Ecuador Here We Come!

 It has been a long time since I have blogged but it is that time again. We are packing and preparing to leave for Ecuador tomorrow.  Yes! Only a couple more days and we get to see these precious faces! We are going back this summer with a team of 15 people. Our plan is to go show LOVE to some precious orphans in Ecuador.  We have many activities planned for the kids again this year from jewelry making to fun parachute activities. Thank you for all the donations. The kids and workers will love it all! We are also going to have a huge cookout for the kids at each orphanage, which they loved in December.  This is a great treat especially for the kids at Ganas because they, at times, only receive one meal per day.  Also, our team was just asked to build bunk beds for the children at Ganas that will be moved to the new orphanage. They need enough beds to house approximately 40 kids. So over the past few days the team has been very busy planning and making blueprints for portable bunks that we will construct on our trip. We also are trying to find a way to purchase as many mattresses as we possibly can. Each mattress will cost $130.00 X 40!!  That is a little overwhelming but these kids really need a bed to call their own. Our team will purchase as many as we can.  If you read this and feel led to purchase a mattress, please call or email me and we can make that happen!!

Yesterday, in preparing for this trip I read Romans 12 and then read it to my kids. I pray that each member on our team will be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” I know that last time I was in Ecuador that happened clearly for me. It is easy while you are in a 3^rd world country to realize how you need to let go of the things of this world. You become broken when you see how little others have and how truly spoiled we are. Your heart is broken and open and you love children, people you don’t know. The Lord works through you in crazy, amazing and exciting ways. I know that. The hard part is coming home! I am sad to say that it did not take me long after to coming home to get wrapped back up in my little life and only focus on it and those in it. So I am praying that for me, my family and our team that we will be able to hold these special moments we are about to experience and truly let them change us to be more like Christ and we can live out Romans 12 not only in Ecuador but here at home as well.

The Kiddo's Go Back To School!

Wednesday was the first day back to school for my crew. So far so good! Everyone is excited about school starting and they are happy with their new teachers. We are looking forward to a great year!

Noah is in 1st Grade

Mia is in 2nd Grade

Emmy is in 5th! :(

Cameron is in 7th Grade

My Birthday!

As I celebrate my birthday today, I am totally torn between two realities. While I am enjoying the moments of celebration with my family, my children and my friends a piece of me is wrecked inside. It is like a video of faces is playing in my mind of children in the orphanages we just left. These children don’t have birthday parties, no birthday gifts, no cake, no one to sing Happy Birthday to them. So while I am very thankful for all that I have in my life and I am happy to celebrate the day with those I love the tears fall for those I long to comfort, to play with, to hug and hold, or to sing Happy Birthday too…..

Ecuador Mission Trip - June 2011

Happy 6th Gotcha Day Mia!!

Yesterday, we celebrated Mia's 6th Gotcha Day! I thought I would share what we wrote on her blog the day we met her 6 years ago:

"Our day began at about 4:30am in Beijing. We took a 7:55 flight to Changsha. We arrived at our hotel around 11:30 and had a couple hours to eat lunch and prepare for the baby and what was about to come. We meet as a group in the hotel lobby at 3:00 and were off to the Civil Affairs Office. We were lead to a conference room and were told that it would be about 30 minutes. So then 5 minutes later they walked in with Mia and called our name first. We did not even have our papers out. We had to fumble through our bag and let them confirm that she was ours. Mia was just standing and looking. She was so scared. I could not believe how beautiful she looked standing there looking at me. I slowly picked her up and she just looked around so sadly. A few minutes later she began to cry and this lasted awhile. Jason reached out his arms for her and she stopped crying and went to him. We stood and tried to comfort her. We blew bubbles and gave her toys. She came back to me and drank a bottle. Did I mention that this room was 100 degrees and full of screaming babies. It was undescribible! So with all that going Mia got sick and threw up. We changed her and we out the door to get on the bus and come back to the hotel. On the bus ride Mia became very attached to a small blow up ball and 2 stacking cups. She will NOT let them go. Well she will give them to her mama but if her "baba" (daddy) asks for them she hides them behind her back. Once back at the hotel I stayed with Mia and got to know her and Jason did some paperwork. "Qian Qian" played, had a bath, ate oatmeal, had a bottle and went to sleep.

This has been such an amazing day. We praise God for bringing us to our daughter. What a miracle. We thank you for all of your love and support."

Gotcha's days are great days to reflect. I cannot imagine my life without this girl of mine in it!! She is an inspiration and a huge blessing to me!! I am soooooo thankful for her!!

Answered Prayer

Blogging is new to me. It is kind of hard for me to spill my emotions and thoughts to everyone who might read what I am writing. Today I felt like this might be important to share as it might help or encourage someone who is struggling.

I have had a very hard time since returning home from Ecuador. My mind is constantly on the children and our friends there. I look around at all we have here and just feel pretty….yuck. When I shower and dry off I think about the kids who have not even their own towel or pj’s but share with a group of kids. I am broken and some days I cannot stop my tears.

Yesterday, I was at the pool with friends and they had babies. My mind was on baby S (from Maria Campi) all day. I would think "that baby is 11 months and S is 18 months and she is not any bigger than that baby. Oh look what that baby can do…. baby S is not doing that yet." When I got home, I was a complete mess. I mean I lost it. I was truly crying for this sweet baby who I grew to love in just 2 short days.  I felt hopeless. My sweet Emmy was asking me what was wrong. I was explaining how I was feeling and telling her how I was just so far away and felt like I could not do anything to help baby S or any of the other children from where I was. Then it hit me and I told her that I need to pray for them now. That is what I did! While praying, I heard my email chime. When I was finished, I checked my email and it was from my friend Sylvia in Ecuador. The email said, “"Ill can go check on her tomorrow morning for a little bit if u want :)... blessings my friend" She was going to check on S for me. I know God doesn’t always answer prayer that quickly and at times it may seem like he is not listening but this was a great reminder to me to go to Him!! I prayed and my prayers were answered and my sweet friend is going to make sure this baby girl is okay today not because I asked her too but because God put it on her heart when I was brokenhearted and praying.

Our visit to Jesus Divino Presno

About Jesus Divino Presno:

This is a home for children whose parents are prisoners. The children here get to visit their parents or family members on weekends. Sometimes this can cause issues because their parents may get them to steal and bring items to them. The children here are between the ages of 4-16. Jesus Devino is located on beautiful land and the kids have responsibilities like hand washing their own clothes, helping with the animals, gardening, etc. The foundation also promotes freedom, which is a little challenging when you have older children who might start to form relationships. The children here were beautiful, precious and some were guarded…..I think God showed us a way to get through to them all if even in a tiny way for some.

Day 1:

·      *We toured the grounds and saw our homes where we would spend the night. We spent the night in the actual home of some of the children. It was very good for all us to experience how these kids live.

·     * We did crafts with the kids. We did a craft called “He knows my name” where they got to write their name (or we did) and decorate their paper with glitter and markers. Who know they would LOVE glue and glitter so much!! This craft kept going and going! I think we used all the construction paper for our other crafts but the kids were soooo happy!!

·      *The boys played soccer and the girls did face and nail painting. It was a good opportunity to split up the older boys and girls.

·     * Who knew that we would be able to connect to these girls through Justin Beiber. Yes, even they know JB!!  So we sang and we danced!!

·      *We saw some bullying going on here.

·     * Jason had an opportunity to speak with Jimmy. He was definitely the leader of the older kids here. We pray that he listened and his words sank in.  We believe that God could use the life of this child in a mighty way if he chooses the right path!!

·      *We climbed a very steep mountain with all the kids and gathered wood for a bonfire. It was a crazy experience but fun! We had a large bonfire at night. Jason danced for the kids. His break dancing skills were put to good use.  We sang. La Montana was definitely the kid kids favorite song.

·     * I got to make homemade bread from scratch. It was gooooooood!!

·      *That night we decided we had to have a strategic plan for the next day. Ministry here was different. It was not about helping with construction projects, etc. We knew we needed to teach the children and workers about Jesus. We knew that they needed know how much God loved them and that they could call on him in their difficult times. They did not have to make the same decisions in life that their parent made.  They could choose a different path.

Day 2:

·      *After breakfast and devotions, we began our day working in the garden and looking for minor things that needed repairing that we could easily complete that day.

·      *It started raining and that lead us under the porch where we began to talk with Frankie about life and then about Jesus. It was Frankie’s birthday. Frankie became a Christian on his birthday!! It was an amazing time. Later, in the day we got cake and ice cream to celebrate Frankie’s birthday!!  I will post his picture so you can see his huge smile!

·      *Crazy things started happening at Jesus Devino. Many kids wanted to know about Jesus so for a couple of hours we sat in little groups all over the property telling children about Jesus. It was an amazing day!!

·      *We played soccer again in the rain.

·      *The kids at Jesus Devino preformed a traditional dance for us. It was so fun to watch them. They all looked beautiful in their costumes. They really did a great job!!

·      *We decided to end our time with a simple planned out service with the kids to recap the day. We sang songs in Spanish and Jason and Dave spoke. Many kids accepted Christ. I have never experienced anything like this before. It was a very real and powerful time……truly life changing.

·      *It was hard to say goodbye especially to sweet Diana, a girl I had spent a good amount of time with during the day. I pray that she knows how special she is and that she turns to God for comfort during her times of feeling lonely. She has had to endure more than any child should.

·      *As we drove away, the girls all shouted “bye Justin Bieber” over and over to Cameron!! It gave us all a good laugh during a sad time! J