Kathya.....a lil princess!

Yesterday, we wrote a post about Kathya, baby soft and headbands. Today, we wanted you all to see the transformation into a lil princess. Below is the before picture.

This was Kathya the day we placed her in the home.



 Here is Kathya all dressed up and ready for church this morning.  She looks so pretty.

God can change everything..........

She was so happy! and now has hope!

Sea Creature or Exotic Fruit

Well, living in another country means you get to see lots of interesting things. We came across the sea creature looking thing when we were studying in Costa Rica. It quickly became a family favorite. This red spiny looking thing is none as a Liche fruit. Here is how to eat and enjoy such a thing.

The sea creature like fruit

tear a tiny end off to expose the white fleshy grape like fruit

Pull out the fruit and eat...careful not to eat the seed.

These tatse just like a peeled grape! We love them and thanks to Hermano Gato we got to enjoy some today!

Baby Soft and Headbands..................

Today, was one of the sweetest and most special days here in the ministry. Karla and I were trying to get the remaining lice out of Kathya's hair and get her ready to go get her shot. After I washed her hair we decided to give her some "Baby Soft: spay. I remember when I was a little girl and my momma gave me this as my perfume. I felt so special and it smelled so clean. Today, we sprayed that on Kathya and she just smiled and said "gracias". We then combed her hair nice and pretty and placed a new pink headband on top. I asked her if she wanted to look in the mirror. She said yes......she looked at herself for a few seconds......her face lite up and she grabbed me and hugged me and with the sweetest most sincere little voice said......"muchas gracias Hermana Amy".(thank you very much Mrs. Amy). Tears started to flow as I thought of this poor little girl looking at herself and seeing herself beautiful for the first time. It is the little things like headbands and baby soft that can make a difference....but not only that..........but that someone actually took the time to love her and brush her hair and make her feel beautiful. I know as a women I need to feel pretty what is the difference in a child hearing those words and having those feelings. Today Kathya felt like a pretty little girl! Here she is.....(I can't wait to see her tomorrow ready for church...)

**************If anyone would like to send pretty hair bows and decorative headbands...we can always use them. The girls love to have pretty bows and things for their hair***************

And we are now 20..........

Today, was a day unlike any other. Mark and I know that God has placed all the children in Esperanza for a reason. Each one of them have a different and unique circumstance. However, today....we with the Lords help have truly rescued a little girl. We really are full considering we have 8 boys and 4 girls. However, the Lord knew that this little girl needed help. Yesterday, we drove by to talk with Kathya's mom about placing her in the home. When we approached her house we found a chicken coop. Friends I am very sincere when I say it was a chicken coop. She has been sleeping on the ground in her house. She also was recently taken to the doctor with a fever and severe infection. She had so many lice and so many bites that it has infected her body. One side of her face is swollen and she has severe pain in her ear. She has been getting antibiotic shots now for a few days and will continue for the next few days. Kathya is nine years old and has never been to school. She can not read she can not write. She does not know how to spell her name or know when she was born. Today, was a new beginning for her. She has had a hot shower, we have cleaned and had her hair cut and she gets to sleep in a nice soft bed that she has all to herself. Please be in prayer for Kathya as she now has hope for the future.

It's Officially ......OFFICIAL.......

I know some of you might be wondering what is all the news about "official". Well, it is officially official that we are Honduran residents. We have received our cards and now life can be a little easier here. See, if you don't have a residency card then you can't have a phone, a drivers license, buy anything big such as a house or land. Now, granted we don't need that right now but it is so nice to have. We can go and get out drivers license which is one of the number one things as well as put our cars in our name. This is a huge answer to prayers...so here is the picture of being official......

To Be 11 years Old...................

Do you remember when you were eleven years old? What your life was like? What you did for fun? I so remember when I was 11 years old. I was in between the stage of kid and teen. I still loved to play with dolls but I had a hobby of drawing and just playing outside with my friends. I had no worries....knew no burdens and had a care free life knowing that every night I would sit around a table eat dinner, shower and then it was off to bed.

Living here in Honduras this is not the life of many11 year olds. We see many who have no future but to follow down a path of a broken life where survival is the only way. This weekend we are having our team planning meeting for 2013. We traveled to a small town about an hour from where we live. This little town is near a lake which means it is a huge fishing community.

After our morning session we decided to head to one of the local fish houses for some freshly caught and fried fish. Just like in any area here in Honduras you are greeted with people and children trying to sell you something. Many have sunglasses, cell phone cords and holders, cheeses, sweets knick-knacks and so -on. We had about 5 or 6 people ask us if we wanted anything and we nicely said "no gracias". Then a little girl approached selling bags of cut up suagr-cane. We told her no thank you and continued with our lunch. She stood a little ways off. When we were done with our lunch the little girl approached the end of the table and looked at the skeleton of a fish on Brother Matt's plate and asked if she could have it. He said yes and she pulled out a small plastic bag and raked all of the leftovers inside. She then passed on over to 2 other plates asking for the same. It broke our heart. Here was a 11 year old girl who worked selling sugar cane strips and asking for scrapes of food. How sad is it to think that a 11 year old has no future...she does not go to school...she has 3 siblings at home and she helps work to take care of her family. Her name is Elisia. We might never ever see this young girl again.....but little girls like her are the reason that God has put Esperanza de Honduras here. To give hope to children that otherwise would be without a future.



Elisia 11 years old



Sin...Satan.....Heavy Heart

Tonight I write you with a heavy heart. It saddens me to see that there are still so many people in the world that are living a life where they are tormented by their sin. It pains me to think that the devil can get a person so low and so beaten down that they think and feel there is no other way but to end life. This week I watched a sad video of a 15 year old girl whose mistake her sin tormented her everyday. Where people showed no compassion but constantly beat her down and told her that she was worthless. It reminds me of the story of the women at the well. You know she was not a "good women". She had had many husbands...many men in her life. But I know she was ever grateful the day that the Lord spoke to her and changed her life forever. I am sure that the Lord was trying to talk to this young girl but she felt she had no-one in this world that she could run to. I can't say whether or not she had trusted Christ as her Savior before she ended her life but without Christ she has no hope. It is a shame that we live in a world that is so cruel and selfish and a world where parents do not care enough to control their children. This is just one story.

Over a month ago we were approached by a friend here in Honduras who has a young co-worker who found out she was pregnant. This young 20 year old women was raped while at the beach with her friend. She decided that she was going to have this baby and give it away. That is where we came in. Our friend told her all about our home and the opportunity that she had by placing her baby ...her little girl in our care. She was 7 months at the time. Due to the fact that this was a situation that the girl did not care to remember she did not want to have anything to do with the girl and was going to sign her into the home for 18 years. We talked back and forth to our friend and the girl wanted to be tested to make sure that her and the baby had no communicable diseases before she was born. Last week we were informed that the mother took some pills to abort the baby. Tonight, we learned that at 8 months and 7 days pregnant that little girl died and went to be with Jesus. It breaks my heart to know that the devil got into this young girls head and made her think that there was no other way. She  was almost full term. This little baby girl almost had a home. However, a life with out Christ....leaves a void that the devil jumps right on into. Now, this poor young girl not only has to live her life everyday with the fact that she was taken advantage of but she has to live her life everyday knowing that she killed her own baby. Friends that is exactly what the devil wants you to do...he wants you to get so low and so weak that you feel you have no hope. I am here to tell you friends that there is HOPE...his name is Jesus. He was born, he died and he suffered so that we could have eternal life. If you are a Christian it is your job to reach out to the hurting...to the needy...to the poor......don't be a by- stander.....you will have to answer for that one day....all those people who witnessed that poor teenager getting slammed and bullied everyday....you will have to answer for that. I don't want to think that I had a role in someone taking their own life. How sad it is to think that we live in such a society where there is no remorse. If you are saved.....I challenge you all to do a Pay it forward.....reach out to someone that you would normally never talk to.....it might be that little thing that you do that keeps that person from making a mistake that would forever change their life....give HOPE!