Exciting News!

Arrival of Hadassah Joy Potgieter

Many prayers were answered with the safe and fast arrival of our beautiful daughter Hadassah Joy on the 25th January. I (Rebekah) awoke with light contractions at 2.45am and at 5.57am she came out with one push in the birthing pool. Praise God! She is such a peaceful baby and all the kids absolutely love and adore her! Her name is Queen Esther's Hebrew name and means righteousness and a sweet fragrance. Her middle name is from Isaiah 55:12 "You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace..." I got that verse a couple of days before she was born, and I felt that it was both for her and for us going to Madagascar. We feel very blessed to have another precious blessing added to our family.

We have our tickets!

Our other exciting news is that we have our tickets to Madagascar. We leave NZ on Tuesday 11th April. We fly via Dubai to South Africa and then on Thursday 13th we fly from Johannesburg to Antananarivo. It has been a huge drama with our tickets. Expedia got the names spelt wrong on our tickets and for a few weeks now, Gerhard has been spent a long time on the phone trying to sort it out. We have had to pay for new tickets, and cancel the incorrect ones, so it has been very stressful especially for Gerhard who has been dealing with them.

Important dates

2nd April: Send off/commissioning/farewell at Taumarunui Baptist Church

6th/7th April: Last day in Taumarunui, heading to Auckland

11th April: Flying out of Auckland to Johannesburg via Dubai

13th April: Flying from Johannesburg to Antananarivo (capital of Madagascar)

We give thanks for

* The safe arrival of Hadassah, and for how peaceful and easy she has been for a newborn baby.

* Our tickets to Madagascar

* Selling our small car (within one hour of being advertised!)

* Getting support from a new church (we are now supported by 2 churches)

* Receiving a large donation from an anonymous sponsor (thank you whoever you are!)

* Receiving a gift of a water filter (drinking clean water is a must in a third world country!)

Please pray for

* Selling our large family car

* Our suitcases to arrive safely with us (we are transiting in Johannesburg overnight, and we won't be allowed to go through customs to get our suitcases, as NZ residents now need visas to enter SA, which we won't be getting, so we are tagging our suitcases with both lots of tickets, all the way from NZ to Madagascar).

* Smooth flights/airport times with our family of 4 young children (first flight is 17 hours straight to Dubai!!, 4.5 hours in Dubai airport, 8.5 hours to South Africa, overnight transit in Joburg Airport, 3.5 hours to Madagascar).

* Increased support

* Health for our family (currently Rebekah and Hadassah are sick with colds/coughs)

* Peace for our family during this busy time, packing, cleaning etc

With love and blessings

Rebekah