NO MORE OF THIS....

OR THIS...

"yesterday she was leaving from the bathroom and walking and Misi following her.......it was so cutie"

That is the latest update on Grace.
 SHE IS WALKING!!!

So you all know Mel my friend who is in the prison in Puerto Lempira. I blogged about the day I went and he was dressed up ready to go having been told it was his release day. Here is a picture of us that happy day.

Well the guards never came. He thought it would be any day so he stayed ready. After about 2 weeks he kind of lost hope. When I talked to him I could hear the sadness and loss of hope in his voice. So, I thought I would take some kids by make him some cards and cheer him up. We made cards that said, "Congratulations on your release" "almost there" "praying for you" " We love you"  and cards with bible verses the kids knew on them. Well this brought a little tear to his eye as he said thank you and hugged us. At this point he was told you will be released when your sentence of 6 years is up... only a short 2 weeks. We encouraged him that 2 weeks is really not a long time. He began to tell me I have no friends on the outside. I have no family here. He said everyone in this prison has family in this town that comes by and bring food and anything they need. They come by and visit during visiting hours. He says but I have no one I have no family here and you are the only person who comes to visit me. He also began to tell me that he has huge dreams when he gets out of speaking with the boys of the town about "doing the right thing" so they do not end up like him. He is still not a Christian but I have a feeling the Lord is working on him a lot!

Today I found out that Mel was not released at the end of his sentence and that the judge ordered 2 more years. I feel the weight of what Mel might have felt as he heard those words. The thoughts that might have run through his head. That his youngest daughter will be 9 before he even meets her. That his son will be out of the house having pretty much grown up without a father.

Psalm 79:11 (Amplified Bible)"Let the groaning and sighing of the prisoner come before You; according to the greatness of Your power and Your arm spare those who are appointed to die!"

This is my prayer for Mel as I feel the weight of the news he has received. The devastation and the isolation that he feels. The lonely hopeless feelings.

So all this to say.. I might be the only one who feels this way about a man who has made some very bad choices in his life, but my heart hurts I mean really hurts for him. I am praying for him non-stop!! I am praying that the Lord will use this time of waiting to soften his heart. I pray that in this time that Mel comes to know the Lord in a real tangible way as his Comforter, Healer,Provider,Friend, and Father.  That the Lord will begin to use Mel to minister to the other prisoners as well as the boys of La Moskitia.

Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Bus I took across the country, I told ya'll it was nice

Grace the first day I got there on December 14th

Christmas picture in the grocery store

Bedtime

Soccer field

Mommy's birthday

Giving out cake at the prison. Love seeing Jesus in Thelma's smile

Giving out legos of love with the Waits family

Grace loves pancakes

Bath time

First doughnut

and this would be why I do not eat meat

Grace's first balsito Miskito version of ice cream more like frozen milk

Thelma and Grace on our girls night out to eat tacos

 

Merry Christmas!!

Some missionaries who live on an island near Puerto Lempira invited all the gringos and all our kids to come spend the night relax and enjoy some wonderful American food.

Cheerleader for the soccer team

First time to go swimming

Playing at the park

Visiting my amazing friend Thelma in the hospital

Grace helping mommy pack

Grace's first airplane ride

First french fries... She wasn't quite sure about these

Happy 1st Birthday to Grace!

yummy cake

This is Judith the lady who Grace is staying with in La Cieba for the next few weeks

This is Judith's house

This is my friend Irma, her son and husband

Everyone at Irma's birthday party



My last week in La Moskitia did not go quite as I had planned.


I got everything ready for the VISA for Grace all I needed was the signature from Grace's birth mom. This was the step that I thought my be the end but I went to the radio and called Grace's grandparents asking for any information about Grace's birth mom. They called the next day and she was in their village. They put her on the phone and I was able to talk to her and she agreed to come on Monday and I would pay her 8 hour boat trip. At this point I was on top of the world it was really looking like I would be bringing my baby girl home and that I would not have to leave her for 4 months again. Well after we started to look more into everything on Sunday afternoon we realized that with the time and traveling we would have to do that it would probably not work out. Grace's birth mom was still coming in the morning so at this point I just decided that we would still go to the judge so I could get legal guardianship of Grace.
Well Monday comes and she isn't on the boat. We call there is an excuse of the boat not having gas.


Tuesday no show, another excuse that she is half way here and will be here early Wednesday morning.


Wednesday no show. I call  and she is still in her village. I tell her not to come because we are leaving Friday so we would not have time to go to the judge. I was excited to meet her, to see what she looks like, to take pictures of her with Grace so I could show Grace when she gets older, but none of what I wanted happened.


Thursday I went with the owner of my apartment and saw the apartment I will be living in when I move. This was a little more encouraging. He ask me if I wanted it painted and I said yeah PINK so he is going to paint my little room PINK for me. Even though its small I am excited and so is the owner and he is doing everything he can to make it as nice as possible for me!
After daydreaming about the apartment I had to pack and begin to think about Grace's 1st Birthday!


On Friday we went to La Cieba ( about a 2 hour plane ride) and had three wonderful days full of sightseeing, french fries, and cake! I left Grace there with a family so she can continue to see the specialist for the next few weeks and I went on to San Pedro Sula.


In San Pedro Sula I stayed with my friend Irma and her family. It was her 55 birthday and we had a great time. She is learning English so I helped her with her English homework which was funny.  It was a good end to the week. We went out to eat and then came home and had cake with her friends.


 On Monday morning I got to go tour the new  burn and children's surgery hospital that Irma will be administrator of. I met many contacts here for the children of La Moskitia who need surgery.


So all this to say in a full week  of time what I thought would happen did not happen but something far greater did:
I got to take my daughter to the city to celebrate her birthday. I got to take her to eat Wendy's, eat cake , go in a bouncy castle , and ride little rides. I got to go with Irma to her work and meet doctors and people from the states who manufacture burn creams. I met the founder of the hospital and she gave me her phone number and she told me to call anytime we need a child to come.


If things had gone the way I planned I would not have met these people and more children would not be able to get help. Through these connections any child that needs a surgery will be able to go to their hospital for free if the hospital is able to do the surgery.


"For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord... "
He has " plans" for every child of La Moskitia! I am so thankful that time after time the LORD's will is done and not mine. Even though I throw a fit like a toddler He continues to be patient and say just wait I have the plans and they are far greater than anything you could ever imagine!

I was at the hospital yesterday getting some information signed for Grace and I saw this little boy with his grandmother. While I was waiting for about an hour I kept looking at this little boy. It was weird I felt like I knew him but I didn´t know how. Well eventually his grandmother comes over and ask me if I know him. I told her that I did not know him. She begins to tell me about her grandson and that he has been at the house of hope before for malnourishment but he is now here at the hospital for an infection in his mouth that is causing him to not want to eat. She told me that he has not eaten in 5 days. All the hospital did was take blood and tell him to go home. From the minute I saw him I could tell this boy was very sick; he was too weak to walk , and he was very malnourished.So without calling or asking anyone I said well bring him to the house. The grandmother agreed so I called someone to come get us in the mule because there was no way he would be able to walk home. As the mule pulled up the grandmother takes the little boy off her back and hands him to me. This is when I realized how bad this little boy really was. He is probably 6 years old and I had Grace sleeping in the carrier so I could not even use my full strength to pick him up but with ease I picked him up and put him in the mule. He probably weighed 30 pounds or less. With another volunteer there who speaks Spanish and some Miskito we got more of the story. The mom of this little boy has a new boyfriend who is not the father of this little boy so she no longer wants this little boy. She had only been feeding him coffee in hopes that he would die. The grandmother realized what she was doing and took the little boy home with her. After she had him he got a bad infection in his mouth and did not want to eat. So for at least around 2 weeks this little boy has not eaten. Once I him home all the missionaries here were having a bible study at our house. Two of the women are nurses so they took a look at him and said oh no the hospital needs to admit him. So one of the women calls the doctor at the hospital and tells her this little boy is on his way back to see her now. Then we all pray for this sweet little boy who in his eyes you can see has lost hope, he has given up the fight, and we send him back to the hospital. He was admitted when he went back and will probably be there for at least a week.

I am so thankful that the Lord took charge in this situation and He is doing the impossible. The Lord put people in his life yesterday who could do something about his condition whether it was pray or love on him or giving the doctors wisdom. He is the ultimate healer and I do believe just as he brought Grace back from her malnourishment that He will do the same for this little boy. He will use this little boy for HIS GLORY! This little boy is going to have a long road to recovery not just physically but emotionally and spiritually too. I want to ask all of you to pray for him throughout the next few months.

I saw him at the hospital this morning and he was sleeping which is amazing because he also has not been able to sleep so this was a amazing thing to see!!

Second day in the hospital I could not get a very good picture of him

 10 pounds heavier (40 lbs) almost ready to be released

Elizabeth's Home - 14 people live in this one room

Idias  is a little boy who is 7 years old who I begged to stay at the house of hope this summer because he already had two older brothers on the street and I was scared he was going to go soon.  Well he is living at the house of hope now and last week I ask him to take me to his house to meet his mom. She lives in a one bedroom house that's probably 10 by 10, no electricity or running water, 2 beds one with no mattress, no bathroom , a open well outside with dirty water. She lives in this one room with around 14 people. I went in and she gets out the only chair their family owns. She tells me to sit down in it. All the children are outside playing soccer I fight my biggest fear and let Grace sit on the dirty floor with chickens running around and play with her 2 year old son. She begins to talk to me and then goes over to her children's school books and dig through them to find her hidden family pictures. She keeps them here so that they are not lost or stolen. I noticed that she did not have any pictures of her whole family (she is a single mom of 9 kids) so I told her that I would come another day and take a picture of her whole family. We left and a few days later I ask her son to take me back to her house. We go and again first thing she does is say something to her daughter in Miskito and next thing I know she brings out the chair for me. Then she again says something and her daughter brings out a play purse full of jewelry. She tells me to pick something out of the bag to have so I picked out a necklace and she says oh but you need earring so I picked out some earrings and then she says oh and you need a bracelet so she gives me a bracelet. The whole time I am says that's good this is plenty but then I was reminded that this is the nicest thing she has to give this means so much to her that she could give this to me as a gift so I gratefully accept the jewelry. I take a picture of her family and they are all so excited to see themselves on the camera. This family is the poorest of the poor. When I talk with Elizabeth I am reminded how much better it is to give than receive. She gave to me even though she does not have much to give or food to feed her family. She was still willing to give. This Christmas I pray that we all find some way to give like Elizabeth!

Elizabeth and some of her kids

The Waits family ( a missionary family in Puerto Lempira) with Elizabeth's Kids

Legos of Love for Christmas

Today I took 4 of the older kids to the prison with me to celebrate my birthday we made 6 cakes and all the kids made Christmas cards for each prisoner. When we got there Mel came outside and gave me a huge hug and said Happy Birthday! He was all dressed up in his nicest clothes and shoes. When I got inside I realized that the Lord had this planned all along. The Catholic Church was doing a church service and then after giving lunch and coke to the prisoners. This gave us a chance to visit with all the men while they ate. Then after they all came and we gave the each one a piece of cake and a Christmas card. As we sat around and talked while they were eating Mel told me why he was so dressed up today. The guards told his to get ready that He was going to get to leave today!! After 5 years 11 months and 10 days, he is getting to go home to his family to his country. I was so excited for him but at the same time sad to know I might never see him again. The guards did let us take a few pictures so I will be able to let y'all see once I get back to the states! As we left we got in the mule and the 4 kids I brought were so full of joy I can´t even explain it. They were laughing and had huge smiles on their faces. They ask me if we could please come back again. They said they made friends and were all talking about going home and making presents for their new friends and bringing them back. Also another thing not even one of them ask for cake, I did give them a piece and one girl ended up giving hers away. This filled my heart with so much joy to be able to give to people who never get cake but also to see Jesus in these children that they would give and then want to give more. I am looking forward to many more trips with them to visit our friends!

The chapel at the prison

giving out cake I love the smile on Thelma's face here

This is my friend Mel all dressed up for his release day!

This is Rodrigo a House of Hope kid getting to visit with his mom