Birthdays, Cows, Puppies, and other Random Events

 Dear friends and family,
It's time for another update.
Last week we celebrated Isai's birthday on Wednesday and my birthday on Thursday. For Isai's birthday, we had a half day off school and played games and went swimming in the afternoon. He choose cupcakes for his cake and we had a fun time celebrating! Josh and I took Isai out for ice cream on Thursday as our gift to him.

The home purchased two bulls last week also. Dave and Josh plan to fatten them up and sell them for a profit. Their names are Bobby and Jimmy. My favorite is Jimmy, although the kids said he's a stubborn one. The kids built cool little huts for them and had a fabulous (mostly) time doing that! It was a good exercise in teamwork for them.

The puppies are starting to grow up and be fun to play with! We took the babies outside for a visit last week; some of the babies loved the puppies and others did not like them at all. And some of the babies just ate dirt; it's their (almost) favorite thing to do.

Rosa loves to help out in the kitchen; she helped me make bread the other day. You can pray for her that we would have lots and lots of patience and wisdom with her. Her attention span is almost nonexistent so it can be very frustrating attempting to read books to her or teach her numbers and letters.

I'm helping the 3rd graders with their science and social studies everyday. They haven't been doing well at all on their tests so we're trying some more intense tutoring in an attempt to better their grades and teach them good study habits. It has certainly been good for my Spanish skills. We would absolutely love for a full-time, Spanish-speaking teacher to come and take over all the school stuff. You can pray with us for God's answer to that request. (no picture of school at the moment)

Yesterday, Deborah, her sister Esther, Tabitha (our volunteer for 2 months), and myself went to Antigua, close to Guatemala City, for a women's breakfast/luncheon type thing done by a church in Jacksonville, FL that has special retreats for missionary women. We had such a fun day! It was challenging and uplifting and encouraging to be with other women; and we four had a great time on the 3.5 hour drive there and back. (no pictures of this either)

And then, a super big highlight....!!! We finally got to pick up a box from our parents that got stuck in the city for some odd reason! We didn't have to pay taxes or anything; so we aren't sure why they stopped it but anyway...we got the box! It was so much fun opening it; not just fun for us, everyone loves to see what comes in boxes! Middleswarth chips have never tasted so delicious!!! And even though there isn't a picture of this, in the pantry fridge...a whole box of chocolate puddings is waiting for us. yummm. :)

Prayer Requests
1. Recently, Dave and Deborah found out that the people who had the home before Deborah's family had never filed their tax papers correctly with the association of children's home. Now, we are facing fines piled up from 2001, which is long before Dave's took over the home. We also have to pay an accountant to straighten out the mess since its so much paperwork. Please pray that God would drastically lower or completely remove the fines and that these funds would be provided.

2. Deborah's grandmother (in Wisconsin) is currently at home on hospice care and she still has not come to salvation in Jesus Christ. She is softening to the prayers of the family, but still refuses to acknowledge her need for Jesus. Please pray for her salvation; also, pray for Deborah's parents as they take care of her and speak to her about Jesus.

3. Please pray for the upcoming elections here in Guatemala. As I've mentioned before, the current government has passed a law closing adoptions to the States. In this culture, adoption is just not typical or the thing to do, so many of the children will just stay in homes and orphanages until they are 18. There is a very very very small chance, almost 0% that they will ever be adopted by Guatemalans. So, if the next government administration decides to change that rule, they can without any delay. (it's not at all like in the States where changing a law takes years and years) The new President can simply start all over his way or build on the previous administration or do whatever he wants. So pray for a President that will open adoptions again.

4. The current government has a very un-brilliant idea to build a massive compound to house ALL the orphans in the country. It would be like a prison and I don't even want to think about the abuse that would occur in a place like that. I didn't realize until a few weeks ago that this compound is already under construction. We don't know how far along it is or how the funding works, etc; and the new government this fall could stop the whole thing completely if its not something on their agenda. Regardless, please pray against this attempt.

5. Dave & Deborah are hoping to start a home for older girls within the next year or so. There is a house available near our house that would house about 15 girls. We are currently praying for a couple or whomever God provides to come and begin this work. This is a huge need here in Guatemala with many girls (some as young as 8 or 9) being forced into prostitution; the child abuse rate in general is 90%. That is devastating. Please pray that God's will would be accomplished regarding this dream.

God continues to be so faithful and good to us. He continues to shape us and mold us and teach us in sometimes painful ways to see Him in all things, to focus on Him at all times, to become more and more like His dear Son. Perfectly, no. Increasingly, yes. (To quote our pastor)
Blessings to each one of you as you do what God has called you to do today.

Josh&Donna

p.s. I love this font, but is it too difficult to read? Feedback gladly accepted. :)

The Promised Post

 Hey everyone, this is Josh finally doing my promised update. I've been lacking in time and writing isn't my favorite thing to do. I'll turn this back to my wife after this post. Actually, she is typing right now, and I'm just standing here telling her what to type. That's teamwork. ha.
To start, an update on baby Karina: The hearing was actually a mistake. The social service group hadn't even completed the home study, so she came back and will have another audience in September. She is doing well, starting to chunk up a little. I have lots of fun playing with her; she's my bestest little friend. :)

We were attempting to potty train Mynor, but alas, it seems a lost cause for now. We're going to wait til he's a bit older; it was just frustrating him and us. In the following picture, he's happy, but most times as soon as we take him into the bathroom he begins to wail. loudly.

I take care of the pool most days. Every day it needs to be cleaned out. Every 3rd day, I add chlorine and sweep it. During the rainy season, its harder to keep clean and eventually we close it, but for now we have lots of fun swimming! This is Isai.

A little update on the other babies:
Josue is starting to walk....

Jacob is learning what 'no' means... (yay!)

Mercedes is sitting better than she used to and is starting to get into a crawling position...

Isaac is still Isaac. He is happier standing now than sitting, which is a big improvement for him!

Here is a picture of all of us. Sorry if we aren't all looking at the camera.

I've been riding Dave's dirt bike lately. It's a Honda XR 650. There was another guy here the other day who also had a dirtbike so Dave and I went out riding for a bit. That was fun. Makes me want to get another bike. :)

We're doing well here. God is working in us and we are learning much! Something God's been revealing to me is my having a spirit of selfishness and unthankfulness. He has called us to be servants and that means laying down my agenda and myself to allow God to bless others through me. We want to be open channels of His love and His Spirit and be joyful always! We want to be thankful in all things, praising God continually, even through trials. I just read in my devotions this morning how that through trials we need to be looking for God's deliverance and praising Him as we wait. This is our prayer. We aren't in a specific trial, but it challenged us to be like this in the everyday challenges. :) We love knowing that God is refining us, even if its painful at times; because we know He loves us. And we love it here!
Prayer Requests: Safety for Dave and Deborah as they travel to the city tomorrow for an audience. Wisdom for us as we are in charge tomorrow. That we would have teachable hearts as God trains us to be servants. That we would be faithful in prayer. That Isaac would crawl or walk. Pray for Dave and Deborah as they oversee the home and raise their little boy, Davey. My wife says pray that the bugs would stop biting us. har.
Praise: The diaper wipes have not run out!!!! Mynor went to sleep last night without yelling, after we specifically prayed for that!! Praise God that we have adjusted as well and as quickly as we have! Praise Him for his work in us, in giving us wisdom as we relate to the kids and Dave's! We're thankful that the tree that fell last night didn't fall on the house! And we haven't been robbed lately! And many praises that we are healthy again!!!

ok, thats all for now. Thanks for your prayers and support. (special thanks to our church for sending us sermons from home and for all your emails!) We feel loved.