Adios Mi Amigos...

Well the team left on Sunday and I've just now gotten my head and my life back together enough to sit down and type just a few comments about some of that. What an incredible week we had together. I have worked with several teams by now and never before was the battle of good and evil more apparent than it was this week. It seemed so blatantly obvious that everything we desperately wanted to do for God's glory Satan was attempting to attack. Wanted us to be fearful of the bus rides after 2 how shall we say it, fender benders. Made situations look hopeless in the off chance that we'd give up and be defeated. It was just so obvious that he was on the lookout for ways that he could thwart what God had planned for good. I don't know about you, but that just kinda added fuel to my fire. Certainly didn't make things easier or less stressful, but made me a whole lot more passionate about perservering.

May I just say to you dear ones that I've had the privilege of working beside for the past week and a half that you walked in a manner worthy of the calling. I saw within you servant hearts and beautiful spirits bent upon reaching out and touching and growing and changing while you were here. You encouraged me in ways you probably have no idea.

A few moments will always stick out to me from this trip...

Vicki, Debbie, and Rachel in the backseat of the truck after they'd spent the day with the San Miguel kids with tears streaming down their faces. I was reminded of some very important things through your tears and was refreshed by the way people are touched by the children here after one short day.

Karen and Devin, you moved into Marvin's heart and took up residence. He loves and adores you both and it's so funny because God makes that happen and people have come and loved Marvin, but he hadn't become anyone's "boy" (of course aside from us) until you came. Now he's yours. We're grateful to share him.

Papi Pelon (aka Tio Jeff) I wish you could know how touched I am when I watch you with Francisco. Most guys your age are way too cool to come for a summer fall in love with a little guy and miss him everyday thereafter. He loves you so much and if I could have picked a guy that I hope he models life after, I would have made the same choice he did. :) I love you brother!!

Miss Jessica, your heart just touched mine so much this time. I watched you become so soft to so many things over the past year and then watched it manifest itself on this trip. Yovani wanting to sleep in your bed and you being so gracious with the kiddo's. Your encouragment to me and offering to help raise our support. I just saw so much Jesus in that heart.

John and Ashley, you made the dynamic of the team so much richer, by your servant hearts, and your hearts for God. You were so kind and jumped in wherever whenever and you just made yourselves a part of us and we were delighted to have you with us.

Lauren, I don't think there was a day when you didn't say hello and ask me how I was. Your attentiveness to the people around you was kindness exemplified. Thank you for caring how we all were and taking the time to talk to each of us and wanting to learn about who we were as people.

That's enough for tonight. I'll write some more tomorrow. So many sweet memories and special people. It's worth stringing out for a few days!! :)

I MISS YOU GUYS!!!

UNBELIEVABLE...

Well I promised a post explaining the things that occupied part of my time and lots of my heart last week and kept me at times from blogging much to you in the midst of a hectic schedule. So I shall attempt now to relay the story from beginning to this point.

As I begin to share with you let me tell you that this is the first time that I remember feeling as though God was answering my prayers the moment I spoke them. He didn't ask me to wait and grow (as we're all familiar with that one), He didn't tell me the timing wasn't best, He didn't say no, He just went ahead of me by a step and prepared the way. It was beautiful and I am just now getting to fully reflect on how it happened and how tender it was that He took such beautiful care of my heart.

So many details to share...please bear with me, I promise you'll be reminded of the faithfulness of God. Look past my inadequate words and please see a Father who loves His children, every one of them no matter where they are!

So you might remember several months ago my post on two precious little guys that we had met one night while we were going through the pharmacy drive thru. They had come up to my window to ask for some lempira's and had coke bottles under their shirts and eyes that were cloudy from the effects of the frequent sniff's. As I looked down into their little eyes, my heart was caught and I remember thinking oh Heavens I want to take you home, give you a bath, cut that hair, and sit down and hold you and remind you how much you're loved. They asked for some food that first night that I met them and we were headed to Pizza Hut and so I said well meet us over at Pizza Hut in 5 minutes and yes I'll buy you some food. I am ashamed to say that my thought initially was that we would go into Pizza Hut and eat and I'd either get them some food to give to them or we'd give them our leftovers. (I still shudder at the fact that my brain in the moment was malfunctioning.) Their idea when I said I'd feed them was that they were going in with us and before I even had time to think about it, my 5 boys and these sweet little dirty guys with barefeet just trucked right through the door and into the play area at Pizza Hut. We all sat down at the big long table and they all played together and we had soooooooooo much fun. They ate so many pieces of pizza I was scared to get the bill and delighted to pay it all the same. :) As we said goodbye that night I wrote my number down on a piece of paper and handed it to one of them and told them to come back tomorrow with their mom and that I would help them file the proper paperwork and get them help and that they could come and live with us. We left with hugs and a prayer.

We went back the next day and couldn't find them anywhere. Over the course of the next month we drove through that same part of the city and looked for them sooooo many times. Our boys prayed for them every single night and asked me every day when they were coming to live with us. I didn't have any answers, I had felt so sure that God had led us to them and couldn't figure out why it wasn't working out. Felt so hopeless in some ways because we were here had a home and couldn't find a way to get these sweet boys in it.

When we were in town a few months later when Kay and Joyce were here we were driving by the Mariott and these two little guys came up to my window and they were way familiar faces. I stopped at the light and got super excited to see them and asked how they were and told them to come on we were going for ice cream. Had a ball. That was January 18 and the next day was my birthday. Told them to come back to the same place in the morning and that we'd buy them breakfast and bring them some things. Once again they were barefoot and in ragged clothes. So there they came early the next morning and we all sat down and ate breakfast and I loved on them and AGAIN I wrote down my name and number and I said put this in your pocket, don't lose it, and tell your mommy to call me, I WILL HELP YOU!!! Didn't hear anything from them again and I am still thinking, what in the world??!! God I don't get it, we have a place to help them, I want to help them, I feel called to these two boys so strongly for some reason and I have to believe that's from you, why is this not working?? No answers.

So we went to visitation on the last Friday of March to take the kids to visit their mothers and as soon as I stepped out of the van I saw this little guy running and I couldn't make out who it was until he threw his arms around me and yelled TIA and I looked into a little face that made me want to bawl. It was Brian, one of the brothers that I'd met so many months ago and had prayed for nearly every day since. One of the ladies that was sitting with him walked up to me and she said, you need to know that he has cried every day since he got here because he said some lady promised to help him but he couldn't find her phone number but he wanted to go live with her. She said when you drove up and he saw you get out of the car he said, that's her. Awwwwwwww...ok so I was smitten with this little heart all over again. So I went inside to talk with the social workers and told them about the fact that we'd built a relationship with this boys and that I really wanted to take them to live with me. They told me that that wasn't going to be able to happen, that Rudy (his brother) had already been court ordered to another children's home and that Brian was to go there tomorrow. I wanted to bawl. I said, but he doesn't want to go there, he wants to live with me, and I want them to live with us and our boys have prayed for them nearly every night, and it was a futile effort, they weren't budging. I left feeling very defeated...but praying that God would protect those boys and draw them to him.

This past week the group had a visit scheduled to Casitas on Tuesday and I was running late because I had a meeting that I had to go to between the blind school and Casitas and so was an hour or two late. When I pulled up in the car Ashley was sitting beside this sweet little face that I love and I recognized immediately as Brian. My mouth dropped open because he was supposed to have left a week ago to go to the other center. I got out of my car and asked lots of questions about what happened and he said, I didn't want to go I want to live with you. Ok tears!!!!!!!!!!

So my feet went trucking back into that office and said to the women in there, what do I need to do to take this little guy with me...I will do whatever it takes. I asked for the name of the center where Rudy is because they refuse to seperate the brothers which I completely understand and so I said I'd take them both...they still wouldn't do the paperwork required to change the orders. I was getting way frustrated by this point and felt like we weren't doing what was best for the kiddo's which certainly was getting my feathers ruffled. Left the office way upset and so I went back out to face Brian and tell him there was nothing I could do. I couldn't ever get those words out of my mouth though. So instead I looked at him and I said, I want you to know that I want you to live with me. You are such a special little boy. So you pray and I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna go talk to some people tomorrow and see what I can do ok??!! All of this was said with serious tears in my eyes praying that I wasn't doing the wrong thing by giving him false hope. He just kept sitting beside me putting my hand up to his little mouth and kissing it. Broke my heart. It was time to board the bus and I hugged this little guy with all I had in me, and his eyes filled up with tears. I said hey don't be sad, God is great big and you pray tonight really hard ok, and I'll have all my friends that are here with me pray too ok. Let's just pray. Then I said let's pray right now and so I knelt down there in the dirt on these knees with this precious little guy and I put my head against his and I just basically said ok God we just are gonna trust you and we need your help. I got on the bus and I put my head on the seat in front of me and I cried like I haven't cried in a LONG time!!! I was heartbroken and didn't have a clue what to do and wanted to help rescue this little guy soooooooooooooooooo bad!!

We had a devo at the Jesus statue that night and after devo was over I just explained the story and told them that I wouldn't be with them because I had to go fight for a little boy because I promised him that I would and I begged for their prayers. So we all prayed together for two little boys and for God to work all of this out in the very best way whatever that was because we just weren't sure what to pray for exactly.

After I shared, this sweet gal, Iris, that was with my dear friend Gina that night came up to me and asked for more details and said that her mother worked for IHNFA and worked with adoptions and that possibly she could help me. Gave me just an ounce of hope at least and God used her in that moment. Didn't have any idea how much He was about to use her. The only thing I had to go on at this point was that Rudy was at some center called Amor Y Esperanza and that possibly Iris's mom could help me the next day. I knew though that I only had until about 2 pm because the other center was coming to get Brian then. So I needed a plan and fast.

We were headed back down the mountain to take Gina home and I wanted to take donut's up to the team for a treat and so I asked Gina and Iris if they'd like to grab a donut or would rather just go home. They said yeah they'd like to go with us. (Which is a rare deal as well, because Gina never eats junk food so the fact that she said yes to a donut is worth noting.) There were two other people in the Dunkin Donuts besides us and when we pulled up Iris said hey I know that lady, she's a doctor with the Baptist mission in a village out of the city. So we walked up to the counter to order and Iris went over to talk to them and she came over a few minutes later grabbed me by the arm with enthusiasm and said hey you need to come over here right now this guy is the director of Amor Y Esperanza. WHAT??????????????????????????? I had to pick my jaw up. So I walked over introduced myself, told him the story of Rudy and Brian and just asked him if there was anyway we could work together to help them and do what's best. He said, well I'll tell you what we have 3 centers, let me give you the name of the one where Rudy is and the name of the director there, and you'll need to call her in the morning and explain the situation to her, and we'll go from there. I could not believe it. Out of 1.6 million people in this city, God allowed us to be in the same place at the same time, and I couldn't decide if I wanted to do cartwheels or cry at His tenderness and relentless love.

So Gina agreed to go with me to speak to the director the next morning and so we went early in the morning to meet with this sweet lady named Claudia. She was a delight and if for no other reason than getting to meet her it would have been so worth it. She agreed to let me shadow her and learn from her and she is obviously a woman who is in love with her Lord. I am looking forward to that. When I explained the situation to her, the one thing that stands out is her saying, "if you feel this strongly about being called to these two little boys and the bond you've formed with them I have to believe that's from God and I want to help you." And she did. She gave us a copy of the entrance papers with their full names on them and their id numbers and gave us the judge's name and said that we'd have to go talk with her.

So we went from the director's office to attempt to go to the office of a lady we have some affiliation with from when Tim worked with her with Dona Aguas (the prior first lady). She is what we would call the D.A. over the children's courts and we attempted to call her several times and couldn't get ahold of her and so Gina said well let's just stop by. So we went into her office and she recognized Gina and said well come in. It was crazy, she was crazy busy, and she is normally not in her office but she just "happened" to be this morning. She listened to the story, she looked at the papers we had, she said oh yeah I know this lady she's one of my best friends I work with her often, I'll call her right now. So she got her on the phone explained the situation, told her she thought this was in the best interest of the children and I only heard her end of the conversation so all I could hear was, yes I know we'll need to do an inspection first, so how about tomorrow at 1:30?? I looked at Gina like yeah right, you wait for a month for things like this, they are not going to come tomorrow, and then I heard her say, tomorrow at 1:30 ok I'll see you then. WHAT?????????????????????????

And so the meeting was in place and in a 24 hour period of time God had blown me away. I went from hopeless to hopeful and remembered that if God could create the world, part the seas, calm the ocean, He could certainly bring a couple little boys to this home if He so chose.

The ladies came out the next day to do an inspection and everything went well and the judge walked into my office and said, well I do believe this is best for the children. I will be changing the orders next week. Congratulations you have 2 new boys!!

I am floored and humbled and touched to my toes that God would wait until the perfect time. That He would nestle two boys in my heart long ago and teach me so much through this process. That He would allow me to learn that they were worth fighting for and that the battle will never be mine but His and that He will walk ahead of me and prepare the way. That He would love me and these two little guys so much that He would work this all out in the beautiful ways that He did.

SO I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT...Rudy and Brian are coming home...home to Casa...home to this heart...home to these brother's and sister's in this family that God had prepared for them before the beginning of time.

I am honored to be a small part of all of this...thank you for you prayers. It was such a sweet gift to be able to share the moments of all of this while the team was here. I will never forget the ways you all encouraged and prayed hurt and rejoiced with me through the events of this week. You are precious!!

A Continuation...

So after the visit to the blind school on Tuesday, we did our annual trip to one of the hardest places that we choose to go to (at least in my own opinion, but also evidenced in the teary faces on the bus ride afterwards.) Casitas Kennedy. You have read on my blog before that I have a hard time there, I feel the oppression as soon as I walk in the door and while at moments we can sometimes be less aware of the fact that we live in a horribly broken world, walking through that door is all the reminder you'll ever need. Children so scared and hurting and perhaps the worst part of it for me is that it feels like they are so alone. Anyway in an attempt to bring joy to those sweet faces we teamed up with Little Ceasar's for a pizza party and in normal form pieces of pizza were tucked and stuffed and hidden for later. They are still in survival mode and it's obvious.

Maybe one of the best things about broken and raw however is the lack of the ability to hide the need, to wear the mask, and in the innocence of a broken child, arms and love is really all they want and they certainly are not afraid to show you. They jump into your arms, they hang on for dear life when you leave, they hold your hand the entire time you're near them, they stroke your face with tenderness all for the sake of a loving touch that they go days/weeks/perhaps sadly longer than that without.

Here are some lovin on them pictures. Might I just say, that as difficult as it is, we are always the blessed ones who have been stretched and grown and our hearts made better for having seen and entering into their life if even for a few hours.

After Casitas we went to the mall to get some fast food and then headed up the mountain for one of our favorite devo's of the trip, at the Jesus statue. It is this HUGE statue with Jesus' arms outstretched that is lit up at night just looking over the city. It is powerful stuff. It was a great way to end a night where you felt as though you needed to be hunkered up underneath the arms of Jesus because hearts were weary.

Got up Wednesday morning to once again be builders both on this earth for some families and prayerfully for the kingdom of God as well. Let's just say the children's song about the wise man building his house on the rock will forever have new meaning. One team built an entire house on a HUGE slab of rock...I don't mean some dirt covering a pile of rocks, no I mean one huge slab of rock is all you see. It is the foundation of this house. The other house site provided it's own difficulties as well and it was certainly the hardest building day we've had. When the day was done however, we had built two houses with hours of pounding and spudding and sweating and two families would now have a home. The team felt a sure sense of accomplishment after this one.

Wednesday night out of the graciousness of some servant hearts we brought all the "Casa kids" up to the Mission House for the night and had an "adopt a kid" night. They slept with folks who their little hearts had gotten connected up with and played and played and played. It was great fun, with laughter, lots of laughter and hugs and investment time for some kiddo's who need it. Was a precious thing for me to watch as some of my favorite people on this earth loved on some kiddo's who have now captured this heart tightly.

Thursday we woke back up early to head back to Santa Ana and have the food/clothing/shoe distribution. Here's the great news from that day, this was the first time we have not had to turn anyone away at the end of the day and that was a great thing. Everyone got a bag of food to take home to their families, thank You Lord. At the same time another group of folks was holding a vbs with the kiddo's from the community in the park next to the church and from what I hear went really well. Came back Thursday night and had devo and the highlight of the day...grandma joyce and her servant heart made us cinnamon rolls for all of us to have after devo. OH JOY JOY JOY!!!!

Yesterday was another full day of great things as we built 2 more houses in Nuevo Oriental and got to play with the children there. A small group went to help at the feeding center there and enjoyed it very much. It is another great project, where 200 community children are fed each day, and are taught about Jesus while doing so. Some precious ladies serve there and I always love to see them. The kids are always the highlight though and they surround wherever you are building and it's my favorite part of building days. Little boys hammered nails yesterday til their little arms couldn't hardly swing the big hammers. Little girls blew bubbles, and colored, and got their nails painted. It was great.

We ended last night with dinner and devo at the Kluge's. Now let me just say...#1...it is my favorite diner in this country. Melissa always outdoes herself with the whole hospitality cooking deal. Once again we were not disappointed. There was cookie dough in a big bowl with plastic spoons to eat for dessert (among about 10 other choices) but NEED I SAY more??!! We had devo on their back patio with candles and it was great. Karen and I have certainly learned to love them as family and now the group has done the same and that's a beautiful thing. They are special people who are serving without a lot of hype and fanfare and are just day by day changing an entire community with their love and service. I am honored to know them, I really am!

This morning we are off to the Mi Esperanza house (and just for the record gonna try really hard to squeeze in a La Creperia run.) The boys are hanging out here for a bit and then coming down the mountain to meet us at Valley of the Angels and then tonight we'll go to the Santa Lucia resort and then on to the Santa Lucia Cathedral for our last devo together for this trip.

Gonna offer a way selfish prayer request at this point...it has been a great team this year and we've experienced 10 days of some really great things together. And while I always have a hard time coming off the group "high"...this one is especially hard on this heart because I go back to doing life hundreds of miles away from some of the people I love most in this world after having been with them nearly 24/7 for 10 days. If you could just pray for this heart that knows it's in the right place, but wishes it didn't have to be so far away from some of my nearest and dearest. Not a complaint. Just an honest prayer request from a grateful heart. Tagged onto that and maybe more importantly, please pray for our kiddo's who have locked heart with this group as well. Some major tears the past couple of days for them as well. We just all could use a dose of those prayers as we do this goodbye stuff. Thank you for praying us through.

Ok it's time now to get on that bus again, so I'll post pictures to catch you all up on these days later tonight. Just never seems to be enough time to get it all done at one time. Thanks for your patience. We love you all!!

Day 3 - 5

Oh my...................yep it's been that many days without an update. I do apologize sincerely. Some totally unexpected's came up that will be another blog entirely (because it deserves it...GOD has outdone Himself yet again) but it has required bunches of my time over the past 24-48 hours and so the blog has suffered. Certainly isn't for a lack of wanting you to join us on the journey or pray us through.

So allow me to update you on the day's happenings...will have to wait on yesterday's until I get some pictures, but can definitely give you a few days right now.

Sunday we went to church at Los Pinos which is on a mountain that is certainly impoverished indeed. It is also one of my favorite church services to attend. It is passionate worship. It has energy and it's fun to take a group there to witness that. One of the neatest things about being able to worship in a church here is that you "meet in the middle" so to speak. Half the church is Honduran and was sitting on the left side of the auditorium and then the group took up almost all of the right side (the Gringo section) and so they sang a few songs in Spanish and we a few in English and it was just precious. The moment that caused tears in these eyes and goosebumps all over these arms was when we were singing, I Stand In Awe of You, and we got to the chorus and all of us stood up and then slowly you could see the left side of the church who really had no idea what exactly we were singing, rise to their feet slowly and then we all together were standing in front of the One who deserves all our praise, and in that moment it just didn't matter at all what language we spoke, we were united in praise and it was worship, pure and true, all together. Made me think of what Heaven will be like when we'll look around and see ever color from every nation and every language fall before His throne. It WILL be a beautiful sight.

After worship we headed to Didasko, which has become one of our very favorite places. This year we got a treat in getting to stay overnight in their volunteer house and so we got to spend some extra time with them and spent two days with the children. On Sunday, we had our annual Easter egg hunt.

Then we had a great devotional on Sunday night just talking about the places we had witnessed Jesus on this trip, either in another member of the team, or in somewhere we had been, or the children and people we had touched and who had touched us, it was precious stuff. Prayed over the children and Jorge and rosa as we sat there and the difficulties that they faithfully live through. Unknown finances, needing more help than they have, and yet still walking out the call they believe with all of their heart that God placed on their lives. Teaching children about the love of Jesus and they are doing that well. Tremendous people they are.

We woke up Monday morning to spruce up the place a bit and put on our painting clothes. The rollers and brushes came out and we went to work to paint the front of the children's home. It was great. What was once dirty and dull became clean and bright in just a few short hours and when the kids got out of school and saw it they were so excited. Here are a few pictures from that experience.

Went back to the Mission House on Monday night feeling as though we had been the ones blessed to be able to feed into a ministry we completely believe in and to "enter in" with some people we have grown to love sooooo much!!

Tuesday began with a visit to the blind school, which we look so forward to and each time we're there it holds it's own unique splendor. I'm not sure what worship in Heaven will sound like with young and old alike, all nations and tribes, but everytime we walk in there to sing with those children and I hear them start clapping out of sheer joy at the sound, and then I hear hands start pounding on the table to the beat, and I see them smile as we sing, I imagine that Father is watching ALL his children with glee, thinking yep life as worship that's just what I intended.

There's so much more to tell you about, and this will be continued TONIGHT I promise. As for now, I must go with Timateo to make sure the house sites are ready for today (Friday) and we will be building in Nuevo Oriental and visiting a feeding center up there on that mountain. It is for sure one of my favorite mountains to build on because of all the relationships we've built. Special stuff. Thank you for your patience with this. Please continue to pray.

Blessings!!

Day 2...

We began our day today at Good Shepherd Children's Home and it is always such a treat. The children run up to the bus and eagerly await the procession of the "gringo's" cause when they arrive playing WILL happen!! We painted fingernails, we played soccer, we hugged, we colored, we laughed, we cried, we gave ourselves away only to find out that God would replenish whatever we gave in His name. Beautiful how that works.

We sure needed the refill, because next on the agenda was the hospital and it always takes about everything we have. We had a neat addition to the agenda this year, in that the group was able to help some specific patients this year which was a tremendous idea that some of our team members came up with. The children selected were children here who have hydrocephalis (which is basically fluid on the brain). It is common in this country because of the deficiency in the mothers diet. So we were able to contact the sweet lady named Mida who works with hydrocephalis babies, (as a sidenote she does this because she lost her 8 year old daughter and because of her broken heart was inspired to help others), and were able to find ways to help provide shunts, which will allow the children to live. Initially we thought with the money we had dedicated to this project that we would be able to help 2 to 3 children, but yesterday when Miss Mida arrived she told us that some medical supply store which had heard about what she was doing and how we were willing to help agreed to discount the price enough so that we could help 4 children. AMAZING...our God is AMAZING!!! That was the high point of our day.

The hard parts were seeing a mother on her knees in the hallway on the floor because she had just lost her 2 month old daughter, or seeing children without hair lying in a bed with amputated arms and soon to be legs because they had cancer and that's the way it is treated in an impoverished country in a free hospital. Forgive me if the details are hard to hear and read, it's just that I'm certain now that we do no favors to one another by leaving out the parts that remind us of the injustices of the world. I know now that God expects us to do something with what we know and part of our responsibility is honestly sharing with you.

Please continue to pray that as we are attempting to be the hands and feet of Jesus that we will extend the grace, compassion, and love that this country and these precious people so desperately need.

I will post more pictures when we get back from Didasko tomorrow and until then stay tuned!!

Day 1...

Here are a few shots of the house that was built for a family on one side of the mountain. There was a 2 month old baby and a 19 year old mother, her mother, and grandmother and the father of the baby living in this house. Before the boards went up for the new house we had to demolish the old structure which literally took about 4 guys and 2 good shoves. It was horrible. So the team set to work and by the time the day was done we circled up inside a beautiful new home and asked for God's richest blessings on this family.

Team 2 built a house on the other side of the mountain so all day long we could look across and see each other pounding nails and sweating for God's glory and it was a neat experience. To know you are part of a team who is bent toward serving is a fantastic feeling. Makes it easy to get on your knees with a servant heart yourself when you witness that heart within others in a variety of ways.

Another group of our troops headed to the Manna Project, which is a feeding center that has been started in the village of San Miguel (Mololoa) by some of our good friends, the Kluge's. They had a fabulous day and as I was driving them up the mountain after they were finished and they were headed up to see the house sites, I looked back to ask them if they had a good day and they were wiping tears. (Usually the sign of a touched in deep places kind of day.) I will try to post some pictures from their time at the feeding center in the morning. I was at a jobsite and so didn't have any pictures but Sue has promised to share.

Brian Foreman led us in thoughts at our devotional tonight and asked us to contemplate seriously the battle that went on on that cross. Asked a pretty pointed question when he asked us all when the last time we had cried about the cross was. I was ashamed at my answer.

It was a great day. We ended dog tired, but worn out for Jesus is the best worn out I know. We've asked God to wear us out for Him this week. Let's just say so far He's been faithful!!

Thank you for your continued prayers. God is HUGE and we are being touched by Him deeply.

Hail Hail...

THE GANG IS ALL here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :):)

It was a great day, we met the team at the airport today around noon and with the exception of about 10 pieces of luggage all was well. Had a slight bus mishap but everyone is great and that's being taken care of. Welcome to Honduras!!

We were able to bring the boys minus Antonio with us today to stay with the group for a couple days. They are having a blast!!! It's so fun to watch them. Feels like we're on a little family vacation. Was thinking today every year they've watched people leave for Semana Santa and they've never been able to. Could never have afforded the bus fare to go anywhere outside their village, and today they got to go away for Semana Santa. In their mind they're staying in a hotel and this is Disneyland and it is a joy to watch.

Tonight we packed food bags that will feed 200 families in a village somewhere where tonight momma's are praying that they will find food enough to feed their babies, and God will help us find them and send us to them. He works like that I know!!

Tomorrow we set out to build 2 houses and to help in the feeding center in San Miguel. It will be a great day, but please pray for rest as there are some tired eyes tonight from a long day of travel.

Thank you for your prayers and support to make this possible. Pray that in the brokenness of this world we might be a poured out offering for God to use in any way He sees fit.

Will write more tomorrow but as for tonight it's sleepytime for all of us.

It's That Time...

Well it's April again...I LOVE this time of the year!!!!

A couple of years ago, God asked this girl to do some things that scared the beegeeber's out of me, but have come to just be absolute markers in my spiritual walk in so many ways. One of my very favorites that scared me to death before it all happened was that I got to lead a team of people to this precious country after I had only been here once in my life. A scary, daunting task to say the least and I felt hugely inadequate...but so many people I loved wanted to touch and feel and see and do and allow the glory of God to shine through them to some dark places that needed to be touched with hope. In light of that no being an option sort of just becomes not an option. When you've seen it and know how it changes you, you are compelled to share that experience with those you love. And so we set out.

3 years later andhere we are and many of those same folks that were willing to step out in faith and go on the word of this girl who had been so completely touched by these people and this place will be back again. The only thing better than that is that they've now felt compelled to share it and so there will be new faces and eyes that see all of this for the very first time and we'll get to marvel at the marvelous through their eyes. We'll all set our hands to the plow again (or the hammers or food bags as the case may be) and we'll get dirty for Jesus. I can't wait!!

These folks have become so precious to me and trip time is one of my favorite times of the year. We've gone miles deeper because we've shared these experiences. It seems that true worship does that to souls. When you join hearts there, something happens. I believe with all of my heart that the life we live here in surrender to God planning our calendar and divinely appointing our locations and yielding to Him in the moment with these people...THIS is worship as pure and true as I know it.

Tomorrow some of my dear dear friends will arrive and we'll finish last minute things before the rest of the group flies in on Thursday. It will be neat this year because Jody and MaryAnn and their girls will have a part in helping choose house locations and letting the families know that God wants us to build them a house and we'll do some neat things as well before the rest of the group gets here.

I have had the privilege over the past couple weeks of getting things together and somehow this time of year always brings me back to center in so many ways. It is such a vivid reminder of why we do what we do and how "worth it" it all is and how blessed we are to just get to be a part of it. Always reminds me that there is no merit in what "we do" but such huge honor in God inviting us to be a part of His outstretched hands of love and compassion to this world. What a privilege.

I'll share just a couple highlights of the past week or so in preparations so that you can share this journey with all of us. I went the other day to a village called Mololoa (San Miguel to some of you) and saw some house sites that were possibilities to build. We always attempt to pray before time and choose the house and family situation that is most "in need" at the time. Such a difficult thing to determine. I'm going to be very honest and tell you that I am rarely shocked anymore. Sometimes ashamedly I've grown accustomed to seeing poverty. I drive by it often. It masks itself in dirty children begging at my window every single day. I have learned to expect it and accept it as part of my world here. So when I go to see house sites, I no longer expect the "oh my goodness" reaction, but the other day got me again. It had been a while since I took the time to see and attempt to enter in to the lives of the people on the sides of those mountains. My life at this point involves the lives of 10 kiddo's and so I have lost touch with some of the other stuff unfortunately. So when my friend randy showed me this house, it caught me off guard just a bit and the "oh my goodness" was certainly present. I'll allow the pictures to speak for themselves.

You might notice the back is held up with 2 x4's that are there to stabilize the house that is already leaning at at least a 20 degree angle, the cardboard pieces are put up to hopefully block the air and insect flow through the HUGE cracks in the wood. The gutter system is one pipe held up with pieces of wire in a futile attempt to keep the water from flooding the dirt floor inside the house. The inabitants of this particular dwelling...a 2 month old baby just born to a 19 year old girl, her mother, and her grandmother in a house that is smaller than most of our living rooms. I went inside after the family got home and took some pictures and met the family. They have no idea that in just a few days this leaning shack will be replaced by a house without cracks, a wood floor that will no longer fill up with rain and be infested with bugs as they lay their heads down. They'll live in a house that God built and we'll be so honored to put sweat hours into things I know He believes in with all of His heart.

Then just yesterday I had the opportunity to go to the mayor's office in Santa Ana and talk with her about possible house sites in this community and while I was there one of the ladies that she wanted to be able to help was outside waiting to talk to her. She invited her in while I was there and the woman explained that she would not be able to accept the help from the mayor for the donated land because in order to get her paperwork completed someone had told her she would need 300 lempiras (which is equivalent to $15) and she didn't have it to spend. She's been spending her nights in different people's houses, moving here and there all the while having her stuff stolen from her and she was certainly beside herself. She started to cry as she told the mayor that she was sorry but that she just didn't have the 300 lemps to pay and I thought in that moment how poverty so strips so much of your dignity. I felt so sorry for her and I asked the mayor if I could talk to her privately and so she excused the woman from her office and I said to her, is it acceptable if we help her pay to have the documents taken care of to which she said yes and so she brought this sweet lady back in, I believe her name is rocinda (though I have no idea how to spell it) and she said to her listen we want to help you and I got to explain to her that I had no idea why we were blessed the way we were but that we so badly wanted to share the blessings and that God wanted us to help her and we wanted to be a part of building her a new home and this 50 year old woman put her head in her hands and bawled...shook because she was sobbing. Life had forced her to be a nomad in a certain sense of the word and she just wanted a "home" a place that she could settle and live and 300 lemps ($15) was gonna prevent her from doing so. Can you even imagine???? We spend that on dinner most days. Oh God please help us!!

So I've once again been touched by the heart of God this week as He has tenderly shown me His heart for the poor and oppressed and the beaten down of this world.

I will be blogging about our adventures over the next couple of weeks on this blog and so you can read daily to be updated on the ways God is blowing us away by His mercy and kindness. Please pray for us, our eyes to be opened and our hearts to be bent toward obedience. Please pray that we'll allow God to take over and change within us things that are not of Him and that we will walk away different for Jesus because we've looked into the faces of some of His precious children, young and old alike in this country and seen the face of Him in each of them.

Allow me please just one second to thank some sweet sweet ladies from Arkansas who are coming to help us at the children's home so that Karen and I can go and be a part of the group and expose our kids to some of the neat things that go on during this time. We are so looking forward to it and are so grateful for the servant hearts of Kea and Kinsey, please pray for them and the kiddo's as well over the next couple weeks. It will be a blessing to have them here.

Stay tuned....

God IS Faithful...

I am being as honest as I know how to be with you when I tell you that once again I've had one of the most faith building weeks of my life. They come in different ways at different times, but this week it was learning how to lay the things you love most in God's hands and leave them there and trust Him with them. My mom hasn't been feeling well and she had gone to the doctor and found out that her blood pressure was super high and they did an EKG and it came back abnormal. Then last week she went to have a stress test and there were reasons for concern on it and so the doctor said that he was pretty certain that there was blockage, but thought that it was in one of the smaller arteries and so she was scheduled for a catherization this morning and they thought they would be able to take care of the blockage with angioplasty or worst case with a stint.

Now all this being said, I am well aware that the news could have been so much worse. It's just that this is MY mom we're talking about now and somehow your head doesn't speak louder than your heart in those situations. So I was, needless to say, very concerned and the worst part is that I was way over here and she is way over there and if I thought there were days that were difficult to be away when everyone is well, they surely do not compare to the days of being away when people you love are hurting.

So once again I had some moments with God, maybe you're familiar with them, when He has proven His faithfulness over and over and over again and yet you find yourself standing looking up into His face and saying "yeah but can I trust you with THIS, cause this is my mom we're talking about and I need her and this is different, can I trust you with THIS, cause I know you can but will you." Certainly not full of faith in all moments and I've learned it's better just to be honest with Him about that.

So I called this morning to talk to mom before she went in to have the procedure and we were all a bit stressed you could tell. They promised someone would be outside at noon for me to call and see how things were going, and when I called then my dad told me the doctor had looked all over and could find no blockage, so no angioplasty no stint needed.

I choose to believe God just reached in there and took care of it and touched her heart. I know He touched mine and once again I stand tearfully praising Him for His faithfulness! HE IS FAITHFUL ALWAYS!!!

Hello Again...

Well it's been way too long again hasn't it. Sorry about that. I have spent the past 10 days or so in the States with family and on a trip to the National Women of Faith Conference in San Antonio. To say I have been richly blessed is a tremendous understatement. It was wonderful.

When I am in places like that now, I am just so touched to watch folks using the gifts God placed within them. We heard Donald Miller speak and he was just so deep and thoughtful about where our paradigm's for church come from and how much they are affected by the culture and time in which we live. For instance he walked through different era's but described that during the Industrial revolution it had become all about business and so our churches looked like companies during that time and if you didn't "produce" for the boss then you got fired and so we sorta took some of that on even in our churches. We now live in an "entertainment" era with commercialism on every corner and so in a sense we are "selling a good show" and he just spoke about how deeply we are affected even in our religious cultures by what's going on around us. Some wonderful things to think about.

Nicole C Mullen's new album coming out in April is a must have. There is a song on there called One Touch that talks about the woman with the issue of blood wanting to get to Jesus just to touch the hem of his garment that is so moving.

The most deeply touching part of the weekend for me was Chonda Pierce. She is a Christian comedian for those of you who don't know her and she stood on stage and just freely and transparently described her war with depression over the past year or so. It was so hard to watch and yet there was this sense that even in a room with 18,000 women that this was the way it was supposed to be, the way we do Jesus for one another. Being real and inviting others to do the same as we run to the Great Physician. Anyway she read notes from her journal about wanting someone to just end her life, that she had just written a month ago and told stories about how despair settles in and how real depression is and she was just a model of courage and authenticity and I was touched that I wasn't sitting watching some "show" that I was entering into a very for real battle not for a celebrity we've all watched entertain us, but for the soul of a sister who is battling for her very life. Changed things somehow for all of us I think.

Anyway it was a great weekend. Got to spend some time with some of my favorite people on the planet which was a gift and ate like little piggies and I'm headed back to Honduras on Wednesday morning. I'll go back refilled and refreshed and challenged in new ways to love Him more. I love that!!