Compassion for Guatemala

What a whirlwind the past few months have been! Time is flying by here in Guatemala and we are finishing our language school this week. Although we are not fluent in Spanish, we are comfortable talking in Spanish and can communicate most things we would like to say. Learning a new language is such a long process and “poca a poca” (little by little) we will continue to improve as we live and work here.

Robby is preparing for his first water project in the small community of El Gorrion. A team from Georgetown, Kentucky will be coming in April to help complete this project, which will provide clean drinking water for approximately 120 families. Currently, the people living in El Gorrion depend on a truck to bring a limited supply of water to each family two times each week. This project will give them running water in their homes that will be available whenever they need it.

We have shared with you how God opened doors for us to rent the house next door to Mimi’s House, which has been a huge blessing for us. The house is very large and although we do not need all of this space for our family, we felt like the location was perfect. The landlord has agreed to reduce our rent by $100 each month which made it possible for us to make some much-needed repairs to the house.

After several conversations with Fontaine (the founder and director of Catalyst), we are moving forward with the process to open our home to foster children. It is our hope that Mimi’s House will continue to be a home for girls, while our home will be for infants who will come to us from the Guatemalan court system. As some of you know, it is not possible to adopt from Guatemala for several reasons right now so there are many children slipping through the cracks. We would like to be part of the solution for the problems of abuse, neglect, and malnutrition.

Lori will start working on the paperwork necessary to open our home to foster children. We know that this could be a long process. For example, the attorney that facilitated Cohen’s adoption has since turned her law office into a home for children. Her paperwork was denied many times before she was approved to open her home. We will begin working toward this goal and hope that we will be able to foster children in the future.

Praises:
• We are thankful for God’s protection for our family and for our health.
• We are thankful for a productive time in language school.
• We are thankful for new relationships with the Guatemalan people.
• We are thankful that Lori’s mom has been able to be here with us during our Spanish school to help take care of Cohen & Leah.

Prayer Requests:
• Robby’s upcoming water project in El Gorrion
• Approval for us to open our home to foster children
• For our safety (our kids are growing up thinking it is normal to have guards with guns outside of the grocery store and McDonald’s)
• Both of us to handle the daily stresses of living in Guatemala


Thank you so much for partnering with us in this adventure! We appreciate your support and your prayers!