Answered Prayers....

Praise GOD!!!! He's provided us with a beauiful vehicle.....

We are so excited to finally have a car of our own! Which means on our weekends off we can take a break from our beautiful campus and enjoy some sweet r & r.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! For praying with us, for standing with us believing for this miracle....

Coffee, Chocolate and Cheese (Take 2)

I've used this blog more often that not to share about all that God is doing here on our mountainside in Guatemala. But lately I've just felt led to share a bit about what God is doing in us...hence the title...
"Coffee, Chocolate and Cheese..."
A little background: Years ago during my first years of service I lived with some AMAZING women in our baby house. We were all single and either adopting or fostering children. Often we'd find ourselves gathered around the kitchen table at 9:00p.m. or later for coffee, chocolate of some kind and a snack which usually included cheese in one form or another. It was a time of GREAT encouragment to my soul and accountability for my weak heart! In those times, around that table I didn't feel so alone....didn't so much notice that I was single...didn't so much miss my husband. I felt so satisfied in the LORD and so grateful for the dear friends that He was allowing me to fellowship with and glean from.
So as I considered sharing more personal thoughts through this blog I thought "Coffee, chocolate and cheese" would make a great title!

Each Sunday church is different! Different worship team, different preacher...etc. Normall Stefan and I take the three year olds out for Sunday School but today there was a special group of volunteers who came in to take our place, giving Stefan and I the opportunity to stay in "big church." Worship was AMAZING...and I really felt the LORD confirming some words that He had been speaking to me in private. Earlier I journaled about living a "surrendered life." Job lived a surrendered life without question....when life was falling in around him what did he do? WORSHIP....yes that's right, the man got on his face and worshiped the LIVING GOD. Now that is surrender! In the midst of crisis, trauma....UNREAL brokenness, Job didn't turn to his friends, he didn't run to his pastor or spiritual advisor, he didn't kill himself....HE WORSHIPED!
In the midst of our circumstances...good, bad or otherwise do we find ourselves grateful? My heart is convicted....
I deeply desire to live a life TOTALLY surrendered to the LIVING GOD. I want to reflect HIS glory in every desicion, attitude and response.
Challenged to live this week a bit different than the last...

Coffee, Chocolate and Cheese....

Life gets so busy....at times it seems to fly by at the speed of light! With 160 kids our lives are nothing less than an adventure....sometimes more challenging than we feel capable of handling, sometimes more sorrowful than our hearts feel able to bear and sometimes so JOYFUL that cups overflow....

In the midst of our ministry and role here at Casa Bernabe, Stefan and I continue to grow as a family! It's been almost nine years since my little bundle of JOY was born and my mind reels as I look back and see the MIGHTY, COMPASSIONATE hand of God over our lives! Yesterday while on a tour of our facilities he came to me with a mirage of needs. As I attended him I listened to a dear friend TESTIFY to the GOODNESS of GOD through our story! At times it's so challenging to be a single mama, to work more than full time here in this ministry, to homeschool and somewhere in there still be me.....but I am learning more and more about what it truly means to live a SURRENDERED life.

Several months ago in the midst of more sorrow than I felt capable of bearing I began to ask, "GOD, seriously what is it that you want from me?" Stefan was struggling with the absence of a daddy in his life and I was feeling responsible, I was working through several really difficult situations with our children here at CB and just feeling ready to be a mama to a house instead of a Social Worker....there again knowing that without my husband that would be impossible. In that brokenness the questions in my heart were a deep ocean and I felt hopeless to change anything, incapable of taking the pain, the frustration....
"God, seriously what is it that you want from me?" I TRULY felt that I was living a surrendered life.....it took weeks but in the silence God began to reveal to me the picture of a crucible and an intense fire. What does GOD want from me? He wants to see His own GLORIOUS reflection in ALL that I Am.... AND in order to acheive those results the fire must get hotter, PRIDE must be destroyed, my "I CAN DO IT....OR better yet....I WILL DO IT MYSELF" attitude has to be crucified, my plans must become submissive to HIS purpose and I must be willing everyday to TRULY live a LIFE fully surrendered to the LIVING GOD.

Today as we prepare to worship with 160 children my prayer is that God will continue to refine me as a mama...that I might attend the needs, wants and desires of my precious little Stefan with WISDOM, that I might be a living example of the ONE that I serve....and that as a community we would be unified in seeking RESTORATION in the GOD who lives, moves among us and LOVES us more than we could ever imagine.

Holy Week...

Service Project @ the dump in Chimaltenango

Since the beginning of time we as humans have been FORGETFUL! We forget everything from where we last left our keys to AMAZING experiencing had at the hand of a GRACIOUS and LIVING God! Often we live within our circumstances as though they are exclusive...that is to say that those circumstances are all that matter. AND thus we FORGET about the world around us, the trials our "brothers and sisters" are experiencing....famine, war, abuse, abandonment, etc.

In our community here I think it is even easier to FORGET. We live on the side of the mountain and EVERYTHING we need is here. It's rare that we experience life apart from this place....you could even say that we live in a bubble! That is not to say it's utopia but it's a place that is certainly sheltered from the world. As we've considered these things, we felt led by the Holy Spirit to incorporate service projects as a part of the VISION for youth group in 2010.

Honestly as we planned it was a HUGE step of FAITH. We felt led to do some sort of project in the city dump but for months had no response from the ministry located there. Then, sort of out of the blue some great friends, Charlie and Pat Reynolds introduced us to a new ministry beginning in their city at the dump. So we made a trip out there to visit them but also to explore partnership possibilities.

After MUCH planning our youth - - BRIGADA 40 began to prepare through a 40 day fast in which they each chose to give up an element of life, something important to them in order to make more room in their lives for the presence of the LORD. On the last day of that fast we called an optional but communal fast among BRIGADA in order to prepare specifically for the service project out in Chimaltenango. WHAT an AMAZING day it was! The youth arrived, the majority having chosen to fast, they jumped into the prep process....sorting and bagging beans and rice, wrapping gifts of hygiene products, cutting fruit and practicing a program through which they would present the GOSPEL. It was AMAZING!

No complaining, no bad attitudes....And at the end we spent time in small groups praying over the activity instead of eating.

As I pondered the events of the day it occured to me that the FAST was ENJOYABLE! And the Lord led me to Isaiah 58...

"Is not this the fast that I choose:

To LOOSE the bonds of wickedness,

to UNDO the straps of the yoke,

to LET the oppressed go free,

And to BREAK every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, "HERE I AM."

THE FAST WAS ENJOYABLE!

The next day at 8:00a.m. we headed to Chimaltenango for the service project...

BRIGADA 40 served at Pat and Charlie's school and it's surrounding community and then at the Chimaltenango dump as well. Our hearts were so tender and the Spirit of God moved among us and through us mightily! And the Lord continues to work among us....

OUR CHALLENGE: To REMEMBER this new found perspective and to walk in GRATEFULNESS!

Long overdue Update....January 14, 2010

They say a picture says a thousand words! I absolutely love these of our little ones, taken a couple of weeks ago during a campus wide event!

This was taken on New Year's Eve.....fireworks galore!!!! It was such a loud night but so much fun! We had two teams here and they gracious made the entire campus dinner and then we enjoyed worship together and of course the finale was a HUGE fireworks show! It was a beautiful way to ring in the New Year!

So much has happened in our short time back and I'm not sure exactly how to communicate all that God has done! Our first six months were so challenging and my stomach turned as we boarded our plane to return to Guatemala....unsure of the challenges that would surely await us! But I was more confident than ever that God had called us and annointed this time for us to serve at Casa Bernabe....and that alone brought a great deal of peace, still my flesh was insecure!

As we flew I grew more and more relaxed and a peace that I cannot even begin to describe covered me and has continued to this day!

We hit the ground running! Southwest Baptist University had just arrived and so we dropped our luggage off and ran to do orientation for this 11th SBU team! It was so exciting for me to have this as my first assignment as I graduated from SBU and was a member of the first ever Casa Bernabe team. Just participating in that orientation brought such encouragement to my heart....and brought back so many amazing memories of ALL that God ALMIGHTY has done these 11 years.

From there we've been diving in....Stefan to his homeschool and me to learning more and more about Social Work in Guatemala. I feel a renewed passion to be a voice, to impart resources and to just be a part of the process that each child walks through.

I am excited to be able to delegate some of my public relations responsibilities to a sweet couple from a local church and to instead be able to jump into mentoring our young women. The road that we've been on over the past few months has been such an adventure but it's so exciting to see where God has brought us and to experience the anticipation of where He's taking us.

About three months ago God laid the word RESTORATION on my heart. That word has been burnt on my heart but the process has left me speechless....without answers....as my good friend McKenzie would say...."it's left me pensive." How do we take these kids from our door up the mountain to the summit of RESTORATION? What should that process look like? HOW in the world do we connect intimately with each child we serve in order to come alongside them in the process?

Pray for us as we continue to ponder and as we enter 2010 with a focus of RESTORATION in every life/heart on our mountainside....children and adults alike. For the next 40 days we will focus on Forgiveness.....both experiencing it and rendering it....please pray for open hearts and a readiness in our children to both receive and render forgiveness. Please pray for our adults that we will be a reflection of the HEART of the ALMIGHTY and that they will see daily expressions of forgiveness in our lives/hearts/families.

More to come....

Embracing 2010....

Embracing 2010....releasing 2009!

God's merciful hand was over our lives in 2009...that we can say for sure! Our hearts overflow today as we reflect on the year and ponder 2010 and all that it will bring! It's a calm afternoon here on the mountainside and God's presence so real to me as I sit down to write! In a few hours our family, 200 strong will gather for worship and prayer. The Gospel will be presented and we pray for it to take root and well up, changing lives - - breaking chains, freeing these precious little ones and allowing them to walk in constant victory.

We've been home now for two days and they have been mind blowing days! God has ordered our steps and allowed us to see needs, pray over kids like crazy, love on kids and pick right up building relationships! Oh that these kids would only see our sweet Jesus when they see us, that they would feel his sweet embrace as we love on them.....that their hearts would be drawn to Him, to the healing in just the hem of His garmet, to the overwhelming love in His eyes.

More than any other year I am so excited and already hanging on tight for 2010. I'm so pumped about all that God began in 2009 and the vision He's given for 2010.

As we rested over the past three weeks I feel like God brought so much conviction to my heart, new perspective and just a HOPE in future grace for all of us. We experienced some difficult times in our first six months and admit that it was too easy to get caught up in circumstance rather than to keep my (our) eyes fixed on the One who is BIGGER than the pain and suffering that surrounds us.

So as we already embrace this beautiful new year we Declare that WE ARE HIS and we're hanging on tight for the adventure! HAPPY 2010 dear ones.....

A fun pic...