Happy Thanksgiving!

"in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Happy Thanksgiving! I realize that I have done a terrible job of keeping in touch. This past couple of weeks have been very hectic as I have been winding down the school year. We finished on Wednesday, with the graduation of two of our students, Nilsy and Oscar. I am very proud of them! The ceremony went very smoothly, thanks to the help of many of my teachers who were very hands-on in getting everything ready. I feel like the semester went well. I am very ready for a break, but am looking forward to starting the spring semester again in January.

I decided that for Thanksgiving today, I needed a quiet day at home, so that's what I did. I was invited to the House of Timothy for lunch, where I had a wonderful typical Honduran lunch with my roommate Corina, my friend Steve, the housemom Margarita, and one of the guys that lives in the house. But don't worry! I still got turkey and all the trimmings when my next door neighbor brought me a HUGE plate of leftovers from her Thanksgiving feast. It made for a wonderful dinner!

Now that school is out, I hope to do more writing, although there will be much less to write about. I might actually get around to doing my September/October newsletter! Yes, I said Sept./Oct. Sad, but true.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family. May we continue to remain thankful, no matter what our circumstances.

Praise the Lord!

"From the rising of the sun to its going down the LORD's name is to be praised. The LORD is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens." -Psalm 113:3-4

Today there were several reasons to praise the Lord. First of all, two more students chose to be baptized today. Ellianna, a ten-year-old missionary child, and Oscar, an 18-year-old ministry youth, both decided to publicly profess their faith in Jesus. Five carloads of people from the ranch came to witness and celebrate these two young believers. Although the ceremony was brief, there was much rejoicing among the participants.

Later this afternoon, I learned from my "roommate" Sara that she was moving back in with me. I say "roommate" because although Sara technically lives with me, she has been a single housemom with four young boys for the last several months. Our Children's Services Director came up with a new plan for the boys that works best for everyone. Three are moving in with a family that is already established, and the youngest will be moving in with the Director's family. Sara is now free to return to our duplex to live and will go back to being an assistant in the homes. I am thrilled to have Sara here! When they met with the boys and the family, the boys were very happy to receive the news.

The Lord continues to work in a might way in the lives of our children!