William's Arrival

If I've ever doubted the reason God has placed our family in Arriaga last nights events were a divine reminder for me of all that God has promised to do here in Mexico.

Jason and I are in charge of the orphanage this week and while getting the house locked down for the night, life was momentarily paused by an urgent phone call around 10:30pm. An 8 year old boy named William had been taken from the custody of his mother and was "homeless" for the night. Without knowing what the future would hold for this childs life we immediately offered a home for the night. At around 11:30pm the doorbell rang and upon answering it we found William curled up on the sidewalk outside, crying for his "mama" while two local police men stood over him waiting for our response. Erika (and this is one of the reasons I love our 3 teenage workers here) picks up this child who is almost as big as her and carries him all the way into the patio placing him in my arms. The workers and I gather around the now sobbing boy, comforting him the best we can. Within 10 minutes, he began to calm down and we were able to get him washed up, into clean clothes and sleeping in the top bunk of our last empty bed. Holding a quite used brown teddy bear, he fell fast asleep.

I laid in bed last night after this had taken place and found myself crying. Not so much because of sadness, although my heart was sad for William. But because of praise for such an amazing God, who truly does give us the desires of our hearts. Since I was a young girl I have always felt the calling to care for children and orphans. There were years in my early twenties when I felt this dream would never come to fruition, but last night God placed an 8 year old boy in my arms and taught me what it looked like to show him Jesus' love. It is not the first child I have personaly welcomed into this home, I have seen many little ones come and several leave again. But it is always in these moments that I can feel the hand of God pushing through the pain and tears that this life seems to offer us at moments and giving us a hope in Him... a hope that will last forever.

Just as quickly as William entered our lives he left again. This afternoon the Child Welfare Office gave him back to his mother. We were only given a day with him, but in that one day he was shown all the love that Jesus has continualy shown us. Grace is an amazing thing! I thank God for this gift of just one day with William.

A Day at the Ranch!

Heydi and Marina building the bonfire... for the 3rd time!

Bill and Jason showing us how it's done, Texas style!!!

Some of the kids at the bonfire

Citlaili enjoying her roasted treat!!!

Romelia picking Marshmellow out of my hair... YIKES

Peyton's Lupita

A Trip to the Beach...

A family from Canada, that had heard about the children's work in Arriaga, decided that what Bill and Tammy and all the kids really needed was a weeks vacation on the beaches of Haotulco, Mexico! And so without hesitation they accepted the generous gift of an all inclusive vacation package and decided to bring all of us workers along for the fun!!!

4 days... 3 nights... 4 in hotel restaurants... 6 swimming pools... room service... snorkeling... sail boating... kayaking... all for FREE!!! But the best part of it all was seeing the faces of the children when we arrived at at our destination and they realized this was literally going to be the best week of their lives so far! Their smiles and bright eyes captured all the feelings we felt for them as they got to experience something most families take for granted.... A VACATION on the beach!

Ig ended up bieng a group of almost 30 people... 16 kids from the children's home and four families (us included). What a miracle... and how could we ever doubt the depth of His love for His children. A gift so unexpected and so generous. The week was a blast, the beach and the ocean were better than perfect, the adventures were more than we could have anticipated and our gratefulness is deeper than we can express.

It's been One Year!!!

This September we celebrated one year here in Mexico. Below is a special memory book, I created as a reminder of all God has done this past year! Be sure and click the play button and follow the link to view our photo book on Smilebox.com! After your done, don't forget to scroll down this page to view the rest of our Newsletter from Arriaga!

Click to play Make your own Smilebox

Four Chickens, A Rooster and two Turtles... just another day in Mexico!

Only in Mexico would four brightly painted baby chicks be an acceptable gift for someone else's children, a Rooster an appropriate exchange for a meal and a nights stay, and two baby Japanese Turtles the perfect reward for a job well done!

This week a quick trip through the market in search of avacados and corn tortillas lead us into a bit of a pickle... We sent Sandra on our errand and as she passed through the crowds of people with four of the kids from the children's home in tow they came accross familiar faces from Church. Stopped in front of a box of painted chickens they said their hello's and como Estas', when the random friends decided to show their love and appreciation. They wanted nothing more than to buy the kids 4 baby chickens. The children jumped for joy and picked out their favorite colors, pink, purple, blue and orange... of course! The trip ended short as they had to get the new little "gifts" home and feed and watered!!!

Not two day's later a couple of men from San Cristobal were traveling through in need of a place to stay. They knocked on the door of the orphanage holding a large box with holes... Tammy should have known then not to let them pass through the door!!! But in they came with great smiles and many thanks and a gift for the lady of the house... A Rooster. YIKES!

And to finish off this crazy week, Chandler had the most amazing week of 2nd grade homeschool. Jason and I agreed he deserved a special treat and so we gave him $5 to spend in Tuxtla. He of course picked out 2 baby turtles from the mall for $2 each and that concludes our story of "life in Mexico"!

Goodbyes and Hello's...

The Month of August was a bit of a roller coaster ride for all of us down here in Mexico...

We said goodbye to three of the little ones... bitter sweet really.

Little Yahaira went home to live with her mother who made the decision to make some major adjustments in her life for her precious daughter's sake.

Saying our Goodbye's
Yahaira's in the middle...

Then almost as soon as little Pedro and Jose entered our lives, we witnessed an answered prayer in theirs. Family members from another village were able to adopt these two beautiful boys and the looks on their faces when there new family arrived wiped away any tears we had.

Jose and Pedro!

And then we were all blessed with the presence of two new little girls. Sisters, Rosa age 11 and Citlaily age 5 joined the group of little ones. Big sister Rosa is quite mother like as she cares for the younger one and little Citlaily is a ball of love.

Rosa and Citlaili

A Sunday to Remember...Grande Cosas!

Sunday Mornings Video

"Grande Cosas, a hecho a Senor!", we sang this morning in OUR NEW CHURCH BUILDING!!! What Big things you can do Lord, it means. And we do mean BIG... God answered the prayers for a new church home in such a big way and the new 2 story auditorium with a balcony leaves us all with a little more than elbow room to dance and sing our praises to our Great Big God! With 200 new donated padded chairs, 6 large economic mounted fans, and a stage complete with a NEW set of Drums for Jason... we had more than enough to praise God for.

Sitting on the front row I couldn't help but weep a little as I looked around at the many familiar faces who all looked so completely altered by the new hope and new faith that their Provider has given them.

When your singing in your church this Sunday morning, think of us and smile! Heck, JUMP UP AND DOWN... I know we will be!