This Christmas our boxes with presents did not make it in time for Christmas day. I was a little sad that my kids presents did not make it here but it turned out to be a HUGE blessing.  We had to step back from what we have made Christmas and step in to what Christmas really is.  A time of celebrating the birth of our Savior, the one who brought me to La Moskitia, the one who formed our family, the one who places orphans in homes, the one who feeds the hungry, and the one who deserves all the glory!

 

"Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth peace to men

on whom his favor rests"

Luke 2:14

December 23rd Christmas blessing food bags to 20 of the poorest families in our area.

 

 

Christmas Eve missionary lunch:

 

 

 

Christmas morning at Adele and Oscar's with my landlord's family. They fed the entire community. It was a beautiful day with the Christmas story, a prayer time, lunch with a whole neighborhood, and a pinata!

 

 

 

Traditional tamales for Christmas supper and the Christmas story with the House of Hope kids.

 

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!!

 

We want to say thank you for what each of you have done for our family, Root Minstries, and the Kasaubila Feeding Program this year.

Thank you for your time, prayers, encoragement, and donations.

We could not do what we do without each of you! 

 The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy. Psalm 126:3

 

 

Thankful for my ONE year old Daniel Paul

On February 3^rd of this year we picked up a tiny 2 month old baby boy thinking we would just get a short while to love on him.

 

 

 

I know Jesus just laughs at me when I think I know where things are going.

Very quickly we realized we would get way more than a few weeks with this sweet boy but for a while still thought he would return to his birth mother. Then one day in March I had quite the surprise (in a good way) that I was now mama to a little boy.

 

This Thanksgiving I am thankful that I get to be Daniel Paul's mommy!

 

 

Happy 1st Birthday Daniel Paul! We love you!!

 

 

 

I originally started this blog when I came back to Alabama( to finish my senior year at Auburn) after declaring I was moving to Honduras and that I was adopting a baby. You can imagine the surprise and questions. This blog was a place I could explain it all one time. After that it became a place I updated on the move, updated while I was in Honduras, and now update on our family and ministry. I never thought I would meet someone and they would say “I read your blog.” 

That being said I want some feedback from you!

What kind of things do you want to hear about?

 I love questions!!

Life has been a wild roller coaster these past two month.  I lost track of days now but over 60 days we have spent multiple hours a day sitting to see the judge, attorney, running around trying to get paper work together, and finally a trip to the city to get Grace a Honduran passport!

We still have one more step and that is permission from the judge to travel outside of the country.

With this permission we can apply for a US VISA for Grace. Then it is up to the embassy if she is granted the VISA or not.

And we still have this whole process starting at page one to begin with DP … I have to take one day at a time one kid at a time to make it through the day half sane.

My days are spent trying to find balance.

Balance between raising my kids American and Miskito.

Balance between being a mom and a missionary.

Balance between doing what I want to do and what I am required to do.

Amongst the craziness of life I have been getting a HUGE lesson in trust. I have been so discouraged I wanted to simply give up so many times in this process.  Time and time again the Lord comes through right at the very last second in ways that totally blow my mind.

Like the judge who gave me paperwork just hours before our plane left.

Like the random lawyer who was able to get Grace a passport the same day when there were no available appointments at immigration until December 14^th.

Like the aunt who happens to show up with much needed information on DP 2 weeks before his first birthday ( after your first birthday it is a HUGE legal deal to get a birth certificate)

Or when Grace refused to take her passport picture ... and 30 minutes later decided to just hop up in the chair and say cheese.

 

The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest." Exodus 14:14 

“I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?" Jeremiah 32:27

 

This summer I met a baby boy probably around 7 months older than my Daniel Paul but smaller and way thinner.  At over a year old, unable to walk, or talk this baby boy abandoned at the hospital with no identity. He quickly became Charlie.

In the beginning I decided to wait around a little while and see how the situation played out before jumping in falling in love with a little boy who would be going back home.

The stories got worse the more we found out. It was decided he would not be going home.

I began to pray Lord is Charlie ours? Is Charlie going to grow up running around with a “twin.” Is Grace the big sister of two little brothers.  I thought what are the odds… girly, pink, hair bows, and dresses me has “twin” boys.

I shared about Charlie with very few people who I knew would pray about the situation.

I never felt the Lord say no or yes. So I just kept waiting asking the Lord to make things VERY clear.

The next week I was at the house of hope where Charlie was staying. A human rights lady came by saying she was sending him to the state run orphanage in the city. At this point I thought okay Lord here is your sign. We will take him. I was at peace with this choice but knew we had to wait until we lived in our house before we could take him.

In the mean time Charlie’s sister Mia came into the picture. At 4 years old she was smaller than my 2 year old.  She would talk or smile. She had been through more abuse than anyone should ever be put through much less a 4 year old girl.

Things got complicated. Is Mia ours Lord? Did our family just double? Do I have two sets of “twins” now? 

I did not hear a yes or a no but I did want to keep the siblings together. I knew we for sure had to be in our house. There is no way I could raise 4 kids in a one room apartment and still be sane.

I knew it would be difficult. I emailed a friend who is a Christian counselor for advice on walking Mia through some things. I knew it would be a big adjustment for everyone. I knew despite the what ifs that if the Lord was going to call me to do this- then He would provide. He would be my strength. He would receive a whole lot of glory and I would be made more humble.

I took all 4 kids out for an afternoon. Mia clung to my side. Grace fell in love with Mia. Charlie and Daniel Paul hung out in the stoller and drank bottles. I introduced them to the feeding program kids. They fell in love with them immediately. Falling into the big brother and sister roles they play so well with my kids. It felt good. I went home thinking okay so this will be life. We can make it.

 

4 months later:

 I am still thinking when we move into our house we will take it slow and transition them into our family.

A few weeks ago Charlie and Mia’s mother Patricia showed up.

The Lord had us waiting all along for the “house” while really He was working on the heart of their mom.

She has also been through things I can't even wrap my mind around.  She is 8 months pregnant. She has now been off drugs for 2 months. She came to House of Hope pleading for help to get out. She had hit rock bottom and was so hungry for something more.  At this point she is living at the House of Hope with Charlie and Mia. The missionary there Katrina has taken her under her wing and poured her everything into this woman. Patricia is learning to take care of herself and her children and more importantly how loved she is by her Heavenly Father.

At first glance most would say no way never let her have the kids back. Right now I am cheering for her to take them home and make it as a family. 

Isn’t this what we really want?

To empower the mother to be able to leave the abuse and addictions behind and raise her children to love the Lord.

Who knows what tomorrow will bring.What the Lord has planned for Charlie, Mia and their mom.

Please be praying for Patricia. She has a great future ahead!

Yesterday… well everyday angels surrounded our family. My mom has told me since I very first moved to Honduras that Psalms 91 was her constant prayer for me.

"For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. " Psalm 91:11

At 2 pm yesterday we had a hearing that finished a very long chapter of paperwork and waiting! We finally have everything we need in order to get Grace a passport. (we are starting the same process with DP next week.)

We came home celebrating! Thanking the Lord who went before us and touched the judge’s heart.

A few minutes after being home, I heard a snap and a loud thump. I looked out my window and saw Grace on the ground in the back yard. She had fallen through the railing face first. I started to frantically look for my keys to get through the two gates that separated me from the back yard. Ran down the stairs... thought DP might crawl outside and fall through the open railing… ran upstairs put him in the crib. Ran down stairs opened my gate and confronted the crowd already gathering around. The rest is a blur. A lady I recognize but don’t really know from church grabs my keys opens the second gate to the back yard. I run to Grace. The lady is ushering us outside giving me practical advice. She opens my gate to go back inside gathers my things, gets the baby, and whisks us out the door into a car and tells them to get us to the hospital as fast as possible.

She has some missing hair, pretty nice scrapes ,and a few stitches but nothing more.

No doubt here, Grace has some awesome angels and an awesome God on her side!!  

 

 

 

 

 

For those of you just now starting to follow our journey I am going to do a quick recap of how we started, where we are now, and what our future plans are.

 

The vision of Root Ministries began in 2009 the very first time I
visited Puerto Lempira, Honduras. I returned to Alabama my brain full
of experiences that needed processing. I quickly came to the
conclusion that the Lord had not let me experience those two weeks to
leave it at that. He was calling me to move there. Then my flesh began
to doubt I could live in a country I had only experienced two weeks
in. So at that point I decided to spend my summer break between my
junior and senior year in Honduras. While there I was praying through
exactly what the Lord’s plans were for me. Shortly into my stay a six
month old eight pound baby girl made her way into my life. I will
never forget the moment it all clicked. It was 5 am I was sitting in a
rocking chair holding a “dying” baby girl. Having just been told “ I
want you to have her.” I said yes to a desperate grandmother but I
also said yes to whatever the Lord was starting that morning.
From that point I fought the fight for my precious miracle Grace. As
the summer came to an end I was supposed to return and finish my
senior year of college. In obedience to my parents I returned finished
my senior year. In May 2011 only a short week after graduation I moved
to Honduras.

Once moving Grace and I settled into our little one room apartment and
began working on this huge dream I believe the Lord placed on my
heart.

Root Ministries- Through below the surface relationships bringing a
“hope and a future” to the people of La Moskitia.

1. A family for orphaned and abandoned children- bringing orphans and
abandoned children into my home and raising them as my family. In
February 2012 I became mommy to a two month old little baby boy named
Daniel Paul. In the years to come we plan to build a house where we
can take in 12 children.

2. Kasaubila Feeding Program- An outreach program started in January
2012 in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Puerto Lempira. At this
point the program is two days a week. We have around 60 constant
children coming between the ages of 2 and 15. They come we have a
sports time, worship, monthly memory verse and a bible story. After we
finish they receive a meal of rice, beans, and oranges.

One slow step at a time we have finally come to the point of owning
property, building a place for the Kasaublia Feeding Program kids to
call their own, and planning for a home where we can take in more
orphans and abandoned children and raise them as our family.

 

 

So what are we doing right now?

At the end of September my brother, his fiance, and some friends came.

On September 17th 2012 we broke ground on the Kasaubila Feeding Program property!

 

We started out drawing the property layout in the sand.

The guys and Grace went straight to work.

 

Local men have continued the construction on the eating area and kitchen.


 

 

The girls and I visited the homes of the sponsored children. We delivered letters and gifts from their sponsors and helped the kids write their sponsors letters.

 

 

 

 

Dani actually got to meet his sponsors in person! What a great day!

 

 

 

As for our little family:

 

Both my babies are growing up WAY too fast.

Daniel Paul is standing up and getting ready to walk! He can say hola and mama!

Grace has developed a great imagination. My favorite is the flamingo that lives in our hallway.

Daniel Paul's temporary custody agreement runs out on October 25th. After this date we can have the hearing  to be is permanent family.

We are still working hard to get Grace a passport and VISA to be able to visit Alabama.