Thursday, April 29, 2010

Full Demonic Attack!!!

I don't know where to start to tell you about today...it is beyond my ability to comprehend!

You all know we had the scheduled visit (2nd) with the mother of Gershon, Karen, & Jesus at 2:30 p.m. The mother didn't show up until 2:50 p.m. and then it was only her....no husband and no two year old boy...the husband did show up with 5 minutes left in the visit. The supervisor (Irma) wasn't there today so it seemed to be much less stressful and during 2/3 of the visit the kids kept running to me and jumping in my lap, including Gershon. I tried hard not influence them in any way and finally they began to visit a bit with their mother, but it was much more reserved than the first visit...I confess I liked it. So we left there feeling pretty good about things...they wanted to schedule another visit for next Thursday, but when I said I couldn't make it they simply said, "Okay".

When I got home an old friend was there and he and Joyce quickly ushered me outside and told all the children to stay inside. He told me he had registered with IHNFA to start an orphanage and he wanted to start with 4 children. Then he told me Irma tried to get him to take our remaining 7 children (Fabiola, Mauricio, Angel, Rosa, Cesar, Pedro, & Antonio) and put them in his new orphanage. He told her he couldn't do that. I still don't know what to say...it seems her plan has been to take all the children from us, sending 3 to their mother and 7 to our friend, without ever saying anything to us. Our friend told us she was just going to show up, take the kids and leave us with nothing and no one!

My gut reaction is to work to get her fired, but God will prevail and I will calm down and put my efforts to better use. My prayer is that I can get back in front of the First Lady and give her this story...I'm positive she will be appalled if I can gain another audience. That's how we all need to pray...that I can get in front of her and that she will receptive to our plea. This is demonic warfare in its' purest form and we must fast & pray if we are to overcome this. I'm asking you all to pray over the weekend and come up with a plan for fasting and praying against this attack. Personally I will begin tomorrow and will stop when we are victorious...I'm not asking you to join me to that extent, but I am asking you to stretch yourselves.

My belief is that this is God revealing her plan to us before she can carry it out. I believe He is already defeating the enemy and is just waiting for us to join in the battle. Let's fight this fight with confidence remembering that "....we are more than conquerors in all things..."

In Him,
Bob

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Coincidence, Luck, Good Fortune or...........GOD!

Today I was out paying some bills but the fate of Gershon, Karen, and Jesus was heavy on my mind. I got done a little early and decided to pay a visit to our friend Linda Coello, who runs with the 'big dogs' in Honduras and ask her if she could come up with a connection to help us. I didn't even know if she would be in her office, but 'something' made me drive by to see.

Linda was there and had time to see me and when I told her that we might lose 3 children tomorrow and we needed someone with clout to step in on their behalf she said, "Bob, the First Lady is coming to the warehouse in 20 minutes. Go get one of the children and meet me there." I had Joyce bring Karen to warehouse and sure enough shortly the police, the Army, the Secret Service all started driving into the warehouse as they surrounded the vehicle of the First Lady! Karen and I, along with Linda and her associates, spent the next 1-1/2 hours in her presence and before she left we were granted a private audience with her to tell her the kids story. She promised to open an investigation into the mother and how long she had been without the children. She told us if enough time had passed the mother would no longer have any rights to the children. I also told her we had another 'visitation' scheduled for tomorrow and that I was afraid they might take the kids right there. She promised to make a phone and see that that doesn't happen! Praise God!

This is not over yet, but we certainly feel a lot better about it right now than we did this morning. When the saints pray, God sends results! We can never thank you enough!

More God..........Linda also arranged a meeting for us with a lawyer who said she would help us with our quest to get residency. Everybody had told us it would cost between $5000 & 6000 dollars and probably take about two years to get it completely done. Well, at the conclusion of our meeting with the new lawyer she told us she estimated it would cost approximately $1100.00 for BOTH OF US! When God shows up the roadblocks just disappear!

Kangaroo Court & Heat, heat, heat............

My 'hearing' yesterday for the car accident went just about the way I suspected it would...total nonsense! We waited in the Transito office for 15 minutes and then the secretary told us we had to go to a copy store to get a copy of the document the Judge would need. Amazing! Finally the Judge arrived and the other guy's insurance agent (no sign of mine) and the 'hearing' proceeded.

The Judge read the report that I filled out at the accident site and then we signed it....that was the total hearing. Oh, I forgot...she stamped my appointment paper and told me to come back on Friday and I could pick up my driver's license...I didn't have the heart to tell her I'd already paid the expected bribe and had the license in my pocket.

On the way out of the office my insurance agent showed up looking like 'a deer in headlights' and not having a clue about anything. He told me he would go look at the car and then call me to tell me how much deductible I would have to pay. See, I always thought deductible was a pre-determined amount; silly me! Does it sound to you as if the 'Gringo' is about to "get it again"?

Heat: The newspaper says it will be 112 degrees and above everyday this week. It is so humid it's almost difficult to breathe. We have been experiencing brown outs and this morning the lights in the older boys room all blew out as the power cycles up and down. Pray it doesn't go out all together.

Tomorrow is the second visitation for Gershon, Karen, & Jesus...and who knows what else. I told them again this morning that if they wanted to go live with their mother they could and we would still love them; however, I told them that if they wanted to live with us they would have to fight for themselves, they would have to tell the IHNFA supervisor and tell their mother they wanted to remain in our family. I told them they needed to tell their mother they loved her, but they wanted to live here...if that's the case.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Crash..........

Today Joyce & I had some very un-needed excitement...Joyce was driving through town when we came to an intersection where we were required to stop, but the sign was missing and so, Joyce kept going. Unfortunately right into the side of a pick-up truck. It all happened in an instant and were shell-shocked for a bit. We hit hard enough to knock the axle out from under the front of the truck and it took the entire front end off the rental car we were in...from the windshield forward.

It was truly a blessing that no one was killed and more than that no one was seriously injured. Joyce may have broken some of the small bones on the back of her hand and I have some backlash pain from hitting the windshield, but that's the extent of our injures and none to the other driver.

The rental car has insurance, but they tell us it has a large deductible and I'm not yet sure exactly what that means. We have a hearing tomorrow at Transito and I guess I'll find out there what happens next. It really is not what we needed.

We thought we were beginning to see some light at the end of the financial tunnel with our recent fund raiser (booklet) and now this will probably put us back to square one. It is obvious that Satan does not like what we're doing with these children and the attacks keep getting more and more severe. Please pray that we will be able to recoup our losses and pray a hedge of protection around this family.

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Surprise....more heat/Karen's schoolwork

Downstairs this morning at 5:00 a.m., opened the doors to a great breeze...one problem, the breeze felt as if it were from the bowels of Hades. Not looking forward to mid-day's heat.

Last night I was helping Karen with some schoolwork and it's amazing how far she has progressed in a short period of time. One month ago we made the decision to move Karen & Rosa back to first grade because they couldn't do the 2nd grade work; primarily they couldn't read. Now Karen is reading amazingly well...she may not understand the words, but she has learned to look at them and sound them out correctly. Then we did some math work...I gave her 2o problems and she got 19 correct!

Just one example of how the kids are growing in leaps and bounds. We still have plenty of hurdles in front of us, but now for the first time in their lives there are hurdles behind them!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Water, No Electricity, A Little Water, Electricity

A long day...first we awoke this morning to find ourselves without water which makes our lives very difficult, particularly when coupled with the intense heat. We went without water until about 4:30 p.m. when we began to get a trickle and then almost immediately we lost all power.

Seems some 'brainiac' decided to cut down a huge tree with his machete without first checking to see if it would land on the power lines...imagine that, not planning in Honduras? That meant we had to eat out tonight and pray we would have water and electricity when we returned.

We came home about 7:00 p.m. and breathed a sigh of relief when we saw lights in the neighborhood. As you can imagine the first thing we checked once inside was the water situation...once again we were getting a trickle, but not enough to take showers upstairs or enough to flush the two toilets filled with poo..........

We're now taking showers one at a time in the downstairs bathroom and although it's slow going, we going!

Central American Trials

The heat here has been just unbearable, seemingly getting worse everyday even when it doesn't seem possible. It's so hot I think our sweat is sweating! Last night, after dark, we took the kids for a Snow Cone...a great treat for $1 and it includes an outdoor playground as well. We went after dark because you can't do anything outside while the sun is up.

This morning we awoke to more heat AND no water! Let me remind you what happens when you have 3 toilets, 12 people, and no water......... It 's not very pleasant here.

But the biggest worry in our lives is what is going to happen to Gershon, Karen, & Jesus...please continue to pray that God has a plan for their well being that is better than anything we could do and that we just don't see it yet.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Visa...........

Yesterday while at the meeting for visitation I asked the IHNFA supervisor what I had to do to get the children Visas and she told me it wouldn't be possible! We refuse to accept that decision and ask you to join us in intercessory prayer for God to make a way to get these kids to the states.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Prayer Request

Please pray for our very good friend Rebecca Smith and her husband Wayne. Rebecca has been diagnosed with stage 3 myloma, cancer of the bone marrow and been told she will have 5 t0 10 years to live with heavy chemo and a bone marrow transplant. That's man's assesment....now it's time for us to call God's medicine to heal her and strengthen Wayne.

Shocked!

This morning we were given a paper stating that we were required to take Gershon, Karen, & Jesus to a visitation with family members at 2:00 p.m. this day at the IHNFA office. We had never even heard anything about their parents before this and didn't even know if they were living or in the area.

Before leaving for the meeting I told them that Joyce & I wanted them to live with us, but if they decided they wanted to go with family members they had the liberty to do so. On the way to the meeting I had to stop and console Jesus who had started crying and saying he wanted to go back to his house. Once there I was presented with a court order giving the mother the right to this visitation and I asked the IHNFA supervisor if the mother's intention was to take back her children...she told me, "yes!"

After some background info from the supervisor we went into another room to await the visitors. Soon their mother came in and quickly hugged Gershon and the two of them cried in each other's arms. Next Karen came over and hugged her mother with the same reactions and then Jesus. It was apparent that the mother did love them...the way she stroked their hair as she hugged them and the sincerity of the tears, but it was difficult to watch. After some initial reacquainting with the children she began to talk to me and ask about the children. So I inquired as to whether or not she knew God, if she knew Jesus, and if she had Jesus in her heart. She assured me she did and told me she was an evangelical.

Next we moved outside to meet the new step-father and step-brother (2 years old) and give them some room to interact. I forced myself to move away so I wouldn't be a distraction and I watched as a family was reunited. I confess it hurt to watch it, it wasn't what I wanted to see; but I now believe it was what God wanted to see. Joyce reminded me that we serve a God who is interested in reconciliation! And as I watched them, they looked like a family! But it still hurt.

When we got home both Jesus and Karen told the other kids they were going with their mother to live in their own house. I don't think Gershon has said anything but it looked to me like he felt very good about being with his mother. At the close of the meeting I was told there would be another visitation next Thurs. at 2:30 p.m. and that's all I was told. As I called the kids to leave the mother came to me, reaching her hand to mine and said, "thank you". Her sincerity convicted me of my selfishness for the children and I simply replied, "God Bless You."

At this point it looks as if the children will be leaving us if the mother's financial situation is up to requirements. I still worry about what the kids will be like when they realize what they're leaving and what they're going to, but I know if it's God's plan He will override any physical lacks.

Since their departure seems to be a forgone conclusion I am elated that we baptized Karen on Sunday. I'm trying to work on Gershon without pushing him into a decision, but I desperately want him to make it before he leaves. We do know that they will leave, if they leave, with God's word in them and we trust that it will serve them well. Please pray that this time the mother has her act together and the children will reared in love and not turmoil.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Sadly it is confirmed.........

We took Antonio to a psychiatrist today and our worst fears were confirmed...We already knew Antonio suffered from epilepsy and suspected he had some other problems, but had hoped we could find solutions. The doctor told us Antonio has an "epileptic personality" meaning he is a clinger and if you've ever been around him you know this is true. She told us he is wetting the bed out of fear that he will be abandoned again. She also says that he is ADD and severely retarded...and that it will never get any better and in fact it will get worse as he ages!

Please pray for Antonio; he needs an act of God! We all know many cases where man's diagnosis' have been reversed by God and that's what we need here. We have searched and searched for solutions but on this earth there appears to be none. The other problem, of course, is that without a cure Antonio will need life-long care and obviously Joyce & I won't be around to provide that.

She did suggest we move him back to a normal school so they can attempt to teach him to read and that, too, is a blessing & a cursing....a blessing because he will no longer have to travel across town daily and a cursing in that we don't have a vehicle to carry all the children to one school. We need the 'seed' money in our vehicle fund to take root and flourish!

On a more positive note...the kids have had a blast outside tonight. I was able to get more in-line skates and ripstik while in the states at a consignment shop for next to nothing. All of the kids are learning, falling, getting back up only to fall again, but they love every minute of it!

Thanks for all you do for them and for us......................

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Always adjusting

We met with Wilson, Pedro's physical and vocal therapist, tonight and we were all in agreement that we need to move Pedro from a bi-lingual school to a straight Spanish school in July. Pedro is severely vocally handicapped and Wilson feels that trying to teach him Spanish & English at the same time is a mistake. We are blessed to have a professional such as Wilson who doesn't just do his job; he's personally invested in Pedro!

Tomorrow we have an appointment with a child psychiatrist to discuss Antonio's continuing problems. Please pray we will finally find someone who can, and who wants, to help Antonio.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Historic Day!!

Today was a great day for our family...we baptized three of the children in a swimming pool where our church meets. The whole congregation moved outside to witness this great moment. I am truly blessed to tell you that I baptized Fabiola, Karen, & Mauricio! PTL!

Hopefully I can get some pics for you tomorrow.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Update from the states

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. While I've been moving about stateside speaking to churches Joyce has been holding down the fort in Honduras. Please pray for her endurance.

On Sunday we had two birthdays: Mauricio turned 11 and Rosa turned 10. We will have a party for both when I return on Saturday.

Joyce tells me the kids are all well...over their colds and coughs and doing better. They are all back in school after a week off for "Holy Week".

Please join us in prayer that Joyce and I will be able to get our residency cards...the penalties on the expired Visas is getting ridiculous and Joyce's expires again next month. We need to get this recitified. Also, pray that God will take the seed money in our vehicle account and multiply it greatly and quickly.

As much as you miss hearing about the kids, I miss being with them and am eager to return.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Changing of the Guard

Yesterday our daughter, Nicole, arrived in Honduras to spend the next week w/Joyce and the kids. Today Marilyn & Jessica head home to Tellico Plains....thanks Marilyn & Jessica!!!!

Without these stepping up to help Joyce I would've been unable to get to the states and take care of some important ministry business. We are blessed to be surrounded by so many who give so much.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

From the Mountaintop to the Valley

Yesterday Joyce, Marilyn, & Jessica took all the kids for a hike up the mountain behind our home. It is a very, very steep climb, but it's a beautiful rain forest type climb. After descending with 10 kids you can be assured everyone went to bed early.

Getting lots accomplished in the states although it's been tough trying to stay in touch with Joyce and the kids.