Hey friends,
I hope that you are well, and hanging in there as we navigate through these Covid-19 days. It’s truly unbelievable how much our entire world has changed this year! I continue to pray for you and for us that we be filled with the power and grace of God to get through this tough chapter in each of our lives.
We are doing well. My health is better, which is a huge answer to prayer. Marius has an appointment with his neurosurgeon in November, and hopefully surgery will follow soon thereafter. Emi is doing well in school and growing like a weed. She is still 10, but she already looks 14 years old! I think she is cute as a button.
We celebrated my mom’s birthday in August, and fulfilled her birthday wish of taking her grandkids(except Gracie who was at UNG) to the Bigfoot Museum in Cherry Log, GA. She loves that place. All I can say about it is I am happy mom got her birthday wish, and sad for Gracie who is not yet off the hook, as she will still have to visit that museum with her someday. Lol. We ate at the Pink Pig for lunch, and it was fun for all of us to be together. I say all together because even though we live right here in Jasper now and we’re not a 17 hour flight away from our family-we are hardly ever all together. Part of that is social distancing, and part has just been how busy everyone is these days.
My brother, Kris, is the Republican candidate running for Chairman of the Board of Commissioners in our little county of Pickens. It has been a vicious political race. I will be SO GLAD when this election is over. Igenuinely HATE POLITICS in general, but I’ve never been this closely related to an actual political candidate. I can tell you with certainty that I wouldn’t have made it through 1 week of what my brother has gone through in this race. For those of you who know Kris, he is a police officer with a heart for ministry, and just a dependable guy. He already makes such a difference in our community. He has shown such integrity and restraint while being constantly persecuted and belittled and disrespected by his opponent. I’ve never seen anything like it (and yes, that even includes the 1st Presidential debate this week! lol) . Anyway, will you please pray for my brother - that the Lord would continue to give him the grace he needs to finish this race well. I couldn’t be prouder of him!
Another fun day was when we were at my parents’ place in Hiawassee. We decided to take Megan, Evan, and Emi (the 3 cousins) rafting on the Nantahala River. That was also a lot of fun. It was all of their first time rafting, and they did great! I can’t tell you how much it meant just to get outside and go on a day trip and be with extended family and enjoy nature again. It felt like life was sort of normal for a moment you know? Like maybe we’re all going to make it through this season to the other side. I think the word I’m looking for is - I felt HOPE. In Proverbs it says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Oh how we all need to hold on to HOPE. Our HOPE is in a precious, unchanging, loving Father, who is Sovereign over all. He will not forsake us.
I wanted to share a few photos from my friend Joy in South Africa who is one of the teachers at Oakridge Academy, the school that many of you have helped build by funding brick by brick. You can check Joy out on FB at The Joy Emporium. Joy is such an amazing, creative, artistic teacher and it just made my heart smile to see some of the ways she is reaching the kids in her classroom. She hand painted cookies with edible markers and made a pallet of colors for the kids to paint their own cookie’s unique design. I just love what she is doing!! Oakridge continues to blaze new paths in education and I’m so grateful we can continue to be a small part of sewing into those kids lives.
I think I’m going to keep this update short and sweet. I want those of you who are still supporting us financially through World Outreach to know that we are at a point now where we can pay our monthly bills, and if you want to continue to support us, you can email and let me know how you would like for your donation to be used. We’re still providing funds for the Vitamin project in South Africa- which is more important than ever during this pandemic. Around 1500 kids are still receiving vitamins in 14 different locations. We continue to send funds to Oakridge to help with scholarships for those kids whose parents just can not afford school fees. Treasure (our project to repurpose recycled materials into beautiful products and help support vulnerable women and children) continues to thrive as well.
What a huge blessing to see all of these things continue on, as they were God’s heart for those precious people-and I was but a spoke in the wheel for a short time. It continues to roll on into the future! Thank you Lord, and thank you friends for your support and love. Let me know if you want to designate to a specific area of ministry and I will make sure it gets there. Thank you so, so much for helping us get to this point.
With so much love to you
The Deetlefs family
(Marius, Jodi, & Emi)
Our contact details:
The Deetlefs Family
260 Jacobs Way - Unit C
Jasper, GA 30143
770.547.9047
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