still waiting....

this is the longest pregnancy yet....at 15 months...

JULY 6 2009~Not many changes in our status of adoption, we are still waiting for a referral...but...Since May we have traveled back to Mexico with Back2Back Ministries to work with orphans, had an authentic Colombian meal night, and found out there have been staffing changes at our agency in MN.

In terms of the agency, there has been a little delay. We are beginning to work with a new set of social workers and pray they can pick up where all was left, but we are learning the true meaning of patience. Our papers are in still in Colombia. We are told they are in the social service system through the hands of our orphanage whom with we are working. We called CHSFS on June 30 for an update. They have a staff member in Colombia until July and hope to know more then. They would not say if they have found a sibling set. God's timing is stretching us to trust in HIM. When He has the children ready, we will know.

Most exciting...is how God continues to work in this process. We have had an amazing couple partner with us in the adventure. We like to think of them as "LOS PADRINOS"...a spanish term for godfather or sponsor. They are coming alongside us in emotional and financial support. This amazing couple, have gone to our church to raise funds and God is blessing this effort. We shared a true Colombian meal with Los Padrinos after Gretta's unit study on Colombia. We tried our hand at making arepa's and some meat fillers..carne paisas y carne guisado. We also made arroz, frijoles and papas chorreadas. The kids served sangria or agua mineral con limon. We are in total AWE and gracious humility of their support. We will be forever grateful for their love in helping to bring our children home. Gracias y Dios les bendiga nos padrinos.

On another note, we applied to Shohannah's hope. It is a foundation started by Steven Curtis Chapman and aiding families in adoption. We applied in Feb. and were in the selection pot. Unfortunately, we were denied. We will pray and try again. They have hundreds of families apply each month....so we trust God has taken care of families that needed it more than us.



We were blessed to return to Monterrey...below are the details of our mission trip all centered around orphan care. We learned there are 148 million orphans and only 8 million which have some sort of shelter. Back2Back is an amazing ministry. If you are not familiar with it...we encourage you to check it out on back2backministries.org. If you are interested in taking a mission trip to Monterrey, we would love to bring you. We want to share a quote from our friend Beth...."Orphan care will be the most important issue of our generation. We speak for the children who have no voice."

On our trip to Mexico, we were blessed to see Back2BAck printed a postcard for sale entitled... God's Promise to Orphans. It has pieces of scriptures and list several verses of God's promise to the fatherless. I stopped at the thrift store and found a large, old, wooden weathered white frame. It is perfect for the postacrd which we matted in the frame. It serves as a reminder to us on how to pray for our children and other children around the world. We are dwelling on HIS promises. Each night we are going to pray a verse at dinner.



MEXICO MISSION
June 13-19 we were able to return to Monterrey, Mexico where we lived in 2001 and 2002. We brought a team of 23 adults and children to Back2Back Ministries. We "camped" out in our backyard....in the missionary kids school-turned dorm style.

We arrived on Saturday by plane to a hot and balmy 108 degree Monterrey evening. We met Greg from B2B staff and loaded our bus that would take us to campus.
Upon arrival, we were greeted by all of the B2B staff and interns and finally found my sweet friend Beth, the director, who shared so many days with me in MTY by the pool and playtime. We unloaded our luggage and met down at the Palapa for a welcome and greeting session. We were given the grand welcome and intro's. We started our night playing birds and perch (?) in 2 huge circles. I found Beth's oldest daughter Marlen and we played the game and talked and talked. It was sooo good to see her.

Sunday~ we woke to have breakfast and a little quiet time. We loaded our bus with Greg Huffer after making our PBJ's and went to Imperio de Amor. We arrived and were greeted by little smiling Lupita( 4ish) who was pushing her 6 mo old sister in her stroller. We split into work teams. Some of the team dug a trench to build a fence. Others worked on clearing a roof top. I worked with a team of 5 clearing a roof and then rolling thermo tech on the roof....it is a paint like tar sealant. It was white and reflected the sun( o-so-nice) that 107 degree day! :) Some of the team played under a tree with the children who would come out and visit. It was hot, but we worked hard!! By mid afternoon we pulled out crafts and brought them and toys to the playground to play with the children who had gathered. It was a Sunday, which is a visiting day..so not all of the children were available.While crafting, Beth came and showed her brother and cousin around. While playing soccer one of the 14 yr olds from the home fell, twisting his ankle. Beth's cousin, a rn, checked it and it looked broken. Beth did not have her wallet and came to see if our group had extra funds. I did not bring any...but did have some back in the dorm. I asked Larry, a teammate, if I could borrow some money . He had $150...exactly what was needed to take Eduardo to a dr to pre pay for an xray. We went to see the boy and give the caretakers the money. Larry and Kathy were so gracious and offered to pay for it without reimbursement from the church. God had placed our team, a nurse and $150 for Eduardo that day. HE FULFILLS His promise to orphans!!! At the end of our day, the children gathered and the caretaker played his guitar while they sang songs for us and thanked us for coming. They went through the crowd shaking our hands when they finished. We went back to B2B and had our mini sermon followed by an amazing craig worship service. Craig was a young 20 yr old when we lived there, just starting his career. He had some tought years and now is back and we were SOOO blessed to worship with him. AMAZING Seeing the children in the orphanage is heartbreaking, but it also gives me hope. Hope that our children are being taken care of and maybe even ministered to by other groups going to Colombia. It is so sad, but knowing how much each team member can give as a deposit into the heart of an orphan fills my tank. I am so excited to give them a forever home. It also opened my eyes to the transition we will have. The not so great times, when they do not want to listen to me or anyone else. Times when they may not want me as a mom. I just pray that God is preparing their hearts. I want to fill them up in a family filled with love.

Monday~ my friend Anne, came to visit in the morning before we left. We loaded the bus with Cathy Huffer and went to the RIO. We went for Meme's birthday. What a blessing. Meme works for Todd and Beth as a cleaner, cook but more so she is part of the family. She was there when we lived next to Todd and Beth and she was so sweet. we went out to her village...a bunch of homes next to a dump. The people line up each week to gather the junk that is dumped off the truck. They pillage through the piles looking for items to use for their home or items to fix and resell. The homes were made of what they found...sometimes cement, sometimes tin....but with a dirt floor. We went to each home inviting them to a birthday party for Meme. The children came to the structure next to Meme's home that serves as a soup kitchen on the weekend. We colored pictures for Meme and then gave some testimony. We served cake to all of the children/families and tamales and food. While we were there I met Janet, Meme's daughter who is married to Jose Angel( brother of Marlen and Marilin) and he worked for our home when we lived there. Janet and Jose have 4 girls...one cuter than the other. Meme told us of God's protection for their community. She told about a time during worship when there were masked men dragging a man to the river area with a gun. They never came near the Soup Kitchen and the worship never stopped. Even as they heard gun shots, they remained steadfast. God protected them. Ella was not feeling well in the am. We went to Pollo Loco as a team for lunch. The best chicken taco bar!! YUM. Ella ate and rejuvenated and we went back to the campus to work. We did projects in the school for the missionary children...painting mostly. Dinner, sermon, worship and debriefing that night.

Tuesday~ we went back to imperio de Amor with Rene Gzz and Katey. It was good to see Eduardo and his cast. He had broken his tibia. He has an old white cast, like we would see in 1980. He had 2 crutches, but they were uneven. Senor Larry came through again and took apart a paint roller and duct taped it as a fixture to the end to make the crutches even. Eduardo was sooo thankful. ON the day we finished more of the thermo teching, more of the trench and other projects. We also played with the children. Which we all loved the most. Gretta was not feeling well that day, she spent most of her time on the bus. Dinner, sermon, worship and debriefing that night.

Wednsday~ My friend Anne came back to visit with her children Karina and Cruz. After our quiet time and small groups... We walked to Casa Hogar Douglas. Our favorite home. It is where we know the most children and where we ministered to the most. Matt cooper was our tour guide and showed our team the site. He did a great job. While on tour I chatted with a few of the workers who were there when we lived there. We talked about old times and caught up and they invited ella and I for some melon. It was so sweet to talk with them. After the tour we went to the Palapa at CHD and made little cards for each of the 89 children. We wrote a bible verse in Spanish and taped candy to the paper. Then we went and hid them under the pillows of the children. When we finished we ate a quick lunch and the children came home from school...on top of the hill. They changed into play clothes and we got ready to take them to KidZania....the cooolest fieldtrip ever. Each of our 23 teammates had a child and we partnered up. Kidzania is an iintroduction to jobs and kind of life playing real live LIFE. We entered the bank first and got our starting money. Then we could go anywhere we wanted to work or spend money...Dominoes making pizza, the discoteca, McDonalds to make a hamburger,pepsi cola to bottle pop, the barber shop, fire department ...they even had to get their drivers license to drive a go kart. We spent 3 hours there. it was a blast. The kids ran from business to business..in a mini mall like centro. Ella had a hi/lo day. She was so excited and then realized she was having a hard time understanding spanish instruction in each of the "classes" We talked about hos it was a good understanding of our new children and how they will feel in our home. It is making it feel all the more real. We loaded the buses and went back to campus for another night of....Dinner, sermon, worship and debriefing. That night we had spanish/english service. It was sooo fun!!

Thursday~First we toured a Teen Home and this one happened to belong to Jasmine....one of my sweet girls who came to our home often when we lived there. She is now living in the home, going to school and growing into a beautiful young woman. After the tour, we loaded the bus and we went to Casa Hogar Del Norte with Gabo. He is so good to us. He was so much fun to work with and so pleasant. We toured the building and then worked hard until 3. We cleaned garbage, dug another trench, fed babies, swept a construction site, moved equipment and stayed very busy! We ate lunch at the site, served by the workers there....yum. At 3, we played with all of the children. we invited them into the cafeteria where we made crafts, colored pictures, shares treats and just loved each other. We ended by giving a short puppet show to the children. It was amazing. This home also has the foresight into making a future for themselves. They have built a bakery to bake and sell to the public which in turn profits their home, the staff and children. We were able to purchase some of the delicious baked goods and share them with the children. What a treat. Then Home for VITA's cooking and a Mexican market night on campus. The staff of B2B goes to the market and buys traditional souvenirs and mexcian ware. They open their little market one night a week for the groups and use their profit to benefit education of the teen homes and mission kid. It is a win win...the groups get their souvenirs without leaving campus and the ministry has a vital fundraiser each week. AH....can't believe the trip is over.

The study for this week was SHELTER. after studying shelter we came to realize several things....God provides shelter and it is not always beautiful like we want to see it...but it is good and it is strong and we can always depend on God. I saw so many hearts moved on this trip. From young to old...it was neat to see the impact B2B ministries can have and the ripple effect it will have for years to come.

Going on this trip unveiled a new set of eyes. We have seen through the eyes as a by stander...the life of an orphan...but now I am seeing them through the eyes as a mother of orphans. As a mother to my children who will have spent time in a home somewhere in Colombia. In thinking about all of this I have to stop and remember the AMAZING feeling the fist day we went to B2B on October 7, 2001...the very first day we set foot at LDM at B2B. I remember thinking this is why God brought us to Mexico. Now I can see it was to introduce us to the heart of an orphan and the ripple effect of bringing others on mission trips to see into the heart of an orphan. To expose our church to the lives in MTY, Mexico and now more importantly to bring 2 children home. I talked with Beth and told her my high emotions while being in MTY...not knowing our call...We have seen him make this adoption fall into place and I said to Beth...it seems like such a small thing,to give a home to a few children, but I think God is calling us....and she began to tear up and say...it is NEVER a small thing. Our hearts will be glad to see our new blessings.