Just wanted to give you a quick update.
The Ladies class has collected enough stuff to put together the first 25 bags for our new Love in Action ministry, Bolsas de Bendición. They will be putting the bags together tomorrow afternoon, and then delivering them to the new moms at the Social Security Hospital later in the week. If there aren't many Moms there the day they go, we also have an open door at a Clinic just around the corner from our church, and we will be taking them there, too.
Please pray for the ladies that are working to get the bags put together, and then for each of the ladies that receive this gift. May the Lord go before us and prepare hearts and open doors for opportunities to witness to these new Moms and their families.
The Administrative Team for the new ministry, Bendecidos para Bendecir, met again last night. Everything is moving forward for our target date of Saturday morning, May 2. We have 20 clients signed up to receive boxes of food for this first date. Pray for all the final donations to come in. Pray for the Administrative Team, as they each find others to work with them in different areas. Pray for the Lord to prepare the hearts of these Clients as we near May 2. Pray that they would actually show up and that God would touch hearts. We don't just want to meet just their physical needs, (as the truth is we will never be able to fully do that) we want to introduce them to Jesus!
Thanks so much for your prayers for our ministry!
Blessings to each of you!
Joy
Monday, April 20, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Taking Baby Steps...
Our family had the blessing of hosting two very special ladies last week. The purpose of their trip was to help us figure out how we could best meet the needs of our special needs kids. To look at what we were doing and tweak things to help us get these guys on to the next level and to create an environment where they can grow to be all that God intends them to be.
When you live in a 3rd world country and in one of the smaller cities in that country, you are limited by what resources and support is available. Add to that the language difference, and you limit it even more. This all means that basically anything we decide to do is going to be implemented by my husband or myself. We both have a desire and a commitment to our family, but there is a limited number of hours in the day, and at our age a limited amount of energy.
One of the big blessings to me that came out of our time last week, was the idea that we aren't talking about huge changes. Each idea, is more than doable, and although they are small, they have the potential of making a tremendous difference in our family life, and also in the development of our children.
My children have been trained to use a timer, for their school tasks and they also use it presently for video game time. So we are going to take that habit that they have already learned and expand it to be used throughout their day. I made each of the younger ones a chart with their daily schedule and they will use their timers to go through their day. They even have a "Saturday/Vacation Day at home" schedule. :) That may seem like a lot of structure to you, (I know a few years ago it would have to me, too!) BUT one thing I've learned about working with Special Needs kids, is that they THRIVE on structure. Week-ends and Holidays are always times of struggle as is unplanned afternoons and evenings. I have known for some time that if I would just bite the bullet and make a plan for those times, things would go much better for the kids. YET, I wanted a "break" and didn't see how in the world to do it without being right there present over seeing everything, from early morning, until they went to bed. So this is a way to give them the structure they need, while at the same time, freeing me up a little. I have no idea if it will work, or how well it will work. I'm sure that their will be some "tweaking" over the next weeks.
The kids were very excited when they saw their charts and wanted to know if they got to start using them tomorrow! So here is the first "baby step" we are starting tomorrow. :)
When you live in a 3rd world country and in one of the smaller cities in that country, you are limited by what resources and support is available. Add to that the language difference, and you limit it even more. This all means that basically anything we decide to do is going to be implemented by my husband or myself. We both have a desire and a commitment to our family, but there is a limited number of hours in the day, and at our age a limited amount of energy.
One of the big blessings to me that came out of our time last week, was the idea that we aren't talking about huge changes. Each idea, is more than doable, and although they are small, they have the potential of making a tremendous difference in our family life, and also in the development of our children.
My children have been trained to use a timer, for their school tasks and they also use it presently for video game time. So we are going to take that habit that they have already learned and expand it to be used throughout their day. I made each of the younger ones a chart with their daily schedule and they will use their timers to go through their day. They even have a "Saturday/Vacation Day at home" schedule. :) That may seem like a lot of structure to you, (I know a few years ago it would have to me, too!) BUT one thing I've learned about working with Special Needs kids, is that they THRIVE on structure. Week-ends and Holidays are always times of struggle as is unplanned afternoons and evenings. I have known for some time that if I would just bite the bullet and make a plan for those times, things would go much better for the kids. YET, I wanted a "break" and didn't see how in the world to do it without being right there present over seeing everything, from early morning, until they went to bed. So this is a way to give them the structure they need, while at the same time, freeing me up a little. I have no idea if it will work, or how well it will work. I'm sure that their will be some "tweaking" over the next weeks.
The kids were very excited when they saw their charts and wanted to know if they got to start using them tomorrow! So here is the first "baby step" we are starting tomorrow. :)
Little Bud's daily schedule.
Special Days/Saturday's at home schedule.
This is Little Bud's independent school work.
The Princess' daily schedule.
Special Days/Saturdays at home Schedule.
Here is my Princess' school schedule.
Our Chore Charts
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Since we returned to Ecuador, there has been a lot of things happening. One of the big things we have done at church is introduce the "Love in Action" program. This is a ministry where we will be seeking ways to express the love of Christ to our community and others. Here are two of the newest ministries started through our "Love in Action" program.
The Ladies Sunday School class initiated a new out reach ministry directed at blessing new Mom's in our area. They are making small canvas bags, filling them with some baby gifts, adding a card, saying "Congratulations on your new baby!" and then on the back of the card it says, "this is a gift from Iglesia Biblica Bautista" and has the churches address and phone number. We have been given an "open door" to hand our gift bags out at the Social Security Hospital, and have had several others show an interest. We hope that by showing the love of Christ in this way, it may open up the door of opportunity to witness to people that we would never have the chance to witness to. We are calling this ministry, "Bolsas de bendicion" (Bags of blessings)
Our church has also started a Food Pantry ministry. We are in the process of signing up "clientes" and receiving donations to put the boxes of "basic necessities" together. Our date for passing out our first set of boxes is May 2!! Our church has taken a big step of faith in this and we are excited to see how God works, provides and what doors he opens. The name of this new ministry is "Bendecidos para Bendecir" (Blessed to Bless)
The basic cost for making the bags for the new Moms, including a small receiving blanket, is $3 a piece. (This does not include the diapers or other small baby item we hope to add to the bag)
The cost of the boxes for the food pantry is running $25 each.
As you can see, neither of these are small undertakings, just on the economic end, not to mention the hours to just get them off the ground and running. Our goal in both ministries right now is to reach 25 families, with the desire to grow and add to these numbers.
If you would be interested in helping with either one of these new ministries please email us about this at anztony@gmail.com.
Blessings to you and yours,
Joy
The Ladies Sunday School class initiated a new out reach ministry directed at blessing new Mom's in our area. They are making small canvas bags, filling them with some baby gifts, adding a card, saying "Congratulations on your new baby!" and then on the back of the card it says, "this is a gift from Iglesia Biblica Bautista" and has the churches address and phone number. We have been given an "open door" to hand our gift bags out at the Social Security Hospital, and have had several others show an interest. We hope that by showing the love of Christ in this way, it may open up the door of opportunity to witness to people that we would never have the chance to witness to. We are calling this ministry, "Bolsas de bendicion" (Bags of blessings)
Our church has also started a Food Pantry ministry. We are in the process of signing up "clientes" and receiving donations to put the boxes of "basic necessities" together. Our date for passing out our first set of boxes is May 2!! Our church has taken a big step of faith in this and we are excited to see how God works, provides and what doors he opens. The name of this new ministry is "Bendecidos para Bendecir" (Blessed to Bless)
The basic cost for making the bags for the new Moms, including a small receiving blanket, is $3 a piece. (This does not include the diapers or other small baby item we hope to add to the bag)
The cost of the boxes for the food pantry is running $25 each.
As you can see, neither of these are small undertakings, just on the economic end, not to mention the hours to just get them off the ground and running. Our goal in both ministries right now is to reach 25 families, with the desire to grow and add to these numbers.
If you would be interested in helping with either one of these new ministries please email us about this at anztony@gmail.com.
Blessings to you and yours,
Joy
Friday, March 13, 2015
Here, There and Everywhere!
Hey Everyone! We are coming to the close of our time in the US. It has been very good in many ways and challenging in many others.
We have enjoyed so much having the opportunity to visit our family. We were able to spend time with my Mom and Dad. Tony and the kids were able to visit with his Mom, Sister and some extended family. We spent a few days with each of our daughters and their families. What fun to spend time with the grand kids!!
Besides that, we were able to re-connect with some great friends and supporters.
A big challenge for all of us was that we all got the Type B flu, which is an upper respiratory bug. It is really nasty stuff, and hangs on forever. We are thankful that we are finally about over it. Appreciate your prayers for complete healing.
Carla had her follow-up Cardio check this week. We got an excellent report!! We are praising the Lord that at this time the doctors do not expect her to have any more trouble with her heart. If at some time her pulmonary stenosis worsens, they feel that it will be able to be opened up with a balloon cath procedure!!! What incredible news to hear that she is not looking at any more major surgeries in the in the future!! Of course we understand that this is not guaranteed and things may change, BUT for now, this is GREAT news!!! Also they told us that because she is doing so well they don't need to see her for 2 years!!!!! WOW!
We are all excited to be heading back to Ecuador on Wednesday. It has been so great to see everyone as I mentioned above, but we are ready to get home! :) Tony and I are excited about the ministry opportunities that God is opening up for us. We really appreciate your prayers as we pursue these open doors and move FORWARD.
Blessings to you and yours,
Joy
We have enjoyed so much having the opportunity to visit our family. We were able to spend time with my Mom and Dad. Tony and the kids were able to visit with his Mom, Sister and some extended family. We spent a few days with each of our daughters and their families. What fun to spend time with the grand kids!!
Besides that, we were able to re-connect with some great friends and supporters.
A big challenge for all of us was that we all got the Type B flu, which is an upper respiratory bug. It is really nasty stuff, and hangs on forever. We are thankful that we are finally about over it. Appreciate your prayers for complete healing.
Carla had her follow-up Cardio check this week. We got an excellent report!! We are praising the Lord that at this time the doctors do not expect her to have any more trouble with her heart. If at some time her pulmonary stenosis worsens, they feel that it will be able to be opened up with a balloon cath procedure!!! What incredible news to hear that she is not looking at any more major surgeries in the in the future!! Of course we understand that this is not guaranteed and things may change, BUT for now, this is GREAT news!!! Also they told us that because she is doing so well they don't need to see her for 2 years!!!!! WOW!
We are all excited to be heading back to Ecuador on Wednesday. It has been so great to see everyone as I mentioned above, but we are ready to get home! :) Tony and I are excited about the ministry opportunities that God is opening up for us. We really appreciate your prayers as we pursue these open doors and move FORWARD.
Blessings to you and yours,
Joy
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