Loving Orphans...

Cricky...Armondo was glad you sent those suckers with me! He said thanks!





Luckily Brenda is good at tutoring the children after school!




Oh my...will these books end up in the right backpacks in the morning




Nohema has a system for everything. What a great gal!




Isn´t she beautiful




Look at this handsome guy!




Homework!




Katy misses tio Gary!




Diligent workers!




Nancy!




I don´t do too good at tutoring!




Cielo and her books




Maggie is excited to get her English book!




Baby April with abuela Esther










Brenda helped Nohema keep track of all the books.




The orphanage was awarded a check for a little of $5,000 dollars. Remember...the amount you see is in pesos...and the US dollar is low.




Another day at school




Samuel and Jackie




Homework homework homework...




Each child came home from school today with 5 to 7 books in their backpacks. Nohema had them all write their name and other information in the front of each book.




Feliz Complianos, Antonio!




We all sang to him and he cried he was so excited. Tonight we are picking up a birthday cake for him to celebrate with his little buddies at Mama and Papa´s house.




A smokey cafeteria from our terrific pancake breakfast.




Shy Samuel




The kindergarteners were so proud of the snack we sent with them...a piece of bread.




Nohema leading the trash crew.




The shrubs are blooming!




Ed and Rosa enojoying our adoption DVD. They were deeply touched.




Mark was busy flipping hot cakes this morning!




No syrup today...but we had peanut butter! Yum!


Storms and more storms. They are short but mighty! We lost our electricity for only 5 hours. After the storm I wondered about a shower since the electricity was off. There was water...so I jumped in the dark shower in the dark since I forgot a flashlight too. There was plenty of water UNTIL I lathered up the shampoo... It was a dumb idea to say the least.




Beautiful Lupita




Silvia cleaning my casa to earn money for her school uniform. She is such a hard worker. It is a pleasure to pay her!!!




Even princess dogs need a drink.




Beautiful baby April!




My jewelery made her smile! She is 100% girl!!!




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Baby April!











The dogs are part of our staff. They give a lot of love and comfort!!!




Yes, Abelardo is still here!








Ana and the princess dog!

How I love these kids. There are all here because of a deep heartache. They know rejection. My eyes well up with tears when I think about their hurts. Some people may come here and say, “that boy is acting bad”, or “why does that girl look so sad?” They have no idea how great these kids are doing for all that they have been through. God loves broken, messed up people. This orphanage is a haven for broken people…and it’s exactly what our churches should be. When new children arrive, the other children put their arms around them and comfort them…like only they could do. They know what it’s like to end up at an orphanage. That’s one thing I love about my church. When broken and hurting people come, we are able to put our arms around them and comfort them with the same comfort God has given us. We’re all in this together and life is not about ‘us’…is it?

The kids have enjoyed finding snakes (Jean said the one she saw was not poisonous). Don’t really know about the other…I didn’t go and check. Why? Because I don’t want to tempt a snake to bite me. Actually, like I’ve said before, snakes don’t have to waste their venom on me. I would die just from seeing a rattlesnake. A couple of days ago I saw two DEAD tarantulas in an old pop bottle. I acted like it was no big deal. Fooled them!!! I’ll take cockroaches any day!!! We’re buds!

Tonight I made cookies for the children. What fun. It took longer than usual because I had to sort through so much stuff. The suger was in huge lumps which we had to smash, but the part that was crushed was filled with flies and parts of flies. Then the oatmeal was home to 5 types of bugs and worms. That took the longest...because I needed 9 cups. I took some pics...and I can hopefully post them tomorrow. We had a great time and the kids said the cookies are great. We made 776 of them!

On the adoption front, the judge would not see us, so we did not end up traveling to Palomas. He said that the children are not orphans yet, so he cannot listen to someone who would like to adopt them…which is true. The lawyer in Palomas is posting the paperwork to terminate the father’s rights and it should be finished in about 6 weeks. We are 99 % sure that this will not be a problem since people think he is deceased. Once this is completed, there will be a green light for the Riley family. Their case will then be presented to the judges like the Hernandez family. In fact, the Hernandez adoption will be going before the judge we were praying for (judge #4) this Friday at 1:00 p.m. Please help pray this through. I will be going there with both Brendas to make sure everyone is on time.

We did receive a terrible blow from Satan today on the adoption front. The lawyer who has helped us tremendously was fired yesterday. Her name is Theresa. Please pray for her if you think of it. Alex has been on the phone with her trying to minister to her broken heart. A young new lawyer is replacing her…and she is also related to someone in the upper ranks who made the switch (corruption is commonplace around here). Theresa was instrumental in getting Marta and Ramon’s case through and has had many years of experience and expertise. Yesterday when Alex got the news…he scrambled to her office to get the Hernandez folder and now it is where it belongs…ready for the judge. The unfortunate thing is all our other adoption cases. We are trying to see where all our other cases stand…and where the files are. The paperwork for getting ‘orphan status’ for the other 41 anxiously awaiting children will be slowed down by this, I’m afraid. But, God is faithful…and this is in His hands.

Also, I haven’t had any luck with locating baby April’s blood-mother. Apparently she is prostituting now. At first I was troubled, and then Rosa said, “We’ll just pray her in.” Apparently this happens often. If there are people they need to see, or things that need to be done, they just pray. It works. I wonder how much time I’ve wasted doing things that God would be happy to do for me. I’m afraid it happens way too much. I need to lean totally on God. Thank you, Jesus, for this lesson.

The electricity went out last night for about 5 hours…just before bedtime. I wondered if I could still take a shower. There was water…so I did. But the water only lasted until I had the shampoo all lathered up in my hair. Oh well. Lesson learned. Also, I forgot a flashlight and did it in the dark…as well as drying off my soapy hair in the dark. Do you know how dark it is in a desert? It’s truly amazing I’ve made it this far in life. I think God must have chuckled a bit. Maybe that is why I was created…so he would have someone to shake His head at and have a good belly laugh. My Prince would agree, I’m sure. His life must be very boring with me in Mexico.


Today in school evolution was brought up…and Ana came up to me after school and said, “I did not come from a monkey. I came from Adam and Eve.” These kids sure have a solid foundation with Mama and Papa’s teaching. Isn’t that cool? The school didn’t sway them. They are grounded with the truth.

I am hoping to be able to post through Friday...it´s been a big undertaking because of all the time, etc. but the main reason I have been able to do this is the transportation from the Americans. That transportation leaves tomorrow morning. I will do my best to do this for you. Thanks for reading over the type o´s!

These keyboards are different...no question marks tonight...can´t figure it out.

One last story. I felt like Absolem... spelling doesn´t look right. Anyway...I was in the food pantry looking for flour for the cookies. I backed into the corner looking through bags and suddenly I was attached...and couldn´t move. IT WAS THE FLY STRIP!!! I was stuck along with all of those gross flies. After I peeled myself off...I had tia Celsa help pull the fly parts off my hair. YUCK!!!