Monday, May 23, 2011

May’s story

May 21, 2011. What did it do for you? We’ve had quite a few discussions about the claims of the deceived ones about a definite date for the rapture and I’ve really been thinking how disillusioned these people must be now that it’s past. How must it be to have believed something and then find that you were wrong and to wonder what is truth? I believe the devil uses deception like this to even make people believe less in God. I am so thankful to have a secure faith and to be able to read the Bible and find Truth! Praise God for His Word and His faithfulness!

We’ve had quite a bit of traveling activity the last 2 weeks among the staff. Gloria Enns went home for two weeks vacation. Sheri traveled to MI for a cousin’s funeral. Tony was gone for a week for a wedding and a few days at home. Then, last Fri., we said goodbye to Margaret as she left for home and terminated her time of service here. Her brother came the week before to travel with her when she leaves. We will really miss her quiet, faithful service here. We also have enjoyed more visitors recently. Myron’s Mom is here to be with them for a few weeks and Abigail also is enjoying having four of her siblings here. Nelson and Marcela were here to visit this last weekend.

We’ve faced a few changes with the children in the last weeks. Any of you who have visited here remember Daniel. He’s been a boy with many issues and struggles connected with his troubled past and in the recent months it continued to get worse until we saw that he seriously needed more help than we are equipped to give him here. On May 9th he left the home here after years with us. He was one of the original children of SLCH and it doesn’t seem the same without him here.

May 9th we also received another girl to live here. Loyda is a 16 yr old who had lived at the home years ago and has kept contact with us over the years. She lived with Phil’s last summer and came to the home regularly. She has a very sad home situation and desired to live in a Christian home and serve the Lord. She accepted Christ and is so grateful and happy living here.

We have a new sibling set that came a week ago. Five yr. old Emanuel, almost 3 yr. old Oscar and 11 mo. old Sofia. Abigail is their caregiver. Our family thought it was pretty neat to have a Sofia here but it made me miss our Sophia even more!

Another big change last week was that Greivin’s family moved to CA. They can’t all return to Mexico until the two oldest children have their resident cards again so only Greivin has been coming during the day to work and for church on Sun. It’s pretty lonely for the rest of the family to be away from everyone and be unable to come back right now. Pray that the paperwork could be processed quickly for them that they could again be with the rest of us to fellowship together.

We are so excited to be eating fresh garden produce! We’ve been eating lettuce and radishes from the garden here. It is looking very nice and growing so well. The garden project is so good for the children to be able to see and experience the process of growing food. They’ve been involved in planting and weeding and now a little harvesting but there is lots more coming.

Our family is very excitedly waiting for Wed. of this week! My Mom and Dad plan to come for a visit and it seems so long since they’ve been here. God is so good and is blessing us so richly!

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Blessings on Mother’s Day

Blessings to each of you today! Thinking of how this special day affects people in different ways. I am honored and blessed to be a mother and have my family blessing me in special ways. I really miss not living near my own mother and mother-in-law and yet am so blessed to be able to still call them and know that they love us and are praying for us! I love you, Moms! But, then my heart hurts for my dear nieces and nephews who today is nothing more than another burst of fresh pain because we miss Mom so much! And, here at the home there is a group of children who just wish they’d have a real Mom or there are some who really are missing their Moms and can’t go see or call them. So, I thank God that He created mothers and that He knows exactly what each one needs today and loves us all so much!

The last several weeks have been normal with the fact that one week is seldom the same as another. Lorne and Nevin made a two day trip to Sacramento, CA to do some pottery repair on a shipment that went there. On Apr. 30 was children’s day here in MX so we took 72 people and went two hours east to a zoo. Indeed, we took the zoo to the zoo! We took a hot lunch along and ate in the yard there in the shade. The children really enjoyed the outing and the staff did a great job giving of themselves to make it enjoyable for the children.

Last Wed. Lorne and I both got sick and have been very ill with a vicious stomach flu with high fever. I was still not feeling strong enough today to go for church services. On Thurs. evening the boys were having a cookout and on the way back up Nevin was thrown off the truck and really hurt his foot. On Fri he went to the Dr. because he couldn’t put any weight on his heel and it was hurting so badly but the Dr. said it’s just deeply bruised and needs time to heal. So he’s been hobbling around too.

On Friday Ismael left to go live with his grandma. He’s been here since the day before we came so he seemed like part of us and we will really miss him! Nevin and Tony went to visit him a bit yesterday and take his dog to him. Hopefully we can stay in contact with him since he lives here in Tecate.

Another unsettling situation we’ve had to face is that again Greivin’s need to move to CA. It looks as though they will be moving this week. Two weeks ago her aunt was here to visit and they went for an outing with her and a friend. They stopped for a little to see the ocean and were within sight of their locked vehicle at all times but someone punched the lock on the vehicle and stole their purses which contained all their passports and resident cards except for Greivin’s. The two oldest children were not born in the US so they only had resident cards which means they can’t enter the US until they plan to live there to replace the cards, then once they enter they can’t leave again until they have the new cards. So pray that they would be able to get the proper paperwork and all would go well.

We continue to wait on God and His answers for our future. We know He has a plan for our family and a plan for SLCH but so far He’s not making clear to us just what those plans are. And it’s the waiting that sometimes is the hardest. So continue to pray that He would provide for the needs here and for the needs of our family.