Busy, Busy, Blessed!

Our trials are not so much for our good, as they are that we would bring glory to God as a result of that trial. This was a challenging thought brought to us in Leonard’s message this morning. Too often I look for ways to avoid trials when instead I should be thankful that I can glorify God through my life! Of course, we also benefit from difficulties by personal growth, but that’s not the reason for the trials. Leonard and Caroline Mast and family were here for the weekend to visit Tony and he shared the message with us today. We really enjoyed their visit!
Looking over the last month again, time is passing very rapidly and much has happened! Regina went to Indiana for a week towards the end of June, which also included going to Ohio for Ethyl Eichorn’s wedding. She really enjoyed her time there with friends and family! Brittany and Deborah were also gone for a wedding at the same time so we had staff juggling for a few weeks. It’s very good to have them back, as well as Heidy, to settle things again into a more normal routine. Mary Esh, who was here to cook as a temporary, has committed to come full time as a cook. It’s such a blessing when our worker needs get filled, although we are still short one childcare worker.
The 24th of June Lorne and our boys, Tony, Myron and Neil all went deep sea fishing south of Ensenada. They traveled down the evening before to go out early on the boat. They caught over 200 fish so it seemed to be worth the trip. They all really enjoyed the experience! Then on July 4th we took the whole home down to a wooded area on our road here and had a fish fry which was a real treat for everyone!



On the 5th of July, Regina left her teen years and is now 20 years old. Our family went to Tecate for supper but then it was so warm and the pizza place doesn’t have a/c so we all voted to bring the pizza and ice cream home to celebrate. We had a great evening anyway.
July 6th, Nevin left for Canada to spend some time helping Galen with the bookstore remodeling project and to spend some time with Galen’s family. He’s been having a wonderful time there but we sure do miss him a lot here!! He had the misfortune of losing his luggage through the flight up there and still doesn’t have it. That included his unicycle which definitely brings a sadness to the loss for him.
July 9th was the school program here and the final day of school for this term. Leland Ulrich’s family, Dan, Rhoda and Daniel Miller and Herbert Miller all came for that special event and the weekend. There were a number of local people that attended as well. Gloria Enns’ family came for the program too and to take Gloria home with them. Gloria does not plan to return to teach but Delores Kornelson has committed to teach and is here already learning to know all of us and studying for her teachers’ certificate.





Abigail’s brother, Winston Martin, arrived last Mon. and plans to work here for a year. Tony’s term is almost finished and with Roland also gone we were in need of another guy to help us with maintenance and some childcare.
On Wed. we had a big corn day here! We had close to 40 bushels of corn from our garden. It was a good day of working together and accomplishing a huge job. They started picking at 6:00 in the morning and we finished the last cleanup around 3:00 in the afternoon. We froze the corn that was left after we had fresh eating for lunch. The children SO enjoy corn on the cob! And here it’s eaten with quite the array of toppings. Start with your corn. Then, add butter, mayo, chamoy, chili powder and top it all with lime. We all enjoyed the corn, just in different ways!












That was on Wed., then Thurs was grocery day and Fri. we butchered an old cow we had here. We’re very glad for the meat and corn but it sure made for a full week. The garden is producing greatly and we have more potatoes and squash than we can use right now. We did cook and shred some potatoes for the freezer but there are bushels  of them sitting in the pantry. Myron received a call from home this week and needed to return to MS for 3 weeks to help out there so Mary and the girls are left to carry on with the garden jobs.

Yesterday was a sad day for the home. Jose, Jacky, Jenny & Cesar have lived with the home for 5 years as voluntary children (not through DIF). Their uncle was unable to care for them and so we called them our children. On Thurs. eve their uncle came to visit and said he wants to take them home with him on Sat.. He felt like the children are getting older and it’s time for them to be with their family. The children were excited to be with family and yet seemed to have mixed feelings about the change. Cesar doesn’t remember any other home as he came here as a baby. And the older ones are old enough to understand the differences that they would be facing, going to a nonchristian home. We pray that the seeds that were sown in their lives would take root and continue to grow. We do know where they are living and can go visit them, so we hope to still have contact with them.
We also praise God for answering our prayers and supplying for the need of house parents! We shed tears of joy the day we received the news that Walter and Sandra Valles from Costa Rica have committed to come and serve as house parents here. Sandra is a sister to Greivin. They were not sure then if he would be able to get a visa to enter MX because he is from El Salvador and there is conflict between those two countries, but Greivin is working on the paperwork with the officials here who know Greivin and the work here and it looks like they will give him a visa. Once he has the visa, Greivin plans to drive to El Salvador to fix the paper work on the small van we have here from there and then bring Walter’s and also Heidy’s parents from Costa Rica along back. Heidy’s parents also plan to help here with caring for the little boys.
God’s blessings to all of you!