My Mom...

My Mom has been running a fever of 102+ and has not drank anything since July 22nd while in the nursing home. She has been having a problem with her heart and the doctor has said she is acutely ill having only a few days to possibly a full week to live. He asked my Dad to let the family know. So many things run through your mind during times such as these; so many scriptures that bring comfort, so many memories that can never be taken away. Still, there is the human side of letting go and the spiritual side of releasing her back to God with thanksgiving for the time that He allowed us to have her on "loan". There have been a few times in my life when music has been a huge comfort to me! This is one of those times when a particular song just keeps returning to my mind. I've been listening to the Chris Tomlin CD, "Hello Love" for a few weeks now off and on. Not ironically, the Lord, I believe, has been preparing me for the days that lie ahead with my mother's apparent death and using "I Will Rise" to minister to me! I'm not sure if my Mom has ever heard this song, but I know if it weren't for the fact that she is in a coma-like state right now; surely she would remind her children of the scriptural promises within the words of this song.

"There's a peace I've come to know,
though my heart and flesh may fail.
There's an anchor for my soul,
I can say, "it is well".

Chorus:
"Jesus, has overcome and the grave is overwhelmed.
The victory is won.
He is risen from the dead.
And I will rise, when He calls my name.
No more sorrow, no more pain.
I will rise, on eagle's wings,
before my God, fall on my knee,
and rise, I will rise".

"There's a day that's drawing near,
when this darkness breaks to light.
And the shadows disappear,
and my faith shall be my eyes".

Repeat chorus

Thanks be to God! I love you, Mom!

Missionary Intern Tsunami!!!

Lynae is still here as one of our missionary interns. Tomorrow evening we pick up the Delamont's from the airport. They will be interning for the month of August. On Saturday, we pick up an 8-person construction team that we will be hosting at the camp through Global Outreach Mission for one week. On Sunday, we pick up Amy R., who is another intern for the month of August. She is returning to us having interned under us last summer, so we are all so excited! The kids will be accompanying us to the airport to get her since they are so very excited that she is coming back! A week from this Sunday, the construction team leaves and we go to the airport a week from this Monday to get our last August intern. Having five interns for one month should be very interesting, but really help us to get things accomplished around the campground and in ministry! Busy days ahead! Please keep us in your prayers and be checking back for updates frequently.

Wednesday's ministry with the Orphan Home, kids accept the Lord!

As with a lot of the things that we do at the camp, there are always "behind the scenes" activities that no one hears about or realizes go on. Here's a picture of Ken, the Grill Master, cooking hot dogs for all of the kids and the entire team of workers! This was a repeat performance from Saturday's ministry at the camp with the orphans, but I forgot to get a picture of him. I wanted to give credit where credit is due! Thank you to my husband, Ken, who cooks the "perfect" hot dog and for making sure all of us got fed on time!

Here is "Willy" the clown, a friend from "God Festival" one of our partnerships! I realized that I have never seen "Willy" without make-up until he came to the camp on Wednesday and I walked right by him not knowing who he was! How embarassing! He is a wonderful Christian with an awesome testimony. He drove over two hours to come and donate his time and bring with him some other volunteers to help us make this day very special for the kids! He played Christian music for the kids, made popcorn and cotton candy, made balloon animals, had a team who did face painting and did some comedy tricks with the kids. They absolutely loved him and he had their full attention!

These are two of the orphan home Mom's who are enjoying their day off. They accompanied the kids to the camp, but once they arrived, we took over their care and treated the Mom's to coffee, special breads and a day to walk around the camp together, talk and just relax. Here they are enjoying some cotton candy!

With 28 kids in all, we had to break them down into smaller, manageable groups to oversee them in the pool. Here are a small group of the younger kids who have swam and are now taking a break to make some foam sun visors!

Here's Heather and one of our Christian neighbor's, Ivan, taking a much needed rest, legs up after helping with ALL of the day's activities. Without Heather and Kyle and some good Christian neighbor's, we would not have been able to watch all these kids ourselves. They too, enjoyed "Willy's" whimsical balloon creations!

Well, I had to have some fun too!!!! The face painting techniques that are used here are really different than at home. I took this picture for my brother, Peter, since I thought it might interest him, my favorite artist! Their face paint is much more of a powder make-up that is applied with sponges and then the actual painting is only done of the lines of detail. Up close when finished the face has a very soft, powder, more like make-up foundation look to it. Of course, here, you can't see the glitter that they have added. This sweet lady was my face painter!

At the close of Wednesday's activities, Lynae sang and shared her testimony with the kids. Ken wrapped it all up with an explanation of the plan of salvation and an invitation to accept the Lord. We had three Youth, (the kids who attended were from ages 4-18), accept the Lord today!

Please continue to pray for them and for us as we follow up with them through our continued ministry at the Orphan Home!

The Orphans at the camp and a prayer request!!

After almost a year of working in a partnership with Pueblito de Costa Rica (the orphan home); some of the kids were allowed to come and use the camp for the day on Saturday. And, as usual, God had even better plans than ours! While we had the entire day planned with activities, one of the churches in our denominition here in Costa Rica had a group of Americans visiting and serving with them, yet their ministry plans for Saturday fell through and they were looking for another place in which to serve. We got a phone call, "could we help you? We have clowns, puppets, mime, etc." and so, the group of 18 Americans showed up in the afternoon for about two hours to help serve alongside us! This first picture is the group of 30 orphans who came to us on Saturday. Heather in the green T-shirt in the middle leading the "Octopus" game.

Katherine practicing her facepainting "skills" on Jordan first!

Just three of the clowns performing an act. They are part of the Christian Youth Group that volunteered to help us! They were awesome and their message was clear!

The Youth Group's puppet ministry in action!

This was when they first arrived and Heather began the festivities with an entire group game, though here Katherine is helping one little lady who is very shy and kind of lost about how to play, but that's okay!

**PLEASE PRAY**: With the extension of the kids vacation to include next week, the Director of the Orphan Home has asked if we would be willing to host another group of 30 children from the orphanage on Wednesday. The orphanage houses a total of about 123 children. We said that we would be more than happy too! Please pray as we have invited five youth from the Youth Group to join with us in this ministry on Wednesday. Our desire here is to lead by example, and in asking them to help us, we pray that it will develop servant hearts within them. We have another partnership which we have formed with "God Festival" and they will be sending us "Willy" their clown and a few of their professional face painter's for Wednesday as well. They also already sent down an industrial popcorn machine to use and their cotton candy machine. Please pray for their safety as they travel through San Jose on Wednesday morning to come to the camp! Pray for the children and for us as we attempt to bring them Jesus, in how we live and through what we teach!

**PRAISE**: A week and a half ago we had the Youth Group at the camp from Michigan (see previous posts and pictures) rental. We found out today that two Costa Rican kids were saved during their ministry at the camp! PTL!!!

Quick post - Ministry Update

A "fly-by" post as it's been a busy week. I've got some pictures to post of a group that came in Wednesday from the States through another missionary agency to use the camp for ministry. We got the last group out on Monday, cleaned and the decoration team for this group arrived on Tuesday. The rest of the group arrived on Wednesday and they also invited four area churches to participate in children/youth ministry with them as the last group from the States did. So around 65 people leave today at 2 p.m., and then we go in and begin preparations for a Fun Day we have planned for 30 kids from the orphanage who are coming to the camp tomorrow!

I will post pictures over the weekend!

Things often get worse before they get better!

I've been sick since Friday afternoon. It all started with a runny nose, but by Saturday morning I could hardly walk. My hips hurts, my legs, elbows, even the creases of my arms, fingers. Of course, it had rained quite hard and I am still having problems with bone pain since my surgery. Seemed like the high-dose calcium that my physician put me on was helping with that some. Sunday, I felt like I would have felt better if someone laid me in the road and ran over me! Well, I have strep throat, a double ear infection and one of my ear drums has already ruptured. Sinuses are all clogged up. I got started on some antibiotics, but the strep plaques overnight continued their progression and are now on top of my mouth and on my gums causing even more swelling. I think some of the kids at the orphan home are sick and maybe I should have taken better precautions!

This is the second week of "winter" break here for the kids. Yes, it is July, but yes, it is considered winter in Costa Rica. It's hard to adjust to that mindset when it's 78 degrees outside! Actually, we don't technically have "seasons" here they say, like summer, winter, spring and fall. Just dry and wet season and it is wet season now. On the news last night they announced the kids will also have an extended week off next week due to the flu!

So, this week, I won't be ministering back up at the orphan house because my own health is already too compromised and all the little hugs are nice, but giving the kids the "Cooties" wouldn't be!

(Mama Isa did bring over sopa de pollo and arroz con leche, though! She said, "eat lots, you will feel better".....OKAY)!!! :)

Ministering to the Orphans and a full day!

This is Kimberly. I found out quickly today that she LOVES to work with beads! It was interesting to see her gently touch the beads and look them over as she carefully "chose" which ones she might use. Very politely, she asked if she could make another bracelet today. She doesn't like to have her picture taken and it is hard to get her to smile. I talked with Kimberly today about not knowing my biological mother and being dropped off at social services and my adoption. That's when this smile crossed her face. Today, I got a big hug when she left and I feel like we made a connection.

This is Onry. After our Bible lesson today he asked if I had anything to color. I happened to bring some Bible story coloring books with me as gifts for our music students today. He was so content to sit alone with me since none of the other music students had arrived yet for their lessons; to color and not have to share the crayons of have anyone to pull his book away from him. He is the sweetest boy.

This is our intern, Lynae. She is teaching Steven to "count" out measures by clapping his hands for "notes" and to stop clapping for "rests". Steven was so embarrassed that I was taking his picture. He beams when he gets to the hold the guitar and strum away.

Here is Luis practicing finger placement with Lynae. Today, they worked on "A" and "D" note finger placements. Music seems to come pretty easily to Luis and he really settles down to enjoy his lesson. We sometimes have a difficult time with him since he is kind of rough around the edges...aren't we all?

This is Daniela. Hmmm...I wonder why I might like her name! She is in the morning classes since she is younger. She's a bit shy, but has a huge, beaming smile. She is a graceful young lady and is new to the orphan home just over the past couple of months. She is just one of those kids that when you see her in a place like this you wonder, "why"? But God knows and in Daniela, I believe He has big plans!

We worked with the children today from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. I had made a commitment to be back at the campground at 3:30 and was late in getting back because we took the bus back. Once there, I helped set up and cook dinner for around 50 Youth Group kids. The American group is still here and today through Saturday morning they are hosting four other local, national, church Youth Groups at the camp. They are all spending the next two nights with the American Youth Group. Heather and Kyle have been at the camp since 9 a.m. working with the small groups as interpreters. They seemed to be having a good time with all the other Youth. They were invited to spend the night at the campground too! It's been a busy day today, but a lot of fun! Days like these I just go to bed at night exhausted, but thankful for the really fun and enjoyable ministry that we often get to be a part of with children and Youth! It makes me so happy!

Orphan Home Ministry-Prayer Requests

Yesterday, and yes, I forgot the camera again (sorry); we went to the Orphan Home to do an all day ministry. I mentioned before about a new intern we received last week. Her name is Lynae. Lynae is a professional music teacher when she is back in Canada. Yesterday, she taught four hours of guitar lessons at the Orphan Home. In the morning, she did two hours of classes, a half hour each to four students. The Orphan Home was gracious enough to serve us lunch and we spent about an hour eating and chatting with the Orphan Home staff. Then, in the afternoon she did another two hours of lessons, a half hour again to four more students. During the time that she was teaching, Heather and I had the children in a "holding" room awaiting their class time. We did children's ministry with those students; a Bible story, crafts, games and memory verses. This time with the kids in children's ministry has been awesome. Usually when we are there at the Orphan Home ministering we are working with the "masses", large groups of children of all ages. The way that their Educational Director set up the lessons is that in the morning we have a group of younger children and in the afternoons we have older children, more youth group-aged.

PRAYER NEEDS:
Please pray for us as we have made a commitment to minister at the Orphan Home every Tuesday and Thursday for the next five weeks. Pray for Lynae as she teaches music; guitar and piano lessons. Pray for Heather & I as we teach to these small groups of children, but at a much more intensive level than we have ever had the opportunity to before. Pray for discernment as we are already working on next week's lessons. Pray for the children's hearts to be open and receptive. Pray for good behavior, it can be kind of rough!

I'll try and get some pictures tomorrow as we minister and post them on the blog before the end of the week.

The "benefits" of a relationship with God/PRAYER REQUEST

Tonight I was reading in the Book of Psalms. I love Psalm 103. I keep this one close when I'm going through "stuff" in my life. Stuff like missing my family, thinking about my Mom or when we have a particularly frustrating day with the ministry. I find that when I make an effort to focus on Him it minimizes the pains of my heart and a sense of healing pours over me.

I really don't have anything "new" to post today. Scripturally, I thought I'd share this Psalm. It ignites my soul! I hope that it does yours as well.

"Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our inquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him"...

**EDIT: I noticed that when I began this post I said I didn't have anything "new" to report tonight. In the middle of writing this, I got a phone call from Ken asking me to run up the road to Katherine and David's home (our ministry partners). Heather was in their house alone babysitting Alianna, their 18-month-old baby. She called her father crying because she heard voices outside their house and someone was trying to break into their house from the outside. (Katherine and Kyle are with Ken. Kyle took a good slice out of his finger tonight and Ken needed to take him to the hospital emergency room for stitches. Katherine went along to help with Spanish). Heather didn't want to call me because I was home alone with Jordan. Needless to say, Ken called me and I ran to the camp, got three of the guys who are staying there this week with the short-term team, and we went to the house. Heather had activated Katherine and David's alarm system from within the house and scared the people off. PRAY for Heather tonight who has really been shaken up by all of this and in all honesty, I have been too. I needed to come home and use an inhaler for my asthma. I may be a missionary, but I was a Momma first! And, PRAISE Him that our child remained safe**

Youth Groups...American and Tico

For the next week and a half we are hosting a short-term American Youth Group at the camp from Michigan. Some of the kids are pictured here, granted their backs are to you. Standing up in the foreground is Heather translating into English for the American Youth Group the directions to a game that she will be leading. There are 14 kids from States and the rest of the kids are from our church Youth Group. The groups met for the first time tonight and next weekend the American Youth Group will be hosting a Youth Retreat in which they have invited four area church Youth Groups to attend at the campground.

Here's a picture of "almost" the entire group together. There was a total of about 60 kids in attendance tonight. Afterwards, the Tico Youth Group treated the American Youth Group to fireworks since they wanted to honor their Independence Day in the United States. After Bible Study, games and dessert the two groups hung out together until about 10:30 p.m. playing indoor tag, indoor hockey and just talking. We all had a lot of fun! Happy 4th of July!