Happy New Year

I know we are already 3 weeks into 2016, however, seeing this is the first blog post of the New Year, I thought I’d begin with the greeting, Happy New Year!

I’d like to start with a verse that has been greatly on my mind the past 3 weeks and actually going back to the end of 2015.  It is found in the book of Ecclesiastes, written by the wisest man ever to live.

There is an appointed time for everything.  And there is a time for every event under heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

I believe the reason why the Lord has been speaking this verse so dearly to my heart is because of a few significant events that took place as 2015 drew to a close and we ushered in 2016.

As I shared in our last post, Christmas time was very quiet and relaxing, mainly due to most of the children spending time with their family.  In fact, as we celebrated the New Year, we only had Luis and Juan staying with us.  The other 13 children had left.

Your prayers were greatly felt, because as the children began to come back to the orphanage, they transitioned very well.  Probably better then any of the times in the past.  It seemed as if they all were excited to be back “home.”  Most of the children were eager to share stories of their time spent and show the presents that they received.  Others were a little more quiet and didn’t really want to talk about the difficult time they had with their family.  Nevertheless, our staff was more then happy to have our kids back home and to once again here the sound (often very loud) of our lovely children.

We were anticipating that all 13 of the children who left would come back home as promised by their mothers or other family members.  However, sadly, that was not the case for our sweet little Valeria.

Valeria came to the orphanage in August of last year.  She is such a sweet little girl and was doing really well in kindergarten and got along with everyone here at the Casa.  Valeria’s mom worksin another town about an hour away.  As she came to pick up Valeria, she was pleased with her progress here and expressed her desire for Valeria to continue being here.  Unfortunately that changed during the time she was away and Valeria never came back.  We were able to reach her mom on the phone and encouraged her to bring Valeria back.  You could tell that part of her wanted to, knowing this is the best place for Valeria right now, however due to other difficult circumstances, here decision was made.

Anytime we have a chance to care for children, get them enrolled in school, have a warm bed, hot showers, healthy food and a chance to learn and know about Jesus, it’s a huge blessing.  At the same time, our desire would be to see children restored to a right, healthy and safe relationship with their moms and families.  But, its those times when a mom (like Valeria’s) expresses that she doesn’t have a plan or know how Valeria will be cared for while she has to work, is difficult to hear.

We encouraged her to mom to pray and really think on this decision and that our doors would always be open, should she choose or desire to bring her back.

I miss sweet little Valeria so much and so does Ayantu.  They are the same age, were in the same class at school and best little buddies.  Its incredibly hard to try to explain some of these things to your soon to be 6 year old daughter.  That’s why words like those found in Ecclesiastes can be so helpful, “there is an appointed time for everything.  And there is a time for every event under heaven.”

There are appointed times when children will be in our care and then there are appointed times when they will be removed.  Those appointed times need not shake or move us because it all happens for a reason and has been appointed by God.

“He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time…” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

Please continue to pray for Valeria and her current situation and rest on the hope that God will make this beautiful “in its time.”

Okay, so I know I mentioned a “few” significant events at the beginning of this blog post.  However, since this blog is already a bit long, I will save the other event for another time, hopefully next week!

A Wonderful, Merry Christmas...!

Tomorrow or today, depending on when you read this, will be our third Christmas down here in Bachiniva.  I must say I absolutely love Christmas here at the orphanage.  I’d say a lot of that has to do with the peace and quiet that comes with the holiday season in a small Mexican town.

Yes, I did use the words “peace” and “quiet” in the same sentence as “orphanage”.  In all actuality, this is the most quiet and relaxing time of the year for us.  It is filled with both joy and sadness.

The joyful part, obviously, is celebrating the wonderful birth of our Savior.  I find that being away from the distractions of the holiday season in the USA, allows me to really ponder and reflect on our sweet Lord and His miraculous birth.  It is also a joyful time prepping all the presents and holiday treats for the kids here.  The month has been filled with so many Christmas crafts, carols, sweets, cozy fires, and random visits from friends in the community.

The children, you see, well that’s where a bit of the sadness comes in to play.  Christmas vacation is when the majority of our children leave the orphanage to spend time with their moms, grandparents and other family members.  Now, some of you might think, why is that sad?  A huge part of Christmas is all about spending time with friends and family.  Yes, that is true.  But, the very reason why these children are here in the first place is a sign of the sadness and brokenness within their families.

The majority of our children are not true orphans, and do indeed have a mom.  However, their moms are either busy working, trying to survive, and can’t take care of their kids.  Or, life is simply easier without their children.  That gives us the wonderful blessing and privilege of caring for and ministering to the children here at the Casa.  Truly we want the children to have a relationship with their moms, but, that is hard when they only see them once a month, OR, a few times a year.  

I must admit its difficult to be truly joyful and excited for these visits with their families, because we know what they are going back to.  Chaos, lack of quality meals, spending most of the day home alone while their moms still work, being subject to their moms random boyfriends and men that come into the homes, etc.  But, we know and trust that the children are in the Lord’s hands and He is with them wherever they go.

Currently there are only four children here with us, Erasmo, MariaAna, Juan and Luis.  Juan and Luis are our true orphans, brought to us by the government, and have no family.  Erasmo and Maria Ana are a unique situation.  Their father passed away a number of years ago and then the two of them, along with their 3 siblings were abandoned by their mom.  The 5 children were taken into care by their grandparents, up until coming to the orphanage.  So, basically for the past 5-6 years, there has been no relationship with their mom whatsoever.  They have seen her a few times when going back up to their mountain village to visit their grandparents, but its been short and unfruitful.

This year however all that has changed and the Lord has brought us one of the most amazing Christmas presents yet.  2 days ago, we drove to Cuahtemoc to pick up Marisela (their mother) and their two little sisters, Carolina and LuzyDalia.  Marisela called on Monday and asked if she could come spend Christmas with her children.  I honestly didn’t believe it at first and not even until with actually picked them up at the train station.  Maria Ana and Erasmo couldn’t believe the news when I told them their mother was coming and were overjoyed.  Wow, what an amazing Christmas present for them.

I can’t express the joy that has warmed my heart as I have watched an estranged mother reunite with her children, the past 2 days.  To see them laugh together, eat a meal together, hug each other, go for walks as a family, and now, get to spend Christmas together is indescribable.  In fact, it brings tears to my eyes as I type this.

I couldn’t have asked for a better Christmas then what we are experiencing now.  To see a mother do the dishes alongside her daughter.  To see her son help her carry her things.  To see a family hold hands as we all pray before a meal.  To hear a mother and her 3 daughters talking in their room until late in the evening.  These things have changed me, will forever stick with me and I will treasure for the rest of my life.

This truly will be a wonderful and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

What a beautiful family!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year...from the Casa de Bendicion family!

Transformer, Ninos and Missions...

I remember the day when it was quite easy to blog and update everyone on the things taking place here at the Casa de Bendicion.  However, it seems like nowadays it is more challenging with every month that passes by.  Most likely it is because of the sheer busyness and chaos that takes place these days.  The month of September flew by, and now we are halfway through October.  Needless to say, all is well and we are very thankful for both the blessings AND challenges that come our way.  Actually, I should correct my statement, because we know that challenges DO BRING blessings!

Let me take a moment to fill you in on some of the things that have gone down the past month and a half.  September brought us another wonderful and fruitful missions team from Lowry City, Missouri.  Back in April, I was able to fly out and preach/share at Park Grove Christian Church about the ministry.  It was at that point that God opened the door and put together a team of 8 brothers and sisters to come down and serve with us.

We absolutely love having missions teams for so many different reasons.  It is such a blessing to our staff and especially to the children.  My wife and I love and appreciate the fellowship and encouragement that teams bring.  The focus for our dear Lowry City friends was our new offices.  The guys did a great job of framing the whole inside as well as laying out the footings for our new director's house.  The ladies stayed busy helping with the daily chores as well as paint projects.  Most of the team had never been on a missions trip before, so it was great to see the impact it had on their lives as well.

September also brought us 3 new children: Idaly (7 years), Angel Jesus (6 yrs), and little Gladys (3 yrs).  I was actually up in the States when these lovely children came to the home.  I took back the missions team to El Paso, flew up to Idaho for meetings, and then went on to Washington for our annual Missions Dinner, the NW Pastors Conference, and teaching at a wonderful church, Calvary Ballard.  It does seem that whenever I am gone, both good AND bad things happen.

One of those bad things was that the transformer at our well basically blew up, burnt out, gave up its ghost.  Fortunately, it didn’t effect our power at the orphanage.  It did mean, however, that we would receive no more water from the well.  We were very blessed to have the town water truck come out once a week to refill our water tanks.  So, even though we were without the well, we still had water.  Thankfully the transformer was fixed two days ago and now we are back up and running.  Thank you to those who donated to help pay for the fix.

Our newest additions are adjusting well.  We successfully enrolled them in school and they are learning more then ever before.  Angel and Gladis are brother and sister.  Both their mom and Idaly’s mom approached us asking if we could help care for them.  Like all the mothers, no fathers are involved in the children’s lives.  Both of their moms work full-time at an apple factory in Cuahtemoc(about 1 hour away).  These three have been a wonderful blessing to our family!

Idaly

Angel Jesus

Gladis

Currently, we have another missions team from Puyallup, Washington and Rio Rancho, New Mexico.  The four of them have been working away at our new offices.  They finished framing, installing the electrical and insulation, and are now finishing up with the sheet rock.  Their wonderful assistance has allowed our staff workers to concentrate on our new Director's House.  It is so exciting to finally see it coming together.  They are almost finished with the outer structure of block.  God is good!

The outer structure of our new directors home!