Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Peaks, Valleys, & back to the middle ground

PEAK:
Can you say, "Praise the Lord"? We finally got our truck out of the port this morning! It was such a huge relief to be behind the wheel again and to be able to have some control on our lives.

VALLEY: The police stopped me on the way home and after looking at my papers said they were giving me a ticket because they waved me over and I didn't respond right away. They said they had to chase me and now I was getting a ticket. This was the ultimate 'final straw' for me...I just couldn't take anymore and I exploded. In my broken Spanish I told them they were lying, that they knew I pulled over immediately and that I wasn't paying anymore bribes. I told them they were the reason no one wants to help Honduras, because they were trying to steal from me. One of the cops told me he was giving me a ticket anyway and I told him to go ahead, but I wasn't paying anything. I again told him he was lying and that he knew he was lying. A friend came by and saw me and stopped to help and he kept telling me to calm down, but it was way too late for that...
Only by the grace of God did I not end up in jail. In the end the police stuck my license out toward me and told me to go on my way! Thank you Jesus for covering for me!

MORE VALLEY: Just after leaving the police stop I lost the brakes on the truck and had to limp home...when I got there I saw the brake fluid leaking out of the rear driver's side brakes. I bought brake fluid and limped, again, to a brake shop and discovered I had absolutely no brakes left.

MIDDLE GROUND: Got the brakes repaired, returned home and picked up Joyce and the three oldest and we headed out to the grocery store. It felt as if we were on a wild vacation after having been trapped for the past 11 days. Now we begin trying to catch up on all the things we were supposed to be doing for the past week and a half; but at least I can go to bed tonight knowing I don't have to make the trip to Puerto Cortez...thank you for your prayers!

Frustrations

Tenth day travelling to Puerto Cortez for the truck and the 10th day of returning without the truck! If I told you everything that went wrong you would think I was making it up. It's more stupid than you could ever believe! For example, today they made arrangements w/a specific customs agent to have him sign the release papers, after taking a bribe of course,; but then he went on break and we had to go back to the bank to get another agent assigned. Then we went to the lot and paid the bribe (through the chain link fence, in front of everybody) and he sent us away to where the truck is short one paper. The people where the truck is told us we had to return to get the other paper, which we did, and when we got back the bank there closed and we had to come home...AGAIN!

I can think of no reason why we shouldn't get it today, but............

We got a new medication for Cesar that's supposed to improve his learning and obedience skills...sounds goofy to me, but we'll see. We take Antonio for another evaluation on Thur.


Sunday, September 27, 2009

Musings

Our Disciplinary Council (Gershon, Fabiola, Mauricio, & Joyce) worked overtime this morning! At one point we had more in chairs than out of them.

It's brutally hot & humid here, and that combined with the behavior wears on us...maybe that's what produces the behavior.

Antonio broke out three of the louvered glass pieces in the boys bedroom. It happened with a deflated basketball so the chances of it being accidental are astronomically small.

Zelaya called for a huge march tomorrow, the three month anniversary of his ouster, so that should shut the country down for another day.

Michelleti issued a 10 day limit on Zelaya's hiding in the Brazilian Embassy. Can't wait to see how that plays out.

And, of course, we have no truck!

Friday, September 25, 2009

House Arrest?

It's beginning to feel as if we're under house arrest...another day passes in Puerto Cortez and still no truck...today the only woman who is authorized to sign for the release of the truck didn't come to work...I tried to pay to get someone else to sign and was told, "only she can sign." I hope she doesn't get run over by a truck...I'll never get mine back! This place is crazy! Of course, they're closed for the weekend! Curfew again tonight, I think.

We borrowed a car today and made it to PriceMart to stock up on supplies; unlike the normal supermarkets they had most things in stock.

We're having a bad storm outside which means the decibel level has risen dramatically inside!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Short & to the Point

  • Another day in Puerto Cortez; another day without a truck
  • Curfew tonight
  • Joyce went shopping, but found nothing, NOTHING on the shelves
  • Antonio & Cesar decided it would be funny to ring the neighbor's doorbell & run
  • When confronted Antonio tried to hit our teacher, and threw something that hit our cleaning lady
  • Formed a discipline council consisting of Gershon, Mauricio, Fabiola, & Joyce ...hopefully if they hear it from their 'own' it will penetrate
We are in need of a Christian couple or female, who wants to minister to the children, to help Joyce!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

A Mess!

They relaxed the curfew to allow us to go for food, gas, & money; but the people panicked and now you can't get near a store, a gas station, or a bank! Hopefully this will end before it gets worse. If it goes on more than two more days we will have serious problems, so perhaps we should all start praying now.

More curfew

Today there is still a curfew throughout the country, although they just relaxed it between 10-4 to go to work, get groceries, or gas. That still prevents us from getting our truck out of customs.

Woke up this morning to: the cat pooped on the floor in our bedroom and Jesus had diarherra all through his bed and all over himself! Welcome to our world!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Idled!

Today was a day of waste as far as getting things done...the curfew got extended from 7 this morning to 6 this evening and probably through the night. Hopefully tomorrow we can go get the truck.

Today was good for some things...the fourth Coder family soccer game! This time the team of Mauricio, Fabiola, Cesar, & myself defeated the team of Gershon, Karen, Antonio, & Joyce to draw even in the series. I think we're beginning to jell as a team and it may be over for our opponents! We had a cheer leading squad of Rosa, Angel, Jesus, & Pedro who also occasionally rode across the field on their bicycles. Tonight we're celebrating with some ice cream!

Monday, September 21, 2009

Locked up & Locked down!

After spending the entire day running from office to office in Puerto Corez the result is they locked up our truck in their holding bay and I will have to return again tomorrow to try to get it released and to get tags for it. The latest estimate is now ranging between 60,000 & 90,000 limperas! Not good, not what we hoped for.

Mel Zelaya, the ousted president, returned to the country today despite the outstanding warrants (16) for his arrest upon returning to Honduran soil. He entered through the Brazilian Embassy and is taking refuge there for the time being. The country is in a state of turmoil and most are afraid of what will happen next. At 3:30 p.m. today they issued a curfew order beginning at 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning...that means no one on the streets at all! I hope we can still get to Puerto Cortez before the country completely shuts down....we need our truck!

Everything is getting worse here...our garbage hasn't been picked up in three weeks now, the road between SPS & Teguic. was shut down completely for two days this week because of the collapse of a storm water culvert that caused an oil tanker to overturn in the chasm, and the police are just getting crazy with their roadblocks and bribe techniques. Our child psychologist took a leave of absence today to deal with her mother's illness, just when we needed her the most...we had decided to withdraw Antonio from his special needs school, which did him a great disservice, and allow her to work with him one on one.

There are many, many prayer needs here...take your pick and press in!

Ramblings & an Urgent Plea

Some musings on our progress:
  • We do a daily Bible study with the children and it's beginning to penetrate
  • We have waged a long and difficult battle for their custody, but they are now ours
  • We have made improvements to the living conditions that have improved their health
  • We have three boys in Christian bi-lingual school
  • We have treated them for worms, parasites, and anemia
  • We have diagnosed one with epilepsy & one with asthma and are treating them
  • We have upgraded their clothing, but it's a constant need, particularly shoes
  • We have three in extra-curricular activities
  • We have two bi-lingual tutors who come to the house 5 days a week
  • We have a child psychologist who comes 2 days a week
  • We have a social worker who comes 2 days a week
  • We have helped them to integrate into the neighborhood and they are making new friends
  • We are beginning to see signs of change in their attitudes concerning others
  • We are beginning to see signs of reaching out to help & respect each other; before non-existent
  • They are actively involved in the chores of the home, learning responsibility
  • We serve 36 meals a day; prepare, serve, & clean-up; they set the table, clean it afterwards, and sweep the floor for every meal
  • We have great prayer times at every meal and at our Bible Study, we simply ask who would like to pray and many, many hands go up...sometimes EVERY child prays
During Bible Study this week we were talking about how the Lord won the battle for us in the custody case and Fabiola raised her hand. Earlier we had spoken of how Carla had called the authorities and tried to wrest control from us; now Fabiola wanted to share a thought...She said, "Carla thought evil could win!" THAT'S PROGRESS!!!

URGENT PLEA.............
With the battle for custody over Satan has attacked our finances. I told you of the problem with the truck tags and it's one that has to be addressed immediately. They are asking for $3500 and we have $2000, and we need all of that for our requirements through the end of this month. I'm going to Puerto Cortez today to try to get the fees lowered, the first prayer request is that the Lord would make our truck invisible to the police so we don't get stopped and they confiscate the truck. The second is that they would lower the fees, and third is that resources would immediately come forth to pay our bills.

As it stands right now, we have won the battle for custody of the children, but now we can't feed them....PLEASE HELP....ASK OTHERS TO JOIN US....PUT FORTH A PERSONAL PLEA TO YOUR FRIENDS...THIS IS URGENT!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Gym Class

Another Coder family soccer game is in the books and it didn't fare well for the old guy...the team of Gershon, Karen, Antonio, & Joyce defeated the team of Mauricio, Fabiola, Cesar, Jesus, & myself by a score of 6-3. If this trend continues we will definitely be finding another game!

First English Church Service

This morning we took the kids to an English speaking church service, our first opportunity since May. We can't tell how good it felt to just praise the Lord in our native tongue...it was really uplifting. The kids said they enjoyed the service as well and so our plan now is to attend a Spanish service on Sat. evenings & the English service on Sunday mornings.

Prayer request: Tomorrow I have to travel to Puerto Cortez to try to get tags for the truck and right now it doesn't seem possible. We simply don't have the money for the tags, so please pray that God gives us a miracle. We can't get along without the truck and we are simply far too short on funds to do much about it. PLEASE PRAY!

Saturday, September 19, 2009

A Good Day All Around

Praise the Lord, no new problems to report! Today was a pretty good day in every respect...this morning Joyce took the truck (put a pinch between her cheek & gum) and headed out for a little pampering...much needed! Really she only got her hair cut and a pedicure, but for her that's like a slice of heaven...she got some much needed peace and quiet and a chance to just say, "whew".

The kids and I managed to get through the morning and lunch without any major problems or squabbles...it was really very peaceful with them today.

Tonight we went to church and they always love that; and now we're back home with popcorn and movie........now that sounds like a family day!!!

But the best news was we woke up to RUNNING WATER which meant we could all take showers...when Mauricio came out of his room he said, "Bob, agua?" I said, "yes" and he said, "Thank you Jesus." That's both cute & poignant! A few months ago he would've never thought of saying thank you, Jesus...maybe, just maybe the light is beginning to penetrate...THANK YOU, JESUS!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Rematch Soccer Game

Just had our second 'family' soccer game and this time the team of Cesar, Mauricio, Angel (who quit on us) and myself defeated the team of Gershon, Fabiola, Karen, Rosa, & Joyce 5-2! The old guy got carried by Cesar & Mauricio but I'm not telling them that! We are the Champions!

Still no water and after a family soccer game in this heat how do you think we smell? Anyone want to spend the night with us? I won't mention what 10 kids do to toilets with no water (oops, I guess I did mention it)

No Time to Celebrate

We all woke up this morning thrilled with our new status as "family"; but now a whole new bunch of troubles have beset us.

The temporary paper work for our truck has expired (we brought it through customs on a 3 month tourist Visa and our lawyer was supposed to get us the permanent tags) and we are now told it will cost us 70,000 limperas for the tags. Needless to say we don't have that available and don't know what to do next. I've contacted another friend and we're going to the port on Monday to see if we can talk our way down some on the fees. We don't have another vehicle to drive in the city so please pray this gets resolved quickly.

Antonio is becoming more and more of a problem...we had him in a special needs school that turned out to be a farce in spite of the recommendations of our Social Worker and Child Psychologist. He has regressed dramatically and is almost animalistic at this point. Today when Joyce told him to come into the house he attacked her...he kicked her and tried to punch her. We need help for him and it doesn't appear to be forth coming in Honduras. We are trying another place on Monday, but after that there's nothing left to try.

We just lost all water to the house...we don't know why...the entire neighborhood is without water and it is time to cook dinner here.

Obviously Satan didn't appreciate our victory yesterday and is doing his best to steal our joy. But we will stand and we will fight and we will see the victory through the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Thank you for standing with us................

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Roller Coaster Day

Joyce, Marvin (one of our teachers & translator), Marta (psychologist), all the kids, and myself spent 6 hours in an IHNFA building today (or rather outside of it) while they interviewed the kids and Marta. We got there at ten filled with the confidence of the Lord and were seated in an outside waiting room and given straight back chairs for the children (think heat, boredom, dirt, thirst, hunger, & more boredom...mixed with 10 children and how do you think the day went?)

They started by taking Fabiola and kept her for two hours...we had no idea what was happening, but other than concern for her we were still very confident. Slowly they began taking other children for much shorter periods of time and all reported they asked only about Alzira, their previous home. However, the officials began to stop by and say things like "we only have two more things to do and then we'll decide if we are taking them or allowing you to go home with them. This kept happening and the more it happened the more our confidence eroded(forgive us Lord). Finally they came with papers and told us we had to sign them or we would lose the children. The papers agreed that the children were at risk because of their home and their treatment...that meant we would be agreeing to charges leveled at us by Carla. I immediately said no way, but called our friend Vivian who told us not to worry this was just a way to cover their 'butts', and that we would be okay. On her advice we signed the papers...now they told us we had to go to another building for a final hearing to decide where the children would be from now on.

We waited at the IHNFA headquarters while others discussed our case and finally they called for me. The head of IHNFA told me they reviewed our case and found everything to be in perfect order and that she was typing a letter of custody to give the children to us....they were now "legally" ours!!! We are actually co-parents with the IHNFA head, but she told me it was just a formality until my residency is completed which should be no problem!

So it was a long, long day; but one that ended with a great celebration from "THE CODER FAMILY". The kids are excited and jokingly referred to us as Mami & Papi! The kids told us that on the way to the hearing the were really praying hard in the back of the truck...what a great lesson for them on the power of prayer! Now they are asking, "Does this mean we can travel to the United States?" We told them to begin praying now and maybe next year.................

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Our Honduran Day

  1. Up at 5:00 a.m. t0 pack lunches and prepare breakfast
  2. 5:30 get 4 kids up, dressed, & fed for school
  3. Pray and read our Bible while kids wait for bus & taxi
  4. 6:30 all 4 kids are off to school
  5. 6:35 other children begin to filter in for breakfast
  6. prepare breakfast for others and start washing dishes
  7. 7:45 all are fed, dishes are done, & table is cleaned
  8. enjoy a cup of tea
  9. 8:00 study Bible story for children
  10. 8:30 Bible study until approx. 9
  11. 8:45 Anna, our teacher for Rosa, Karen, Cesar, & Gershon arrives
  12. 9:00 Anna begins school w/ Rosa & Karen
  13. 9:15 Gershon, Fabiola, Mauricio, Cesar, Joyce & I head out to find a dance studio for the girls
  14. 11:00 on the way to get ice while returning from hunting the dance studio we get stopped by police...our papers are expired and we have problems....we all pray while the policeman talks to our friend Carlos Coello...the policeman returns 10 minutes later and tell us everything is okay! Great example for the kids in the power of prayer.
  15. Get home at 12:00 and serve lunch for all the children
  16. Wash dishes, clean the table, & floor
  17. Put Cesar, Antonio, Jesus, Angel, & Pedro to bed
  18. 1:30 p.m. take Gershon, Fabiola, Joyce, Princess, & Chaquita to the vet
  19. On the way get a phone call that a lawyer and judge for IHNFA want to see us (all of us) tomorrow in the judge's chambers at 10:00 a.m....have no idea why!
  20. 2:20 have to take Gershon to soccer practice and return to vet to get Joyce, Fabiola, and the animals
  21. get another call that we must go to the lawyer's office to sign power of attorney releases...don't want to do this, but see no alternative
  22. each of these locations is across town from the others, so we take about 3 hours to accomplish these tasks
  23. arrive home at 4:10 and leave again at 4:20 to take Mauricio and Cesar for a hair cut prior to karate practice...shop is full no haircuts, just have to wait for practice time.
  24. Leave karate practice and head to soccer practice to pick-up Gershon and drop him at home.
  25. Arrive home at 5:30 and wait to leave again at 5:50 to pick-up Mauricio & Cesar.
  26. 5:40 the taxi driver who picks up our cook and takes her home comes into the house and tells me he has an emergency...the guard at the gate pulled a gun on him!
  27. 5:45 head to the gate to talk with the guard about pulling a gun on our taxi driver...turns out both were probably wrong, but I tried to make sure the guard understood the danger in waving his gun around...I doubt I was successful
  28. 6:00 pick-up Mauricio & Cesar and head home.
  29. 6:30 eat dinner with Gershon, Mauricio, Cesar, & Joyce
  30. 6:45 do dishes and clean table
  31. 7:00 do study lessons w/Gershon, Mauricio, & Fabiola
  32. 8:00 stop to go to the living room to tell somebody to be quiet for the 100th time
  33. Find out Rosa pinched Angel and won't tell me why...won't answer any questions, won't even say yes or no
  34. 8:10 I lose it and send all to bed!
  35. Tomorrow's another day!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Family Day

Today was Independence Day in Honduras, so no school for anyone. We took advantage of that to make it a total family day. This morning we were blessed to be able to be the delivery team for gifts that literally would change the lives of two youth and their families in La Confiensa. One of our Board Members sent a monetary gift for each of the families of Kevin & Armando which was most likely more dinero than they had ever had in a single month! Our family got the privilege of delivery the gift and telling the boys how much God loved them and how much their friend Todd loved them as well. It's a great experience for the children to see kids their age who have much less than they, and it's a greater experience for them to begin to sense the joy of giving!

On the way home we treated the kids to Wendy's (which is a much bigger deal to them than to us), but the real treat is the two-story playground they have inside. It gives the kids the opportunity run, jump, & yell without me yelling at them to be quiet.

And just now we had a 'family' soccer game...the older kids squared off on the soccer field in our neighborhood while Joyce & I teamed with Pedro to stand against Fabiola, Rosa, Jesus, & Angel in a game of 'street soccer'...the old people got beat 7-5 (Pedro didn't have much to work with).

Monday, September 14, 2009

Back Again

Sorry for the long absence; partly due to being in Teguicagalpa with a drill team and partly due to just not having the energy to post!

We had a drill team from TN that wanted to drill for a church on the south side of Teguic. However, on the trip down our work truck lost all brakes coming down a mountain and required a complete brake job, including master cylinder...fortunately no one was injured. Then when we saw the site we knew it wouldn't support a well and we anguished over the decision that night, even though we knew we had to tell the pastor we couldn't drill for him...I told the team in these instances God always gets the praise even when we feel we failed...the next morning we told the pastor the bad news and he didn't seem too distressed, instead he wanted to talk about building a 'football' field for the youth. He ask for 900 block to build the wall for the field, which represented the exact amount of money the team had brought with them to purchase a hand pump. God supplied even when we didn't know he was supplying. We left for SPS feeling as if we had accomplished God's purpose.

The trip back was difficult but we got here and the next day went to La Sabana to repair a well damaged by the earthquake two months ago. We were drilling when suddenly the drilling mud started coming up out of the ground under the rig...we dug a channel from there to the drill hole and then it came up under my feet, then in other areas....evidently the earthquake had fractured the ground and we couldn't keep our drilling mud down hole...we would have to stop.

We took the equipment back to the depot and there the main seal on the transmission of our 'good' truck gave way and we lost our transmission fluid. Now that truck was in the garage and we were without transportation...hiring a cab for everything, i.e. food, water, ice, bread, practices, etc.

On top of that the oldest two boys have really been a problem, particularly Gershon. Please pray for them to 'get it'! We found out Carla has been contacting Gershon, getting him to say things about us and then embellishing them before calling Fiscaglia and filing complaints against us. We're not worried about that, because that's what fired employees do; but we are worried about Gershon's willingness to be a part of it.

I want to make sure everybody out there knows exactly how much we appreciate your prayers and support. Joyce and I are positive we couldn't make without you and are grateful to you. However, we also need to let you know that we need 100% of you; 50, or 60, or 75% won't get the job done! We face unbelievable monthly costs and things like both trucks breaking down greatly affect us negatively. But even more than your support we need your prayers...we know you pray for us, or we couldn't keep going....but we're finding this task to be much more difficult than we anticipated and we are just plain wearing down...we are frazzled, confused, and tired! We're not complaining or crying or ready to quit; just telling you how it is so you can press in even more and recruit more partners for us.

The scars in these children are deeper than we ever expected and our successes are measured in inches and it seems as if our setbacks come in 'giant steps'. However, the successes are permanent and the setbacks are temporary; so even though it may seem from day to day like we making little or no progress we believe we are beginning to penetrate their minds and hearts. It's tough and it takes tough partners, which is why we're so grateful for each of you!

Saturday, September 5, 2009

It's Begun!

Ten minutes since the last post...Joyce and Fabiola are at the store and I now have all but three in their rooms! It is unbelievable how quickly Satan attacks these children and how quickly they fall into the traps of disobedience. We spent much time this morning talking about helping each other obey, being responsible for each other, playing together without fights, and already they are consigned to their rooms. Sometimes it seems as if it's just too much! That's not a sign of quitting, that's just the truth of it all. We will pray, we will believe, and we know God will overcome this too; but sometimes.................

Please be in prayer for Joyce, please be in prayer for the children "to get it".

Difficult week ahead

Today I go to the airport to pick up a group from E. TN. who will be drilling a well in the Teguicagalpa area which means I will be gone for the next week. That means we need some special prayers...
  1. Pray for Joyce as she cares for the children herself
  2. Pray for the children to receive the Spirit of God so they will obey her
  3. Pray for travel mercies for the team
  4. Pray for the vehicles to get us there safely
  5. Pray for the rig to operate efficiently
  6. Pray for success in drilling
  7. Pray for a safe return next Friday
  8. PRAY FOR THE OFFICIALS TO LEAVE OUR FAMILY ALONE!
That means there will be no updates after today until next Saturday, but obviously we need your prayers.

Friday, September 4, 2009

The End of the String!

Today we had another meeting with our lawyer and it is almost impossible to describe to you. We were greeted with the angriest looking lawyer you've ever seen who announced she wasn't happy with us! She told us that INHFA wanted us to have someone living in the house with us and she was angry because we fired Carla. When we told her INHFA recommended we fire Carla she changed her tactics. It's necessary to understand that since we are extranjeros (not Honduran) she has the "legal custody" of the children and I believe she tries to use it as a club.

Next she told us that someone called INHFA and told them we were mistreating the children, and when I asked what she expected a fired employee to do she didn't bother answering. Now she changed to telling us that some or one of the children also complained telling INHFA that we grapped them by the neck and left bruises on them (not true and we told them to check for themselves)...she also said the alleged child told them they didn't get enough food and they didn't like what they got. I told her that when we got the children we were forced to take them to Medicino Fornese for examinations, including their weight....I invited her to come weigh them now...again no response!

Next she started to rant about our not having our Honduran residency and therefore we couldn't get legal custody. We told her that we'd given her everything she asked for, but that none of it was stamped by the Honduran consulate in the United States, as she required, because there is no Honduran consulate in the United States since the ouster of ex-President Mel Zelaya. Again no response.

Now she went on a long tirade about how she was responsible for these children and if they took them from us she wasn't going to care for them. She didn't want them and only agreed to help us because a mutual friend asked her to help us. She went on and on about the burden she was under and how she wouldn't help if they took the children, so we better do what they ask us to do. I told her, "If you tell us to do 'A', we will do 'A'. If you tell us to do 'B', we will do 'B'." But they don't ask us for anything they only threaten us.

Yesterday the officials loved the house, the kids, and how they were being treated to the point of asking us to take more. Today she says different officials want to remove the children and we better listen to her. She says our only hope is a new Judge, with whom she is friends, and she will have a special meeting with her on Wed. and Thur. (can you read additional charges?).

At this point I was past my point of no return...I told her I needed to explain something to her now. I said the only reason Joyce & I are here is because God spoke to our hearts to help these children and so we came and we're doing all that we can for them. I told her we've literally given our lives for them and we hold nothing back. We told her that everyone who knew the children before and has seen them now knows they are much better off and she knows it; and anyone who denies that is not telling the truth. I told her we have nothing else to give; if this isn't good enough then they will have to take the children. I told her we search our hearts and are satisfied that we're fulfilling God's desires for these children and we will not live in constant fear of someone taking them from us. If they can sincerely tell us they will be better somewhere else, then they need to take them.

We left aggravated and very frustrated! Supposedly there will another group of 'officials' coming to investigate us...we told her she could send new ones everyday if she could find them...I guess that didn't sit too well with her...but at this point it didn't matter.

We are convinced that all this is a ploy to bill us for more money. Nothing else makes sense, but they can and will, out of misguided pride, do what they threaten to do. The longer we're here the more corruption we see here and yet they can't figure out why they don't get ahead. Everybody tries to steal from everybody, and everybody accepts it saying, "That's just the way it is here."

We told the children tonight that we have done all we know to do and now they must join us in prayer if this family is to survive. It may be that this battle will never end; but we are more confident that our God will never foresake us! Please pray!!!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

The Power of Prayer

Today Joyce & I received an awesome demonstration, once again, of the power of prayer! The officials we anticipated yesterday never showed, but they did come today...unannounced.

This morning one of our teachers arrived to tell us that our lawyer had called him and told him that INHFA had made up their mind and they were coming to move the children. She told him INHFA reported they'd had many problems with 'extranjeros' (North Americans) and they were just going to move the children. However, this morning Joyce & I never blinked...buoyed by the support of your prayers, by the peace that God had put in our hearts, and by a bible study on Psalm 84 sent to us by Kim, a friend of the ministry from Kansas, we had an uncommon sense of victory in what appeared to be abject defeat! Literally "...the peace that passes all understanding" had fallen upon us and we just didn't see the need to worry about something that God had told us He would handle! So, we headed out to do some errands taking Rosa, Karen, & Cesar with us...Antonio, Angel, Jesus, & Pedro were in school so that left Gershon, Fabiola, & Mauricio with Marvin, one of our teachers. While shopping for school supplies we got a call from Marvin telling us the INHFA officials were at the house...so we said we would return immediately...we still felt no sense of panic.

We left the store and headed home going only about 1/4 of a mile when Marvin called back. He told us the officials asked him to call us and tell us not to bother coming back...everything was fine! In fact they loved everything! Remember they came with the mind set of moving the children to another location, but our God had come before them and had put His spirit upon them so that they saw everything good about this new family. Now they were not going to move the children, they were praising our efforts and in fact asked Marvin to have us consider meeting with them to see if we would take more children! That's about as dramatic a turnaround as you can have; and we weren't even here...had nothing to do with it...it was strictly a result of your prayers !!! There is no way to ever say thank you enough!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

We're up & running......

6:30 a.m. and 7 are fed, dishes are washed, 4 are off to school; just the three girls left to 'roust' and then the real day begins.

PTL, we got the air fixed in the truck yesterday...........again.