God is Faithful…

What am I willing to sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom? On Sunday we had a message on giving up our all to enter the kingdom. He used the example of the rich young ruler that had lived a nearly perfect life, yet Jesus said he lacked one thing and that was to give up his riches. His unwillingness to give up what was dear to him cost him the kingdom. God knew just when I needed that message because I wasn’t doing such a good job of willingly giving up my wishes just then! When I heard on Friday that Galen’s had their baby, I really struggled with being ok with where God has me just now! My selfish heart wanted to be in Indiana right then. But, God again reminded me that being anywhere outside of His will is the last place I want to be and right now His will is that I be content in Mexico.

Yesterday we finally had a  little break from our hot weather! During the day it’s only in the upper 80’s now and it cools off at night so it doesn’t seem nearly as bad.

We ask that you join us in praying for Rocio. She’s 15 and has been struggling in her Christian life the last while. Yesterday she told us that she wants to move to another children’s home as she’s ready for a different life. Submission to rules and work that is required is a struggle. She says she has no relational issues with anyone here but wants to leave. This affects her sister Alex as well. When they were small their grandma told them to never allow anyone to separate them, so Alex says she has no choice but to go with Rocio if she leaves. Alex has been doing so much better and making a lot of progress in maturity recently, which makes it so sad to see her leave! We are still working with Rocio and praying that God would work in her heart even yet. Please, pray with us for her and pray for us as a staff as we relate to her.

Sunday evening we had 2 truckloads of soldiers come to visit. They brought us 102 small trees to plant. They had been past here before and saw that it’s quite barren here so they wanted to help. Now the discussion with the men has been “how will we dig 102 holes?” A lot of the ground here is like cement so it’s no small task to dig even a little bit!

Here is a ‘before’ picture… The ‘after’ will come later. 

We have been very blessed with a good supply of water recently. We had a man come dig the one well deeper and he found a much better water vein and since that it’s been much better. Last week the tank in the garage ran over for the first time since we are here! This is cause for rejoicing! Praise God! And now He sent us some trees and the water to water them.

Tonight is one year that we arrived at Shining Light Children’s Home. What a journey it has been! Never hesitate to follow where God wants to take you. He has a plan and when we go with His plan we grow in ways we never knew possible but that are so awesome. Yes, at times painful. But, when it’s to draw us closer to God and to see more of who God really is, it’s always worth the pain. And the result of walking with the Lord is a life of true joy!

God’s blessings to all of you!

The newest additions to the farm :)

   

 

 

 

 

 

Time…

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1

What are we doing with our time? This week marks one year that we left Indiana for the land to where God was calling us. Have we used that time to totally, fully glorify God in every opportunity He gave to us? Or are we just passing the time?

Last Mon. Ema left to go live with her Grandma. She was  a 10 yr old that came, with her brother, the day before we did last year. Her 13 yr old brother, Ismael, is still living here. He accepted Christ as his Savior several months ago and wanted to stay here where He could continue to learn of God and have support to live as a Christian. His Grandma honored that wish and gave her consent for him to stay.

Last night God again wanted to show us that He is where we need to have our trust. That’s been one of the ‘blessings’ of living in a remote land. There are no nearby hospitals or doctors and so the first option is to do what we can for a situation and pray for the Lord’s healing and wisdom. He has always been faithful and has so much more power than any Dr. would have. We have gone to find a Dr. when that seemed to be what was needed, it’s just not the first thing we can do here. It has taught us what our first response really should be. And yes, the story of yesterday… Nevin had gone with Gideon and his boys to the ocean for a birthday treat. They came home around 8:30 last eve and Nevin and Gid were both fried quite well. No, sunscreen hadn’t been an option. :) Nevin showered and then started shivering. He thought it was so cold. Well, trust me it wasn’t cold so I knew there must be a problem! I asked if he’s dizzy or lightheaded at all and he thought only at times. We checked his temp and he did have a fever so I felt like he probably had gotten too much sun with too little to drink. I gave him EmergenC drink to help and had him drinking a lot of water. Within a half hour his temp was over 103 and he was miserable. He took pain pills and we used a cold wet towel to try to bring it down. After a while he slept and then this morning he was just left with a headache and an abnormally low temp. This eve, Praise God, he seems to be quite well again.

We wish all of you a very blessed week!

God’s grace knows no bounds…

God’s presence is never more real than in times of trials, through which He wants to chisel away those areas of dead weight and refine us to be the masterpieces that He planned us to be.

Last week we started our studies again here in our little corner. Our summer break was short but it was good and with new books, a few changes to schedule and a fresh start we’re at it again. For the home children, Sept. 9 was an exciting day as they had their first day of school in the new schoolhouse here!

On Tuesday Regina and I took the day and did a Mother/daughter day in San Diego. We had a mile-long list of things to get so that was tiring, but we also took the time to find a fabric warehouse where there were rows and rows of fabrics and just a real ladies store. Also, Sam’s Club, 2 Walmarts, Old Navy, & Family Christian. We made it back just in time for the farewell supper here for Raquel, who left on Wednesday for home in Costa Rica.

And a clip of our toddler, who’s a very busy little lady!!

We will bless the Lord!

Heat… wind… more heat! We are having miserably warm weather. It’s hard to get a good night of rest even with the fans running full time. Hopefully, once the hurricane passes we’ll get some relief.

We had a wonderful 5 days in Indiana! The biggest problem was that we didn’t have enough time to see everyone we would have wanted to see. :( But it was good for all of us to be there and take a break from our responsibilities for a few days. One of the highlights for the boys was flying with Galen on Saturday!

We returned to Mexico Tuesday evening around 9:15. Oh, how we had missed our baby!! She was quite shy when she first saw us but once we were all in our house she was so happy to see us. She has traded her crawling for walking now and is into everything. She loves to slip out the door whenever possible. The other evening she was in the living room and I went to check on her but she was gone. I went outside and she was so happily trotting around out there around the playground!

 

Yesterday we had another meeting with the adoption lawyer and feel so blessed with how God is working on our behalf! She accepted our paperwork with only a few things needing to be updated. We have an appointment on Thurs. for the next meeting, which is with the psychologist. They need to see if we’re of sound mind. :) Each appointment brings us closer to the biggest question… whether they will approve us to adopt Tania. But, at this time things are moving much better as far as time so maybe it won’t be very long until we know.

We were in need of a licensed translator in Tijuana so when we got home Lorne called Michele, our immigration lawyer, to see if she could recommend someone for us. That was a God directed phone call! She said that she is a translator and when Lorne told her what we need she said she also specializes in international adoptions. Once we have the acceptance from DIF she will be able to process all the Mexican court papers, process the proper paperwork on the U.S. side, and help us through the complete process! What an answer to prayer!! She did say that once we have our acceptance we can plan on 5 months until the process is complete in MX and the States. So we continue to pray and move forward, waiting to see what God has for us.

Since we are back we received our paperwork from immigration that contained the resolution for our situation with them. The final word from them is that we owe nothing to them! Wow! They recognize the mission here is giving a service to them here and they do not want to fine us and make it difficult for us. Praise God!

Blessed be the Lord God, who only doeth wondrous things! Ps. 72:19