2010 Nica Update

Thank you again for your coveted prayers while I was away. I have made it back safely from Nicaragua but life has not yet settled down. When I returned home, I was blessed by the birth of my second nephew (Paige’s child) and my brother Andy’s marriage to Elisa, a wonderful Godly woman. On the 13th of July, I will be heading to Dominican Republic with the youth group from Calvary Chapel. As always, this will be such a wonderful time of fellowship with the youth, other leaders, and people of the Dominican.

Now for the update on Nicaragua! I will admit that it is very difficult to put into words because there are so many experiences that I would love to share. The Lord definitely went before me and prepared the way. Many of you received my update from Nicaragua via email about William and how God was and is definitely at work in his case of adoption. Through prayer, He has been preparing the hearts of William and William’s family. He softened and opened their hearts to have a relationship with my family and me. EVERY aspect in the story of William’s case is an example of God’s sweet pursuit of each one of us. And, it was a complete MIRACLE that William’s dad would even have anything to do with us. Not even a year ago, the grandmother was angry that someone may be adopting him and was living in fear that William’s dad may kill her if she allows William to be adopted. Obviously, God’s name is written all over this. There are still many obstacles but I refuse to focus on those. All I can do at this moment in time is to continue to walk through the doors that the Lord has opened. And, when He closes a door; I will continue to praise His name, take comfort in knowing that His ways are perfect, and recognize that His name will be brought the most glory through it all. Our next step will be to find a death certificate in El Salvador for William’s mom who was part of a gang and murdered. It’s hard to keep my mind in the “now moment” and not let it get ahead of me in the “what ifs”. Therefore, I ask for prayers that my mind will be clear and my focus will be on the moment where God has us, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (I Cor 14:33).

Life at the orphanage was crazy like usual (how can it not be with 35 children living there fulltime and 61 children in the daytime) but I cannot imagine spending my summer any other way! I still feel so blessed to have the opportunity to live alongside these kids and see some of them grow up over the past six years (I feel like a proud mom :). This summer, I was able to love on the little babies a lot!! Almost every morning, I would go on long walks out of the Canyon with 2 ½ year old Israel. We would talk, sing, laugh, and look for cars, buses, and motorcycles on the main highway. Then before the kids would go to bed; we would say our prayers, sing, and give hugs and kisses. Have I mentioned what a blessing these children are to me!?!? Some nights, I would just go lay on the beds with the older girls as they were going to bed and talk (I think I even got them in trouble sometimes due to curfew…oops). These girls are like sponges just waiting to soak anything up. Many of the girls have been abandoned not just once but several times. They are searching for acceptance and what exactly true love looks like. Which resulted in many of our conversations being focused on the love of our Father in Heaven and how His love is the ONLY perfect love that can be found. I want these girls to know that the love of man will never fulfill our deepest desires and will never be the perfect love we are searching for. But, there is One who is in pursuit of us and will never let us leave His embrace. The stories with the kids and people of Nicaragua do not end there but for all of them to be written out would turn this letter into a book….and I’ll spare you from that :)

Once again, I ask for your prayers as I head back to Nicaragua August 2-24. I will spend most of the time with the kids at the orphanage and will also be working with our lawyer on some of the specifics with William’s case. I will never be able to thank you enough for all your prayers and support that you have shown me. Your prayers have been felt and each one of you is having an impact on the lives of the children there. "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26). Many of these children are regarded as abandoned but please join with me in continual prayer over them. Pray that they will be so tightly embraced by the Lord that they will be able to rest in His arms listening to His heartbeat. Thank you!!!

I am blessed!!

I am writing to update you on some things that are happening here in Nicaragua and the joy that comes with the Lord’s timing for everything. Many of you have read my update letter from Christmas on William and where we stand with his adoption process. In December, William was returned home by the government to live with his dad and grandmother which resulted in our adoption process being terminated. We were unable to go on with the process because his family did not support the adoption. Also during Christmas, I had the opportunity to visit William’s family and go out with him. The family accepted me and knew that I was just a “good friend” of Williams. My time with William was hard because his attitude towards me had changed and I once again felt like he was testing my love for him. Well, this past Saturday I was blessed with the opportunity to once again see him. A friend of mine picked William up from his house and brought him to the orphanage so that he could see many of the kids that he had lived with for the past six years. When he got to the orphanage, I once again saw his beautiful smile and received a big hug from him. He has grown so much  From the beginning of our time together on Saturday, his attitude with me had changed since Christmas. He seemed comfortable once again like the past when he had been in the states with my family. He seemed to have a confidence that my love for him was real and that my family and I are not going to give up on him and forget about him. Our time together was natural. We had the opportunity to go out to eat, see a movie, and go to a park to play and talk. While at the park, I shared once again with him that NO MATTER what he is my brother and the son of my mom and dad. I told him that we really wanted him to be with us but obviously God had other plans. He understood that there was not a possibility that he could live with us due to the fact that he was returned to live with his family but we always wanted to be a part of his life.

Which brings me to the next part of this story; my friend and I went to William’s house to return him to his family. As we got there, his grandmother was waiting for us and his dad was drunk just as he had been all day. I greeted the grandmother but still was nervous because I didn’t know what all she knows about the adoption that had been taking place and I had no idea what she thought of me. I went to the door where she was standing and thanked her once again for everything she has done for William. She began to talk to me and the words she was saying just did not seem like they could be true. I asked my friend to come and translate for me to make sure I was hearing everything correctly. She repeated what she was saying and told me that she is getting old; William’s dad is sick and also does not have the capability to take care of William; and many drugs pass through their neighborhood which scares her. She told me that she and her son (William’s dad) wanted to sign the papers for us to take him to the U.S and live with us. WHAT!?!? How can this be? Our case was terminated and there was no possibility for the adoption to happen. But, our Lord is Faithful and Good. He is mighty and can make the impossible possible (Luke 1:37). His plans are greater than mine. He had a purpose for sending William home during Christmas. Now, we do not have to fight a battle like a custody battle. Instead, his family approves of the whole process and there are no hard feelings. This situation is healthy for William because he does not feel that he has to choose between one family or the other. Praise our Mighty God for “your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” (Psalm 139:16)

Tomorrow, I will be meeting with William’s grandmother and father to sit down and talk. This will be a meeting to make sure that we are all on the same page. I want William’s grandmother to know our heart for him and that we always want her to be a part of his life. We will not be bringing our lawyer to the meeting tomorrow because we do not want the family to feel like we are pushing anything. I also want to sit down with William and hear his heart once again on the adoption process. Before I go to the meeting tomorrow, I will be joining with three of the staff members from the orphanage to pray for this whole situation with William and others at the orphanage. Therefore, I ask that each of you please join us in prayer tomorrow and over the next couple of weeks. Pray with boldness, pray with faith, and pray with hope that our God is Faithful and his ways are great!!! I thank each one of you for your prayers, love, and support.

Mi Hermanito William!!

My heart is sad and I admit that this is one of the hardest things for me to write because it brings me to reality, but I have hope and peace because the Lord is good. He is faithful and will continually walk with us through all trials of life. The fact is, our case has been terminated. The government made the decision to send William back home to live with his grandmother and dad. God blessed me with the opportunity to visit William and meet his family. I will never forget his big smile as he rode up on his bike. I would like to say that things were perfect and normal like before but they weren’t. William is a teenager now and he also puts up a guard and has a “special” attitude with me:) We were able to go to a mall and eat dinner together which enabled me to really be able to talk to him. I knew that this may be the only time that I have to really talk to William about what happened and how much we love him. I let him know that we love him and never wanted this to happen. We want him to be ours and to live with us but obviously God has other plans, greater plans for his life. It was hard for me to say this but God was able to use me to really encourage and speak truth into William’s life. I let him know that the Lord enabled us to show him love and that now it is his turn to share that with his family. I told him that we are always praying for him and that we want to be a part of his life if he wants that. He said he did. I reminded him that NO MATTER what he IS my brother and he IS the son of Charlie and Susan. Though he may not be by blood, he is a part of our lives forever and cannot be taken away.

When we returned to William’s house to drop him off, William's grandmother told me that she did not want him to come back and live in the home because the lifestyle of William’s dad. She also told me that William is suffering because he is not with us. This hurt to hear. She did give my parents’ permission to come and visit. And hopefully the dad will let him come and stay with us some when we are in Nicaragua.

I am daily reminded though that God never promised us William just like He has never promised any parent their kids. Ultimately each child belongs to Him, but for a time period He has chosen us to be stewards over these kids. And because of this I have Hope. Through years of prayer, Christ placed William in our life for a time being so that we could show him the hope and love of Christ. The love and compassion of a family and a father. I wish I could remind William of this every day but I have confidence that the Lord will do this in our absence. I reminded him that we WANT him and WANT him to be with us every day. How can I ever express to him how much I love him, my little brother? I now had to explain that God has other plans for his life; God has better plans for Him. I told him that he knows the truth and love of Christ and the Lord wants to use him to share this with his own family and lead them out of their life of hopelessness.

For years, I’ve always seen William as a Moses. A little boy with a speech impediment but also a leader that attracted many people to him. Now I see why I always had this image; Christ had great plans for his life. I pray he will be used like Moses to lead his people, his family out of bondage. I have hope and faith that the Lord IS good and IS at work in the life of William and my family. I will not be discouraged by the lies of Satan but will remember that everything happens for a reason.



Here is part of a song that the Lord provided me before I left for Nica and once again when I got back. If you don't know the whole song, I encourage you to check it out.

Blessed Be Your Name by Matt Redman

"Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name"

He is FAITHFUL and my STRONGHOLD :)