Being an Auntie...

Miss Adisyn...

Is she beautiful or what???!!

My sisters tribe now includes some pink :) She had two adorable little guys until now but they ushered a beautiful little gal into the world last week.

She scared us all to death and there were moments when I was on my knees in Honduras begging God to let her be ok when they thought the baby was bleeding internally. God worked it all out and she is healthy and growing and wonderful.

I am home now to spend some time with them but haven't been able to see her yet because I caught the virus the little guys had at our house just before I left and so have not felt well and have kept my distance because I did not want to get her sick.

Looks like I'll be able to see her little face tomorrow. I can't wait. Being an aunt is one of my favorite titles on earth!!

Honduras HELP...

Good morning all...

I sent out an email a month or two ago about needing your help with Carlos' surgery when he had an appendix attack and you showed up with giving hearts and blew us away by your kindness. He is doing so well and is in school learning computers and LOVES it. I tell you the truth that people were shocked and amazed that God came up with the money in such a short time and it was a beautiful testimony around this house and to people we know of God's faithfulness and provision. The truth is we're learning soooooo much about that right now. We never know from one month to the next how much might show up in our account and always by the end of the month the money is gone and God continually reminds us to trust Him for our provision.

When I transitioned out of the children's home, I very much felt like God was impressing upon my spirit not to ask for new support that He would take care of me and that this was going to be a time of dependence unlike any other. It has been. There have been days when I stressed over how we would pay the light bill here and money would come out of nowhere and I would have enough to cover that, or when we didn't have money to buy more food for these little guys (who eat like horses) and God would send someone out of the blue who said, I just wanted to help with what you're doing. I have no doubt that God will show up...I can't doubt that now, He has outdone Himself.

It's time now though to ask again...I have tried not to do this very often, so that when I do, you know that it's because we really need it. That it is a sincere cry for help. I have to remind you, for my own peace of mind, that I am not asking for myself, I'm asking for these little brown people that I love and adore who need a voice. Please hear their voices in the heart of this letter.

We have SEVERAL things right now that are really important within our ministry and so let me explain a couple at the top of the list...

1) Today the boys father is finished with his 60 days in an alcohol rehab center. For those of you who don't know, we have been housing the 6 boys and their mother here at the house for the past 2 months while the father completed his rehab. We have prayed with sincere hearts that God would work a miracle in his life and that he would be the father and the husband he needs to be. Today marks the beginning of his "last chance" to keep his boys and do this right and so they are moving into a small house to try and make it as a family. It is God's ideal and we have worked hard to try and help this family become what God intends and give their life to Him. Progress is being made. His willingness to stay in a program for 60 days was a good thing. I found a house near us and near the school where the boys are receiving a bilingual education. (That is their ticket out of poverty, if we can convince their parents of the importance of this.) It will allow us to be more involved in their lives and show up to help with homework and such but also gives them an opportunity to make it as a family. In order to rent the house though for the next 2 months I need to have $700 in my account by early next week. Then helping them to have some food in the house and something to start with will cost another couple hundred bucks...so altogether for this project right now we really need to come up with about $1000 in a hurry.

2) We desperately need a ministry vehicle. For the past few months we have been using a vehicle that another ministry graciously let us use, but it was having serious problems with the transmission and we spent several thousand dollars on repairs and rental car fees while it was in the shop and honestly we need a vehicle for our house and the ministry here. We cannot expect to use and abuse someone else's vehicle forever. It was a HUGE blessing and we appreciated it so much, but we are at a place where we need to have our own. We sold the Suburban that we were using and we're going to use that money to pay towards something new and dependable later, but for now we need a used car that can be used when we need to go to the mountains and rescue starving babies (like one we found on Thursday who is now in the hospital with Sam getting rehydrated and medicated) or doing the other things God has us doing. As of right now we are renting a vehicle, while we raise money for another one and it's getting very costly. We found a truck in great condition and have put a deposit down to hold it, but we need to come up with $7500 within a week to pay it off.

We are believing God for BIG things in regard to these two things. For those of you who know me well, you know that few things are closer to my heart than these boys and so this may be one of the requests closest to my heart. The request for help with a truck is only so we can continue to do what God has asked us to do.

We are only a small piece of this puzzle here on the ground. You all enable us to be here by your support from where you are. I know times are tough, we are all feeling the pressure, but God will honor your every sacrifice. I've watched it a million times. Please don't think that someone else will play your part. God wants you to be involved, not for our benefit...mostly for your own, because playing a part in something bigger than all of us brings blessings we never could have imagined. Sometimes I think a huge part of my responsibility here is to invite you into it and watch God wow you with His faithfulness to you. I hate the asking but I love hearing the stories of how He touched you.

This is hard, and it's humbling and I thank you for allowing me the privilege of asking and making me feel like we are a team and that you're blessed to be on it. You touch me deeply and I'm grateful for the people in my corner.

Blessings and love to you all. JEN

*** Any donations can be made on my blog through Paypal (www.calledandcompelled.blogspot.com) - you have the option of paying with a checking account or credit card...this is a secure way to make an online transaction quickly. If you are near Belpre they may be given to MaryAnn Laughery. Checks should be made out to Belpre Church of Christ and my name should be included in the memo line. If you're sending them through the mail, the address is for Mary Ann is 685 Timberline Dr. Vincent, OH 45784.

"The only measure of what you believe is what you do. If you want to know what people believe, don't read what they write, don't ask them what they believe, just observe what they do."

- Ashley Montagu-

Welcome Mr. Toby the newest member of our little family here. I finally gave into the pressure of young and old alike to get a puppy. Cocker Spaniels happen to be my preferred choice because of their little floppy ears and so when I glanced into the pet store yesterday and he was sitting there with his ears flopping I had a weak moment. :)

Had some Christmas money left over from my parents and it was Yoni's birthday yesterday, so he came home as a surprise for the party last night.

We LOVE him already!!

For those of you who were so incredibly kind to help with Carlos' surgery and the costs associated with that, this is a HUGE shout out of THANK YOU from the depths of my heart. He is incredibly grateful too. The patient is doing very well. We went yesterday to have his stitches taken out and the doctor said he's doing very well and in a couple more weeks should be back to doing everything normally.

Things could have been so different, and quite honestly are very different for so many families who do not have access to the resources they need to save people they love from something that we consider so minor as an appendix ready to rupture.

Thank you for being the hands and feet of Christ and reaching out to help us. I am aware on so many occasions how God has assembled a team here of which you are most certainly a part and how incredibly grateful I am to serve alongside you.

May God honor your every sacrifice and return it a hundredfold.

Love and blessings,
Jen and gang :)

I LOVE YOU ANNA!!!

I updated my blog just for you. Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Thank you all so much for those who sent money to contribute to things for the boys who are now in our home and hearts this Christmas. They were all like 5 year olds (even the biggest ones)...it was so much fun.

We gathered at Mami and Papi's house for Christmas Eve as is their tradition here. The table had been set beautifully, there were decorations and candles everywhere, and I got all kinds of sappy as I thought about how these boys had never ever in their life witnessed the special touches of "home" as we know it at Christmas time. It was so special. We each took our part in helping to prepare. I was in charge of Christmas cookies, David in charge of mashed potatoes, etc. We loved it. They open presents at midnight here and so the festivities of that began...I thought the kiddo's were going to die as they waited for the clock to get there. :)

Anyway, it was a beautiful night with family. We are so incredibly blessed to know them all.

As I sat around with Luvin and watched him settled and at peace, I thought about how far we'd come in just a little over a year. He's quite the little man these days, so polite and just inwardly settled. It's making my eyes tear up about every 5 minutes but I'm so honored to get to be a witness.

And the 3 guys who now live with us...Carlos, Eduardo, and Saul. Good things are happening, they are growing everyday in ways that matter. Funny how being surrounded by "good" people naturally kinda urges your goodness to ooze out. Watched Carlos stand for an hour and was the after Christmas dinner dishes with Mami the other night and thought, yep...beautiful!! They're all doing well and loved their gifts and loved getting to spend time here with terrific people.

Then yesterday we drove up the mountain to see our little guys and have a party with their family. It was a LONG ride as the rodes up there have been significantly damaged by all the rain we had here a couple months ago, but well worth it. They had made tamales for us and they were made with love in their kitchen as the holiday feast and so we prayed with every bite and ate them. :) So far so good, no effects as of yet, so I think we're safe.

The boys opened their presents and their parents watched with delight.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS. Seems that it makes us all better people in some ways. More about giving than receiving. We're willing to go the extra mile much easier than we normally do. We love from a deeper truer place in some ways as we sacrifice for one another. I like me better when my heart is focused on other people. Christmas somehow helps us do that in so many ways I think. Perhaps it's that Christ if Christ is in the middle of it, somehow we naturally become better people as we think and attempt to become more like Him.

I pray you all had a wonderful time with family and friends and that you are refreshed in both heart and soul.

I love you much. Merry Christmas from our whole "tribe."

LUVIN GETS TO COME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!

Just received word lately that Luvin will be able to be here for Christmas...he has gotten the grades and good behavior to get permission to leave the property for a bit. I AM SO EXCITED to have him here with me. I haven't gotten to spend much time with him since he went to the other facility because he needed to have time to adjust and rehabilitate some from his street life and get in a routine with rules and such. We have visited several times, but he's not been able to leave the property for weekends or anything.

YAY YAY YAY...gonna be a house full of boys this Christmas.

For those of you who may not know, Carlos, Eduardo, and Saul have moved in and are living here now full time as well. So we're having fun with a Christmas tree and lights and baking cookies and allowing them a home this Christmas.

I look back at the times I knew God was leading me to invest in these little lives and am so grateful that I listened regardless of how much flack I received because they were the "bad" kids. I can't imagine missing out on this with all of them. I'm watching God change them each day and I am humbled to be able to play a part in any of this for or with them.

Sometimes all it takes is someone to believe that you're better than the way you are acting. I know I needed someone to love me in spite of my actions and love me into being better.

By the way Carlos announced to us out of the blue the other night that he wants to be baptized, and Eduardo went away to a teen camp with the church this weekend. Good things are happening.

Please keep us in your prayers as we attempt to love on and direct them in ways that are pleasing to God. It's a whole new world, but we're loving it!!

I'm a firm believer that a house is made for filling up...guess God believes my house is for filling up too. I like that!!

Blessings on you this day.

Miss Betty...

One of my favorite people in all the world passed away today.

She's gone to meet Jesus and Heaven is no doubt having a party...but the earth (and more specifically my heart) are feeling a tremendous loss!

There are certain people in your world that have secured such a spot in your heart that even though you know when their days here on earth are over and Heaven is certain you would love to be a part of ushering them there you know??!! Holding their hands as they take their last breath, saying the things that you say in moments like those, rubbing feet or hands, just being present as the days on this broken planet come to an end. She is one of those for me.

She just went into the hospital a few days ago and since then has been basically unresponsive. They discovered she had multiple myloma and then her kidneys weren't functioning well and last night she had a massive heart attack and so the medical personnel said they didn't expect her to live through the day.

For the past few days I have faithfully been receiving text messages letting me know her condition and two things kept running through my head. #1 ... I am sooooo mad at myself because I was just home and saw Miss Betty and I kept being "reminded" in my heart somewhere that I needed to go spend time with her and take her to lunch or something and I didn't do it. I got busy, distracted, selfish, whatever and it got bumped down on my to do list until the days ran out and I missed my chance. I knew better, I heard better...I didn't listen well to what God was trying to warn me of at all. So I'm reminded again today that the moments matter, they way matter. #2...I want to be there. If I were home or anywhere close I would have shown up at her bedside and I would have sat beside her for a bit nad reminded her that I love her so much. I would have thanked her for praying for me every single day while I have been here and for her commitment to praying everyday without fail for the mister that God would choose to allow me to walk through life beside. I would have laughed (even if she couldn't laugh with me) about all the crazy things she's said and ways she's made me laugh. I would have reminisced with her about good moments, sacred moments that God allowed us to share. Doggone it, I may not have done a single one of those things, I may have sat there silently and not been able to do a thing, but I WOULD have been there.

Some days being far away feels like a chasm too wide to cross. I love here. I so love being here. I love getting to do what I do. I love feeling like it matters. I just hate it when being here means I can't be there for moments like these.

Tonight though Miss Betty sees the face of the one she's spent a lifetime serving. For a long time we've all talked about how we want to be like her when we're her age. She was in her late seventies and still went to ladies class always...she attended Kid City...she was just a cheerleader in the lives of so many. You would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't just genuinely like this sweet lady.

I had the privilege of getting to stay with her for a couple weeks a few years ago after she'd fallen and broken her hip. We watched movies together and I slept in the bedroom across the hall and listened for her to yell if she needed help in the night and I watched her hobble every morning to a chair by the window to read her Bible and spend time praying.

She was SUCH a sweet lady. I miss her deeply already and cannot wait until I get to see her face again.

Thank you Miss Betty for all you added to the lives of so many of us. Thank you for the memories, for your heart bent toward listening to Jesus, for your faithful prayers, for your sense of humor, and for your realness that made anyone and everyone comfortable in your presence. Thank you for your love and kindness to everyone who knew you. You have left quite a legacy dear one. We will remember you with grateful hearts and an abundance of memories that will forever be company on the days and times that we miss you most.