Sweet Dreams

It's been a great day at Lily. Many things have been accomplished. Probably the most satisfying on my end has been getting the blog up and running. I think it's my mother's heart; because I know there are moms who are searching to see a pic of their husbands and kids down here at Lily. Today the team made 200 sandwiches for the kids, grilled 100 hamburgers for the teens and also made around 180 cinnamon rolls for everyone to enjoy. We had a teen party at El Mimbre for all the teens and it was a great night. Tim Hertzler led everyone in a bunch of fun games so there was a lot of mingling between our teens and theirs. Besides that, many repairs have been made to the buildings. Hats off to the men for all their efforts. We have not been able to roll the final layer of sealant on the roofs yet because we need sunny days for the sealant to adhere to the rooftops and the last two days it has been cloudy, yet very warm. Sounds like the next two days we will begin that project so we appreciate prayers for safety while we will be working on top of the buildings. You will notice a picture of 'Winky', the one-eyed Chihuahua, named by Steve. I don't know how many times our team members had to walk back to the little girls wing to work on repair projects and this dog has ferociously barked at us and has even nipped at my ankles a few times. I am a dog lover, lucky for Winky. ;) This afternoon I had the privilege of visiting Luis Angel at the drug rehab facility. I was wondering how he was doing after surrendering his heart to the Lord Sunday afternoon. When they brought them into the visitation room, he was smiling from ear to ear. He was thrilled to see us, but his joy was from his new relationship with Jesus Christ. A complete transformation. Thank You, Jesus. This is usually the crash day for many teams that visit Lily of the Valley. They run out of energy at this point and become exhausted. They run out of their own energy and press forward with God's strength. Everyone down here has done great but I am starting to see a weariness in their eyes. Please pray for strength, from day to day, to love on these precious children and complete the tasks we have planned. I have to give a shout-out to Samantha. She lives with the teen girls in their dorm. This young woman just turned 19 and she is the mom to 13 teen girls (yes, 13). She is AMAZING. She loves on them, prays for them and with them, works beside them, gets after them when they need it...all with a great big smile on her face. She has been a life-saver for me. She has made sure I have everything I need and has such a big servants heart. Her sending church is from Massachusets...which has been a big supporter of Lily orphanage. I am truly blessed by her life and example. Tonight as I am writing this, everyone in my room is sleeping. The teen girls in my room are sleeping hard because they have been playing hard with the children. When they leave, they will have no regrets because they have given 100%. Well done, my sweet little servants. My hope is that they are all dreaming of serving orphans some day.