Behind Three Doors

"Today we are going to go and bring supplies to a village of children that no one knew about...

...no one knew because from the outside all you see is three doors....

...with some guys outside passed out on drugs....

...but when you enter one of these doors, you see ten more...

...single rooms for rent by the day...

...and you find a whole village of children virtually raising themselves amongst adults addicted to drugs."

This is how my friend Christina very casually described where we were heading,

and it is what I want to write about today...

what we saw behind those three doors.

Yes, we saw poverty.

Staggering poverty, some of the worst I have ever seen.

I could stop there...

write a whole story just about that part of what we saw,

or about the men who circled the edges of our play like darkness ready to shut out the light,

yawning black doors the backdrop to it all.

Those things would all be true and compelling....

but they are not the thing that remains uppermost in my heart or mind when I think of our New Year's Day 2013.

What remains?

Beauty.

So staggering that I wish the whole world could see.

Heart stopping, beautiful, innocent children no different than yours or mine.

They came running....

you want to know the reason why?

I can guarantee it was not because of the group of gringos piling out of the van.

It was because of this woman,

and this man,

who come every week,

who hug, and love these children.

Who bring what they can to help fill their needs...

and bring them joy....

but most of all bring the love of God....

and the power of prayer....

...they bring friendship,

relationship.

Not a flash in the pan

But unrelentless love.

Hope.

A promise that they are worthy.

Not forgotten.

That they matter.

Every week they prepare a meal...

in their tiny kitchen....

over 200 burritos, completely made by hand.

That New Year's Day it was 240 tortillas rolled by hand.

when we met to plan the outing,

they had supplies to make tortillas but had been praying that the Lord would supply something to fill them with....

...it was a huge honor to be able to buy the beans and rice and some fruit!

and honestly so humbling,

because it only cost about what it would feed our family of 5 to eat at a fast food restaurant.

With those burritos they were able to go to the dump and feed the men, women and children who live there as well as to the jail (inmates only eat it someone brings them food), the recycle yard (people also live there) and then to where we were playing with the kids.

Every week they are living on prayer to bring something to help fill the bellies of these people, some who will only have that one meal for days and days.

There are a few things God has put on my heart to do since returning and one of the them is this:

To somehow help Christina and Paulino have what takes to meet more of the needs in Camalu.

Things like food, shoes, tarps (because otherwise people would not have a roof).

The thing they need most is prayer. Every Saturday they go out there to serve...

...why?

As Christina put it, "hey we don't have a movie theater in this town so why not?"

I am going to try to figure out how to put a chip in up so that if you feel led to donate you can.

If it is helpful to know:

* a 12 lb bag of beans costs $10

* A blanket or tarp is $15

* 100 cups of milk are $10

* 50 scoops of peanut butter are also $10

 

******** The Chip In IS working....thank you to those who have donated! For some reason the totals are not showing up on the widget *******

You can also donate directly to Foundation For His Ministry just make sure to write "Basura/dump Ministry" in the box so that they know where to direct it.

***If you feel led you also are welcome to share this to help get the word out*****

I'm telling you, they are the real deal giving of what little they have to change the lives of others because they love Jesus.

....All I know is that I HAVE to do something and to start somewhere because my life was radically changed watching these two serve behind those three doors.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Catching up and heading out :)

Wow...

 

It has been far too long since I have been on here and sort of left things hanging.

 

I need to catch up quickly because it is a really big day but I do not want to forget what God has done.

 

 

Because this crazy family...

 

IS GOING TO MEXICO!!!!!!!

 

Our trailer is packed to the brim with goodies for some pretty special orphans and we can hardly wait to go and give them some kisses!

 

That is just how good God is,

 

He made a way where there seemed to be no way.

 

 

Late last week this little girly proved the doctors wrong....

 

and all her tests came back NORMAL!

 

My head is still spinning,

 

they had told us to be ready for a quick admit and surgery,

 

she had all the symptoms and they were pretty darned sure that Pheochromocytoma was what she had.

 

NOPE.

 

Not even close.

 

 

But guess just how good God is?????

 

Not only did her tests come back normal but I think we are on to what the source of her 'episodes' for the last 3 years have been.

 

It's crazy....

 

Low blood sugar.

 

Seriously.

 

My friend Joyce kept mentioning that Georgia's symptoms sounded like her daughter's when she had hypoglycemia...

 

and being the amazing friend that she is, she brought me over her daughter's glucometer :)

 

Sure enough,

 

the next morning I tested Georgia and she was super low.

 

The normal range for children is 70-100.

 

Georgia wakes up in the morning at about 50,

 

and has a hard time getting much above 70.

 

Low and behold, when she gets pale and fatigued...her numbers have dropped!

 

She has not had any sweating spells to test yet so we don't know what her numbers are during those.

 

Our doctor checked her out and said she is stable to go to Mexico as long as we keep her fairly calm and resting and feed her often. We will meet with an Endocrinologist when we get back to figure out WHY her sugars are so low.

 

BUT WE ARE GOING TO MEXICO!!!!!!!

 

I feel so overwhelmed by God's goodness.

 

It has been a long very difficult year and we are weary.

 

I don't know why but Mexico and the orphanage feel more like home than anywhere else on this planet and it feels like the biggest gift ever to get to go back and love those precious children, scrub toilets, stand in the dusty road hand out milk and peanut butter to hungry children, worship in Spanish with the staff...all of it....a total treat.

 

I feel like a kid in a candy shop that we get to go.

 

I promise to write more from the road but right now I've got a little more packing to do!

 

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

James 1:16-17

 



Beauty for Ashes (or how some orphans in Baja got crazy adorable with hairbows)

*****I know we have surgery coming up soon...but I just felt like today was the day to share what God did with my little girl's dream ****

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

Isaiah 61

 

 

 

So...

It all started with one little girl.

Wanting her friends down in Baja, who happen to be orphans

to know that they are beautiful...

That they are loved by God...

and breathtakingly beautiful to Him.

So she worked her little fingers off....

Making hairbows.

Because some of her friends were almost bald last year.

Because when they were found begging,

they had lice.

And Ravenna wanted them to know that it did not matter.

That they were still so beautiful.

and as a family we worked and prayed and tried to get the word out.

About these amazing kids, who happened to be orphans

that we love so much down in Baja.

Word spread and others jumped in to help!!!!

little girls from across the country and in our classrooms began giving up their own hairbows!

Friends sent ribbons and the pile grew!

More friends sent beautiful quilted fabric!

and we continued to pray and get so excited!!!

These kids didn't know what was heading their way!!!!

We made headbands...

stunning headbands with those quilted flowers and donated things!

and Parker jumped into the mix and said, "what about the boys? They need to know God loves them too!"

So he thought and he prayed,

and he decided they needed to know that God made them strong...

and started collecting jumpropes!

Boy did the jumpropes come in....

until we had 80 of them!

and friends sent school supplies,

little toys,

and all sorts of fun for the children in the villages!

and then came the shopping spree....

a woman we did not know let Ravenna shop for those girlies down in Mexico.

Tiaras and wings and more sparkly hair things!!!

it was like early Christmas as the packages came!

and they made sure things would really 'work' :)

and then...we packed it all up, boxes and boxes of donations miraculously fit in our little mini van.

and we drove

and drove,

and drove,

to the place that we dearly love.

It honestly felt like coming home.

It still makes me cry thinking about it.

Then the day came,

the day we had been dreaming of filled with all kinds of fun....

the kids started coming...

and we spread out the goodies between all of the kids on our trip to hand out...

they came shyly at first...

then Ravenna decided to set out the hair things for the girls to pick up. I wish you could have seen it. She was liked the pied piper of hairbows with a huge line of girls following her!

and she loved every minute...

and so did the girls!

The bigger girls helped 'do' the hair of the little ones...

and these children,

some who had hardly smiled all week...

blossomed.

The courtyard filled with giggles.

Boys swung galantly from the trees by their new jumpropes.

I still am amazed.

How did they know?

How could Ravenna know?

and Parker too?

Just what was needed to speak to their friend's hearts.

Maybe it was God speaking to theirs that did it...

Either way I once again stand amazed.

At how the littlest thing....

can speak so deeply...

of God's love...

Not only to them...

but to my heart too.

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

1 John 3:1