Feeling a little Safer.....

It is so amazing to see how God answers your prayers. With the crime rate increasing and a soccer field in the works for the neighborhood next door we have been a little more weary about not being protected. However, God has used wonderful people to contribute to the block by block project. We are pleased to say that we now have a huge gate and a corner wall up. So far around 400 blocks have been used in this project. Thank you all who pray for us, give towards this ministry and always encourage us. We can't do it alone and we know that God will take care of us and sustain our needs. Thank you to those who have given to the cause of the Lord.

 

Block by Block Update......

We are excited to announce that the gate for the back-side of the property has been started and should go up this weekend or the first of next week. The men from church along with Hunter and Mark have started the prep work for the corner side of the property wall as well.Here are some pictures of our progress. Thank you so much for giving to this cause on top of giving just to support our daily needs of the home. May God bless you all and may we glory the Lord with all that we do for HIM.

1st Day of School Photos!

We started school on Monday. Here are the pictures from our very 1st day!

Taylor



Sthefany

Anthony

Belkis

Carolina

David

Daython

Elvin

Hunter

Valeria

Kathya



Josiah

Junior

Kevin

Who would have thought............................

WOW! Who would have thought that you would grow up, get married, have a career, children and then move to another country. It is amazing the journey that God has given us. Five years ago today God guided us on a new path. as we set out and moved to Tampa, Florida.  Neither of us had ever lived in another state and so far from our family and friends in North Carolina. Then, we moved to another country....where we could not speak the language. He blessed us there beyond belief as we not only learned Spanish but he gave us yet another miracle. He gave us our 7th baby...Micah. Then, we packed up again and headed to the states for just a few weeks before we made our final move to El Progreso, Honduras. What an adventure and what a story to tell and to share. We are so thankful that God has given us this opportunity to serve HIM as we help the children of Honduras and the people here as we let our Light(the Father) shine through us so that others may come to know HIM. We are thankful that we have now been serving the Lord in fulltime ministry for the last 5 years. Thank YOU Lord for such an awesome honor and privilege. We look forward to as many years as God allows us to have. Thank you all for your love, prayers, support and encouragement the last five years. As our Pastor back home says: Keep on Keeping On for the Lord......we plan to do just that!

leaving NC .....a tough day but a sweet day

our new home for the next 9 months in Tampa

our growing family in Costa Rica

Our even bigger family in Honduras

THANK YOU LORD FOR A WONDERFUL FIVE YEARS!!!!!

Total Surprise.......

We had a visiting group this past week and they helped give our kids a total surprise. Monday, they started to prep the ground by tilling a 30x20 spot of ground. The kids thought we were going to plant a new garden so they started to look through all the seeds that we had to see what to plant. However, bright and early in the morning a truck bearing lots of parts pulled down our drive. Even after they pulled up the kids still had no idea what was in store for them. It was only after it was totally assembled did they realize that we had a new playscape area for them. With the exception of our own children they have never seen anything like this before. It was an awesome time and we are so grateful to Cumplios plus who installed it but we are ever grateful for John and Sue Leavitt and Preschool of the Arts for donating the funds to purchase such a rare and wonderful treat for our cottage. Thank you to all. What a huge blessing! The kids have not stopped playing on it since it was finished. We hear them calling out "Look, I see the pirates".......This is a gift that will keep on giving as the children have never had such a treat before. We have no parks to play areas here in Honduras. Thanks again

First Annual Jeff Braun Invitational Soccer Torney

We had the privilege of holding the 1st annual soccer tournament in honor of Jeff Braun this past weekend. For those of you who do not know who Jeff was; he was adopted from Honduras when he was six months old and raised in Stafford CT. He grew up there and then joined the armed forces. On December 12, 2003 Jeff was killed in Iraq. However, throughout his life he had a dream of helping other children in Honduras by helping to start a children's home.  He was killed before he ever saw his dream come true. So, in honor of Jeff we held a soccer tournament on August 17 and invited 3 local churches to participate as well as our own team from Iglesia Bautista El Faro. What a great time we had as we also had 15 guests from Jeff's home town in CT. Two of which included his father Bill Braun and his best friend Travis Gagnon who serves as a pilot in the US Coast Guard. Travis even put on a uniform and joined an opposing team who was short some players. He played hard but El Faro still came out on top. Pastor Matt even scored two of our goals. It was a great day full of excitement especially since El Faro brought home the trophy.  Jeff's dad and Travis were there to present the trophy to El Faro. What an exciting time for our home and we look forward to doing this every year.

El Faro Team along with Mr. Bill Braun and Travis Gagnon

Mr. Braun presenting the trophy to Victor our team captain

Travis and Carolina

Little by Little......Block by Block......

By now most of you should have received our latest newsletter by mail. In this newsletter it spoke of the large and urgent need of building a concrete wall around our 10 acre property. We need this for the security and protection of the children and the home here as things are getting a little more dangerous. The price is around $50,000 for the completed project. Yes, we had a large hard to swallow gulp as well. However, we have decided to approach this in a different way. Little by Little and Block by Block.

Here in Honduras the men make almost all of the concrete blocks by hand. There is no large factory that processes the blocks for the city and being that everything is made of concrete this is always a job opportunity.  I was able to go and visit one of our local "bloqueria" to learn how much blocks actually cost.  We gathered a price of 50 to 60 cents per block.  The block to be installed with the needed rebar, concrete and sand will be $1 per block. We also have had someone pledge the money to fund the first 250 blocks. We are asking that you, your Sunday School class, your teen group, your co-workers or whom ever you wish to help enlist in this project select a goal to help buy a certain amount of blocks.

For example:

25   blocks= $25
50   blocks= $50
75   blocks=  $75
150 blocks=$150
200 blocks =$200
500 blocks =$500
1,000 blocks= $1,000
3,000 blocks= $3,000
5,000 blocks= $5,000
and so on you can pledge any amount. We know that God will continue to protect us and we pray that you all can help help us little by little and block by block start the wall.