Our new car

     It was truly amazing how all of the new car details came together. We felt like for the first time in almost 5 years the Lord said yes to us having a second car. We sent out a letter saying just that and we would be purchasing our friends car for about $5000. In less than 6 days we had the majority of the money!!! We were blown away!

     Our friends, that we were buying the car from, decided to keep the car and take it to Zimbabwe with them. It was cheaper in the long run, for them, to keep their car than to purchase another there. So, we started looking and were very patient. We found a green mini van and liked it, but the man wanted more than we wanted to pay. We waited for 2 weeks and went back to him and the car was still available. He lowered the price to what we wanted and took care of all fees for licensing and change of title! It was also owned by an older couple who were only in the country 3 months out of the year, the mileage is so low. It was kept in super good condition.

     The funny thing is we had a green minivan in America with grey leather seats and now we have the same green color and the same grey leather seats in the new minivan. It feels very "home" to all of us. It also fits our entire family and has space in the back and roof racks. God gave us little details that we didnt ask for but He new would bless us.

Introducing the Green Machine 2

     I still can hardly believe I have a car and I'm not loaning it from someone!!! This is so huge for
our family! Thank you to everyone who donated and for all of you that prayed for the funds to come in. We are so thankful for this gift and how God stirred hearts to give.

Don't be that guy

Every caught yourself saying this?  Most of the time when I do it has something to do with parenting and something that I told myself I never wanted to do.  I didn't want that guy.

Today was one of those days.  Monday is a day for me to be home and taking care of admin stuff. Sometime personal, newsletters, emails, etc, but sometimes still for work.  Most of the weekend and today I was trying to get our Children of Promise website redone.  I am still a bit new to all the ins and outs of wordpress so it probably takes me longer than the average, but I am learning.

I was, am close to being finished.  My son has been asking me for some time to build a table and to help him build some ramps for his finger-boarding (think teck decks, but with more life life skateboards)/  I finally told him he could have an old table out back that I use for my weekend wood working projects.  He managed to rummage thru my scrap pile and find some pieces that would work. I heard him trying to hand saw some things.  I busy working away in the dining room.  I looked at my watch....it was almost 3.  I thought to myself, we have somewhere to be at 5, so why go to all this trouble now.  Our garage serves as an extra bedroom, so all my tools are stored thru-out the house. Seemed pointless to get it all out just to put back.  After a bit of hand sawing he asked if he could use one of my power saws.

Sure I said, help your self.  After a few minutes, he came inside and asked how to do it.  I helped him trace a few lines out on the wood.  After about 15 minutes and a lot of sawing, he yelled out to me asking how to cut the diagonal line.  I tried to tell him how.  He pushed back and said come show me. Reluctantly, I went.  I made the cut.  Thanks he said.  I went back to work.  I really wanted to get this finished today before I left.  I mean come on a website with as much traffic as mine (sarcasm) can be down for more than 3 days, can it?  He came back inside.  Help me make lines for another one please.

This one he cut all by himself.  Then he showed them to me.  We had to start over, as they were just a bit crooked.  We quickly made new ones and I cut them for them.  He needed a little bit of help with the gluing and that was it.

I went back to work.  No I didn't get it all done.  No its not the end of the world.  Later while we were in the kitchen.  Eating quickly between one thing and another that we needed to get to tonight, he says this.  "Dad, thanks for helping me with my ramps.  You don't get many chances for memories like that."

Dads, (and moms) don't be that guy.  Stop and give them everything you have for a moment.....they don't come often.

Just a friendly public service announcement.

Two for the price of One

Everyone loves a bargain and I have the best one for you. Our friends have just moved to Zimbabwe, to be missionaries there, and they are selling their car. We are desperately in need of a second car. In helping us to purchase this vehicle it also helps them buy one in Zim. Its a 2 for 1 deal.

We are feeling like now is the time for a second car. We have been praying about it for a long time and just trust that God is saying now He will provide. We sent out a letter a few days ago to our supporters and immediately got some donations. Between what we have saved and donations we are at R17,450/ $1455 of the R50,000 / $5000  we need. We do have some other donations that will come in over the next 3 months but we are trusting that this is the time and God will provide all of it this month. Not just for us but also for our friends who need their car sold. The dollar to Rand is extremely good right now so our dollar is actually stretched. It is R12 to a $1.

                                                             Subaru Forester 2002
If you would like to support us you can donate at our website www.therenderfam.com or if you are local in South Africa you can deposit to Capitec account # 1328767584 branch # 470010 name on the account is JJ Oosthuizen (a friends who is letting us use this account)

Here is the letter I sent to our supporters giving more detail to the need.

Hello friends,

I am writing you about a true need we have. I do not like to ask but we are just going to put it out there and see if some will help.

We have had 1 car for 5 years. This has never been easy with 7 people in a family but now it's gotten to the point of not working at all. God has blessed our ministry very much and with that brings more time working in the townships and meetings away from home and not as much flexibility. When Shelby leaves with the car he can be gone all day and then me and the kids don't have transport, if I go with Shelby then both of us are gone and the kids are alone at home. The problem is our kids are at home and unable to do anything, sports, friends, clubs. I feel that our kids are feeling this pressure, that we are ministering to others, and I never want our kids to feel like their needs are not being met. So before that happens I want to put our need before the body.

We have friends that just moved to Zimbabwe to be missionaries there. They are selling a great Subaru for $5000. If we can buy this car it would help us get a much needed second car and help them purchase a car in Zimbabwe. Kind of a 2 for 1 :)

Please if you can donate we would appreciate it! I know that God will work this out one way or anotherwww.therenderfam.com and go to donate.

Thank you for loving and praying for us!

Blessings,

Shelby and Andrea Render