To all our friends and supporters
It is with Joy that we are able to come and share once again, how good God is to us, as we continue to strive to do our utmost for the babes He has placed in our care.
We started off the year with many babies, tiny babies, who grew and soon were all adopted and as more babes came in, we are saddened when the bigger ones go, and we think we will never do without them, but as the newborns grow and we see that first smile and then the first tooth, we again, are caught up in “bonding” with our little ones all over again! and so the circle keeps going round and round, us falling in love all over again!
We are happy to say, our social worker has managed to place many, many babies this year with wonderful adoptive parents, both locally and abroad
The come-back on these adoptions are always phenomenal, in that the baby designated for a specific couple, is always the right one! I always wonder over this and just know that God has His hand on us as we place a baby with a specific set of parents, with much prayer and hope, and God has already guided us into pairing them off divinely! How wonderfully amazing it is to see a childless couple arrive at the doors of Shepherd’s keep, go away a week later with a bundle of sheer joy-what a dynamic addition to a family formerly barren! God is to be praised in all this!
We still have our cerebral palsied babies—Gugu and Joshua both celebrated 2nd birthdays this year, and much fun was had by all–we cant believe they are two whole years old!
They are still very “different” to handle, and they have become babies that need constant care, so we assign certain caregivers to this task, daily, and nightly—they are very loved and are thriving and very well cared for and SPOILT! They should be!
We have one baby who has been diagnosed as epileptic, he is huge and has the most humorous disposition ever! he laughs at his own hands, and giggles at absolutely anything—we all love him to bits!
In December, on Christmas day—we admitted a newborn baby with definite abnormalities, I called her “REJOICE” as we all rejoiced when she was brought to us!
She has since been diagnosed with Craniosynastosis, and will be admitted to a huge specialist hospital in July, to have complete cranial and facial reconstructive surgery, by a very special surgeon who has agreed to do it.
We all wait in anticipation for next month, knowing that if she hadn’t have come to Shepherd’s keep, and hadn’t have had a full medical assessment, she would certainly develop brain damage as her closing skull crushes her brain, so again, all thanks and praise to God in guiding the police to us on the dark Christmas night of 2006.
We have been blessed with a new floor in our chapel and floor cornices throughout our building, what an immense difference to the building, we were also donated a very much needed floor polisher, which is making life a lot easier for the cleaning staff, as our building is cleaned from top to toe in the morning and evening of each day, right through the week! We are grateful beyond words for the company that did all this for us, a huge big thank you!
We have had a washing machine and tumble drier donated by Durban Christian Centre, and what a blessing they are as our old machines were churning on their last—thank you so very much!!
All monetary donations have helped to keep Shepherd’s Keep running at the standard we maintain, and for this we thank you all, as this is directly responsible for the babies health and well-being—so bless you all!
Our gardens will soon be overcome with beauty, as a retired horticulturist has joined our staff and he is really going to beautify the gardens—at the moment there are hundreds of different birds that we feed everyday with ordinary birdseed, and what a glorious sound they make, the babies are enthralled at them and enjoy them just as much as we do.
To everyone else who dedicates time and effort to Shepherd’s Keep, not forgetting our very much needed and appreciated volunteers, especially the school girls who come so regularly—a huge big grateful thank you to you all—it is your input, no matter what it is, that keeps us going !!
God bless you all, all over the globe, our friends forever!
Colin and Cheryl Pratley — custodians of Shepherd’s Keep