Exciting News: The Carriers from West Virginia sent 5 boxes to Malawi containing Christmas gifts for the children and staff at Good Samaritan. The 5 big boxes contained 189 small boxes of candy (sweets as they are called in Malawi). Each box is gift wrapped.

The boxes arrived Thursday 12/27. Thandie has decided to save them for a special New Years Celebration. The children are so excited! They of course wanted to open them today and when Thandie said they had to wait until "next year" they looked so sad...then they realized it was only a few days away :)

The children have gone to town and have had a chance to spend their Christmas money. This was such a special treat for them.

Wellness update: Junior is resting at Good Samaritan and feeling much better. The rest of the children and staff are healthy. Savannah's current weight is 13 lbs 2oz. Today (12/28) all of the children are in the garden working. I could hear them when I talked to Thandie. They were working hard, in the rain,were very very dirty, but full of joy.

Prayer Request:
1) One of the women members of Nawsawa Baptist Church died this week. She left a three month old baby boy. The Pastor of the Church, Joseph Maweta asked Thandie if we could take this little one, and sadly we had to turn him away. The church will now be contacting other orphanages to see if they have room for him. Please pray for this little guy.

2) Our adoption attorney is making a very important phone call to the head of child welfare in Malawi sometime today or within the next few days. We need this mans approval before we can go forward on Savannah-Hope's adoption. Please pray that God will touch this man's heart and he will give us the "go-ahead" to move forward. The Malawi Social Welfare Office is VERY leery of Americans adopting Malawian children because of all the media frenzy and negative publicity surrounding the Madonna adoption.

School Update: Back in September our 8th grade students took their primary school exit exams. They have to pass these exams before they can go to secondary school. The results of these tests are expected to be announced on Monday 12/31. Please continue to pray for the finances for these 21 children to begin school in January. The cost for each child is $300 a semester which includes tuition, transportation, books, 3 uniforms and a daily sack lunch. Please prayerfully consider helping sponsor one of these children. If you can't sponsor one child, do what you can, any amount will help hold a spot in school for them.

Make your check payable to: VWO Orphanage (VWO=Victory World Outreach)
Victory Baptist Church
7808 Beulah Church Rd
Louisville, Kentucky 40228
On the memo portion of the check write: School fees