Photo Shoot and updates

Thanks to Kate Defuniak's awesome photography skills we now have new PDE pictures :)

 Its been a long time since I wrote a good blog, and I'm not sure how much I can write to catch up, but I'll try for an update.

First of all, THANK you to my grandma and all the other ladies in Cary who hosted a big yard sale for Puerta de Esperanza and raised almost $3000!!!  We were down to bare bones money-wise and this came at the perfect time for us.  Thank you thank you.

We are still looking for monthly sponsors... if it is $10 or $1000 or any number in between, it buys us something that we can at the moment not affort.  So if you're interested, please contact me at ssinnes@gmail.com.

The girls and babies are doing pretty well overall... there are always issues and little things to work through.  There are obedience problems and family issues and they keep us on our toes.  Sometimes I don't know how much to write or share because I want to guard their privacy... but lets suffice it to say that they are growing and learning, but its like raising any teenagers, there are bumps in the road.

We are making some changes in the store and have actually shut down for a few days.  We feel like the girls have spent the last year learning the skills they need to be able to run the store themselves, so we are officially closing down and allowing them to open it back up as a coop between themselves.  It gives them a lot more freedom, they pay less taxes, etc.  We're thinking it is a good change.  So, hopefully within two weeks they will be up and running on their own.  They will still be accepting donations for clothes and stuff, so send them on!  We just got some cleats donated and the sold about half of them the first day.

K is doing well in school.  She has days where she is very unmotivated and just forgets the purpose behind it.  We are slowly working through multiplication tables and when she doesn't understand, it is so frustrating for everyone involved because language limits our ability to explain in various ways.  But yesterday school went so well that Jennifer took her out for ice cream!  Many thanks to Jennifer and Mandy for being the teachers over the last month and a half, I haven't really played much of a role there.

J is happy to be painting and playing playdough and learning letters, numbers, and animals.  She will turn three on Saturday, I can't believe it!

C is back in university and about to finish up her first full year because she started in August of last year.  She could not be a happier student.  She loves her studies, does them on her own for the most part, and is so sad to ever miss a class.  This last term I was tutoring her in calculus, in Spanish.  Talk about challenging.  I was struggling to remember since I haven't tutored that in awhile, and then to do it in Spanish.  Sheesh.  Preparing me for when my own kids get there I guess.

Y continues to work at the salon and is earning money now.  She did an internship at first, but now gets paid a small percentage.  So she is at the bottom, but moving up.  And I am so proud of her.

B loves working at the store and wants to run her own business.  A large part of letting them switch to the Coop is because of her.  She has a good mind for business and is willing to work hard.  She has good ideas and will probably be better at it than I am because she knows what does and doesn't work here.

Overall, I am thankful to the Lord for all that He is doing and the people that He has brought into our path.  He clearly put these girls all in the home together at just the right time.  It is hard because some have never lived with other girls before, have a hard time understanding being sisters to each other and loving and supporting each other.  But they are working on it and we are praying every day for them to love each other sacrifically and understand love, mercy, and grace in a way that allows them to show it to the others around them.

Please pray for our girls as they learn and grow.  And pray for the Lord to provide financially for our ministry so that we can keep working with them.