Lisa, he is afraid you won't remember him! There was almost a panic in his spirit.
Chewy
Luis and Irving
Looking at pics!
Andrea!
Juan, Tonito and Marta
Tearful Good-byes!
Juan, Felipe and David
Fun at Tio Albert's water park!
Daniel, Ramon, Chewy and Ever
Leslie and Carol
Leslie showing me her graduation gift from Mark and Jean! She loved it!
Leslie and Belem...off to the water park!
Autograph time for Isael on his shirt!
Armondo!
Ana Karen, Nayelly and Michael
Julio and his prize truck!
Roger and Marsela
Alexandria and Logan
Sara, Megan and Marisol
Adriana, Mida and Lizeth
Cute Chewy!
Chewy and Brenda
Tia Selsa and Ramon
Jared, Vicki, Jackie and Johana
Esayla, Lupita and Silvia
The Peterson duo! These guys were work-horses! What a blessing to Lily!!!
Lst minute autographs!
Jazmine and her treasure!
...and Karelly!
Whenever the FBC trailer was open...many children flocked around it waiting for 'treasures'!
Carol and Betty
Ramon and Oliver at work!
Ever emptying the trash!
Katy and Alondra
Chewy and Leslie
Lorena and Tia Lydia
Aaron and some of his followers!
Serving pancakes this morning!
Michael Peterson helping in the kitchen.
Leslie enjoying her graduation gifts!
Sweet Karla! Vito...when are you coming?
Sergio, Juanita and Ramon
Me and the owner of the ice cream shop!
A proud Mama watching the graduation!
Kim trying to cool off...it was hotter than hot inside that gym. Oh my!
Roger
Graduation from Middle School
Silvia, Esayla and Johana!
The band playing their national song
A beautiful Adilene
What a cute Annie!
Waiting for the ceremony to begin!
Chewy
Lucia
2 cute color guards!
Leslie
Daniella
Part of the school marching guard...the captain is Johana!
Graduation night!
Delivering the care packages!
Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ!
Pastor Saul and Pastor Ryan teaming up to help single moms!
Adilene and part of our team delivering the care packages!
Pastor Ryan and Pastor Saul and his family
My hand mixers...Maggy and David
Oh yeah...a flour fight!
Dave helping me with cinnamon rolls...scooping 85 cups of flour into the pot!
A cute Fabiola!
Tia Mica and Abuela serving dinner! What servants they are!
Mireya
A sweet Gabby!
The boys loved to play!
Sergio is dreaming of a forever family!
A total of 21 care packages were all packed and assembled by FBC youth to give to single moms at Pastor Saul's neighborhood. The packages included rice, beans, flour, cornmeal, oatmeal, noodles, boullion, pancake mix and syrup and a sweet treat for the children!
FBC youth taking a power nap!
TC Westside...thanks for the love offering to purchase these icecream sandwiches. You can tell they were enjoyed!
Kim and Daniella
Kim, Leslie and Jazmine
Luce helping in the kitchen
Preparing for dinner!
Chili!!! Usully this brings out the Americano's inhalers!
Abulardo and tony (of course you'll always see Jared working in the background!
Megan finding it easy to love!
Jazmine, Roger and Jazmine!
Busy guys!
Bretton, Josh, Logan and David
Tony never quit working!
These guys have worked hours on this wall!
The new rec room is mudded inside and out thanks to FBC crew!
Esayla, Lupita and Silvia
Roger trying to give me a fly swatter with a Chevy emblem on it. What a gift. I'll take the flys.
Pastor Ryan smiled the whole time he was here!
Stacy saying good-bye!
Rosa with a smile even though she was suffering from an arthritis flare-up and needed injections to move.
Adorable little faces!
Tia Lydia, Adilene and Samuel off on an errand.
Lupita
Beautiful Marta...love her smile!
Running to catch the bus...a common occurance.
Megan...off to school on the bus!
One of Lisa's many tearful good-byes!
A very sweet girl!
"Catch me!" A flying Chewy!
They sure have missed Ramon!
Ramon...the big brother to all the kids!
Ramon and Sergio!
Ed sporting a pink purse!
Jackie and Carol
Tonito and Tonya
Julian
Amy Twedt...soaking it all in!!!
Breakfast is served!
The heavens declare the glory of the Lord!
Lisa and Stacy checking the blog the night before they left.
Stacy loved the big marshmallows. (sp?) She SAID they were for her kids...but she was pretty excited herself!
The past few days have been very difficult because I have witnessed 2 days of "good-byes" and deep down inside I know that it's my turn next. Even the thought of this makes my eyes well up with tears. It is so hard to have two homes and two families that you are so deeply connected with...one in Mexico and the other in the States. God must be wanting to increase my capicity to love...because my heart has been stretched beyond measure. It's been painful but yet I wouldn't trade these experiences for anything.
It's been a busy couple of days. Yesterday morning Stacy, Lisa and Tonya flew back home. Then, this afternoon the FBC group left Lily at 1:30 and they safely crossed the border later this evening. Praise the Lord! God has richly blessed their efforts. Ed and Rosa said that they have been totally blessed by Pastor Ryan and the FBC team. They completed digging the trench that ran from one end of the property to the other (Gary, you know how much work that is!), they mudded a wall for the recreation room that the Dallas group is helping create and they organized the bodega! (Anyone who has been in there can appreciate the enormity of this job! I have never been more proud of our teens. They loved on the kids passionately, worked tirelessly, and were a blessing to everyone down here. Pastor Mark...you should be proud!!!
Last evening was the graduation from the middle school. This year they handed out 4 tickets to each graduate. So, each graduate decided who they wanted to come with their limited tickets. Six from our group was able to go and celebrate the big event. What an honor that was. Mark and Jean...we cheered for Leslie and I have some video for you!
Yesterday morning before Mama and Papa left for their day off...Rosa suffered from a flare-up. She was unable to walk and had to be carried in the morning. By the graduation time her medicine and special injection allowed her to walk but I could see her pain. Please help me pray for her!
It was an honor to spend time with Amy Twedt and her daughter, Bonney. We were able to spend time with Rosa going over new policy for future adoptions that will be necessary. It looks like we are heading towards a green light from the new adoption agency and God is blessing. Luckily God is leading...I'm just following!
This Monday I have another very important meeting with DIF. I ask you to help me pray about this. We are hoping for more answers and a favorable follow-up from last week's meeting.
Yesterday I had the privilege of being in the van that picked up the 5th graders from school. It was a final day...other than a brief hour session the next day...so thanks to TC Westside...they were all treated with ice cream sandwiches! If you could have only seen all the smiles. TC...you're such a blessing to these kids! They are really looking forward to your return in October with the MI-KEN-OKIE team! :)
Today a sweet angel named Vicki came to clean out the room in the girls dorm where the Michigan girls slept. It is a joy to find girls who don't have family who gives them money and to be able to bless them with a monetary reward. She also left with some lotion, shampoo, and deoderant. Her smile was from ear to ear. Each day I try to give girls opportunities to do some extra work to help them out financially. Their smiles are permanently etched in my heart.
Today before the team left for Michigan, they were able to treat the middle school and high school graduates to the Tio Albert's water park. This park is amazing...and way too fun! The kids are always so thankful for these special treats. What an honor it is to be able to bless these angels that we have been able to spend time with!
Hey...we have T-Shirts! Thanks to TC...I was able to purchase 100 T-Shirts with the Lily of the Valley logo on them. The colors are pink, blue, tan, yellow and gray. The cost is $12 and $15 for XXL The sizes are adults small, medium, large, x-large and xx-large. These T-shirts are available to teams that come down here. The proceeds from the shirts will help towards school uniforms. I am trying to actually come up with a total cost per student per school year. The largest expense that the orphanage has is the uniforms and supplies for school. This year the schools are changing the required uniforms...so two uniforms per child will need to be purchased. This is a huge cost! Once I get an average dollar amount, I want to share with you the cost per child in case any of you might be interested in supporting one or more children for the school year. More info to come. Or...is that something you might be interested in? Guess I should ask that first.
Again I must comment on the fact that this trip has been a real time of growth for Ramon. He has stepped up and been a real leader. He has absolutely loved his time here with brothers and sisters, friends and relatives. If it wasn't for the fact that his Mom is in Michigan...I don't think he'd go back. Having his dad down here with him to enjoy all of this has been a real blessing. Thank you, Jesus!
I had a heart wrenching talk with Riley's Angel today. After the team left, Jazmine and him were left totally devestated. They have finally met the youth group and some future relatives from their future home. They soaked in every moment and Angel shared that he has dreamed of this and never thought that being with people from the Hart church youth group would be so much fun. After so many heart breaking delays in the adoption, he said he had given up all hope and he asked me if the adoption was really going to happen. I told him that the papers are now before a judge and it is moving. He looked me in the eye and said that he will not dare to believe it because the disappointment has hurt him too many times. Please help me pray for these kids!
This posting is huge...been working on it for over 5 hours. The sweat is just pouring down me! There is just so much to share. God is huge down here. It is so easy to see that us in America are not as blessed as we think. Having nothing keeps you totally dependent on God...and that is the best place to be!
My Prince, I thank you for loving me enough to let me spend so much time down here. Someday I am asking God to serve Him down here right along side of you! Until then...we will keep asking and trusting Him!
P.S. I was just getting ready to finish this when there was a knock at the door. At 11:00p.m. down here...there shouldn't be anyone up (besides the crazy blog lady). Luce told me Adilene just got bit by a scorpion and she was in her bedroom. Now...that is a new one for me. I didn't know what to do so I grabbed my shoes and ran to her room. She had a string tied around her finger under the bite to aparently keep the poison from spreading. I quickly ran back to my casa and grabbed my purse and keys...wondering if there were any other scorpions or tarantulas to bite me. We loaded up in the truck and I had Luce come with me. Mama and Papa told me to take her to the hospital in Aldama. OK, now...let me share my thoughts at that point. Earlier that day I had run some errands in Aldama and was thanking the Lord that I would not have to visit go there tonight...because weekends are usually evil and wild. So...here I was driving down the road watching the tarantulas move acoss the road in the headlights that were blinking on and off with every bump. We had the blue Ford ranger with the swivel mirror and seatbelts that don't work and I was headed to Aldama late at night. I asked the Lord for strength and courage. We made it to the hospital, she got an injection (in the rear) and she is fine (thank-you, Jesus!). It will be way after midnight before I get my shower and climb into bed. Today I was thinking how lucky I was to catch a 45 minute nap. It wasn't luck. It was my Father's loving hand guiding me. I would like to share an e-mail from a friend in closing:
"The great and loving characteristics of our God are too many to number, so today, consider just two. 1) Our Lord provides for and sustains us when the journey is too much for us (a fact he recognizes well before we will humbly confess our limitations) and 2) he reveals himself in unexpected ways. When your journey seems beyond you, it probably is, but take comfort in the God who meets us in our need and proves himself God and Lord over our needs. How can you prepare your heart to hear God’s gentle whisper?"
1 Kings 19:7
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7 And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”
1 Kings 19:11-12
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11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. [1]
P.S.S My newest latest thoughts are that a scorpion could get in my bed like Adilene's bed. The tarantulas not only jump but they run fast. The snakes that I've seen are deadly. The Good news...God is God! I will rest in Him.
