We had participated in Samaritan’s Purse shoeboxes for many years while living in Texas. Our children always filled shoeboxes for kids their own ages and then we would pray over them. This year we were on the receiving end of the boxes. A crate came to Gracias last week for the local churches to hand out. Our family helped a church called Rio de Dios or River of God. Emma and Tyler were able to hand out boxes to kids in our neighborhood. It was so cool to see their little faces light up and to see how excited they were about pencil sharpeners and suckers. School starts in a couple weeks for the public school kids so they were all very excited about the school supplies. Before handing out the boxes the church had a service for the kids. They sang songs, taught a lesson and ate cake. All the kids also received a pamphlet about having a relationship with Christ. I don’t know how many of you participated in this project this year but please know that it was a great blessing not only to the kids who received the packages but also for our family being able to give them out.
#18
As many of you know Shannon and I began the process of adopting a daughter here in Honduras. We were told today that all of our paperwork has been approved and that we are officially on the waiting list to recieve our future daughter. We have been placed #18th on the waiting list. Now what? Now we wait for up to 9 months. The comittee meets once a month and places children in homes. There is no set number that they give for adoption each month- it is just based on their mood that day at the meeting. So while we were expecting our number on the list to be higher, we sill still have no idea how long the wait will be. We do know that because we have requested an older child, our wait will not be as long. And of course we know that God’s timing is perfect- although when your the one waiting, it is hard to remember that!
Nathalie’s Dad
I am not even sure how to begin this blog as so many thoughts are running through my head right now. I guess let me begin by asking for prayer for Nathalie, her sister Allison and her mom, Brenda. This is the same Nathalie that many of you prayed for when she went to Texas for medical treatment. This morning, Nathalie’s father, Cesar had a heart attack and passed away. He was very young and in great health. This was very sudden and unexpected. Cesar was so very different from the vast majority of men here in Honduras. He worked hard and took pride in being able to care for his family. Even when they went to the US for medical treatment Cesar paid as much out of their own pockets as they could because he did not want to take advantage of anyone. He loved his daughters and helped care for them more than any other father I have seen here. Every night it was his job to put them to bed and to lay with them while they fell asleep. He came to every parent/ teacher conference and helped with homework in the evenings. This same love carried over to my children. I give full credit to Cesar for Tyler gaining confidence in Spanish. He worked with Tyler this summer and then every time we went to their house to eat, he would walk around outside with Tyler and patiently help Tyler, speaking slowly and playing whatever Tyler wanted to play. I am so thankful for all that he did for Tyler. He also had a deep love and respect for his wife. They did everything together… everything. This will be so hard for Brenda so please pray for her. This family has been such good friends to us since we moved her. We have eaten together many times, my parents stayed at their house when they came last time, they brought me medicine yesterday because I lost my voice, they have showed me where to shop, where the best doctors are and how to cook here. I guess what I am saying, is that we lost a really good friend today- one of the few we have here, one of the few who has wanted our friendship and asked for nothing in return. Please pray that God gives us wisdom in how to help this special family and pray for peace and strength for them.
We Love a Child We Have Not Met
After living in Central America for about a year and half, Shannon and I have become burdened for the children that live here. We have seen the horrible circumstances that they live in and the lack of future they have. So, after much prayer and thought we have begun the process to adopt a child from here in Honduras. Now that we are Honduran residence the process is slightly easier although in no way simple. After requesting all of the documents we need from various parts of the world, today I received our first official paperwork. Woo-hoo! I still need to collect 15 other documents but at least one down. The whole process will take anywhere from 6 months to 1 ½ years. Please pray for us as we begin this journey. Pray for our family as we begin to adjust to the idea of another child and begin to prepare for them. Pray for the judge that places the child with us (we do not get a choice in which child, this is completely up to the government)- that they would be attuned to whom God wants in our family. Pray for the lawyers, social workers and all involved and that the process will go smoothly. Lastly pray for our future son or daughter- that they would be protected from so many of the harmful things children go through here and that they would be ready to join our family.
Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth. Isaiah 43:6
Babies, Babies, Babies
In 2009 (I could not find a more recent study) Honduras was listed as having the highest teenage pregnancy rate in Central America. 30% of all mothers right now are under the age of 18, and in rural areas the pregnancy rate is as high as 19.5%. Why am a so concerned about this? I experienced what this means to the baby first hand a couple weeks ago. Many of you have read about Maritza and have been praying for her. When she left our house in January she had just gotten pregnant by her boyfriend who was in his thirties. He left her soon after and she moved home to live with her 10 brothers and sisters, one niece and her parents. Two weeks before her due date she came and ask for money to buy things for the baby. Her parents have no money, since neither of them work. I ask her to make a list of what she needed and then I purchased the bare necessities: 1 pair of pajamas, 2 shirts, 2 pants, blankets, cloth diapers and pins, rags for wipes and diaper rash cream. I cried as I purchased them knowing that this was all the baby had to his name and I had bought that much for my kids the first month that I was pregnant. She called again when she went to the hospital to have the baby and ask if I would visit her. I was shocked by the maternity ward. There were 2 women per twin bed- 8 to a room and 3 rooms with that many women. It was one of the most disgusting places I have ever been. Windows were open with no screens so flies covered the sick and the babies, there was mold everywhere and a loud cat was making its way down the hall. As I talked with her she said her mom would not be coming to the hospital because she had too much to do at home. Maritza was scared and nervous and asked me to come back that evening. When I returned I brought shampoo, conditioner, soap and a towel as the hospital does not provide any of that and Martiza did not have the foresight to bring things with her. I continued to visit her the 4 days she was in the hospital while she waited to give birth. The doctors admitted her to induce since she was 2 weeks over due, but she had not heard back from them so she just laid there waiting. After a week, one of the doctors called and said she had been induced and would be having the baby soon. When I went the next day to check on her I was even more shocked. I held Maritza’s healthy baby boy while she took a shower. Next to her in bed was a young girl who was trying to clean her baby with a cotton ball. She then wrapped the baby back up in the same blanket it had pooped in because she didn’t have another nor did she have diapers or wipes. I then checked Martiza’s baby closer. It was wrapped in a sheet from her bed… no clothes, no diaper, nor had he been bathed after birth. I asked where his clothes were and she forgot to bring them. What is his name? We don’t know, she hasn’t made up her mind so for now it is just Baby. I will never understand a society that does not think enough in advance to take care of their children, give them a name or better yet, not have a child if they have no way to provide. Maritza is not alone in this lack of planning and immaturity. I cried almost everyday when I left the hospital because of how depressing it was. I watched mothers expressionless faces nurse their babies and hand them back to the nurses. It was so different from the joy in faces of new mothers in the US. There was no talk of how cute or sweet their baby was, or what they would become as they got older. No, none of that because there is little hope for the future of the children here. They are born into poverty, will be raised in poverty by teenage mothers and no fathers, and will then have children of their own as teenagers. Please pray for this nation of fatherless children and young mothers.
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