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.

Miracles in Plain Sight

Bananas starting to emerge in our garden.

      I personally struggle in my faith walk as to why it seems all so magical in the bible. Why is it that the miracles Jesus performed and the amazing actions of God in the Old Testament are things I have never witnessed in my life?  Frustrations mount when I hold these expectations for God to answer my prayers in an instant, or desire to see the change through our work at Casa Hogar but things stay the same.  However, we could be, and more often than not are missing something that God wants us to see.
     When I was looking at our banana trees this morning it is amazing to witness the miracle of the provision of food starting to emerge from the central stalk.  My science mind boggles at the idea of how God designed a plant to absorb carbon dioxide, sunlight, water, and minerals from the soil to construct a beautiful shade baring plant that in turn provides food.  The complexity of the process is miraculous in itself but can often be ignored due to its common place in our life.

10 000+ bottles = miracle

     Recently a former student of mine carried out a task that surprised all of us in the community that knows him.  Not being the strongest in academics I think most of us would cast him off as being more of a follower under the guidance of someone with a stronger academic skill set.  However, he managed to prove that heart, belief, and faith are more powerful than the ability to get high marks.  His efforts and determination managed to collect enough beer and wine bottles to raise over $1000.  I can't imagine being a pre-teen and pulling off this through my own drives and to be selfless to give away that much money.  To miss the idea that he and many other stories like his of 'underdogs' coming through to prove that they are made more unique with skills that have been gifted to them would be denying the thought that miracles happen.


    Even thinking back to our first trip to Guatemala, my wife and I had debated for years about adopting.  I was a firm no, being happy with our three kids.  What I didn't realize is that when I was thirteen years old the first of my children was being born thousands of kilometres away and being cultivated to fit into my heart.  Francisca and her three sisters definitely are a part of our family and to experience a deep change in my heart when we met these girls is miraculous.

A complete family photo.

     What I firmly believe is that God requires us to see Him in all that we do and to be aware of the miracles that surround us.  How grand the miracle is more of a perception.  God is working and if we fail to see that we miss our opportunity to see God.