Well, we finally made it...to the beginning!

After 1 ½ years of preparing for our move to Guatemala, and a little over 2 ½ years of living and ministering here (15 months of which we have been working to get our group home license), we finally received our first child into the home last week.  Since then, we have received two more lovely daughters.  It has been an exciting week for all of us.  (You can read more about Rafael, Jenifer, and Alejandra on Daryl’s blog at www.hopeforhome.blogspot.com).  
  
Then as we lay down in bed that evening, Daryl turned to me and said, “Well, we finally made it…to the beginning.”  Now it is my turn to start!   Daryl has been working and ministering hard pretty much from Day 1 in Guatemala.  But, as a stay-at-home mom, homeschool mom, hostess of team, etc. I don’t often get the opportunity to be out ministering with Daryl.  So this group home is what I have been waiting for.  I have been anxiously waiting to bring children into our family so that I can minister on a day-to-day basis to these wonderful kiddos, so beautifully created by God Himself. 

Rafael

Jenifer

Last week marked the beginning of Hogar de la Esperanza (Home of Hope) group home for children with special needs.  Rafael is here; Jenifer and Alejandra are here.  More children will be here soon.  We have opened this home to bring hope to these children and many others.   We will feed them, change them, bath them, etc.  But we plan to give them so much more than that.  We will hold them, play with them, read to them, love on them.  We will teach them about God and His plan for their lives.  This the best hope that there is!     

Alejandra

We are licensed to take in special needs children.  We will specialize in children born with Cerebral Palsy, Spinal Bifida, and Down’s Syndrome.  However, we can accept any special need that we want.  In Guatemala (as in many other countries), “imperfect” children are often viewed as an inconvenience, an embarrassment, or a curse.  We want to give these children hope by showing them that they are special, wonderful creations of a loving God.  They were made in His image.  And they were made perfectly…even though the world may not see them as perfect.  We want to give hope to the families of these children (if they have families) and to the workers at CNA, PGN, etc.  To our neighbors who see us interact with the children.  And to anyone who sees that we love and cherish these “imperfect” children.  God loved us in our imperfections.  He took us in.  He adopted us.  He gave us a hope…and we want to share that hope with others.

We are so blessed to have our daughter, Carissa, as our assistant director of Hogar de la Esperanza for a while.  As you may know, her long-term plan is to start a similar ministry in Uganda, Africa.  But, to our delight, she has decided to serve here in our home as assistant director for the next year or so.  This will be a huge help to us as she has begun making daily schedules of administering medicine, changing diapers, giving baths, extra feedings, etc, etc, etc.   She is coordinating schedules, organizing therapy equipment, and making more decorations for the rooms.  She is shopping for much-needed clothes for the children.  This will not only be a huge help to me, but it will be wonderful experience and preparation for her future ministry in Africa.  Again, it appears that God knew what He was doing long before we knew.  (Who would have thought?)

We are also very blessed to have some other wonderful helpers in the home.  I have already introduced Aura, our Guatemalan friend who has been working for us for several months now.  She does a great job cleaning and is a fantastic cook.  And now she is showing us how wonderful she is with the children.  We also have two of the Beyer girls, Kristin and Kathlyn, who will be working with us on a part-time basis.    And just about two weeks ago, we were blessed with two other wonderful young ladies from the States, Emilee Stagnaro and Emily Abner, who will be working with us on a part-time basis as well.  We also have our daughter, Brittney, who will be here off-and-on over the next few months, helping when she can…around her school work.  Then, of course, we have our 5 youngest children here, who are also great helpers with their new siblings.  What a great staff with whom we have been blessed!

Please pray with us and for us.  This is a new adventure for all of us.  Daryl and I have talked many times about the value of our foster parenting experience (23 children in 13 years) and the value of our experience with Cerebral Palsy (Kimmie) and Spina Bifida (Joshua).  Years before a group home in Guatemala was even on our radar, God began preparing us for this adventure.  (Isn’t He great?!!!)  But even with the preparation, we really don’t know what we are doing.  It is a new adventure.  We are getting ready to travel places that we have never traveled.  Our family dynamics will change.  Our family schedule will change.  We are under no illusions that this is going to be easy.  We need your prayers…for patience, wisdom, and energy. (We aren’t as young as we once were.)  But we know that we were called to do this.



As I reflected on Daryl’s quote, “Well, we made it…to the beginning.”, I couldn’t help but think that is the way we should look at all of life.  No matter how many weeks, months, or years we have been doing something, today is a new day.  It is a new beginning.  We made it this far…now we can start.  We have this moment, and with this moment we can start anew to make the future better than the past.  We can give new hope to the people around us...hope in the God of the Universe, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Creator of all living things.  He is the source of all hope!  

To whom can you give hope today?  What new adventure will you begin now and carry on to completion?  Or how can you change your present adventure to make the future even better?

We finally made it…to the beginning!  So, here we go!  

Gifts of Gratitude

Gifts can be fun to give and receive.  Birthday gifts, anniversary gifts, Christmas gifts, etc.  But a gift of gratitude has special meaning.  This type of gift is not necessary or expected.  It is simply to show how grateful the giver feels.

Daryl and I have received many gifts of gratitude since living here in Guatemala.  Most of the famillies with whom we work are extremely  thankful for the physical help that the ministry gives them (food, medicine, wheelchairs, etc.).  However, they seem to be even more grateful for the friendship, love, and emotional support that they feel from us and from you, their sponsors. 

Gifts of gratitude here in Guatemala tend to be different than gifts generally given in the United States.  When the giver of the gift doesn’t have much to offer, they give what they do have.  I have received a few beautiful handmade tapestry items as gifts, and they are very special to me.  However, that is not the norm.  Usually our gifts of thanks here come in the form of a bag of six eggs, a Coke bottle filled with raw cow’s milk, a bundle of freshly picked carrots, radishes, or a papaya.  Daryl has even been offered a live chicken as a gift.

The wonderful thing about these gifts is not the gift itself.  It is the heart by which it is given.  It is the love and appreciation behind the gift.  It is the sacrifice that the giver has made.  These precious people are giving, not out of their abundance, but out of their need.  Many of these families live on dirt floors, prepare their food without the luxury of a stove or refrigerator, can’t afford to send their children to school, or have to make a choice between taking their special needs child to a doctor or feeding their family for a week.    Yet, out of their need, they choose to give us eggs, bread, fruit, or vegetables to thank us for caring for them. 

 

When a family gives to us out of their need, it is a huge blessing to us.  We know that the giver is truly grateful.  It means so much more than a gift given out of abundance.  So, when Daryl comes home with a handful of carrots, I don’t see one dollar worth of food.  I see a huge sacrifice, a wonderful gift from a family who loves us.

 Gifts of gratitude, given from the heart, and given as a sacrifice…such a wonderful blessing for both the giver and the receiver!

Then I think about my gifts of gratitude to God…gifts of my money and my time.  Does God really need my money?  Does He need my time?  Of course not!  He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  He can change any circumstance with His breath.  God does not need me or my money.  BUT, He delights in my gifts!  He loves it when I give to Him.  He is thrilled when I choose to give out of my love for my Savior.

The size of the gift is not important to God.  What He cares about is size of the sacrifice.  If I give Him 1 dozen eggs out of the 500 dozen in my barn, the gift is small, not really a sacrifice at all.  And, therefore, not really a gift that means anything.  But if I give 1 dozen eggs out of the 2 dozen in my house (and with no money to buy more), that is a sacrifice.  That is a gift of gratitude that means the world to God.  Does He need the eggs?  No!  But, He sees the heart, the sacrifice, and He delights in it!

 

When I give to God, is it a true sacrifice given out of love and appreciation for Him?  Or is my gift given out of my abundance, so small that I don’t even really miss it?  The bigger my love, the bigger the sacrifice that I am willing to make, the more God delights in my gift…because He knows my heart.

Do we truly sacrifice anything when we give to God?

Update Tidbits

Quick summary of what is going on at the Fulp home in San Antonio Aguas Calientes:

We just had birthday season in our family!...well, one of our birthday seasons.

On May 12^th, our family went to a small local restaurant to celebrate Daryl’s 46^th birthday.  We had a great time and ate some very good, but affordable, Guatemalan food.  What a great family we have!

Then on May 24^th, we celebrated Brittney’s 23^rd birthday.  Krishauna decorated a beautiful penguin cake, complete with snowballs and an igloo.  (Wow!  Our kids are getting old!)  

June 10^th was Krishauna’s 22^nd birthday.  Since she is not living with us right now, we did not see her that day, but  when she came home the next weekend, we were able to celebrate together. Krishauna is enjoying her time at Casa Bernabe.  She serves as a helper in one of the boys’ homes.  She has 14 boys from 5-10 years of age, and many of them present daily challenges to Shauna and to the house parents.  These are 14 boys who have lost their parents due to death or neglect or abuse.  So they need to learn how to love others and how to be loved by others.  I’m sure Krishauna  would appreciate your prayer support.  

Then,  on June 13^th, Teisha celebrated her  20^th birthday.  She is also living away from home right now, so we are unable to celebrate with her.  But she

is living with a wonderful family (Sam and Debra Silvers) in Troy, Ohio, and they gave her a great day.

Last month we had the privilege of babysitting three little girls (8 year old twins and their 3 year old little sister) for four days.  We had some challenges, but I bonded with them.  Now they are back in their home about 3 hours away from us, and  I miss them.   

 

Carissa is home from Uganda!  It is so wonderful to have her home for a short time.  She had a great 5 months in Africa.  After a rocky start, God worked in her and grew in her a love for the Ugandan people and culture.  Now she can hardly wait to get back there.  Her plans are to head to the States soon to begin speaking and fundraising for her long-term ministry in Africa.  (Please let her know if you are interested in having her speak at your church, youth group, or small group.)  She seeks to open a home for special needs girls there in Uganda.  More details coming soon.  

  

Taryn is helping at an after-school program for elementary aged children in a town near us.  She really enjoys helping our friends, the Ericksons, with this ministry.  

We are STILL waiting for the license for our group home.   We really don't know why it is taking so long.  It seems like there is a hold on all the homes that are presently working toward a license.  So we are waiting…sometimes not very patiently.  Please pray for God’s will to be done in His timing.  We know that His timing is best.

Team season is upon us.  We have quite a few teams coming this summer.  We are so blessed that God has given us a house that is set up perfectly to be able to host teams on the second level of our home.  And I am blessed to have a full-time worker, and friend, in the home who will be a huge help in hosting the teams and running the group home.  

Dale and Anita Beyer and their family are here!  We had a wonderful time sharing our home with them for a little over two weeks.  We had a very full and joyful (and noisy) table at meal times.  They have now moved out of our house and into their house just a short walk from ours.  What a blessing they are to our ministry and to our family!  

Rainy season is also upon us.  For about 4 more months, or so, our typical day will likely bring us an afternoon downpour that may last as little as 30 minutes or as long as several hours.  This brings new challenges to drying our laundry on the roof and navigating the streets to shop for fresh fruits & vegetables and/or pick up the bus to Antigua.  However, it also enhances the beauty of the mountains and trees and flowers.

What a wonderful God we serve!  

Almost there!

Praise God!  Hogar de la Esperanza is now getting very close, hopefully within a week, to being an officially licensed group home for special needs orphans!  We have been working on the licensing process for this ministry for quite some time.  And we are so excited that we are now getting close to the end of that process and to the beginning of this exciting ministry! 

This group home will be family based.  We will be bringing the children into our house and living with our family, as valuable members of the family.  They will eat at the table with us, have family devotions with us, go to church with us, etc.  Our goal is to live as a family, not as an institution.  This is not to imply that all institutions are bad; it is just to say that our desire/passion is to give these precious children a family, not a large institutional setting.  We believe that they can receive better care in a smaller setting.  Plus, every child deserves to be part of a family.

We are being licensed to take in children from birth to 12 years of age.  Although once they are in our home, they do not have to leave when they turn 13.  We will be specializing in children with moderate to severe Cerebral Palsy (like our daughter Kimmie), Spina Bifida (like our son Joshua), and Down’s Syndrome.  We will be licensed to take in up to 12 children.  But likely, depending on the severity of their needs, that number will be lower.

Although we want to stay small enough to keep the family feel, we also recognize that we need help in the home in order to give these children and our own children quality care and attention.  Therefore, we will hire help as necessary.  Our goal is to hire mothers of special needs children to help in our home…especially widowed/single mothers.  In preparation for the upcoming opening of the home, we have recently hired our first in-home worker.  Her name is Aura, and she is a single mother of eight beautiful daughters, one of which has some special needs.  She has already proved herself to be an honest and hard worker.  Right now she is cleaning and cooking  (Guatemalan food) for us.  But, as we start taking in children, she will also help with childcare…bathing, changing, feeding, and loving on the children.  She is a great blessing to us; and this job has already been a real blessing to her and her daughters, as she had no income previously.  We praise God for sending Aura to us.

Our family and the children who will be brought into our home will continue to live on the lower level of our house, while the second level will continue to be used for hosting others—ministry teams from the States, Guatemalan families with whom we work that need a place to stay when they come to the Antigua area for doctor’s appointments, and others as needs arrive.  We are very grateful that God has blessed us with this large home which we can use to minister to so many people.

This is such an exciting time for us, as we have been waiting and working a long time for this ministry to become reality.  Please pray with/for us:

                Praises:

1.      The licensing process is almost complete and the house is ready.

2.     That God started preparing us years ago, when He called us to do foster care and then to adopt special needs orphans.  Those experiences are helping to make this group home seem a little more possible and natural.

3.     That God has already sent us Aura as a valuable staff member in our home.

4.     That God has given us children that understand our call and want to help with the ministry.

                Requests:

1.     We recognize that with the opening of this home, our family life is going to change  significantly.  Please pray that we will transition as smoothly as possible into this new  family ministry.

2.     That even now, God will prepare the right children for us and prepare us for them.

3.     That Daryl and I will be able to successfully juggle our present responsibilities along with the new responsibilities of this added ministry.

Your prayers, encouragement, and support are greatly appreciated and needed.  Thank you to all who are ministering with us in these ways!   You are also valuable members of our team!

Weren't Our Children Still Little Just Last Year?!!!

A few posts ago, I focused on the older half of our clan.  The younger half is also changing and growing quickly.  Although, fortunately for us, none of them are getting ready to leave the nest.  (After the first five, we need a few years break from children moving away from home.)

JONATHAN, our youngest child, is already 8 ½ years old and is almost finished with 3^rd grade.  He loves to draw and has a great imagination.  His official paperwork says that he is Guatemalan.  However due to his lack of love for soccer, we are not quite sure.  We adopted Jonathan a little over 5 years ago.  How time flies!  We have some incredible, miraculous stories to tell about how God provided the $29,000 for his adoption.  Plus, the trips to Guatemala to complete his adoption were used by God to start growing in us a passion for the wonderful children of this country.

  

KIMBERLY is now 10 years old and growing so quickly.  (Although most days she thinks she is 18 or so.)  Kimmie has been part of our family for 7 ½ years.  In spite of her cognitive delays, she is doing a wonderful job with her 2^nd grade school work.  Her adoption was used by God to spark our burden and love for special needs orphans.  She enjoys reading and putting puzzles together.  She would prefer to sit around talking to adults for hours than to play with her neglected dolls and toys.  She also shows  a lot of patience and love as she holds, talks to, and cares for the special needs children with whom we work.  She is such a joy to have as a daughter.

  

JOSHUA…Oh, there is so much that I could say about Joshua!  He is also 10 years old now, soon to finish the 4^th grade, and his adoption was completed almost 5 ½ years ago.  Life has not been the same since the moment that we met him.  By that, I mean that life has not been quiet since the moment we met him.  What Joshua lacks in leg strength, he makes up for in determination and volume.  He likes to do almost everything.  He is full of life, joy, hyperactivity, and noise.  He is a great source of free entertainment. 

JEREMIAH is 12 years old and in 7^th grade.  And he is definitely in a growth spurt.   I am now used to having daughters taller than me, but to have a son approaching my height feels a little strange.  Jeremiah is doing a wonderful job with his Spanish, although he has never taken even one class to learn it.  (Although I am proud of him for that, I am also very jealous of him for that.)  He enjoys drawing, being outdoors, playing sports, and helping his Daddy around the house and with ministry.  He is growing into quite the young man.

TARYN has definitely transformed before our eyes from a child to a young lady in the 2 ½ years since we have been here.  She is now a high school freshman and doing a fantastic job with her full school load.  In just three months, she will be 15 years old.  Taryn is a beautiful and talented young lady.  She, too, is learning Spanish very quickly.  She enjoys crafts, reading, and working with children.  Before too long she will be the oldest child in our house.  Hard to believe!

  

All five of them have accepted Christ as their Savior.  And they are each growing, at their own rate, in their love and service for Him. 

A brief update on the older girls:

Brittney’s job (homeschooling a special needs 11-year old girl) has ended for the year.  So now she has the opportunity to focus her efforts on her university classes.  For the next four months, Brittney will be taking double load on her school classes, and then she will be ready to start her student teaching.  

Krishauna is getting ready to make her move to Casa Bernabe Orphanage at the end of this month.  But in the mean time, she is dealing with some dental needs that she has.  Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, she will be getting all four of her wisdom teeth pulled.  This is complicated by the fact that a dentist here in town tried to pull one of her wisdom teeth last week.  After a lot of tugging and pulling, she decided that she could not do the job and would have to send Shauna to an oral surgeon.  As a result Krishauna has been dealing with a great amount of pain, swelling, and infection since last Thursday.  We are praying that this Thursday goes much better than last so that she can have some pain relief and start eating again.

Teisha has arrived safely to Troy, OH.  She will be starting her job next week.  She is living with some wonderful friends there, but I know that she would enjoy seeing those of you who live in the area.

Carissa is still in Uganda…for about 6 more weeks.  She has finished homeschooling the children of the family with whom she had been living.  She is now living and working with a Christian-run group home (called Ekisa) for special needs orphans in Jinja, Uganda.

 

Did I say they are growing up quickly?...Well, maybe in body, but I think they will always be kids at heart!...and I like it that way!

God has blessed us immensely with our wonderful children!  And I look forward to seeing what He is going to do in and through them in the coming years!

 “CHILDREN ARE A GIFT FROM THE LORD; THEY ARE A REWARD FROM HIM."  PSALM 127:3 (NLT)

Speed Bumps and Pot Holes

Driving in Guatemala is NOT like driving in the States!  Besides the narrow roads, the lack of street signs, the abundance of dirt roads, frequent flooding, long traffic jams, and the complete lack of driving laws, one must also learn to navigate around the parked cars, staggering or passed-out drunken men, young children playing in the streets, processions, and more stray dogs than you can imagine...not to mention the chickens, pigs, goats, etc.  It is not uncommon  to suddenly come to a plant or a large tree limb in the middle of the road.  These are signs that indicate that you need to slow down or stop.  It might be due to road construction, a closed road, a broken down vehicle, etc.  Or my personal  favorite Guatemalan “traffic cone” is a rock, which may or may not have white paint splattered on it, strategically placed in the center of the road.  This kind of “traffic cone” leaves you no option but to stop…sometimes against the rock, depending on how dark it is at the time.

To complicate matters just a bit further, there are  also an over-abundance of speed bumps and pot holes.  Sometimes those pot holes are so big in diameter and so deep that they seem more like sinkholes.  Needless to say, it takes extra patience and skill...and sometimes even a sense of humor...to navigate the streets of this country!

In many ways, life is like driving in Guatemala.  Life is full of emotional highs and lows.  It is full of speed bumps and pot holes, narrow roads, and people that don’t follow the “rules”.  There are plenty of small obstacles in the way around which we must navigate in order to get to our destination.  Sometimes  there are big obstacles in the way that warn us to slow down, or that completely stop us in our tracks. 

It is so easy, at times, to allow those pot holes in life’s journey to bring discouragement….something of which I have been struggling recently.  Sure, they may slow us down a bit.  They may even completely stop us for a short time, but we are called to keep going…keep running toward the finish line…and do it with the peace and joy that God offers us. 

Sometimes life demands a little extra work, a little extra patience, and a sense of humor.  But with God’s help, we can still get where we need to go.  We can still navigate through it all and reach the finish line with joy.

Why do I allow speed bumps and pot holes to bring discouragement into my life when my Master and Best Friend is the One who created the mountains with His breath?!!!

"I lift up my eyes to the hills.  Where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  
                                                       Psalm 121:1-2

The Difference a Family Makes: A Child's Perspective

Being part of a family makes all the difference!  When a child is adopted, he not only finds his own house, bed, clothes, and toys, but he finds Love, Acceptance, and Security.

We adopted our son, Joshua, from China when he was almost five years old.  He has Spina Bifida and walks with leg braces and crutches.  Family has made a HUGE difference in Joshua's life.  I recently came across this short story that he wrote last year.  This shows just one of the many advantages of being part of a family.

From the heart of a child...

*If you had trouble reading Joshua's story, it is typed

below, with corrections.

                            EVERY CHILD NEEDS ACCEPTANCE AND SECURITY.
                                            EVERY CHILD DESERVES A FAMILY!

_________________________________________________________________________________

*Joshua's Story (with corrections)

"The Snowman's Adventure"

There once lived a snowman.  The snowman's name was David.  David tried to play with the other kids, but David has some special needs so he couldn't do many of the things with the other kids.  One day, the other kids were playing Hide and Seek.  David tried to play with the other kids, but the other kids said that he was a bad "hider."  David was sad that he was left out.  One day David was looking at the kids playing when he heard a noise behind him.  He realized that it was his brother.  He started to cry with joy.  The brothers played until it was night time.