Crystal ,Savannah-Hope and Mrs.Miller(Grammy Sheila) landed in America safe and sound a few minutes earlier than scheduled Saturday afternoon. The flight went very smoothly and Savannah-Hope was an angel she never cried once she either played or slept the whole time. She was amazed with the little TV on the plane that played Dora the explorer! Mrs.Miller was very happy to see her husband and Savannah-Hope and Crystal were overwhelmed with hugs and kisses. Savannah-Hope has fit right into the role of being the littlest Johnson princess and adores her big brothers and sisters!! She is already reaching for her daddy and will no doubt have him wrapped around her little finger in no time flat! Savannah-Hope is sleeping all night and adjusted well to the time difference and she loves waffles !!!! Crystal sends her thanks to all who have helped and prayed to get this angel home to her forever family.

Savannah-Hope is on her way home!!!!

Crystal received Savannah-Hope's visa yesterday and boarded the plane today for America! Mrs. Miller, Crystal and Savannah-Hope are scheduled to arrive in TN on Saturday at 1pm. Thank you for your prayers throughout this journey.

Urgent Request

Brother Gentry alerted me this morning of a urgent need in Malawi. The fees for our Form 1 and Form 2 (high school students) are due. They were actually due on April 1st. If they are not paid by this Friday the children will have to be taken out of school. We have 21 children in the school and the fees for each are $300. This cost is for tuition only. We have received funds for two of the children. We are in need of the remaining $5700. Please help if you can.

Please send your tax deductible donation to:

Victory World Outreach
c/0 Victory Baptist Church
7808 Beulah Church Rd.
Louisville, Kentucky 40228.
Please write "school fees" on the memo portion of the check.

The growth of a Peanut

Here is a picture of Savannah-Hope with Brother Gentry taken the day she arrived at Good Samaritan Children's Home on September 4th, 2007. She was 4 months old and weighed 4 pounds. She was our tiny little peanut.


Here are some pictures of Savannah-Hope with Brother Gentry taken last week. She is now 11 months old and just under 17 pounds. She is truly a miracle!

Today was Savannah-Hope's visa appointment at the Embassy. Crystal passed the two part interview process. All of her paper work passed review. Praise the Lord! She is now awaiting a security clearance. If all goes well, she should be issued the adoption visa tomorrow, Wednesday April 23rd. They are hoping to leave Malawi on the next available flight which is Friday April 25th. If they are able to take this flight, Crystal and Savannah-Hope will finallly reach home on Sat. April 26th (40 days total). Please continue to lift, Mrs. Miller, Crystal, Savannah-Hope and the entire Johnson Family up in prayer during these final days of their journey.

Clifford's sister died this morning

Report from Crystal Johnson:

Clifford's sister, Blessings died during the night. He was really tore up over this, he thinks of her as mom as she helped raise him. He needed 15,000 kwacha ($110) to bury her so I gave it to him and now he is on his way to Zomba. Blessings only 27 years old, left three orphans, two boys and a girl. Clifford will be taking full custody of the two boys ages 12 and 5. He will take on full responsibility of raising them including putting them through school. The little girl will go to his other brother who already has 3 children. Clifford is a 22 years old single guy trying to put himself through school making 6000 kwacha a month ($43). My heart breaks for his loss and I pray that God will allow us to help him in some small way. I am trying to come up with 1200 kwacha ($11) for each boy a school uniform. Please send up prayers for his family today and for this young man who is taking on such a great responsibility. The kids names are Jones, Decision, and little girl is Famous.

Brother Gentry in Malawi

Brother Gentry arrived safely in Malawi today. Praise the Lord! His suitcases arrived too!

Wellness Update: Ida (infection), Alinafe (infection), Heath (diarrhea) and Clifford's sister Blessings (TB) are still ill. Please continue to pray for them. Yesterday Henry's son, Lil' Gentry was discovered to have a problem with his hip. He spent the night in the hospital and had a surgical proceedure. Something was removed from his hip and a biopsy is being performed. Please pray for this little guy.

Savannah-Hope Update: Crystal is still in Malawi waiting to bring Savannah-Hope home. Today was the 30th day. The US Embassy in Malawi has the paperwork that they need, but they haven't opened the envelope yet. They only process documents for Americans on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They may get to it tomorrow or they may not. They refuse to give an estimated time frame. Please pray without ceasing for the visa to be issued quickly so that Crystal and Savannah-Hope may join their family in Tennessee. Crystal has four little ones at home missing her terribly.

Update

Container: The container did not pass inspection and was not issued a certificate of sea-worthiness. This is an inconvenience for sure, but also a blessing as there was a good chance the container could have collapsed and all the items would have been rendered useless and people could have been injured or property could have been damaged in the process. Brother Gentry has a plan to transfer the items to a new container. This will take some extra funds and a lot of man power. Please keep the container and the behind the scenes preparations in prayer.

Wellness: Ida and Alinafe (not sure which one as there are 4 Alinafe's) have an infection. Clifford's sister Blessings has been hospitalized with TB and is very ill. Clifford is the Jorgenson's guard and has been the body guard for Crystal and Mrs. Miller during their stay. Raxon's 7 month old son Heath has diarrhea. Please keep them in prayer.

Brother Gentry: Brother Gentry is scheduled to arrive in Malawi tomorrow night. He should be in South Africa right now. He left Kentucky on Monday. Please pray that the Lord will give brother Gentry strength to endure this long trip and wisdom to deal with all that will be waiting for him in Malawi.

Two Funerals and a Prayer Request

At 7:30pm yesterday (4/10), Thandie received word that her cousin died. He was in his early 70's and was walking down the road. His vision was poor and he didn't see a vehicle approaching. He was hit by the vehicle and died. His funeral will be Saturday 4/12.

Today (4/11/08) Mrs. Makocho, the 4th grade teacher at Good Samaritan died of Tuberculosis. Her funeral will be Saturday 4/12.

**Prayer Request**

Brother Gentry is trying to ship the next container before he leaves for Malawi. His departure is rapidly approaching. The obstacles are stacked tall and wide. Please pray for Brother Gentry has he fights the battle of the container. For more information on how you can help get this next container on its way click here.

Thandie Graduates

Thandie graduated from her Community Development College Program on Saturday April 5th. This was a mighty accomplishment for Thandie as she carried school and the needs of the children's home for many months. She is now enrolled in another college program. She continues to amaze us.....please continue to lift her up in prayer as she has a very full plate.

This is a picture of Mrs. Miller, Thandie and Peace. I can't get over how much Peace has grown in the last few months. She was so proud of her mom. What a blessing that Crystal and Mrs. Miller could share this special day with Thandie. They were also able to meet several of Thandie's family members including her siblings and Aunt Mary.

I love pictures of babies tied to their Mama's back. I can't get enough of them. These are two of my favorites.

This is Savannah-Hope's first wrap and head piece.

ADOPTION UPDATE:

Mrs. Miller, Crystal and Savannah-Hope remain in Malawi. We are still unsure when they will return. We were hoping for Monday April 14th, but that window seems to be closing rapidly.

Crystal can not leave the country with Savannah-Hope without the adoption visa. The visa is issued at the Malawian Embassy. The Embassy is refusing to schedule the visa appointment until they receive the "hard copy" paperwork from the National Visa Center (NVC). The paperwork left the NVC office via DHL on Monday April 7th. It arrived in South Africa today (April 10th). We are hoping it will arrive to Malawi tomorrow or Monday at the latest. The visa interview appointments are only on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sometimes they will issue the visa the same day. Other times they make you come on one of the visa pick up days which are on Mondays and Wednesdays (the latter is the more common way). I will keep you updated. Please continue to pray without ceasing for this process to move smoothly and quickly. Today was their 24th day in Malawi.

Good Samaritan Children:

As far as I know the children are all doing well. Last week Elias was hospitalized for two days with severe Malaria.

Ready for an update?

I haven't spoken to Thandie is several days. The electrical panel that sends electricity to Thandie's house burned up. This had created a problem with charging her cell phone. Thandie's cell phone is Telcom which has been having trouble all week with their towers. And Thandie has spent quite a bit of time with Simion at the hospital, and is unable to have her phone on. So you add all that together and you have break in communication. I miss hearing her voice.

Here is a picture of Thandie. She looks so happy.

Many of you have been wondering how she is handling the separation of Savannah-Hope. Thandie is actually handling better than even she thought she would. She has a complete peace about the adoption. Thandie was so nervous that Savannah-hope would be afraid of Crystal or have a difficult time adjusting. But it has been quite the opposite. Savannah-Hope attached to Crystal right away and actually is now preferring Crystal over Thandie. Thandie is grateful to God for answering this prayer. God has truly placed Crystal in the role of mother in Savannah-Hope's heart. That has made the transition easier on everyone.

The Staff Babies! L-R: Savannah-Hope, Samuel (Henry's son), James Douglas (Rodney's son) and Heath (Rackson's son). Poor Heath has to wear girl clothes because we don't have any boy clothes at his size at the children's home.

Here is a picture of two of Henry's sons.

An updated picture of Ida! She looks so beautiful!

This is a picture of 3 staff boys with one child from the children's home (Lil' Junior). Far left is Nathaniel (Lloyd's son), the little one in the front is Johnathan (Lloyd's son) and standing next to him is Junior (Rackson's son).

This is Christiana (Andrew's daughter) and Heather (Rodney's daughter). Most of the staff at Good Samaritan have had boys, we cherish these two precious girls!

**Savannah-Hope Update**

Crystal is going to be delayed in Malawi. She is not able to return to The States as originally scheduled on April 6th. We are waiting for the National Visa Center in the U.S. to log in her approved immigration form. Until that is done Crystal will not be granted an adoption Visa. So she is waiting in Malawi. It is unknown how long this will take. Please be in prayer for Crystal and her family. Her husband will need to return to work next week. They home school their four young children (3 seven year olds and 1 four year old). Crystal has never been so far away or for so long. Please pray without ceasing that they will the Johnson family will be united soon in Tennessee.

Here is a picture of Savannah-Hope and Crystal visiting Savannah-Hope's home village. The uncle is holding Tamandani, Crystal is holding Sidala and Thandie is holding Savannah-Hope. The twins turn three years old sometime this week. The parents' don't know their birthday only that it was sometime the first week of April. The girls are so tiny and have are infested with intestinal and skin worms. The boy in the picture is their 10 year old brother, Jameson.

This is a picture of Heather (Rodney's son) holding Savannah-hope after church.