Growing Pains

I can feel my heart breaking a little more and more each day.  It was just over a week ago I was sitting on our roof with Matt, sharing frustrations, doubts and fears and now I find myself in that very same spot on the roof expressing gratitude, joy and peace.   My emotions are a little whacked these days.  Just the other day, one of the girls in my swimming class excitedly called me mommy by accident.  Two little girls squealed in delight as they splashed about in the make shift bath this afternoon.  When I told them it was time to leave, they didn't want to go.  Heart break.  I spent some time talking with a new girl at Casa Hogar the other day.  She is 18 and there because her family tried to murder her.  She has a 3 year old boy and is unsure if her grandfather or cousin is the father.  Story after story brakes my heart in two.
When I was about 12 years old, often at night when I was laying in bed I would get these shooting pains down the back of my legs.  My mom confidently told me they were just growing pains.  I thought that if this is what it feels like, I don't want to grow up.  They hurt and were very uncomfortable.   This whole year I have experienced many growing pains.  Times of heart ache and times of feeling very uncomfortable.  I have been asked to do things I know I am not good at nor enjoy.  Some days feel very mundane, while others feel exciting and are jam packed with learning.

 It's crazy how time slips away and we spend so much of it preparing for the next thing.  I have spent much of this year just being. Something that doesn't come easily and without a lot of practice.  God has called us to be in relationship with Him first and that love He pours into our lives will pour into the lives of others.  As much as it will be hard to leave this place for now, I know that the growing pains I have felt, have only made my life richer.

getting ready to celebrate Darlin's 15th B-day

Painting nails with girls after swimming lessons

Busy and Loving It!!!!

I have to admit I was embarrassed to see that we haven't posted in a while.  However, any feeling of guilt has been drowned out by the fact of pure excitement of our current progress.  Since our last post we have been getting the last of our projects started and summed up before coming back to Canada.  This has been a bitter-sweet feeling knowing that we are going back to our cultural home, biological families, familiar church community and friends, in lieu of being with many new friends and adoptive family that have many different felt needs that many of us don't struggle with back in Canada.  However, I will digress a bit, more because I don't want to get my keyboard wet with tears, and focus on some of the ways that your support has been helping the mission here in Los Pinos.

And the teacher said 'Let there
be less light, so my students can
learn.'

To start we have been working with a group from the United States that has been paying for an English teacher at Casa Hogar that we found for this group.  We lent the video projector that was given to us by a friend back in St. Kitts to use for the class.  Unfortunately, the projector was not strong enough to project an image in a lit room.  This brought on the curtain project, where our wonderful girl Francisca went to task and sewed together the curtains and as of today, the curtains will be up in two classrooms for the English teacher, computer teacher, and any other group that comes to make presentations (and let's not forget movie days on the weekend --- fun!).

Eddie's new home.  Great perspective of his current home (the tin
hut) in the background to the home he will move into in August.

While this was going on we started building Eddie's house.  (If you didn't see Eddie's living conditions before you can check it out at this link: Eddie's House Tour ) The past couple of weeks we have dug out the foundation and started to make the rebar columns.  Today the cement is being made and poured into the footings.  Our goal is to have the house finished before Mandy and the kids leave.  The house will consist of two bedrooms a large living/dining room, a shower, toilet and the capacity to build a second floor for future expansion (if needed).  So invigorating to drive by the construction on the way to Casa Hogar and see the changes everyday!

Hoping to see this image at Casa Hogar in a year's time.

In the meantime as well we have been digging holes in a vacant field at Casa Hogar getting it ready for banana trees.  The plans allow for 180+ trees in the area with each tree having the potential of producing 200+ lbs of bananas.  It has been fun watching the backhoe prep the land, the labourers digging holes, and the people from Los Pinos bring in organic soil on horseback in getting this project done.  The project hopefully will be done in another two weeks and in a years time having bananas ready to be harvested.

Eddie with his extension cord.
I think it is time for some new ends

Aside from these bigger projects, we are still plugging away at hygiene protocols and creating health histories for the girls, fixing up the salon classroom for Mandy, working on improving the internet capacity for the computer lab at Casa Hogar, cleaning up storage spaces, and getting supplies together to help Eddie better maintain Casa Hogar.

All in all it has been amazing to see the generosity of people pour out and get involved with the projects that we are pulling together.  God has been an incredible strength through this process and saying goodbye will be a difficult thing to do as we return home.  Yeah that line did it for me, now I'm crying. It is not the sadness of the situation but of the abundant joy that God provides in getting the glimpse of what He desires for us to do to fulfill His purpose.....to love your neighbour as yourself.  I praise God for this time and sincerely thank-you for believing in this mission.

Yours in Christ,




Matt

Thinking of you.