2 more days!

Hi Everyone!

Several people have asked me to blog again while I'm in Ecuador. I hope to be able to keep this up while I'm in Guayaquil, but unfortunately I can't make any promises as internet access will be a bit more difficult. I'll at least try.. :o)

First, I'll give you all an update of why I'm going back and what we'll be doing, as well as all of the developments of the foundation. Here we go..

In August when I returned to Guayaquil from Riobamba I felt even more burdened for the street kids in Guayaquil. These dirty little kids seemed to show up out of nowhere (and I mean little! as young as 3 and 4 years old). I knew it was time to get our outreach program going. If you don't know- a small group of us tried to get a program going in 2004, but just hit a brick wall and couldn't do it. When I returned home in August I researched a lot about nonprofit organizations, hoping that we could start one. I looked for organizations that might be willing to partner with us. None of that worked out. I didn't have enough information to be able to fill out the paperwork for the nonprofit org, and almost all of the organizations I looked into partnering with don't send people to other countries. All I could do from there was pray...

For a few months I was pretty discouraged, wanting to DO something, but knowing I just needed to wait. Let me say that God's timing is always perfect.. Just 3 weeks before I'm leaving I met with Bill Legere, one of the founders of The Foundation for Hope and Grace. The foundation was started in memory of Bill and Teresa's daughter, Gracie who was killed in an accident this past summer. Her and her sisters were adopted from Romania, and Grace was only 9 when she went to be with the Lord. With this foundation they've want to help orphans all over the world. They've already supported two different orphanages in Romania and Nigeria with financial gifts.

Having just about been through the whole nonprofit status, they said they'd be willing to partner with us so that we can get our program started! Bill is evening flying to Guayaquil for a few days to see the neighborhood and meet the people who will be helping us on that end! There are also 3 other women who will be in Guayaquil anywhere from a week to possibly three weeks to assist in developing the program. *Phew!* Everything that's happened over the last few weeks has been so humbling! Here I was in August and September trying to hard to DO something, when God had a plan all along. It was when I finally gave it over to him did all of these things start happening. I am so very thankful that I don't have to depend on myself through all of this. Who am I, really? I'm inadequate and inexperienced! But I really believe God has a plan for this project, and I'm going to keep seeking him as we move forward... There are still a lot of "unknowns", well.. unknowns for me. God knows what will happen, and I've learned my lesson.. I'm waiting on His timing...

The project will be an outreach to street kids and kids who are at high risk of becoming street kids. We'll reach out to these kids and their families by helping with school expenses, giving lunches after school, homework help, and medical and dental check ups every so often. We'll need sponsors (perhaps somene like you?? :) who will be willing to pay monthly for this to happen.

Thank you to many of you who have already stepped up to support this program. I have been so blessed by the GENEROUS financial gifts that people have already given. With this money I hope to be able to equip the church with the supplies needed to start the program before I leave. I can't say thank you enough to all of you who have helped with this!!

During this trip I'll be doing a lot of meeting with people. We have to organize the project and get it all on paper. This includes how the program will be run, how we will decide what families can be involved, write a budget, decide on whether we'll need staff including a caseworker or social worker, etc. I hope to make contacts with other people and organizations as well so that we can network together. Please join me in praying for all of this. Pray for smooth organizing, finding the right people to network with, agreement with the Ecuadorian leaders who have expressed interest in helping us, as well as good communication. I love Spanish and have learned a lot, but I hope that the other Ecuadorians and I have a good level of understanding as we work together.

I'm leaving January 28th and returning March 11th! :o) Thanks so much for your prayers and support. Also, thank you for reading this and simply being interested! Maybe you could even start praying about becoming a sponsor for one of our kids? ;)