Highlights.

Since I haven't written in a while, I'll just give a few of the highlights of the last couple of months. This is a very long post, and I'm tired so I didn't proofread it. Just to give you a heads up! :)

On Dec 2nd, we welcomed Guadelupe.

There just happened to be a Burger King near the courthouse. And it just so happened to be lunchtime. And it just so happened that I love Burger King. So we went! 

Lupita (as we call her) has Crouzon syndrome. Short story is, the bones in her skull fused too soon, and won't expand with the growing of her brain. As she has never been operated on, this had the potential to cause serious brain damage. Praise God, the only damage it has done is cause one of her eyes to not see. She is of normal intelligence. 

She loves to run errands with me, and I love to have a fast food buddy! ;)

She is SUCH a joy to have around the house! I am so glad God brought her to us. She is fun, sweet, affectionate, helpful, and the list goes on. She is also broken from her past. So she often wakes in the night in a panic and crying. She speaks to me of things that little girls shouldn't have seen. And through all of that, she remains a sweet child. Don't get me wrong. She is also a five year old, and she has some behaviour issues. But doesn't every five year old? I don't know if this is most kids, but the majority of my girls have the art of manipulation down pat! ;)

While we were in Guatemala City that week, for specialist appointments for some of the girls (like Yasmin pictured below), we received a call for a new little girl. Since I was picking her up near where we were, we just picked her up on the way home. 

On December 5th, Shirley came to live with us. 

The ride home was a little crowded. 

Yasmin's face cracks me up! I don't think she likes being a pillow. 

Shirley is three years old, and suffered a bad brain bleed. She came to us as a sweet child who will greet anyone in her presence. She is beautiful and sweet, and tries to use that to her advantage.

She didn't want to drink her water. I think that lip is so cute!But don't tell her that. 

This picture was taken on one of her first days with us. She couldn't sit independently very well, she was very scared of everything, and would panic when we went to touch her. Judging by the scars on her head, she went through a lot at the hospital with her surgeries and recovery.

Now that I was up to six girls, I had visions of a pretty family picture that I could send out to everyone at Christmastime. 

I'm not even exaggerating, this is the second best picture of our little photo shoot. Guess we'll keep working on that. 

 We decorated for Christmas, and Lupita loved it!

After Jackie had her turn hanging ornaments, this is how she positioned herself. That girl cracks me up!

All done! (Yasmin was drooling, it isn't pee in her pants! ;) )

Marcy looking at the tree the next day. I get to look at that face every day, and for that I am so thankful. 

Marcy and I had to go to the City, and we stopped in at our friends house. They also run a home for kids with special needs, called Hope for Home. We finally met a baby that makes Marcy look big! Though in reality, Marcy only had about 4 months, and one pound on sweet Olimpia. 

Getting to know Shirley.

We had a staff Christmas party, and was able to get this shot of all the girls, with all the people who work so hard to make their life the best possible!

Thanks to some special donors, each girl was able to get a new, fancy Christmas dress. The girls love them!

All the girls, including the nannies, got pyjamas for Christmas Eve. You can see in the background how tired Jackie was after the Christmas Eve church service.

Luz, who has chewed off chunks of wood from her bunk bed and eaten them, was quite happy with her teething rings for a Christmas present. 

Marcy learned to actually crawl, and was able to get into things. :)

Her face cracks me up!

 Luz is double fisting the teething rings.

 Jackie and Yasmin were so funny with their presents!

Yasmin kept throwing everything within her reach. Then she started eating the paper.

Lupita got this glider for Christmas, and she loved it! She even sat on it while watching t.v. The only time she got off it was when she went to the bathroom, and even then, she took it in the bathroom with her! :)

Then we had Happy Birthday Jesus cake for dinner.

Beautiful Yasmin.

I tried to sneak a picture of the event, but the picture didn't take. The church we attend is pastored by the Peters, from Kamloops, and they run Impact Ministries. I have know them since I was 10 years old. They have been so supportive of our girls. Every week they send a van to pick us all up, as we can't all go to church together in our current vehicle. 

On the first Sunday of the year they surprised me by donating the first offering of the year to our children's home. I was so touched! What a blessing for us!

The next few pictures are the girls first tasting of s'mores. Needless to say, they were a big hit!

 Shirley got so crazy, she grabbed a big hunk of chocolate and shoved it in her mouth. Since she had already had 2 whole s'mores, I actually pulled that chocolate right back out! I'm not one to waste things, so I ate in on my own s'more. :)

 Marcy went crazy for it! She just tasted the marshmallow, but loved it!

In November, the judge had ordered that Jackie and Yasmin go home with their parents. At the beginning of January, they picked them up. I miss the girls, but I think it is the best for everyone. Please be praying for the girls and their family.

Shirley has been working hard with the physical therapist, and yesterday she started walking on her own! I am so proud of her! She is still somewhat fearful, but she has made such great strides in the last 2 months.

 Lupita (above) and Luz (below) on their first day of school!

I even attended my first parent meeting. What a milestone for me! ;)

 Marcy has also been working very hard in her physical therapy, and can now stand by herself while leaning up against something!

On January 21, little Sara Ester came to live with us! She is one year, eight months old, and has microcephaly. Basically, her brain stopped growing. She is so cute and sweet! Now I have 2 babies! I thought I would only be getting older kids. And I really like older kids. But the fact that He gave me 2 babies makes me happy. 

 Look how pretty!

My two babies! Marcy is 1 year, 4 months and weighed 14 lbs, 15 ounces in this picture (she has since been very sick, and lost some). Sara is 1 year 8 months, and weighs the same!

These two are becoming good buds! (Please excuse the huge booger)

Marcy hasn't quite learned how to be gentle with non-mobile babies. I think Sara was trying to tell me, "get her off of me!" Don't worry, I did. :)

I think that finally brings you all up to date! There are always more pictures on our Facebook site, so feel free to have a look if you didn't get enough here. ;)

Thanks for stopping by! 

Looking ahead to 2015!

Thank you to all who have supported Treasures of God Children's Home in the setting up phase, and to those who have started to give monthly to provide quality care for our girls. Thank you to those of you who have given special gifts to help out through the year. Thank you to those who have prayed for the license, the girls, and my sanity! You have all been a big part of the story of Treasures of God Children's Home! 

Since my last blog, we are happy to announce that we have received two more girls! This brings us up to a total of 6 treasures in our home. We are so excited to be growing! 

Guadelupe, or Lupita as we call her, is 5 years old. She is smart, and loves to help out. Especially with the other girls. She has been removed from her parent's care, and has been to many other Children's Homes. We hope she has now found her forever family!

With the addition of these girls, we have seen a big increase in our operating costs. Five out of our six girls use diapers, two of them use adult size diapers. These are very expensive. We have two nannies on at all times to give individual and specialized care to our girls. We have a physical therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, psychologist, and social worker that all come to the Home to work with our girls. 

Due to the many health challenges, we have needed many special medical consults (neurologist, ophthalmologist, pediatrician, cardiologist, nephrologist, dentist, etc.). With the exception of our pediatrician, all the specialists are in Guatemala City, a four hour drive away, and often requires an overnight stay as travelling at night is dangerous. This means extra staff, gas money, food and lodging. Medicine, exams, and treatments, etc. are all quickly adding up.

Since September, we have not received enough to cover our monthly costs, and our reserve has quickly dwindled. Our current budget is $4500. a month, and we are sponsored for 56% of that. 

Shirley is three years old, and suffered a severe brain injury. She has many obstacles to over come, both physically and emotionally. Through it all, she is a (mostly) happy little girl who loves to great you with a big "Hi!" whenever you meet her. 

Please prayerfully consider becoming a regular monthly partner with our girls. If you know of someone who would be interested in sponsoring the girls home, please pass along our information. 

All donations made from Canada and the U.S. will receive a tax deductible receipt from their respective country. Any donations made by December 31st will be applicable to your taxes next year.

Thank you so much. To donate, please click on the donate buttons at the top of this blog. You will be automatically directed to the website.

God bless.

Naomi, Jackely, Yasmin, Guadelupe, Luz, Shirley, and Marcela!

Meet Luz!

Last week I received a phone call to receive a little girl abandoned in a hospital. They had to guess at a birthdate, and gave her a new name, as the mother asked someone to watch her while she went for a snack, and didn't come back.

The social worker that spoke with me said they weren't sure how they would get her out to us as their was no money for the ambulance to bring her. I quickly offered to pick her up. I had never been to this part of Guatemala, and the drive was beautiful. I was told the trip would take anywhere from 6-8 hours one way, and I wasn't sure I could go there and back all in one day! Thankfully it only took a little under 5 hours each way and we were home that night.

 We left at 4:30 in the morning, but after only 20 minutes we had to stop because part of the road had washed out and there were too many rocks. We waited for over an hour for the sun to come up, then gave all those guys a chance to move the biggest of the rocks.

 There was a very big landslide 2 years ago, and this part of the road keeps washing out, and they keep putting more dirt on top of it. 

How we felt about crossing it. Kimy had told me a story of crossing it before, and the bus got stuck, and started to slip and the driver was crying because he thought his bus would slide off the road into the abyss. Nice timing on the story!!! I was actually pretty scared, but we made it just fine. :) And Kimy said some of the men were saying, "Oooh look, a woman driving!" Oh ya!

 She slept most of the way home.

 Judging by the rotten stumps of teeth she has, teeth brushing hasn't happened much in her life.

We are happy to have Luz as part of our family! As she was abandoned over 2 months ago, and her mom has not showed up, I believe she will be a forever part of our family!! She is blind (she squints when a bright light is right in her eyes), has epilepsy, is mentally delayed, doesn't speak, and possibly is deaf, so we all have some work to do to figure out an effective communication system.

Please pray for Luz as she begins to adapt to our home and schedule, and feel safe with us. She has had a lot of transition recently, and that is difficult for anyone. 

 Welcome to the family, little Luz!

Quick update.

Well, we only have three girls, but they seem to keep us busy!

The new staff are stepping into their roles here at the home, and I have seen some very positive things. Please continue to pray for all of us in this time of transition. Pray for the new nannies, as I am asking them to do things they are not used to doing, or are not familiar with. Pray for wisdom for me in deciding who are the best nannies to work with the girls.

Jackelyn and Yasmin have seen a neurologist and have started a medicine that has calmed them down. Jackie is much more calm and manageable, but still has a propensity to hit and pinch and tends to be unpredictable. Please be praying for that situation. Right now Marcy is our only other little one, but we have three more little ones on the way (I just don't know when, because of their different circumstances), and two of them don't walk, and therefore can't defend themselves. We can't ever have all the girls together, as Jackie tends to hit and kick and pinch those who are near her. Not always, but her unpredictability makes it very difficult to trust her around other children. Please pray for our court date on Monday when a decision will be made as to whether Jackie stays with us or goes.

 Jackelyn

Yasmin

Marcy and I took a trip to Guatemala City last week to see some of her specialists. I'll admit it, I loved having one on one time with her for those three days. She is such a joy to be around, and it was fun to be just her and I. :)

Her cardiologist told me a different diagnosis than last time. But the good news is she is stable, and for now, will only need to be seen once a year. Praise God!!! We spoke with the nutritionist and talked about her poor weight gain. Hopefully some of her ideas will cause a quicker increase in her weight gain. Please be praying for that. We missed her nephrology appointment due to a 7 hour and 10 minute wait at the cardiologist office! So we will have to make up that appointment another day. Marcy had a small seizure with me about a month ago. Praise God, it has only been the one, but I wanted her to see a neurologist anyway. He is happy with her, and her EEG turned out normal. So we just keep an eye on her for any more.

Marcy has once again been on the receiving end of a miracle. While visiting with her cardiologist, he expressed displeasure at seeing her feeding tube in still. I told him that because of her history of malnutrition, and her current poor weight gain, I didn't want to take it out and basically see if she would just start eating on her own. He said to go for it for a few days. If she doesn't eat, we put the tube back in.

The day after we got home (last Thursday), I went to pick her up in the morning when she woke up, and she had already pulled her tube out. I will admit, I was sad as I wanted the privilege of getting rid of that nasty thing. But I guess she was telling me she had had enough of it as well!

We had four days before I had to leave her to go back to the City with the older girls. I decided if she wasn't eating well by Sunday night, I would put it back in. The first three days didn't go well. She took barely enough to survive. But Sunday morning she woke up hungry! She ate so much better that day, and all this week she has done so much better. I can't even believe it myself. We fought so hard to get her eating, but she knew that we would always just put it in her tube, so she wasn't motivated.

There are still some food texture issues that we are working on. She doesn't much like vegetables (she might get that from me!), but we mix them with jar baby food, and she eats them. Please be praying that she starts to accept different food. For example, she won't eat food that isn't put in the blender. She can't eat just mashed food. But she now drinks her 7 ounces of milk at one time! She won't drink out of a bottle, but she drinks it from a little cup, or from a spoon.

Please pray for weight gain!

Marcy's occupational therapist wanted to weigh her, so she picked up the nurse from the local health centre, and we weighed her in a tree. Yes, in a tree. Not sure how accurate the scale is, but hey! Fun experience. ;)

We have a lot of prayer needs right now. Please be praying for all of us. And thank you for all your prayer and support in the past.