Praise God for His timing

Red Tape Shredded! Children Coming!

It is the Lord's timing! Our friends, Manolo and Vilma Bendfeldt, at Fundaniños (orphanage in Guatemala City) have cut through the governmental red tape on our behalf. Rancho Esperanza has become a satellite facility for Fundaniños. Fundaniños is a larger, well established and wonderful Christian orphanage. We have known the Bendfeldts for years through our good friend Woody Woodson at Vine International. Manolo and Vilma have two families of children who are not adoptable and are in need of a more permanent family situation. And that is what Rancho Esperanza is all about!

One family group of children was living on the streets with their drug-addicted parents before arriving at Fundaniños two years ago. We don't yet know the full situation of the other children who have been with Fundaniños for three years. The children have never been visited by their biological parents. None of the children had ever gone to school while with their parents. So they are trying to catch up. They will be out of school for the year this month and we will pick them up on November 2nd!

Mike and I got to meet all the children last Thursday, the 9th of October! They are all very precious! I don't know who is more excited, us or them! Some of them are already packed. Vilma and Patty (their devoted care-giver) facilitated the meeting. It went very well and the children felt free to ask many questions. We showed them photos of the ranch, the house, the church, etc. They were thrilled that we have animals, especially the horses.

Francisca is 14yrs., Esperanza is 8yrs., Danny is 5yrs., Angélica is 13yrs., Lucía is 12yrs., and Pedro is 7yrs. old. There was one hitch though, two other children really want to come too. And because Vilma and Manolo are still trying to get custody of another sibling (10yrs. old) so as to reunite the family, we need to save space for her. But, then again, as Manolo said, if we can make room for one more bed for the sister, a bunk bed will fit in that space and maybe we could take the other girl? We'll see. Right now they are four girls and only two boys. We have one girl's room and one boy's room. Fortunately another of the children who wants to come is a boy! So we could end up with six girls and three boys, four boys including Michael José that is. That is going to max out our family situation, I think.

What I want to say at this point is that there are so many cases like those of our new children. We have come to the point, finally, of asking you all to put out the word at church, Bible studies, small groups, work, friends, relatives, etc., that we need another set of house parents here at Rancho Esperanza! We strongly believe that God has placed this service on the hearts of many of His children. Who will be obedient? Who feels called to raise children in the Lord? What is standing in your way? When we have a commitment of at least 3yrs. from a couple, another house will be built and we will be able to receive more children who need a family situation. This is His project, and His vision, who will answer His call?

Thank you so much for all your prayers! What a blessing it is to work with you all and to be able to witness, with you, the faithfulness of our Father in this project. Where God guides, He really does provide! We also want to share with you that another widow on staff has asked the Lord Jesus into her heart, our precious "Nanny" Vilma! It has been so incredibly fantastic to witness!

More later.
Love in Christ,
Karen, Mike, & Family