Philippians 4:4-7

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7

Hello friends,
I think I shared the above verses with you more for myself than for you all. There is definitely reason to rejoice. Lord willing, in a matter of days (maybe next Friday) our 20 children will be moving into our 2 group homes. I have never noticed before that it says, “The Lord is near,” but I’m glad to see it now because I so need Him to be near. These are the prayers and petitions that we are presenting to God concerning the next few days:

*we still need $50000 for furnishings and for the driveway to be paved (it’s a mud pit right now from all the rain we’ve had this summer)
*continued construction, especially on Casa Ana
*the septic tank put in
*the carpet delivered and laid
*the furniture moved in
*12 of our 20 kids still have not been Okayed by the courts
*we still need sponsorships for 5 kids at $550 a month for each child
*inventory what we already have for the houses and what we need to buy
*decisions about education (this is causing me, personally, the most anxiety, though I’m working on the DO NOT be anxious part)

That’s just off the top of my head. We have several meetings over the next few days and lots of work to do. All of the sudden I’m feeling very unqualified to be the mother/educator/disciplinarian/etc. of 10, but really 20 kids for the time being. I know that I am not in this alone. There are lots of great people that are working with us and God is the greatest helper. He has already answered one of my great prayers. With there being 6 boys in Casa Nadia, I was wanting for there to be lots of great male influence and Bruce shared with me tonight that we can make that work.

There are so many gaps to be filled in, as these kids have missed out on so much in life. Pray that we would have priorities and that relationships and trust would build quickly. Pray for their love tanks to be filled up and kept full, and that they will be able to respond soon to the positive discipline and new boundaries on their lives. Pray for us to make wise decisions about education placements, as we may be keeping some of the kids home for the semester or year.