Rainy Season and updates
General Happenings
This rainy season has been quite heavy as a few tropical storms have clobbered the country. There have been many reported landslides and floods across the country affecting many departments. Main roads have been buried then dug out and the government disaster response agency estimates a million and a half people have been affected- weather evacuated, at risk, or having lost or received damage to their homes.
Our team from the 2 of the homes and professional staff (teachers, psychologists, therapists, ect.) took a trip to see the site I introduced in my last update, where we hope to build the group homes and create a village where the children will have the freedom to leave their houses, and more interaction with each other. God has blessed us incredibly with such an incredible team who deeply love the kids.
Nutrition
(Hogar Rosalinda and Formula Programs)
As I shared in the last update, Hogar Rosalinda has moved more into individual nutrition consults, and the space in the home has been transformed to receive refugees from Ukraine. This is a long process as many logistics need to be addressed before anyone even sets foot in the country! At this time, we have spoken with or interviewed 4 families who may come. The first 2 met with unforeseen challenges, and are not coming. The next 2 families are friends traveling together and hope to come as soon as they can work out documentation. Please Pray for all involved as these families have seen so much, and are adapting their entire lives! Also, the language barrier now will extend across multiple languages instead of just English and Spanish!
Meanwhile, Peniel and Stephanie continue serving their area and meeting with kids who are at risk or malnourished. I highly recommend following their short video series on their FB page which outlines some of their home visits. (If I were more talented, I could give you the links directly, but as I am not, check out SION Maternidad y Nutricion Infantil). Please please please check out all God is doing here!
Also catch them on Facebook at SION Maternidad y Nutricion Infantil https://www.facebook.com/groups/490664525315168/
Hogar de la Esperanza homes
As we learn more about the new property, we continue in daily love for the kids God has brought to us! One of the hardest things about loving children with special needs in these homes is knowing just how many children need a home. We are full!! That’s an understatement as the Fulp home was full with 10 kids, and now has 14!! The other homes are full as well. No more space, resources, staff, volunteers– FULL! Even so, we receive around 10-15 calls a week asking us to take more kids. Allow me to share part of our director's words last week.
“Today we were contacted about several children with special needs who need a home. We have no space for them, and we had to turn them all away. But one was particularly difficult to refuse. A little five year old who is terminal. As with so many others that we have loved into the arms of Jesus, he just needs someone to carry him home, for whatever time he has left in this life.
–But we can’t. Why? I could give you lots of reasons. A lack of space. A lack of staff. A lack of volunteers. A lack of resources. But we all know the reason at the root of it all. A lack of money.”
Having personally received many calls such as this… Imagine saying no to a child with severe special needs! It is gut wrenching. But I also know that we are too full already. Ruavis doesn't cry to express needs, and he NEEDS to be held and loved. Receiving another child means Ruavis will be held even less.
And a special prayer request for the Alvarez family- this week Dylan was returned to bio family. To use Shannon Alvarezes words,
“The pain is real and it is deep but even though it hurts more than words can describe, it’s still worth doing. Fostering is not easy and it does not come without pain, but it’s still worth doing. Every child deserves to be so loved that it breaks someone’s heart when they leave.”
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| One on one therapy time |
Read more about the different homes here:
Fulp home: Daryl Fulp: http://hopeforhome.blogspot.com/
Wanda Fulp: http://wandafulp.blogspot.com/
Blessing Angle, home intern:https://blessingjessica01.wixsite.com/website
Chapin home: Carissa Chapin: http://carissachapin.blogspot.com/
Alvarez home: on facebook at @light2guate
Our Kids
Dylan
As mentioned above, Dylan left this week to return to his bio family. Here are Shannon’s prayers for him, and for his families.
“Please pray for Dylan as his whole life is about to change. It’s hard to explain to a 3 year old and our words really have no meaning and understanding. He will grieve and he will struggle, but we feel he will be ok once he gets past the initial hard days!
Please pray for Dylan’s aunt and whole family as their worlds are also about to change. May they be filled with love and compassion and understanding as they learn to become a family. Please pray for our family as we grieve and learn to become a family without Dylan. Our older kids love him even though he drove them crazy. He and Analí were our first two babies but Dylan was able to interact in a way she wasn’t.”
Keily
Keily is 10 months old. She is diagnosed with KIDD Syndrome which affects her development, eyes, and skin. She recently had cataract surgery in hopes that she will be able to see. She loves toys with music and light and people talking to her! Please pray that the surgery will give this sweet baby her sight.
Aliento feeding program
This week a large team from Virginia came to run a program for the children in Taryn’s town. Kids materialized out of nowhere, and had fun with games, face paintings, skits, and a bible lesson.
Taryn has invested some years into Aliento, and now they have an exciting new development!! Aceituno has limited opportunities for education. Children who wish to receive highschool level education have to attend schools in the closest city, or another town. Beginning in January, some of Taryn’s girls will be coming to our town to finish their education, and receive work training in a profession beyond what is typically found in their town. Legal details are still being worked out, and Taryn is still looking for a house mom to live in with the girls, but both the girls and their parents are excited for the chance for opportunities outside of their hometown.
I encourage you to find her on facebook to learn even more details! She has created a private FB page to share more openly at https://www.facebook.com/groups/726340368423659
Aliento also has a brief email listing a child/family, and a staff member to pray for each week.
Learn more about Aliento by following the Director, Taryn, at https://tarynfulp.blogspot.com/
Also check out Taryn’s new endeavor at https://www.facebook.com/groups/726340368423659 Or by emailing her at tarynf@hopeforhome.orgRural village ministry
I want to share the words of Diego Barr as he got to visit one of our monthly sponsored children (now and adult!). I loved reading this because I remember visiting this family years ago, and feeling what a blessing it was to visit with them every month!
“Although these situations took my breath away, they were not the best part. We visited 29-year-old Chabelita and her faithful father, Valdomero. I love visiting this family. He doesn’t see his daughter’s inability to speak or her need for a wheelchair negatively – but he not only sees God’s blessing in all of it, he shares his joy with all who will listen. Whether they speak Spanish or not. He got on a roll, speaking in an animated manner for over 15 minutes without a breath, making eye contact with all of us – including Jaret and Anna. I tried to jump in and interpret what I understood, but I couldn’t slow him down. He needed to make his point, and he did so powerfully.
During our visit, Valdomero explained how so many people in the world have it wrong. They think their life is about money. They are consumed by it. He emphasized how few understand that when you know the true God, money isn’t important at all. He said family is there to show us who God really is, and that’s a blessing we need to enjoy. He has been so blessed throughout his life (and most Americans would not understand that statement while viewing the dirt floors from which he was speaking), and He is passing along all of his blessing to his kids. He said that trusting Jesus needs to be passed down for generations because it’s the most important thing, and it doesn’t happen by accident. It takes sacrificial love. And when you show that kind of love to someone, you get to experience the blessing. I was in tears.”
It is a blessing beyond words to get to meet with these families month after months and develop real friendships with them. Praying each visit often leads to such deep conversations about the love of God. As often as not, a family will hit on something that touches one of us deeply like this. I miss the visits, and my friends, so it warms my heart to hear stories like this from others on our team.
To learn more, you can check out Dick Rutgers at http://blog.dickrutgers.com/
To hear heartfelt ministry, see Diego Barr’s blog at https://ken-tina-barr.epistle.today/
Or follow Daryl Fulp, Dick Rutgers, or Emanuel Alvarez on facebook.
Liberia
I am continually blown away by all God is doing in Liberia! In June we learned about so many things that have been happening, but I will just share about two– Esther and Sandra, who we have been learning about for months as their surgery approached. This surgery straightened their heavily bowed legs so they can walk again! But their family believes there is a curse on them, and will not take them back. Their foster family loves them, and hopes to keep them, though financially they cannot without help. They need a sponsor! I encourage you to learn more about the massive battles and victories God is working in Liberia through the kinks below.
Also, Country director Don Riley released a video giving a virtual tour of Jesus Loves Me Children’s
clinic that is being built. https://youtu.be/YTG_jMiWbKM
To learn about Hope for home in Liberia, follow:
Don Riley at http://www.liberiacalls.blogspot.com/
Susan Mclay at https://www.instagram.com/suzieinliberia/?hl=en
To learn more about the ministry as a whole, check out https://hopeforhome.org/
Director’s blog: http://hopeforhome.blogspot.com/
Personal
I am still pursuing adoption, and it is still a process! There are too many unknowns which makes it hard to move forward, and there's always one more thing I need that wasn’t on the list! THe great news is that last month I finally had everything together, confirmed it with my lawyer and the CNA representative, and turned it all in! The not so great news is that even pre confirming my documents, a number needed to be redone, or weren’t on the list, so here we go again! Tuesday I spent the day at immigration to get a paper- but I did get it! I hope to submit in the next week and see what comes next. Among the uncertainty, I may have to move into a smaller house before inspections. I don’t know this yet, so I am somewhat stuck for now!
I hope to travel to Ohio in August to visit with family, and share with anyone interested to show all that God is doing in Guatemala!
Prayer
Where to begin??
Please pray for the people of Guatemala as more heavy rain is hitting this week.
Pray also for the refugees who are leaving everything for a dafer life.
Pray for Dylan, and the Alvarezes as this move is so challenging.
Pray for Taryn’s team and the girls that are coming in January.
Please pray for every visit by the village team– That God’s name would be made great!
Pray for continued work in Liberia where Gods heart shows value for kids deemed unworthy.
And please pray also that doors would open to complete my adoption.
