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| June, 2006
Well, I arrived home about 3 weeks ago and it has been nonstop since. I am still feeling like a fish out of water but I had expected that! I will update you on what's been happening in my life since arriving here on the Georgia coast in the quaint fishing village I call home. On Mother's Day, my daughter had another miscarriage, sad to say the least. I am thankful I was home and able to be with her for a while. I stand in awe of the beautiful young woman she has become. Her faith and faithfulness are something to behold. I want to be just like her when I grow up! Last week I stayed in Atlanta and baby-sat a friends set of twin girls while she attended to a family emergency. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with these babies. I am still missing my babies in South Africa so much. The latest update on baby Phila: He is still in the hospital and will be there for a while; although he is still very sickly, he is just now starting to talk and walk some. Several of girls that volunteered with me, working with the babies, have been to visit him at the hospital a few times since I left. I'm sure that is why he is improving. We may never know the extent of what Phila has endured while home for seven weeks under his grandmothers care, I continue to have a hard time going there in my head and it continues to hurt so much just thinking about it. Please keep him in your prayers. I will keep you updated on his status as I learn more. We are in the process of finalizing our plans for fund raising. I will be in Colorado the week of June 12 to meet with Co-Founder Dick Gordon to work on our fundraising presentation, defining our direction (incorporating the results of our pilot program) and to clarify our vision and mission. While I'm there, we’ll meet up with our web master Viola Madrid and start the transition to a new and improved web presence. She is a pen pal I have had for over 50 years and I will be meeting her for the first time! Pretty exciting! We will be sharing our story and plans at as many fund raising functions that can be arranged in the time that I have before returning to South Africa. We are just starting to schedule these events and would ask that if you have any ideas or know of interested individuals or groups that could help, please let me know. I’d like to come to your area and share with you all. Meanwhile, we’ll will keep you posted on scheduled events and soon they will be posted on the website as we start this transition! Maureen 912-832-2809 =================================================== June 30, 2006 Dear Friends, It’s been awhile since I last wrote you all and I am missing not having South African stories to tell you about. A day does not go by that I don't think of my precious baby Phila, he is still in the hospital and is doing a lot better, he walks and talks now. My prayer is that he can stay there until my return to South Africa in January. Although we all believe that they could not possibly send him back to his family, the fact of the matter is they can. At least if I am in the country I can be a voice for his safety.
I was in Colorado last week to meet with Our Journey Co-Founder Dick Gordon and Viola Madrid our web master and my pen pal for over fifty years; Viola and I were meeting each other for the first time. It felt like we were sisters that were separated at birth and reunited fifty years later…. it was truly awesome to finally meet her. We accomplished a lot. We are in the process of redefining our mission and vision for next year. It is an exciting time for us, we all believe my desire to recruit other perspective volunteers to work for the Director of The Valley Out Reach Program is definitely a good decision. In the next few months I will be traveling to many states to fund raise and share our story and pictures about the year in South Africa, including pictures taken in the nearby valley that we will be working in. Pictures are worth a thousand words … when you see them you will understand why I have a burning desire to return to the valley. Viola and Dick will be working on redesigning our web site. They will be posting updates all summer….keep checking it out! www.ourjourneyinc.org It is my pleasure to announce that Fred Mills a local CPA has been offered a seat on the Board of Directors for Our Journey, we are pleased he has agreed to join our team! Maureen
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