Growth

I love watching C grow.  First and foremost as a follow of Jesus and then after that as a mom and a student.  She is learning so much.  In her study of a Gospel-centered life with Amy she has been learning about repentence... but not just book learning, actually taking it to heart.  Just this week she beat Satan's efforts to lead her back into stubbornness and self-will by running hard after Jesus, knowing that her sin was against Him first and foremost, and then also asking for forgiveness from the offended party.  And as I went by today to dole out the consequence for poor behavior there were no excuses, no defense, just humility and acceptance.  And from there we get to show grace... oh so much grace.  

And she's a sweet mom :)  They stayed with me for a few days over the weekend because our house mom was sick and I loved seeing the contrast of her mothering A compared to when they first arrived.  She was patient, yet firm.  She played with him!  That's a really big deal.  They sat and did puzzles together and laughed together and spent time... he was so happy and so proud.

As for myself and the house moms, we have a new challenge.  Seth recently started seminary classes in Spanish for some local church leaders and we're going :)  Old Testament survey in Spanish!  Mostly challenging for me!  This week the power went out and we had to run the generator for the video to work... I would be lying to say it wasn't a tad miserable to not have the fans running.  But even so, the content is good and we are going to learn so much.  I'm really thankful for the new opportunities!

Reconnecting

These past two weeks have been about reconnecting with the girls and the ministry and getting a feel for how everyone is these days.  I have really enjoyed my time and seeing what the Lord is doing.

I was so blessed by Y volunteering to come out and clean my house last Sunday.  On her only day off she got up early and came and cleaned my house!  What a servant heart.  I also split the cost with her of going to our church's big conference the week before Easter with the promise that she would pay attention and tell me what she learned.  She came back and replayed every word.  She learned so much and seemed to really absorb it.  She is so hungry to learn more about the Lord and that makes me so excited.

C has been really busy going to beauty school classes in the afternoon and 7th grade classes at night.  She has learned pedicure, manicure, hair cutting, and is working on dying hair and working with other chemicals.  In her colegio class she has been doing schoolwork, but also had a special teacher come who taught them how to make jewelry.  She is so excited about it and has been able to sell some of what she has made.  It is so good for her to have some of her own money to spend that she earned.

Our other C has been very busy since moving out of the home.  She and her cousin, B moved into a small apartment at first but within two months found an inexpensive 3 bedroom house and another roommate and were able to move to a much better location.  She is busy at school doing a project on lettuce and learning how to make her own pump.

B is staying at home and taking care of the kids.  We got good news about B's daughter this month when Renee's dad came down.  He is an orthopedist and was able to tell us that G's leg problems and normal and will self-correct and there is no need for braces or surgery.  We are all very thankful for that!

K desperately needs a job.  Can you pray with us for that?  She is in a difficult living situation and it would be great for her to move into a room on her own.  They don't always have food... and she just needs a job.  But with a very low education, that's hard to find.  She is persevering with school and doing really well!  She is excited about her progress.  I also helped her get some more sewing materials this week so that she can offer some basic hemming and altering services and earn a little money that way.  C is going to teach her to make necklaces this week too and maybe some of those will sell! 

Please continue to pray with me for Spiritual growth for each girl and child that is in or has come through PDE.  I see some of them growing leaps and bounds and really seeking to know more of the Lord.  Others not so much.  But I just desperately want them to know the grace of God and know that He is enough for them.  Please pray for me as I continue friendships with them that God will give me the words to show them more of Jesus!

And then, because I couldn't help it.  I'll leave you with some twin pictures from our picnic today!

Seeing God Move

I am really enjoying getting back into the swing of things with PDE.  C has grown so much since I was on maternity leave.  She and Amy have been studying "A Gospel Centered Life" and learning about believing the gospel, the law versus the gospel, repentance and grace.  She also went to the local churches big conference a few weeks ago and soaked up what the pastors had to say.  I sat in on Bible study this past week and was blown away hearing her talk about all the things she has been learning.  She has been praying for her mom to go to church for a few weeks now.  Last week she actually had class over the weekend, but her mom went to church with Dona Oneyda and C's son A.  C was so excited!  Now she's praying that her mom will keep coming and that her brothers and sister-in-law would come too.  Can you pray that with us?

I was able to meet with the lawyer this week to try to catch up with how things are going.  We are now just praying through what God wants for PDE and how we should proceed.  The good news is that things should be much easier than anticipated.

I have been working on a new video about PDE... I thought I'd share it here!


In other news, the twins turn 3 months old today and are as cute as ever :)

Where ministry and family meet

Eliana and Wesley are now 7 1/2 weeks old... hard to believe.  Time is flying by with them and there are moments that I wish it would just stand still!  They are growing so much and seem huge to me compared to when they were born, although they are still both under 7 pounds :)  They are starting to smile more on purpose and have both rolled over one time.  For now the rolling is an unintential, I'm mad you need to feed me, kind of statement :)  But they roll nonetheless!

Over the last few months I have been on maternity leave and will start back to work soon... but even in that time of not "officially" working, its fun to see how these people are not just ministry, but also friends.  They have come to visit and hold babies and encourage us and check in.  Those who haven't been able to come have called, and some we didn't get pictures of.  C was beside herself the first time she saw the babies... so much cooing and love flowing around here with two such beautiful babies :)

C has also had big life changes while I've been on leave... she started 7th grade and beauty school and is happily busy and learning!

As for us... we got passport pictures taken for our littlest family members and plan to apply  soon for their American papers and Honduran passports as well.  One of the days we want to bring them to the states to visit :)

Also my dad got here this past week to visit and we are delighted to see him!  My kids love their US grandparents and were counting down the days for Papi Bruce to get here.  I feel so blessed to have both of my parents here to love on the babies with us and just share in this time of our life.  We have other visitors on the way... my aunt and cousin, two siblings, and grandma will all be here before the end of the month!

For now I leave you with these precious pictures of our friends from PDE with our sweet twins!

They're Here

Can I pretend that I wrote this blog post a month ago?

Welcome to the world...
Eliana Michelle (3 pounds 7 ounces) and Wesley Alexander (4 pounds 8 ounces)

On Saturday, January 17th around 9pm, these two little ones made their grand entrance.  I was so worried about them going into the c-section because they were only 34 1/2 weeks along and we weren't sure if they would be able to breathe on their own.  Eliana had stopped moving and wasn't getting enough oxygen from the placenta which is why we had to schedule things last minute.  They sent us from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula to a hospital with a better NICU just in case they needed it.

My eyes filled with tears when I heard Eliana's first cry.  It was a miracle to hear the sound of the new life that God had been growing inside of me, but I also was just filled with relief that she could cry, which meant she could breathe and she was going to be okay.  Three minutes later Wesley followed with cries of his own.  I got a great report from the pediatrician shortly afterwards, although they were still whisked away to the NICU to get feeding tubes and spend the next few days in the incubators.

Eliana quickly figured out how to suck and within a few days was bottle feeding.  Wesley took a little longer, but by Wednesday was also eating and was ready to come home.  We headed back to La Ceiba Wednesday afternoon to meet brothers and sister and experience life out of the hospital for the first time.

The last month has been full of eating and sleeping and burping and swinging and trying to figure out the whole nursing thing.  Mommy and Papi and Nana are tired, but so happy!  Older siblings are in love and want to help as much as they can.  They are gentle and loving and cannot wait until the twins are old enough to play.  Since the twins came so small, we've had to be careful about washing hands and germs and all that, but its amazing how great they are doing since they still haven't even reached their due date of February 25th.  We've been trying to take pictures to show for scale how really little they are.  This is Wesley next to a 12 inch spider man :)


 Our favorite story as we have been introducing them to friends is from our four year old friend Elias.  When I first told Elias that I was going to have twins, the conversation went like this...
Me: Elias, did you know that I have two babies in my belly?
Elias: Why did you eat two babies?
Me: (laughing) I didn't eat them Elias, they are growing in there.  God is making them big and strong so they can come out and play with you.
So when Elias came to meet the babies he kept staring back and forth between me and them...
Me: Elias, these are the babies that were growing in my tummy.
Elias: (confused) Are you going to eat them again?
Gotta love four year old reasoning skills!

We have had lots of visitors from my team and Lesther's family and the PDE family.  It has been fun to see some of the girls come by and hold my little ones and be so excited for me over the new step for our family.  They all want to help and have offered to take care of them or come help clean my house or do whatever we need.  I love seeing the Lord work in them to be so generous and want to give what they can.  We are very blessed by our community here.  My mom is here for awhile and I don't know what I would do without her.  She is the best nana in the world and has made Valentine's Day cake, done homework, done midnight feedings, rocked babies, made dinner, washed clothes, and so much more.  I may never let her leave...  More of my family comes in March and I can't wait for them to get here and meet Eliana and Wesley.

Its amazing to me that they have such different personalities at such a young age.  Isn't God creative?  Eliana is awake more, alert, active, and is going to be a spit-fire.  She is already holding her head up, trying to roll over, interactive, trying to figure out her hands, etc.  She is a little bit of a thing, but watch out world because that is not going to stop her.  She still loves being held and cuddled and has started trying to turn towards my voice when she hears me... I love that!  Welsey is our little lazy bear.  He is a sleepy little guy and has been lazy from the beginning.  He never moved around as much as his sister, even in the womb.  And in the hospital he was content to get his food by a tube, why work for it if they are going to just fill up my tummy anyways?  He has more digestive issues and is just a little more complicated, but he is the sweetest snuggly boy in the world.  And, not to be outdone by his sister he is also trying to hold his head up and intentionally smiled yesterday for the first time.  He had to be first in something, so I guess he figured smiling was something that didn't take too much effort :)  I think he is going to be the sweetest little thing who will help me stay sane while his sister is out taking over the world.

I guess when you wait a month, this is the kind of marathon blog post you get :)

I'll leave you with our only picture as a family of 7, you read that right, 7.  Wow.

Pocoyo and Chicharon

Months ago I asked Andres what he thought we should name the babies.  He didn't even hesitate when he responded with "Pocoyo and Chicharon".  Okay them.  So we have affectionately referred to them as such :)  You'll be pleased to know those names won't be sticking after birth!

I haven't written much about the twins and pregnancy, but I wanted to share an update.  We are at 34 weeks and the babies are healthy and moving around and have strong heartbeats!  We were able to get a precious picture of our son's face, but the little girl is camera shy and hasn't let us see her face even one time!  And believe me... we have had enough ultrasounds that that is really a feat.  Due to various health problems throughout this pregnancy, we have had lots of doctor visits and at this point could not be more thankful to have healthy babies!

However, healthy they may be, they are not growing as they should due to the placenta.  So it looks like they will coming early!  We expect to do a c-section early next week, most likely Tuesday!  So pray for a healthy delivery and babies who can breathe and eat on their own, so that they can come home with me next week.  They are currently both around 4 pounds!

Keep your eyes out for pictures!  I'm officially on maternity leave, so expect the blog to take a personal turn a few weeks as I take a step back from Puerta de Esperanza.

Graduation!

Yesterday was a big day for C and her son W.  And really, a big day for Puerta de Esperanza.  Although we have had other girls leave the house, she is our first graduate who really left when we felt like she was spiritually, physically, and financially ready.  We are SOOO proud of her!

We are definitely sad to see her go after 3 years of living in the home.  W has never known another home or another family outside of PDE and cried when we left him in his new apartment yesterday.  He will quickly adjust I'm sure, but it is a big change!

B and G who used to live with us at PDE are going to be living with them and the girls will help each other with the bills and childcare.  They are living near C's university and our church bus passes right in front of their neighborhood.  C will keep studying and working, although maybe cut back on the amount of classes she can handle as she shares in childcare responsibilities.  B will continue to buy clothes to sell and try to make some extra money traveling outside of the city to sell used clothes.  But she will mainly be taking care of the kids at home.

Please keep these girls in your prayers as they adjust to life in their own place.  Also pray that they will get along with each other and agree on how to raise their children as they both have responsibilities in that area.  Pray for them to stay involved in the church and continue to seek the Lord in their personal life.

We definitely know that we are not saying goodbye... they are our family and we'll be seeing them soon and often :)