2019 in review
Dear friends-
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Per usual, we sit down to write this letter in awe that we are facing the end of another year.
2019 was filled with growth, change, and much to be thankful for.
The Kriwiels visited The Yellow House in May with their 12-month old son, Lewis. To see our Ghanaian and American family collide was truly the highlight of our year. Ellie visited again in late November. Considering that we did not make a trip in 2018, we are so grateful for these opportunities and for the prayers that cover us on our journeys.
We hosted our first foster placement, Enagbe, in early 2019. We are thrilled that our relationship with social welfare has developed to the point that they consider our home a resource in our community. She was only with us for a few months while her adoption was finalized, but we are hopeful that we can continue to be a refuge for children in transitory stages.
Destiny, our long-time social worker, has taken a new job and left our employment. We always knew that Eight Oaks would not be his final destination, and he has been open about wanting to obtain his master’s degree since we hired him, back in 2014. Destiny was responsible for restoring communication with Sarah Sr.’s family and seeing her return to the Yellow House, as well as maintaining relationships with all of the girls’ families. We are so grateful that the Lord brought him to us when we most needed him, and are excited for him as he pursues his next calling. We have a temporary social welfare officer who is checking on the house periodically, and Celestine has maintained the paperwork in Destiny’s absence. Every time we experience a transition like this, we are amazed anew by the competency of our staff and how they handle these changes with grace and ease.
The house has seen much-needed improvements: the staff replaced the bamboo bunk beds with steel frames (which, while not as appealing, design-wise, are infinitely more practical) and added a bathroom to the courtyard. We now have an additional two toilets and two showers! The garden continues to flourish under the hand of Mama Helen, currently boasting over 17 types of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and herbs!
We continue to pay the school fees for Collins, Juliet, Justine, and Juliana, and are grateful for the opportunity to supply their families with occasional expenses like new clothes, school supplies, house improvements, and groceries.
We celebrated 6 years of freedom for the girls in November! It is insufficient to say that they have “grown” in this time: rather they have expanded, heightened, filled out, and flourished. The girls we met in 2013 have evolved into young women. The oldest six: Dina, God’s Way, Lucky, Sarah Sr., Richlove, and Regina were baptized this summer in a tributary where water flows from both the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Volta. I marveled over this fact for weeks: that the waters that sourced such pain and anguish for these women and their ancestors could also represent the spring of new life in Christ. Reflecting over this with a friend, she reminded me of the promise that anything horrible or painful is simply incomplete, and the hope we cling to that all will be made Complete someday, that wrongs will be righted and life restored. The Message states it this way in 1 Corinthians 13:8-10, 12
“Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled… We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as He knows us!” What a beautiful promise, so aptly remembered during this season when we celebrate the Word becoming flesh, and God fulfilling His promise to us through his Son’s entrance into the world.
Thank you for the endless spiritual and financial support you have poured out in this ministry. Please continue to pray with us for restoration and redemption as we await Completion.
TOP, L-R: Lucky, Gloria, Sarah Jr., God’s Way
BOTTOM, L-R: Regina, Richlove, Sarah Sr., Dina
Love to all of you, on behalf of Dina, Lucky, God’s Way, Sarah Sr., Richlove, Regina, Sarah Jr., Gloria, Mercy, Helen, Bernard, Celestine, and Forgive:
Ted & Ellie Kriwiel
Founders
Donations can be made online or via mail:
P.O. Box 8366
Wichita, KS 67208