Greetings,
Life is full. It doesn't matter if you are full of joy, or full of problems, life is full. Right now we are full of joy. Joy is not dependent on your circumstances. It is something deep within that know that God is on your side, and that He is in you and working through you, and for you. Even when things don't work out like you planned, or when you planned, He is still working on your behalf. I used to say if things didn't work out like I planned, it must have been my idea and that if it worked out that it was God's idea. Now I think that God is not on anybody's timetable and maybe my timetable is not on His clock. He is the owner of space and time anyway. He can give us a vision of what He wants us to work toward but it doesn't guarantee that we will get to see the end of it. One plants, one waters, but God brings the increase.
I was reading in the Bible, where King David was getting everything ready to build the temple of God and God put the brakes on him. He told David that the temple was going to be built , but he wasn't the one to build it. We have been doing a lot of praying, planning, and meeting together with different organizations about a specific thing God laid on my heart. I thought we would start on the first of October, but it didn't happen on my time frame. Our team has peace about the whole project. God knows what is in my heart and I pray that we will be able to see it come to pass.
The girls are in school learning so much. They love their school and we are thankful. The new teachers have been a great blessing for the girls and even though they miss the teachers from last year, we still have Kelsey still from last year! The girls are enjoying all the new teachers that have come to Abundant Life School. We all appreciate the leadership of Jake and Rachael Compaan. When you ask your child, "What did you learn in school today" and they tell you in detail, you know it is going to be a good year.
We are in harvest time right now. Our beans and corn have done excellently! We have a great crop and will put corn in our silo for the first time in years. The girls have been helping getting all the crops picked and shelled. WE have had a great time just sitting around and talking, while we are shelling a lot of beans. Harvest time is such a blessing anywhere you are, but this year it is very special because last year we had a hard year for the lack of the annual rainfall. This year there is a sense of rejoicing in our whole community. Everybody has a good crop, and so we are all feeling pretty blessed.
Wesley and Suzanne are back!. They are trying to get everything ready to move into the Boy's Home called, Casa Nain. Wesley is soldering gates and doors and Suzanne is painting like crazy. We hope to have the Casa de Nain ready to go in January. Again my family and I thought we would have the boy's home up and running in 2005, but it just didn't come together. I thought perhaps we hadn't heard from the Lord, but I am thankful that God is going to show us what He has in store for these boys and that I will get to see it.
House of Nain is getting a face lift and a makeover. A water well was installed this past summer. Wesley and Suzanne are working like Trojans trying to finish up the boy's home before they leave in November. The main gate posts are up and they are making cement posts. Wesley also, has installed the electric switch boxes and outlets. They have some of their appliances, but won't move them over until they return at the first of the year. Suzanne also is helping with the kindergarten at Abundant Life School along with her painting duties.
WE already have three boys here at PTC that have families. One is Rosa and Francis's boy, then we have the nephew of Lina and Rosa, who is with us most days, he is two. Then we have a little boy we will call Harry. He is 6 years old and he weighs about 13 pounds. He is a special needs boy and has convulsions from time to time. He is has light colored eyes that are enormous, and hair that his mama keeps a butch hair-do with occasionally putting gel in it to make it stand straight up. He is a sweetie. He smiles at everyone and he just jets joy to all. We love this little boy. He is a big blessing to all who get to know him and his mom. The mom has another child, who is living here with us. She has had a very hard life, but she is here to help her daughter and she is helping us. She laughs a lot and laughs loudly. I personally like loud laughers, and so I enjoy her being around. She makes me smile. A huge perk is that she is also an amazing cook. WE are thankful that she is here, and that God is giving us joy and grace for each other.
On a personal note, I was trying to get tickets to go home in December. I come back to Honduras on the 20th or 21st to make Christmas for the girls at PTC. No tickets were to be found that weren't "off the chart" expensive. People were looking for me and it was expensive with 12 to 22 hours layover, or an extra trip to Bogata. Although I would love to see Bogata, I didn't want to just see it from the air and turn around and go back to Miami just to kill 24 hours. So, then I prayed if I was supposed to stay in Honduras and not go home for the holidays, it was okay. Next morning at the doctors office with one of our teachers, and I was using my cell phone and found tickets with 2 hour layovers, and they were only $480.00. I was so excited and was so joyful, that I know that God heard me.
Also, we have a girl here that has been dealing with depression for weeks. Some of our girls have been through so much, it is incredible they have any sense of joy whatsoever, She rejected any encouragement or counsel. She is very smart and I felt that she would excel in school, which she has. But this week, she just said "I quit" school, friends, life. I thought about just telling her to get on the bus and that be the end of it, She has the most amazing smile. After not having any alternatives, I finally prayed and asked God to give her joy back. She came in the next morning, all helpful, smiling and got on the bus for school. It made me so happy I purely skipped to the house. Then I asked myself, why does it take so long to do what is obvious. I am talking to her and encouraging her, scolding her when she is being mean to the other girls, or getting in my face with her rebellious issues, hugging her when she cried and tells me she misses her mom. All the while, God is ready and able to fix this situation. The embarrassing thing is that these two things happened in 24 hours of each other. I know I will get better at prayer one day.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch we have 26 people getting on bus every morning to get to the Abundant Life bi-lingual school. I decided to hire a bus to pick up the girls because we have been having problems with our buses and finding parts. The two busses are both still with problems. I was worried that the kids we were picking up from the community might not have a ride if the service was too expensive. . I found a wonderful lady who has a new bus service, and she included the kids of the community in her quote. So in order to do this we needed to finish breakfast and clean up by 6:00 a.m. and do our circlo devotions and get to the main road by 6:30. The girls were having to struggle to get up earlier and earlier and the food at breakfast was getting less and less tasty. So since I wasn't getting my devotions done anyway, because of all the questions and back and forth what was for breakfast and the tattling about who wasn't coming to help and lateness of the girls doing the bus marathon to the road, I decided to start cooking for the masses in the morning at 4:00 a.m.. I have each house help me on their day to cook and they come at 4:30 a.m. It gives them time to do their chores and get dressed before coming to help with breakfast. It seems to have worked out. I am not shouting into the wind for the girls to hurry and get their sweaters, bookbags, snacks, water bottles. It is almost humane every morning. We sit down, instead of eating on the run. My girls get a good breakfast and not have to guess about what they are eating and they walk to the bus. WE talk to each other and we have our devotions and it has been a blessing for all of us.
I always thought my morning time was for me. It still is in a different way. I am still blessed and have time after they walk up the hill to get my decaf and my Bible. Life is full. Blessings from the filled up Honduran MOM
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