A Visit from My Sis!

I was so incredibly blessed to have my sister come and join me for a few days this past week! She was here to support us during the incredibly difficult situation with losing one of our little ones (see previous entry), and she brought great joy to me and all the kids! What a precious opportunity to share a little of my heart with her! I've posted some pictures below!

Helping in the Classroom!

Enjoying the roof!

Shopping trip to a famous market

Our wonderful host and driver for the weekend trip

Eating some homemade "cajeta" (caramel) 

Singing together for the kids 

A new piano book! He was so excited!

Hanging out at an amazing food stand in a neighboring village!

Best chocolate milk ever...

Sorrow

This past week was extremely difficult for everyone involved with our ministry here. We were having school just like any other day, when the government arrived unannounced and pulled one of our kids away to live in a different institution where her sister lives. Unfortunately, we are working with a broken system that didn't take time to see that this little one had found a home here: a mother, a father, and many brothers and sisters. The way this was done, with no prior warning and no chance to say goodbye, proved to be extremely painful. We would appreciate prayers as we all grieve and consider best how to help the other kids deal with the loss. Please be in prayer for our little one who left as well, that God would protect her and go with her.

January and New Little Ones

We've had a great month with many new happenings! I've tried my best to give a summary and show some choice pictures.

The kids had made a sign to welcome me back! :)

Start of School

We returned to our eager students who couldn't wait to start school again! After receiving many questions of what grade they were in this year, I had to remind them that we were still in the same school year :). Their joy and excitement to learn is such a treasure! 

Learning about light and optics in Science class!

New Interns

We have been blessed to receive two new interns to help both in the house and in the classroom: Molly and JodyAnn. They are already well loved by the kids and the staff! We also have a woman from the village who is helping us during the Spanish portion of our school day. We are thankful for her native Spanish language skills! :) 

Month of Dreams

A group of friends from the city has been an incredible blessing for the kids this month. Around Christmastime, they asked each child to share a wish or a dream and then proceeded to grant those wishes as best as possible. This month has been full of trips to ballet classes, fire stations, a volcano, the zoo, a chef, a military base, a plane, etc. The kids have had a blast! I've posted pictures of the fire station below! 

I got to put on the full equipment at the fire station to demonstrate!

That air tank is heavy!

One of our new little ones got to dress up as a fireman! He was in his glory :)

Oxygen mask anyone?

The kids got to act like they were on a "rescue"-being pulled across an open area with a harness! They loved it! 

Exploring the fire truck

New Little Ones

We have had another opportunity to accept new little ones from a troubled background into our home! They (3 siblings: 2 boys and a girl) arrived last week and one this week. They are settling into the routine, and we would appreciate continued prayers for their transition. At this point, they have never heard of Jesus and we are so excited to show them God's love and tell them about Him as they start their healing process!

Two of our new arrivals!

Third new arrival with lots of energy :)

English Classes

We have spent most of this month transitioning back into school, but we are hoping to start up our English classes again in February. We are offering the classes twice a week to the teenage/young adult girls in the village and from there are inviting them to a Bible study on site. This semester we are going to try having the classes in a more central location in the village: the library. We would love prayers for good attendance and for the opportunity to develop life-changing relationships with them. 

December and the Holiday Season

What a whirlwind of a December it has been! I've tried to capture the ups and downs of our month in some of the pictures and writings below. 

Early December: 
We wrapped up our first semester with some exciting events-a field trip, a piano recital, a city trip with the girls from our English class, and various Christmas celebrations! I've posted some pictures below.

As in any ministry, joy is often mingled with pain. Recently, we faced the deep sadness of saying goodbye to more than one of our own. We would appreciate prayer for the hearts of all those involved, as one of our children has been transferred to a place where we hope more help can be offered than what we provide here. The government also recently approved two of our other children to be adopted by extended family members which meant yet another goodbye. As our hearts are breaking, we are hopeful and trusting the Lord for their future! We are praying that he will hold their hearts and ours as we release them with his truth and his love! Thank you for your prayers!

Field trip to see the dolphin show!

Our English class girls decorating Christmas cookies for the first time

Treating our English class girls to dinner in the city

Christmas Piano and Guitar Recital

My piano and guitar students

Mid-Late December: 
We were blessed to fly home to be with family over the holidays! The past weeks have been a time of rest, renewal, and reunions! Pictures are posted below.

Snow Storms!

Ice storms!

Reunion with college friends!

Fun in the snow

Christmas Dinner

My wonderful niece!

Family!!

As we fly back to start the second semester, we continue to ask for prayers for our work and ministry! It was great to see many of you during my time back in the States!

A Thanksgiving to Remember

Feeling blessed today to be surrounded by all those who are helping this ministry run! 46 and counting!! Happy Thanksgiving! 

Progress!

While I don't have pictures to post, I wanted to give a brief update on the progress here!

English Ministry
We recently started teaching English to young girls in the village and had to cap the class at 16 because we were having more and more girls coming every week! What a great problem to have! We are enjoying each other immensely. We're going to end session one before Christmas and are hoping to start up a second session in January where we will open registration back up!

Our New Little One
Thank you for praying for our new little one with special needs. He has been adjusting quite well and is making small steps of progress in his schooling. His smile continues to warm our hearts and I'm excited to see what God is going to do in his life!

Construction of the 2nd Floor
In just two weeks, we have been blessed by the hard work of a group of men from the city who have completed unheard of amounts of work on the second floor. They have tiled three bathrooms, installed working toilets and sinks in two of them, tiled the hallway and the main stairway as well as helping with construction projects in other areas of the house. Hopefully, I will be able to post pictures of the finished product before too long!

School
We are going to have a shortened week this week for Thanksgiving and are excited to eat Thanksgiving meal with family and a visiting mission team. We are into the last few weeks before Christmas Break-time is flying!

Our internet has been very slow lately, so I haven't been able to keep up as much. I'll post more pictures and updates later!

God is at work!!!

I am so beyond excited to share with you all that God is doing in this ministry right now! 

This week, we received a call to take in a new little boy with special needs who was found wandering the streets. We are excited to see how God uses this ministry to begin healing his little heart. He has already been able to make tiny steps of progress even after a few days of intentional teaching and time.

Our new little one!

Even though the majority of our ministry focuses on restoration and healing for the kids that come live in the shelter, we have all been praying for opportunities to reach out to this broken village as well! The first step toward this vision was to invite one of the girls we knew from the village to join our weekly teen girls’ Bible study. Her heart is currently soft to hearing about the Lord. Jenny also has been able to meet with her one-on-one on the weekends to follow up on what we’ve talked about in the study.

God recently just revealed another amazing opportunity when a couple girls in one week came to our doors asking if we could help them learn English. God laid it on our hearts to organize an English class that would meet twice a week. We met for the first time this week! God brought 8 girls between the ages of 13-25 to our first class and we have already had 2 more ask to join! We are excited to build relationships with them and invite them to our weekly Bible study if they are interested in learning about the Lord!  

Another HUGE answer to prayer is that after years of hard work (calls, legal appointments, etc.) two of our children just got birth certificates! Now they can be recognized as citizens and receive credit for their schooling. Praise the Lord!!!

Thank you so much for partnering with us in prayer! I am beyond excited at God’s movement here! I have posted some specific requests on the above Prayer Requests page. God is amazing! 

Our staff and kids (the family to the right was visiting for a week on a mission trip)