A bad day or a good day! You decide!

Wednesday was a really bad day or was it a good day.
I hardly ever leave Gianna but I needed to go and help a friend pack, I left during her nap time, so off I went. A few hours later I got some frantic calls from Paulino saying Jose heart was very high! I thought he was talking about blood pressure since we are still learning to take it! Well the last call was my son is dying! I said I will be right there and hung up, driving a Toyota Camry I was able to pass some cars on the road but others at the speed bumps I took the dirt road option! If you have seen the Baja 500 or Baja 1000 you can imagine what this looked like at speeds up to 120! Yes miles per hour!
I got home to find out he was already at the emergency room back in VG where I had just come from. Well Baja 1000 all over again! I got to the door of the emergency room just in time to grab Gianna out of his arms as they wheeled Jose back. I then called a dear friend who came and got Gianna just as they were sending him in ambulance to a better hospital! His heart rate was 247!
Once at the new hospital the internal specialist was called in and told us we had to go out. I explained to her my husband is Jose voice and hands and he could not leave. She explained to me she was the doctor! Well I can see that by your white coat lol! So I explained to her I would go and explain to the director so she would not be in trouble. It is a teaching hospital kind of! I went to the director who is a great man and he then came out and called me in because Jose told him no oxygen!!
He then gave us the talk in English so Jose would not understand that oxygen will not kill him, Duchenne's is doing that!
They were able to get Jose heart rate down to 130 on meds so with that they sent us home and say there is really nothing we can do for you! And then again the talk about Duchenne!
So my poor friends brought Gianna back to us. You can imagine how that was if she is never left with anyone! Bless them they did amazing and we are still friends!
Once we got home, I dropped the ipad and shattered the screen. Figured out I had ripped one of the CV boots on the car and all in all I am sure it was a good day.
If it would have been a bad day I would not be here this Wednesday folding my son's underwear and hearing him argue with me that he does not have too many underwear! He says it is because he has lots of friends and if they ever need to borrow a some he will lend them to them.

This photo is kind of what it looked like when I got to the hospital!

NEW LIFE

2016 is bringing many new things! New blessings, new friends, new open doors from God to minister in ways we could never imagine! 

Yes we are still ministering at the trash dumps and to the children of addicts and love what we do. 

It seems since the flood God has opened hearts all around us. We have been blessed with clothes and food to help to people in other parts of Camalu. 

Our first sewing class we were blessed  with two teaches and 5 students! Smiles are not culturally normaly in photos! We all loved the class even the teachers. Out of 7 machines one is working but we are looking for to Becki coming and repairing the others so the women can practice during the week.  The women will be able to sale their creations and one day even work from home. They will not need to go to the fields for 12 hours a day and leave their kids at home! 

This family came from the other part of town and brought nieghbors. The father knew Paulino years ago and heard what God had been doing in our lives. The wife came to our Christmas program with her kids and returned with the pregnant women we were able to bless with baby items. 

Please continue to pray for us and all of those God puts in our paths. The rain is coming and we are working on a plan to help others in case of flood and also to help with roof and floors to withstand the rain. 

Praising God in the storm and in the mud!

As the rainbow appears that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of His brightness all around (Ezekiel 1:28)

The road behind our house

Paulino pulling a truck full of hay out of the mud. You can see how dry it is in front of our house! A God thing! 

The road behind our house! 

Praise God this brick wall broke or who knows how flooded our land would have been. 

The sun is up lets go wash clothes! 

Our road to get to the highway! Praising God for 4x4! 

Sharing soap and clorox with the families that have mud in their houses!

We were blessed with two truck loads of wood for those who cook outside! Some will use to fix their houses! 

This guy was pulling the wood home on the bags they use for rice and beans. 

One of the seniors we found stuck in his house because he did not have boots! The water is very deep in his house you could not even tell what shoes he was wearing! 

Well I guess this will be our family photo kind of how we look in the new year! Paulino's back is still broken from carrying Jose upstairs when the flood came and then back down when the water left! 

All the women had left with their kids to the shelter while the men stayed behind to protect their houses! 

Too shallow for a boat to deep for a car! Yep guess we are staying in our houses! The marines came the next day to evacuate those who wanted to leave!

The sun rising over our new rivers it continued to rain for one week. 

During most days it was beautiful so we were able to do clothes distribution and the kids could come and play somewhere that is dry and who knows what is in the water and mud! 

This after Paulino pulled this man out.

Paulino pulling a truck full of hay out of a very big hole. 

The water in this mans house is more than 3 feet deep! There are 6 of them living in one room. Paulino is giving him soap and clorox that people have donated to help the cleaning begin! 

The first day of rain was fun for the kids but then they all went somewhere else to live because of the mud in their homes! 

The road in front of our house is nice compared to some and Jose got to go outside and sit in the patio but you can imagine it will be a few weeks before he can get out to see his gramma or friends! Electric chairs do not do well in the mud! 

We wamna do what you do!

The children of Las Palmas enjoying a birthday party for Jesus on December 26. 

Every gift we had left over from our party on Friday we took to them and as you can see the kids were blessed

Happy Birhtday Jesus 2015 Thank you to all who give all year and especially at Christmas when most kids do not receive a gift at all.

Chabby is 23 but the size and mind of a 3 year old so she is included in our gift giving!

Ruth with her Christmas box! 

Annemarie celebrating her birthday with us! 

Daisy and Triny finishing the day with delicious cupcakes Linda made over 200!

Me and Gianna starting the day with games and prizes.

Arturo and Joset receiving backpacks and school supplies. 

Maritza and her friend opening their gifts. Most take them home and open them. 

Brianna helping her brother Yael to break the little kids pinatas! The moms waiting in the background to dive for their kids candy. 

Ale and her siblings distributing the gifts. She packed all 154 bags especially for each child. 

This is just some of the gifts! About 30 of the kids did not make it so we were able to send them to the north part of town where we are helping  a family do what we do! Now they are a family living for Jesus! 

Linda and Gianna helping to give the game prizes.

My in laws do not have a personal relationship with Jesus but they are always willing to go to the dump and to cook and to help and serve in whatever way possible! We praise God for each of them! 

The moms ready to help their little kids receive their gift! 

 She was so happy she won. These two girls were visiting grandparents and were able to receive gifts and play games!
 

Ale and her boyfriend with her highlighters even her father's brother  helped, red shirt on rightside! 

Ruth breaking the pinata Ale made for the 4-8 year olds. 

Please pray for all of our kids but especially these two and their families. Jesus on the left is the local witches grandson. Miguel Angel on the right and his entire family is famous in our town for being thieves. They live by selling vegetables and whatever they can find to sale. We praise God for each child each family and each opportunity He gives us to love them like Jesus does! 

We also praise God to all who give and pray and go! 

Hurricane! El Niño! Hot Hot Weather!

Please pray for Mexico and especially for Camalu! Where we live is a very unpopulated part of Camalu towards the middle of Baja California North. We are far from the hurricanes however we live in the desert and the drought is effecting all of us! 

For me it has been about a 6 month spiritual drought! Although I love the hot weather I do not like having a dry spirit! I have to admit I can not tell you exactly when it happen or what caused it but what I do know is that the whole time God has been there with me! Calling me and holding me! 

I have been a little lost at fighting the battle of changing hearts and not cultures but I know when hearts change cultures will change too. However I get very defensive when I see the kids are being effected by cultural things especially when it comes to witch craft and false teaching!  

In my quiet time this morning sitting on the bathroom floor at 5am in the cold it came to me! Do not grieve do not be afraid! Rejoice! 

So where did this come from it came from a verse in 1 Kings 11 Verse 22! If you look at a version other than NIV it says he brought back apes and peacocks! Why did they write that, why did they bring them. what did they do with them, where did they store them onboard, how did they capture them, when they arrived what was their purpose! Ok the peacocks I can imagine have beautiful feathers but apes, baboons, monkeys what ever the version you use! I lived on a ship for two years and I just have so many questions about the apes. I mean it is just this year I realized Noah had more than one pair of each animal on board! And that God destroyed EVER ONE else on the earth other than what was in the ark! 

Actually I think it was just so I could laugh and get out of the desert! Sometimes that is what I feel like a big ape trying to speak a foreign language, live in a culture and economy different than what I know. Raising a child in a world that I am daily learning to live in. 

I do not want to be perceived as King Kong trying to find the one he loves and showing love in his ape way! I want to be like Jesus so that others will want him! 

I am so tired of others tooting our horn! No we are not great we are not amazing we are just living for Jesus! Some days more than others, we want others to know Him because of His life changing power that has changed us and is changing us! 

PLEASE PRAY FOR A FLOOD! Not the one that has been predicted at our house but the one that the living water can bring! We need Jesus to flood our lives so that the sweet sweet water can over flow into others! 

This is our desert land the green you see is the overflow water from clothes and dish washing! The neighbors are prepared for the flood of rain but they need the flood of Jesus! 

A Desert Is Dry But There Are Plants!

Matthew 12:33

make the tree sound (healthy and good), and its fruit sound (healthy and good), or make the tree rotten (diseased and bad), and its fruit rotten (diseased and bad); for the tree is known and recognized and judged by its fruit.

Have you ever had a cactus apple or some great aloe vera juice? Well I am praying that this is what today's blog will be a sweet sweet fruit on a hot day!

Cesar, Esme and Joycelin receiving their much needed school supplies! 

Paulino extending out house 6 feet so we can have more space for the kids to do homework and for Jose to move around. 

Yes I was a bean counter in the states and praying my daughter will learn young! We are thankful to all who support us both financially and prayerfully so we can provide meals to those in need! The Coca Cola was a gift and I asked Jose why are people always bringing us Coke, he said they are trying to kill us! 

The biggest miracle of all is after 16 years Jose got to meet his birth mother and one of his little sisters.

He took them to church and he has already been praying for his mom for years. 

 Paulito's mom left them about two years ago so his two sisters now go to the fields to help his dad while he stays home to watch the house. So now 3 of them are not in school nor do they have a desire to go to school. At first it did not make sense to me why would these parents not push their kids to go to school! I now understand, as we have been doing Jr High homework which has proved difficult for me since I have not done it in 20 years! I can imagine now how the parents feel many have not gone to school past 3rd grade, never learned to read or write and especially not science or history! Why would you invest two weeks salary in uniforms another week in shoes and then more in school supplies? Why would you do this if the end result is only after junior high my kids will go to the fields to pick vegetables and fruits for $8 a day. 

Yet there is the opposite of Paulito's family! The huge family down the street is Christian and the parents never went to school either. They have a few business' and they send their kids to school all the way to university if they will go. Yes they struggle financially and yes some of their kids are not walking with God! However they know the solution is Jesus and the only way out of the ghetto as we say where I am from is a miracle! Look to the Miracle Maker not for the miracle! 

This past year we have been amazingly blessed with sports equipment and a playground for our neighbors! It has opened doors like you could not imagine a church across town even brought their team over to play our team! People who would never come over and stopped by to see what is going on and we ask them how are you doing? Do you need some beans and rice or some Mana Pack? As we see what they are wearing if they appear to be in need we offer them clothes or shoes if we have them. We were also blessed with reading glasses and have been able to bless many to start reading again offering them a new testament so they can read the word of God. Some others who can not read but need to sew are now able to! 

I just think sometimes our life is like that of the desert fruit! No one sees it and how beautiful it is out in the middle of the desert but the sweetness once it is opened and enjoyed is amazing just like our God who put it there.