Beauty day 2

These won't all be about Amy, but the first 2 I thought of are.
 Beauty in an orphanage in the poor country of El Salvador?
 This picture is (blurry) of Amy at Exodo Orphanage in El Salvador.  She is playing with the infant/ toddlers during a break.  The little girl, Millie, is hiding her watermelon slice from Amy.  This was our last day at the orphanage and Amy had a very hard time leaving.  She cried as our bus drove away saying " how can we leave them here?"  The country of El Salvador does not have agreements/rights for adoptions out of the country right now.  Believe me, if they would have, we would have had a few in our suitcases for the ride home.
 Amy has decided that she wants to go into medicine and travel allover the world helping kids like these.  She can do it too!
Watching your child find their passion is a thing of Beauty.

60 Days of Beauty

Watching  a child face and overcome a fear is a thing of beauty.
Derry's 60 days of beauty. Derry is doing a series and I am going to try and get back to blogging and join along.
Hiking the gorgeous Grand Canyon was fun, but so very scary and a bit overwhelming.  Amy was very scared, and didn't want to hike down.  It was scary, no railing and at least a 300 ft straight drop down jagged rock. 
What did she do?  She prayed out load and quoted and sang scripture.  We all sang along (Steve Green's Hide em in your heart is priceless).  She walked as far as anyone, past Ooh Ahh point.(or ohh lala point as Joe kept saying)  She sat out on ledges and took risks.
Watching your child face a fear and conquer it is a beautiful thing.

a blogcation

Unintentional, but still.  Between, changes in blogspot, a harddrive crash and school(for all of us) starting, I haven't been on here in awhile.  I am going to try and get some Haiti, El Salvador and new family pictures on here.
These are all of Joe in Haiti.  The trip affected him in a profound way, just ask him about it.  I am so proud of him and oh so glad he went.

Back home again in Indiana.....

We are home and had a wonderful trip.  God is alive and working in El Salvador.  His hand of protection was on us as we travelled in the second most dangerous(violent) countries in Central America.  The children at Exodo orphanage are beautiful, full of hope and joy.

More pictures to follow...

El Salvador

http://exodo2010.wordpress.com/

there is a link to another blog which is following their work in El Salvador.

Tia is sharing devotions this morning from Matthew 25:37-40

37"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'



40"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'


I have never loved my wife more.

 miss them but all this technology helps!

El Salvador...finally

It seems like we have been planning this trip for so long, it is finally here!

We leave in the morning from Indy airport to Dallas then on to San Salvador.  We will spend the week working at Exodo orphanage, a vbs, a local childrens hospital, touring sites and working on some construction projects.

Specific prayer requests;

safety for travel and stay in El Salvador

cohesiveness of our large group of 28

that our eyes would be opened and God would work in us

that we would be a blessing to those we come in contact with

that my kiddos specifically would be impacted and see Jesus

safety for Joe and the kids back home.

I have devotions thursday morning- not my gift- pray that God would speak through me.

Birthdays

We have had 2 birthdays since I last posted!  2 parties too.  Fun sleepovers in our newly refinished empty basement.  We had scheduled to have a new sectional couch delivered the day of the party, but it wouldn't fit through the door.  Luckily they returned it!  I don't think the kids minded though!

Amy turned 14, and will be a freshman in high school next year.  Aaron turned 12 and will be a 6th grader.