Sometimes I forget.

First let me introduce you to our three new children:

Oscar and Jonathan are brothers. Oscar is 8 and Jonathan is 6. Their sister Deborah, who is 10, arrived in the home in February. Oscar and Jonathan, who had previously been living in other children's homes or with other families, were back living with their mother on the street. The representative of a feeding center where the children were eating contacted me about bringing the boys to live with Deborah. It was perfect timing with the opening of the new home, so Deborah moved out of House 3 and into the new home (House 2) so that she could be with her brothers. The boys are doing very well so far and Deborah is very happy to have her siblings with her again.

Oscar, Deborah, and Jonathan discovering the basketball!

Yesterday, Antonio arrived. He is also a relative of one of our children. His uncle, Miguel, is our oldest boy in the home. Antonio arrived and was able to take Deborah's place in House 3 to be in the same house as his uncle. Antonio is 9 and in the second grade. Miguel and Antonio are so excited to be together again. Antonio had been waiting several months for a space to open so that he could come to the home. His mother and grandmother (Miguel's mom) are both single mothers that work, mainly selling food on the streets. While at work, the boys remained at home unattended. We are so glad that Antonio is now in a safer environment and able to be with his uncle Miguel.

Antonio and his uncle, Miguel!

There are two more children scheduled for an interview and two that we are simply waiting for them to finish necessary paperwork and arrive. After they are settled in, I will post another update so you can meet them.

I would also like to share a little of my personal thoughts. There are days when I just forget what it is that we are really doing here in Paraguay. I forget exactly where these children came from, and why what we are doing is so desperately necessary. Then, there are days that remind me why God has brought Shaun and I to Paraguay.

I was talking with Nayeli last week and after looking at our dog, she told me that one time she and Junior (her brother) ate dog food. Without really thinking, I asked, "Why would you eat dog food?" She looked down at her feet and replied quietly, "because we were hungry." So many of our children come to the home from horrible circumstances, situations where they not only face hunger and abandonment, but worse, the children that came from homes where they were being daily beaten or raped.

We are so thankful that our friends Joe and Jayne Martinez came to serve in the children's home. In Joe's counselling sessions we are really finding out more and more details about the kids' pasts- situations that they were never able to share before. I trust the Lord to use us, Joe and Jayne, and the other workers in the home to teach these children to trust again and to help them heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I often do not share the details of the children's pasts because we do not in any way want to exploit these precious children that have been entrusted to us. But, we need your prayers. The issues that our children are facing- the hurt they carry with them from the past- will not disappear without miraculous changes and healing in their lives. As Christians, we know that the Lord is the only one that can truly and completely heal them. Would you pray with us that each child in our home would come to know the Lord as their Savior, that they would be completely healed of their past hurts, not only emotionally and spiritually, but also of the physical damage that was done to them, that our house parents would have a passion for their work and wisdom in dealing with the children, and that every child would grow up to be responsible, honest, successful, kind, and loving?

A little behind...

Sorry for the delay in blogs. Life can be a little more hectic with a newborn! Things are going well at the home. The teachers have been on strike for a couple of weeks now and so our children are enjoying their time out of school. I have found teacher strikes to be a fairly common occurrence in Paraguay. Winter vacation is approaching as well (two weeks in mid-July), so our kids are going to have quite a long time without classes.

We are so excited to announce that House 2 has now opened and we have five children already working on their paperwork to enter the home. They should be arriving any day. We are accepting 8 new children, bringing the total of children in the home to 30. Come back soon to look for updates on the new children!

In May, we celebrated three birthdays. Amado turned 11. Amado is in the fifth grade and is a very good student. He lives in House 3 and is an only child. He is particularly talented with languages and is one of the best English students. He recently made a decision to accept the Lord as his Savior and we are so proud of the young man he is becoming. Miguel turned 14. Miguel has a rare disease, leishmaniasis, and spent several weeks in the hospital earlier this year. He is recovering very well, and has a new confidence and energy that he never had before. Miguel has trouble with reading, but we know that as his self-confidence grows, he will only improve in his studies. Miguel is a great helper for Milciades, our maintenance worker, and loves the time he spends working in maintenance/construction projects. Miguel is in House 3 and is in the sixth grade. He is the home's eldest boy. He has two older siblings that are not in the home. Alejandra turned 9. She is in the first grade and was in House 1, but will be moving to House 2 today with her two sisters. She is a beautiful girl that loves princess toys and jewelry. Because of her severe past abuse, she can be violent with her little sister and she has many moments of emotional outbursts, but we are praying that she will be completely healed of her past emotional scars so that she can grow into a successful young woman.

Amado, Miguel, and Alejandra in their new birthday clothes.

In June, Matias and Thalia celebrated their birthdays. Matias turned 8 and is in the first grade and lives in House 3. He is very smart and active, and only a little mischievous! He is also an only child, although he grew up as the neighbor of some of the other children also in House 3. His behavior over the past several months has changed drastically for the better. We are so happy to see how content Matias is and how he is growing in so many ways. Thalia turned 12. She is in House 1 and is the aunt of four other girls in the home. She is in the second grade since she had never entered school before coming to our home and loves music more than anything. She is great at memorizing the tunes of songs, and loves to sing in English, which often doesn't sound anything like English, but the other kids don't know it isn't correct. She is a joy to be around.

Matias

Thalia

I would also like to say "thank you" to Heather Lutz who lived with us for six months while she taught the children in the home and the school English. She did an amazing job. The children are speaking more English than ever and will certainly miss their new tia (aunt), Heather. As her parting gift for the kids, she presented each of them with their very own Paraguay soccer jersey. I can not tell you how many times each of the children had begged me for a jersey. If you follow sports news at all, you know that Paraguay is one of the final 8 teams in the World Cup, a level the Paraguayan team has never reached before. The country is nearly in pandemonium with joy over their team's victories. The kids are thrilled to be able to wear their country's jersey during the games. Thank you, Heather, for everything. We love you and miss you already!

Heather with the kids in their Paraguay jerseys.

Welcome William Samuel!

Our little bundle arrived May 13 at 9:50 PM in Asuncion, Paraguay. At birth, he weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 1/2 inches long. He is doing well, and Abi is enjoying her role as the big sister.

Happy Birthday Gloria and Deborah!

In April, both Gloria and Deborah from House 3 celebrated their birthdays. Gloria turned 11. She is in the second grade and is a very active girl. Gloria loves to make friends with all our visitors and you will be sure to notice her soon after your arrival in our facilities. She is also very helpful in household chores. Deborah arrived at the home in February replacing Miguel Angel, a young man that went back to live with his biological family. Deborah turned 10 and is also in the second grade. We are still getting to know her, but she is a very affectionate and loving child.

Gloria with her cake and present

Deborah with her cake and present

Abigail also celebrated her forth birthday on April 29th. She had a great party with the kids and then later enjoyed a second party with our American friends.

Abi with her cake

To give another update, our bakery is still functioning and several of the boys from the home are developing their skills as bakers. We are so thankful that Rafael, our house parent from House 1, knows how to make the delicious bread and enjoys teaching the boys how to make it as well. In addition to the basic breads, Rafael also makes Paraguay's slightly sweet specialty breads with the boys, allowing them not only to learn how to make them, but also providing a great snack for the other kids in the home.

Rafael, Carlos, Junior, and Ever making kokitos

We now have three fish ponds open and operating. Higinio, the house parent from House 3 , made several basic fishing poles from sticks during Natalie and Chris' visit so that the children could take a fishing excursion down to the ponds. It was a huge hit and now all the children ask constantly when they can go to the farm again to fish. We are excited about these ponds and the addition of fish to the children's menu.

Miguel's arm, Lujan, Higinio, Shaun, Thalia, and Chris: Lots of fish in all shapes and sizes!

Another exciting announcement is the purchase of a riding lawn mower. We received a donation toward this much-needed item, and now have a Husqvarna riding lawn mower. Grass that would take someone more than a week to cut with our small electric push mowers can now be cut in about 4 hours. Shaun literally did a dance of joy when the machine was delivered. This purchase will free up so much time to do improvements in other areas, and we thank the Lord for the donation that allowed us to purchase the mower!

World's Best Doctors!

At the children's home, we had the privilege of hosting two almost-graduates of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Natalie Rigelman-Hedberg and Chris Camp. Chris is the husband of a childhood friend of mine, Erica McCaleb Camp, and will be starting his residency in Orthopedics at the Mayo Clinic this June. Natalie will be beginning her residency at the University of Minnesota in pediatrics at the same time.

Gloria checking up on Chris' blood pressure

Since this is the first time we have hosted "medical missionaries," we were a little unsure what to expect from their visit. After their two and a half weeks at our home, we sat back and were amazed at what they were able to accomplish and the thoroughness and quality with which they worked with the children of not only our children's home, but also from the school on our property. In all, Chris and Natalie examined approximately 100 children and nearly all the staff from our children's home. Their examinations included not only basic physical exams, but also a dental and eye screenings to see what the needs in those areas were. They also created a hygiene flyer to hand out with their examination reports and preformed an interactive skit for the children of our homes to teach them how to keep themselves healthy and clean. In addition to all these exams, activities with the children, translating exam notes into Spanish to give to families, checking into prices for additional testing for the children, cleaning out ears, etc. etc, Chris and Natalie were never too tired to wash the dishes or play with Abi- making them the most wonderful house guests.

Matias learning how to brush his teeth in the hygiene skit

(Chris is the one holding the toothbrush)

While Shaun and I don't have a lot of experience working with medical students (they will soon be "doctors" after a May graduation), we feel that Chris and Natalie must be two of the country's brightest and best medical students. Not only did they have general medical knowledge, they had even studied up on diseases specific to Paraguay and tropical climates. Natalie, with only a couple of semesters of college Spanish, was able to conduct all the exams and listen to and advise patients with her own Spanish. Coupled with all of this knowledge, both Chris and Natalie have excellent personalities for doctors and made all their patients feel at ease.

Natalie with her "patients" from House 3

I am constantly amazed anew at the blessings that we have received in our work in Paraguay. Not only were we able to give quality medical care to each of the children with Chris and Natalie's visit, but we also made two new, wonderful friends. The children are already missing both Chris and Natalie (especially Abi who celebrated her 4th birthday during their visit) and we hope that in the future, they will be able to visit again.

To Chris and Natalie: Thank you so much for all your hard work! You can't know how much your visit meant to us and to the children and staff of Hogar Ganar! May the Lord bless you both as you begin your residencies!

March Happy Birthdays!

We have found that with so many children celebrating birthdays, doing a monthly birthday party is much more practical than buying or preparing enough cake for all the kids on everyone's birthday. So, at the end of March we celebrated three birthdays. It was amazing to remember that I blogged last year about Rocio and Ever's birthdays. It has been a whole YEAR since that post and I am so thankful that I have gotten to share in an entire year of their lives, watching them grow and mature.

Also, this year, we celebrated with Lorena for her first birthday in the home. Lorena is Kimberly and Alejandra's older sister. They live in House 1. Lorena turned 11 this past month, but is only in the second grade as she had never completed a year of school before entering our home. Lorena is a precious girl, who is extremely mature and responsible for her age. She is a good student who is learning fast in school. She loves to joke and is quite professional at fixing the other girls' hair.

Ever turned 10 this year. He also lives in House 1 with his siblings Nilda, Carlos, Rocio, and Cristina. Ever is extremely intelligent and also very responsible. He is in the third grade and makes perfect grades. He is learning English very well due to his memory. After revisiting vocabulary he hasn't reviewed in months, he remembers it all! I can be sure that each time I see Ever, he will greet me by shaking my hand- what a little gentleman!

Rocio, Ever's sister, also had her birthday in March. She turned 8. Rocio is in the second grade and is a social butterfly. She loves to talk and doesn't mind being the center of attention. She is very outgoing and makes an impression on all of our visitors with her personality and beauty.

Easter Eggs and Water Balloons.

The last couple of months have been a time of great growth in our home. Our new staff members have each arrived with their individual talents and gifts and we are so thankful for how the Lord is working in the homes. We have had several special times of fellowship with all staff and children in the home in March and April.

Mauro (gardener), Higinio (house parent in House 3), Maria Lina (pastor's wife), Natividad (house parent in House 3) and Maricela (Mauro's wife) getting ready to serve up lunch

Thanks to a donation to buy piglets last spring, we were able to eat two of the pigs raised on our farm during the Easter holiday (some of the two pigs- there is still quite a bit of meat in the deep freeze for the houses to cook in the upcoming weeks). We have two more female pigs that are pregnant, so in the future, we will be able to provide a large amount of pork from our own farm. We also have several cows that are pregnant, and can't wait to see their calves and enjoy the abundance of milk that will become available after their births.

The weeks leading up to Easter were times of teaching about the life of Christ to the children and we are so excited that our children now understand the reason that we should celebrate Easter! To make their Easter (Holy Week) vacation time memorable, we planned several events during the past week. We had a cook out with own very own, very fresh pork. It was delicious. Thanks to Heather and Milciades' diligent water balloon filling, the kids had a giant water balloon fight with 600 water balloons. I took a short break from bed rest to sit on the porch and watch the action.

Milciades (in charge of maintenance) grilling up our farm-raised pork and making a face

Of course, with the Easter holiday, we had to continue the dying eggs and egg hunt tradition that we began with the kids last year. This year we hid 360 eggs (240 of which were hard-boiled, dyed eggs). The children on Saturday each dyed eggs and heard the story of Christ's last days on earth using "Resurrection Eggs." When I remember last year and sharing the gospel for the very first time with the 10 children we had in the home at that time, I am amazed at how much the Lord has worked in the lives of those original children and the ones that have arrived since. They each now understand that Christ is alive and loves them, and the prayers that they each offer around the dinner table and in our church services are so precious and genuine. Thank you, Lord, for all that you have done over this past year in the lives of the 22 children in our home!

Deney (Mauro and Maricela's daughter), Abi, and Mili (House 3) with their eggs

The oldest age group on the hunt