful with no rest on weekends as we prepared for church. It was a blessing to serve the Lord this way and the season for change is timely. We continue to meet at our home on Sunday evenings and occasional Wednesday evenings. Fellowship with believers is a precious time and we thank the Lord for the freedom to do so. We have all been able to bear one another’s burdens through prayer and encouragement during the sudden death of Val; Dave, Lyn and Aaron’s illness, the distressing news of Christo’s accident and the subsequent loss of his eye, the demands we all bear in ministry and the market place and the death of 3 of Allen and my personal friends in the last few months. We’ve also shared joyful times with Aaron and Erin’s engagement and pray for God’s blessing and direction as they return home to prepare for their wedding, Manny and Jacqui’s marriage, Clayton’s trip to the UK in December to visit Susie and meet her family and friends and the preparation for Salvador and Dianne’s wedding on the 24th of this month. I have the wonderful privilege of making Dianne’s dress and am hurriedly penning this letter so she doesn’t walk down the isle with unfinished hems or pins sticking into her.

Thank you to all our faithful friends everywhere known and anonymous who have supported us for many years and made possible what we do for our children. You bless us more than you know and we deeply appreciate you all. May you all be encouraged by this verse from Psalm 138: 8 (Amplified) as you continually seek the Lord for your lives.

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;

Your loving-kindness, O lord, endure forever-

Forsake not the work of your own hands.

Shalom

Allen and Sue Wells.
bezaleel@aol.com