In case you can’t tell from my lack of blogging, we are in the midst of team season. As quickly as one group leaves another one lands, so my free time is at a minimum. However, we have been greatly blessed by our teams this year. Every one of them has had great attitudes, has worked hard and has been wonderful with the children. I thank God for the assistance these groups provide.
Some of you have been asking about the situation with Marcos Antonio, his mom and the damage to their home. While I am not free to go into details, the situation has now been resolved. We met with both the land owner and the mayor and were able to form relationships that will be beneficial for the future. We praise God for helping us get to the bottom of the issue and get it resolved. I especially thank God for Gerardo and the wisdom and help he provided through the process.
Our daycare continues to go well. We recently added Anderson to our program, a little guy who is blind, deaf and has cerebral palsy. This handsome young man has a lot of potential as he is responsive and happy and appears to be very bright. We are in the process of researching teaching techniques, including tactile signing (sign language that is done with hand-to-hand contact) so that he can learn to communicate with others. Pat Duff has also been very helpful in showing us ways to provide stimulation to him.
As we have worked with Anderson, God has been teaching me much about myself. In spite of knowing Jesus for 30 years, I am still blind and deaf in many ways to the things He wants to show me. After all this time, I have barely scratched the surface of His love, mercy and faithfulness, despite God’s persistent attempts to reveal them to me. How honored I am that He is so faithful and patient in communicating with me!
The addition of Anderson brings our day care program up to five children. While that may seem like a small number, it does not feel small. Each of the children have severe disabilities and require a lot of care and supervision. By the time the final child is picked-up, we are all very tired. Wanda does a fantastic job of managing the program and has developed a schedule of play, therapy, and learning.
In addition, Brian Moore, an occupational therapist from the States, was a part of one of our groups this summer. He spent a lot of time teaching us new techniques for working with each of the kids in our day care and sponsorship program. That was an incredible blessing to us. In addition, he arranged for the donation of lots of occupational and physical therapy equipment, supplies and activities. We are now well equipped for the opening of our group home. It is hard to describe what an impact trained specialists can have on our ministry. Even a few day visit that includes training and demonstration can make a long-term difference in our work with children. We hunger for all the advice and education we can obtain.
We have also been able to deliver two more wheelchairs over the last few weeks. The first one went to Misael, whose situation has really touched our hearts. You might remember that his mother was widowed around that time that he was born when his father, a police officer, was shot in the line of duty. With Misael’s hydrocephalus, seizures and cerebral palsy, his mother has struggled to care for him and make ends meet. We fitted him for a new chair and arranged for him to be seen by our physician. He has severe seizures that have been worsening and she has not had the money for doctor visits or medication. He will be getting an EEG this week and we will hopefully be able to get him on good medication to control those.
We also delivered a new wheelchair to Luis Fernando in La Gomera (not to be confused with another sponsored child named Luis Fernando in Santa Catarina). We were taken to him by Jorge’s mother who is a friend of the family. We found him greatly in need of a new chair. He had been given a chair by Dick a few years ago, but it had worn out. In addition to that need, his parents were also struggling with providing enough food for him and the rest of the family. I am happy to say that we have a sponsor for him and made the first monthly delivery along with the wheelchair. I was deeply moved when the father, a hard-working man who takes his responsibility very seriously, wept as he thanked us for the help. It is an honor to come along-side men like him in Jesus’ name.
While we were in La Gomera, we also stopped in to visit Jorge. Two weeks before we had received a call from his mom explaining that he had been sick for almost three weeks. He had been having a fever that hovered around 104 degrees and had suffered from lower back pain. It doesn’t take a genius to know that he was suffering from a UTI (urinary tract infection). But when she took him to the National Hospital the doctor told her not to be concerned, IT WAS JUST A STAGE OF ADOLESCENCE. (I will pause here to allow you a moment to compose yourself and reach up to close your mouth that is likely hanging open in astonishment...) This young man had suffered needlessly for over two weeks. We explained to his mother that adolescence does not cause fever and that she needed to get him to a private doctor pronto and we would pay. As we suspected, a UTI was diagnosed and the doctor gave him two injections and oral antibiotics to address it. By the time we arrived he was doing much better.
As you can see from the photo, Jorge’s foot is continuing to heal from the partial amputation. We are hopeful that the wrapping can come off soon and he can be fitted for a prosthetic and AFO’s and begin therapy to walk. Please continue to pray for him.
Our group home licensing is proceeding rapidly. Each week we take more steps to prepare for its opening. Even as I type this we are awaiting the visit of another inspector. (To be honest, I forget who this inspector represents. There are so many agencies and governmental branches that require an inspection that I can’t keep up with who is who.) So far we have passed all our inspections with flying colors. In September we will have the really big inspection that will require that everything be completely ready for our home opening.
In addition to the regular ministry, our family life has continued. We celebrated two birthdays back-to-back as Carissa turned 19 on August 8th and Taryn turned 14 on August 9th. Time flies so quickly and all the kids are growing so fast!
We also purchase plane tickets for Teisha and Carissa’s trip to Uganda. They will be leaving on September 19th and will be gone for six weeks as they explore and work with various ministries there. They will both return on October 31st. Carissa will then enjoy the holidays with us before returning to Uganda in early January where she will stay for six months, serving as a nanny and teacher for a missionary family there and working in ministries during her free time. These trips will be preparation for both of their permanent moves there in the future. Please pray for them.
Finally, a brief update on our financial situation…
Many of you have been praying, and those prayers have begun producing results. Over the last five weeks we have seen an increase of monthly commitments by $550.00. We have also seen several larger one-time gifts. We still need to see an increase of an addition $1000.00 per month, but we are confident that these early commitments are just the beginning. Please continue to pray for God’s provision as we move quickly toward the opening of our group home.
That’s all for now. Have a wonderful week!
Daryl, Wanda and the Crew
