The Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace. Ps 29:11
This is our testimony tonight and we thank you all for lifting us to the Father in this time of huge uncertainty here!
On Monday evening we were in touch with a lawyer that has a lot of experience with problems such as ours. She also has connections with the right people at immigration that makes a difference for us. We clearly see God's hand in leading us to her. She contacted the im officials to see what they planned to do and what could be done. She let us know that it is a serious problem and things were not looking good.
Yesterday then she called and explained what was happening. The initial plan was to close the home here, ask some to leave voluntarily, and some would be imprisoned and later deported. She explained the situation to them and 'somehow' had them agree to give us 6 mo. to legalize everything. Quite clearly that 'somehow' was God's hand working in the minds of these people! She called around 5:00 pm last eve and said she wants us all to come to her office in Tijuana yet last night so that she can prepare us for today's hearing. So we quickly collected those involved and away we went an hr and a half away. It was well worth the trip though because she did an excellent job explaining everything and giving us a good idea of what to expect.
So, this morning we left around 7:30 with very mixed emotions yet a sense of peace. Our family was the first appointment at 10:00. Lorne was taken back first and was interrogated for 1 1/2 hr.s. That seemed SO long for us in the waiting room. Then they asked for Gina and I but I had no chance to ask Lorne anything. By faith we went in! They were very friendly, asked me a lot of questions, Gina a few, and recorded everything we said. Then it was Nevin's turn to come in. A few questions for him and then the 2 youngest. They also were only asked a few questions then we were dismissed.
They said they will review our case and on May 21st we will have another appointment to hear what the resolution is. So what we thought was to be a completion today was only another step in the process. We do have our lawyer very actively involved and she is doing a great job of being aggressive and working all that she can for us. She feels it can be resolved, but time will tell. We expect to hear before the 21st what she finds is happening but nothing final until then.
We didn't get back home until 5:30 tonight and are very weary! We feel at peace with committing this totally to the Lord knowing that whatever happens will only be what He has allowed. At the same time our hearts long to keep these children here, to stay here to care for them and continue God's work here. So many 'what ifs'. But perfect love casteth out fear and God's love is perfect so what have we to fear? It helps so much to just go to The Word and be filled with the precious reassurances there!
We really need your prayers for our protection, physically and spiritually, and for the officials involved. Thanks for your many emails, texts, and calls to let us know of your prayers and support. It makes a huge difference in our spirits as we face this mountain!!

Urgent Prayer Request!

Dear folks we need your help! The situation here with the immigration people's visit on Friday and the resulting appointments on Wednesday is looking quite serious. We have a lawyer working with the situation trying to contact the correct officials to help us. There are 13 of us that they are saying do not have the proper papers to be here in MX. The difficult thing is that according to what we knew we were legal. We had made effort to obtain the correct visas, etc. but they now say that we're not legal. Today we were told this is at the federal level now. There are various possibilities of things that could happen. Some not so bad, some we wish we didn't know about. Please, pray with us that God would move in the hearts of the officials; that He would have mercy on the home here; most of all that we could totally rest in the knowledge that God knows our every need and He knows the future He has for us all. Some of the ones involved are really struggling with fear- please pray for peace for them. Thank you for joining us in bringing our future and the future of the home here to the Father.

Our hearts overflow with gratitude beyond words!

How can you express how precious your children are when you've come so close to losing them all!

This week was off schedule and we didn't go for groceries until today. We had our groceries but were making a few other stops when Regina called and asked where our children's visa papers are. She said the immigration inspectors are here and need papers for everyone. We told her the children are under our papers and don't have their own visas. They have their passports and we have the Mexico papers needed for us. After a bit Darin called again and asked where to find our papers because they are threatening to take the children if the proper documents are not available. Well sure, we have the documents; they're in there in the desk drawer. Lorne also called Greivin and asked him to go up to the home to help what he can.

By now we were at the hardware and Lorne went in to pay a bill there but quite shortly came running out and jumped in the van, rapidly leaving. He said they called again and now they say if we're not home by the time the people are ready to leave, they are taking our children with them. The town was so full of traffic! The road home never has been so long! And I'm sure God understands when our speeds need to exceed the normal limit in times of emergency!

Regina called once to see where we were and to talk to me. I assured her that God knows what is happening and He will not allow anything to happen outside of His will. She said that as soon as the papers were finished they planned to leave with the children. We cried out to God for mercy and protection. When we were on the last few miles Greivin called to see where we were as they were finished with the paperwork and waiting. Lorne told him we are almost home so they said they will wait. When we got home we got out of the van and were told by the men outside that they were waiting inside for us. In we went and were immediately asked if we are the parents of the minors. YES WE ARE! Ok, they need to see our papers and have questions for us. We gladly answered the whole interrogation until they were satisfied and were able to go on their way. Then, such a chattering as we wanted to hear the whole story and everyone had a part to tell. There are quite a few of us who need to go to Tijuana next Wed. get our papers cleared and everyone legal.

Thank You, God! Praise to the Almighty Who directs our days! We know very well that God could have allowed this trial to be so much greater. He gave us mercy! Again, words fail me. How can I express my gratitude? May we never take for granted the blessing of having our family together.

Wow! How can time get away so fast? Life is happening... are we making a difference for God? It's almost bedtime here but the house is quiet and I have a few moments to visit.

We've been having a much more normal schedule around here and seem to have regained at least some of our sanity again. :) Right now we only have 2 extra people here and life is pretty normal again for as normal as it gets here.

We had really gotten off track with our schooldays when the schedule careened away from a normal routine but we've refocused and the children are again quite motivated and doing very well at accomplishing the daily requirements.

Last weekend we had the refreshment of having Sarah come for a few days. Even tho it was short it was wonderful to connect even a bit!

Sarah & Tania "chumming"

Week before last we had three babies leave in 1 day! That was a sad day for all of us. It was a bittersweet time because I'm sure that somewhere there were three families that were having a very special day having their dreams come to completion as they all went for adoption. We all know that our ministry is a ministry of tears at times but it's no easier every time.

Friday our family went with Gordon's family to Mexicali to a zoo/park. It was a very relaxing day. We stopped at a few lookout places along the way. Then, we found a pizza place and got some pizza to take for lunch. We had chips, cookies, & drinks along to complete our lunch that we ate at the picnic area at the park. We took our time going through the whole place and were done by mid afternoon. We headed home, found a Dairy Queen for ice cream cones and were back again by early evening. It was a great day with friends and a good way to spend time together as a family.

Making friends with the cactus, it seems!

Yesterday the boys came and said to look outside. There was a huge swarm of bees filling the air, just flying wild. We all concluded the best plan was to stay inside for a time. A while later the air cleared so they went out and there was a pile of bees gathered on a plant outside. Darin helped them look and they found the queen in the center of the pile. Milena went out and built a box then moved the queen and the rest followed. Now we have hopes of having honey this fall. Made for a nice diversion and some hands on education.

This afternoon Lorne and I took the three girls to Greivin's for their instruction class. It was such a beautiful day so when we came home Lorne suggested we escape for a bit so we grabbed some coke and chips, told the children where we would be and went for a walk out back into the wilderness. We had a wonderful time visiting and just enjoying the peace and solitude. By the way, the high temp today was 97!

God's best to each of you this week!

Live each day with a purpose!

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph. 6:10, 12

We've been dealing with discouragement the last few weeks and last night the Lord showed me these verses and I recognized the reason for our battle. But, God also gives us the tools needed to fight this battle and we are not defeated! Praise Him!

March 22 -29 there was Bible School here in Tecate. Regina was able to attend the classes and really enjoyed her week! There were around 50 people there with staff and students. The part that we played in the school was caring for children here so that the staff from here could attend. Phil's, Greivin's & Gordon's came to help us and we had 3 PA girls here that did a wonderful job filling in on short notice too. We had cooking, cleaning, laundry and childcare so it seemed our cups were overflowing at times. That was the week for the stomach virus to hit hard here and we had many babies and others with vomiting and diarrhea every day. "This baby needs medicine." "Did you give this one anything?" "He won't drink his milk" "Child x is sick" These and many others seemed to be the story of my days that week. The sickness included Dustin and by Sat. Lorne too. The board came on Sat and they took care of the children that day so we had less responsibility for a day.

On Sunday everyone was here for church and lunch. We were asked to give a program on Sunday and had spent a number of nights practicing earlier. Try giving a program with 37 children. It went very well considering the possibilities. Then the Bible School chorus sang for a while. That was heavenly! The English songs were like medicine to my weary soul!!

Now this week it seemed the trials continued... Thurs. Tania got hurt and we needed to take her to the ER. She is doing fine now, Thank God! Regina was sick with sore throat and ran fever for 4 days, then on Fri we took her to the Dr and got meds. Today she feels some better but not real good yet. Last eve Lorne started to feel ill and by this morning was down and hasn't been well all day. Then this afternoon the boys were playing backyard football and Ismael got hurt. They took him to the ER now too. Seemed like a possible broken collarbone.

We found out this week that Noemy, one of our Mom's, plans to go home to Costa Rica to stay. She doesn't have a definite date yet but changes are coming.

In spite of all these things I can truly say God is with us! He just wants all of our attention. Pray for us that we could be faithful even thru the trials.