Thanks & Prayers...

THANKS…A few weeks ago, the Lord brought us another wonderful young gal named Sarai (Sarah).  She is 7 years old and is in the 2nd grade.  We were contacted by Sarai’s mother who is in a similar situation as many of the other mothers of the children here.  She is single, working, trying to provide, as well as adequately raise Sarai.  She heard about the Casa through her cousin and reached out to us.

Sarai has adjusted very well.  She is pretty behind in school, but very eager to learn.  She is getting along well with the other 10 girls that live here.  (Yes, that indeed is a lot of precious little gals!) We were able to purchase a bike for Sarai this week, and she has already learned how to ride it.  She also loves playing outside, as well as playing with her new doll.  Sarai is quiet and shy, but seems to be coming out of her shell little by little each day. 

We are so thankful to have her with us, and please join us as we pray daily for her.

PRAYERS…The week we received Sarai was so very exciting; however, it was also a very challenging and hard week as one of our boys is no longer living with us.  After much prayer and seeking wisdom from the Lord, as well as discussing options with the board of directors, it was decided that Jesus Miguel (Chewy) should no longer live with us.  The problems we were having with Jesus Miguel continued to grow and grow.  After countless meetings with him, encouraging him to change, giving him chance after chance, and a desire to help him, Jesus Miguel refused.  He told us he no longer wanted to be here with us, attend school, or go to church.  He only wants to go back with his mom.  We discussed this with his mom and shared the same feelings with her.  It was decided that it was in the best interest of the other younger, more impressionable children that Chewy should return to his mother’s care.

Honestly, I hate decisions like this and always feel bad.  There seems to be a recurring thought of, “maybe we should give him one more chance, or maybe we can do something different.”  However, I am learning that you can’t help everyone, especially those who don’t want help.

So, in the midst of difficulty, we are rejoicing in the 2 years that Jesus Miguel was with us. We are praying that at some point the seeds that were planted in this young man’s life will later be watered and bring forth much fruit.  Please continue to pray for Chewy, for the Lord’s hand of protection on his life, and that his heart would be softened and yielded to the grace and love and forgiveness of our sweet Savior.

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there.  The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

THANKS…A HUGE thank you to all who have donated for our back to school drive and our computer lab/resource room project.  We were hoping to raise $2500 for back to school, however, we received over $5000.  WOW!!  Also, the computer lab/resource room project is almost finished.  The workers are laying the tile this week and then we basically just need to paint and furnish.  With your support we have been able to purchase a few chrome books as well as HP computer monitors for the …. drum roll please …. 8 computers that were generously donated by a company in Washington.  Thank you Jesus!

"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things" (Psalm 72:18).

PRAYERS…Please be praying for me as I am in the transition of becoming a permanent resident of Mexico.  I have been on my temporal visa for 4 years (which is the maximum) and now need to change it.  It’s hard to believe that we on year 5 of being down here in Bachiniva, Mexico.  Boy does time fly by.

I had my first visa appointment last week and it went well.  I will head back to Chihuahua City in a few weeks for my 2nd appointment and then it will be official.  There are a lot of benefits of becoming a permanent resident.  I can basically do everything from owning land, buying a home, having a bank account, working, etc.  However, unfortunately, I can not have an American vehicle permitted under my name.  This goes for Jackie as well, when she changes her residency in April.

With that being said, come April, we will lose our current minivan.  Please join us in prayer for another vehicle for our family.  There are 2 options.  We can either buy a Mexican car here or we can import a vehicle from the United States.  In order to do this, the vehicle must be a 2009 or 2010 model.  It costs about $2000 to import a vehicle.

When we were in Chihuahua City last week we looked at 7 different vehicles and called about 3 others.  The challenging thing with Mexican vehicles is that a lot of them are salvaged (which have been rebuilt or just made to look nice), they don’t have the legal paperwork, or they are ridiculously expensive with high mileage.  For this reason, we are looking in the States for one as well.  If any of you know of or have a good, reliable 2009 or 2010 minivan or SUV, please let me know via email (jason@thehouseofblessing) or phone call (915-316-9496).  The reason we are wanting a minivan or SUV is because we can transport small missions teams as well as a small group of our children down here. 

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support.  Looking forward to continually sharing with you all the great things that our God is doing AND will do!