Happy Thanksgiving

I’m sure at this moment you are either consuming delicious food, dessert, maybe falling asleep, watching a little football, visiting with family and friends or about to feast. All the wonderful things that come with celebrating this incredible day. I love Thanksgiving. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. Although, I will say it is still strange every year living in a country that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. The first part of our day today was business as usual. Caro had school, Antu and Natalia were busy with homework, and I was in the office getting a few things done. However, in a few hours we too will be gathering with family and friends to eat a fabulous meal Jackie has prepared, hangout and no doubt talk about all we are thankful for.

There are so many things to be thankful for. So many things that Jackie and I are personally thankful for.

We are thankful for all of you who read our updates. We are thankful for all of your emails, text messages and encouraging words you share. We are thankful to each of you who have faithfully prayed for us over the past 9 years. We are thankful for all of you who have financially supported us and the ministry. We are thankful for all the great partnerships we have with churches, businesses, families and individuals. We are thankful for those of you who have come down over the years to serve with us, our church and the community. And we are especially thankful for an incredibly loving, compassionate, gracious and forgiving God whose mercies are new every single morning.

Hoping you all have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you so very much!

Love, Jason and Jackie

“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His lovingkindness endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1).

A Very Special Weekend...

Tomorrow I turn 42.  It is a bit sobering getting older, realizing my body doesn’t move as quickly and pain free as it once did.  I now have to use reading glasses full time even though I had lasik surgery just a few years ago.  I usually fall asleep while watching a movie and I now have more grey hair than dark hair.  Bottom line, I’m getting old.

I found this picture from 2 years ago.  My birthday looked quite different that year.  I was spoiled by hugs, cards and kinds words from our wonderful children and staff.  I sure do miss these smiling beautiful faces.

I came across another from March 8th 2020.  We were celebrating Ayantu’s birthday.  When I took this picture, I never would have imagined that this would be the last picture of the orphanage full of kids.  7 days later, the Pandemic hit Mexico and everything shutdown and changed.

It has been 602 days since the shutdown.  We have most definitely missed this place being full of life, laughter, conversation, hanging out, children, our staff and friends.  We really miss our supporters, friends and churches coming down to serve alongside us, encourage us, drink coffee and laugh with us.

And yet, even though so many things have drastically changed, we are excited about the new opportunities that have come about.  We are excited about the new ways that House of Blessing can still make an impact and difference here in Mexico.  New ways that we can care for children, partner with families in need and invest in our community here in Bachiniva.

Jackie and I are really excited that House of Blessing has the opportunity to host a women’s retreat this weekend. Some 50 women from four different churches will gather here tomorrow and Saturday for a refreshing and encouraging time together.  The past month has been incredibly busy getting everything cleaned, repaired, painted and prepared.  I don’t think we realized how dirty and out of shape some of our buildings were.  Now, this place is cleaner than it has been in a very long time thanks to a few gallons of paint, some mops, bleach, soap, brooms, and wonderful ladies from our church helping clean.

Please be praying for this weekend and all the ladies coming to the retreat. Please pray for the team of ladies that are hosting the event, leading worship and speaking. I’m super proud of my wife Jackie as she will be sharing at one of the sessions. First time doing something like this all in spanish, without a translator. Go Jax!

I’ll make sure we take lots of pictures and videos to share with you all as well as stories of how the weekend goes.

Thank you all and hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Back To School ... Take 2!

Back in August I started writing our “Back to School” blog post. Momentum had definitely been building for our kids to finally return to in person classes on August 30th. We were very busy shopping, planning, preparing, attending school meetings, etc. When it was all said and done, we felt like we had a great game plan for our 3 girls, attending 3 different schools with, 3 different schedules. Carolina started her senior year of high school, Natalia started her 1st year of junior high (7th grade) and our daughter Ayantu started her final year of elementary school (6th grade).

As we anticipated the first day of school, we received some incredibly sad news that one of the beloved teachers had passed away from COVID. A man at the age of 48, leaving behind his wife and 3 little kids. The government decided to postpone school for another week for a time of mourning.

September 6th came and the new school year had officially begun. The girls have classes 2 days a week from 8:00-1:00 PM. Unfortunately the schedules are all different. We’ve got a Monday and Tuesday, Monday and Wednesday, Tuesday and Thursday, and then sometimes a Friday depending on the work load. After the first week, Jackie and I were talking about why in the world this felt more complicated then when we would just pile 13-15 kids into a van every morning and haul them off to school for a regular schedule of 8:00-3:00, Monday thru Friday.

The first week of school was a success. The girls adapted very well to the new protocols, smaller classroom sizes, seating arrangements, face masks, no recess or lunch, etc, etc. Sadly though, that only lasted a week for our daughter. No sooner had school begun, that it had to be shut down for 2 weeks due to individuals getting COVID. Hopefully this doesn’t become the new norm. 2 days of school, 2 weeks of shut down.

Our health and wellness program continues to be a blessing. We started this when the orphanage shut down back in March of 2020. This has been an incredible way that we can partner with kids and their families to help bring assistance through financial aid, clothing and supplies, encouragement, tutoring, etc. Rather than have kids return to the orphanage, we have been able to help keep them with their families. One of those boys, Edgar, lives with his mom Lucia about 15 mins away from us. There are no good school options for him out there so we were able to work out a schedule and plan to get him to the elementary school here in town. He is in 6th grade and has classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Lastly, I wanted to give an amazing report regarding the House of Blessing Golf Tournament we had on September 11th. It was truly an amazing and special day. Golfers, volunteers, churches and businesses from all over helped make this event possible and a wonderful success. We were able to raise over $8800. Please check out this short video recap we put together.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. Until next time!

Jason