Roles and Responsibilities

A couple weeks ago I became the "Kitchen Coordinator" here at CVE, so now is a convenient time for me to review my roles.

1. Houseparent

At this time I houseparent two boys, Speedie*, a 12-year-old with cerebral palsy, and Zoom* who is seven. I work alongside Marce Salceda who is originally from Ixtlan and we live in Casa Betel. 

Marce

Zoom

Speedie 

2. Speedie' therapist/teacher

Since 2015, I have been Speedie's therapist/teacher. For physical therapy, we do stretches, walk with a walker, do standing exercises, and go horseback riding once a week. We have a variety of fine motor activities including simple puzzles and coloring for occupational therapy. And for communication, we use a program on an iPad and also practice speaking some words and sounds. The picture above shows the resource room where we go from 9-11 AM on weekdays for our "class." 

3. Kitchen Coordinator 

I am still figuring out my responsibilities in this area, but it is basically coordinating food for workteams, communication with CVE staff about the kitchen and meals, documentation, and purchases from the states. I probably spend an average of an hour/day in the kitchen. Exceptions would be when there is a work team or when I go to the states to shop.

The kitchen team: Bertha, me, and Amalia

Other responsibilities 

Piano teacher 

Right now I have six students and they each come for a 15 min. lesson on Wednesday afternoons.

Sunday School teacher

I share the 6 and 7 year old class with Belinda Frank. We take turns teaching. Each time it is our turn we print the coloring pages, teach the story, ask questions, and then the kids color. Sunday school lasts about 30 min. and our class usually has between 7-10 students. On Sunday, we read the story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. My favorite part about teaching is reading the story with expression that gets the kids excited!

Church route

Since Whiz and Tag moved to town, I have started driving a "route" to San Isidro to pick up them, their dad, and one other girl for church. Sometimes only one or the other of them comes, so it is still a very small route. 

Thank you to all the prayer warriors who take time to read this blog!

As my first post states, "As I thought about my purpose for this blog, I knew that I wanted to stay connected with all of you and keep you informed so that you could pray for me. This song came to my mind, I Need the Prayers of Those I Love, #201 in the Hymns of Zion. The first verse says, "That I may true and faithful be and live for Jesus every day." 

So thank you!

Septiembre

A couple weeks ago, I took Marce to Hermosillo to renew her Mexican passport. Speedie and I spent the morning exploring downtown (plaza area). I was very excited 😊. Speedie did not know what I was up to and wanted to go back to the car. 🙁 

Strolling down this beautiful street towards a coffee shop I saw on instagram....

Café Ostería

It was a really pretty restaurant (rather fancy). If I knew more about styles and decor I could give a better description, so hopefully the pictures fill in.

And the bathroom had clean hand towels for everyone!!

Zoom's train track was taking over the living room, but I thought this creation was cute. CVE!

A week ago Monday, Zoom had no homework and I was struck with the last minute inspiration of taking him to the pool. We invited a friend and had a fun afternoon! Maybe the last pool day until next year... In this picture they are "sword-fighting."

Beautiful skies 

Shadow friends on the way to class.

🎈🎉🇮🇹 Mexican Independence Day🇮🇹🎉🎈

PE in their patriotic outfits

Recess

Zoom with his teacher

Zoom and I (hoping the mustache makes these social media approved.)

Singing the national anthem 

A Year Ago Today

On September 10, 2016, two little brothers moved into our house. They had arrived a couple weeks before as a temporary case and been staying elsewhere on campus.

The picture below was taken their first Sunday here, the day Marce and I said, "We would like them to stay." That morning I danced for joy in my room and prayed, "God if you make this happen, I will praise You!" Because God's hand in the situation was so apparent to me and I could see how he had worked and was working to bring those boys into our home.

On August 2nd (a little over a month ago), Keith and Nicole asked to meet with us and shared that it was likely they would be going home to their dad the coming week. And on Wednesday, August 9th, they did.

(climbing into the car to be taken home)

Today is September 10, 2017, exactly a year from the date they moved in with us. This morning I went and picked them and their dad up for church. They came last Sunday too and Lord willing, they'll come next Sunday. That is an answer to prayer, mine and yours.

I am amazed at God's faithfulness!

But that is not all...God knows just how to show us how much He cares and what follows is just too special...

On September 10, 2016, the day the boys arrived, I started a new journal. On the front of the journal are the words, "So True," and in small lettering are listed many ponderings about God: "God is awesome • even when the circumstances aren't • what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later • He will give you the strength to endure • God knows our hearts..." 

Tonight (exactly one year later) I will fill in the last page of that journal and I realized yesterday that without my intention, the journal follows a theme. The theme is: 

LIVE BY THE TRUTH

1st quote on the 1st page, "Please help  me to remember the truths on the front of this journal..."

November 25, "I have not been living by the following truths: God is sufficient, God is the most important, I will only find true satisfaction, peace, and joy in Christ." (those three truths continue throughout the whole journal)

December 5, "I must live by these truths: God is enough. He satisfies."

January 15, "The truth is God is all-powerful. He has promised to be with us. His grace is sufficient. He is enough! His truth sets us free."

And it continues...

August 31st, "God's will is best - He provides - He is enough - Christ satisfies..."

I am amazed at God's attention to detail!

Obviously I need reminded of those truths often. But they are nevertheless, "so true!" If I believe them, I will live by them, and they will set me free.

Perhaps His ways are not always so clear to me. However, the truth is: He has a plan. And it is the best plan.

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John 8:32

Civil Protection Training

Due to a fire in a kindergarten or daycare in Hermosillo, Sonora years ago, the civil protection agency has cracked down on facilities like ours. Last year, our school (Colegio Verdad y Vida) completed the requirements and became certified. Now it's our turn!

The process began with three mornings of first aid, fire control, and search and rescue training. 

Day 1: Hemorrhages, wounds, and bandaging 

This activity was practice immobilizing injuries with only cardboard and bandage wrap. (Plan for the unprepared.)

The immobilizing board...and the first victim!

Second victim!

Day 2: CPR, AED machine, fire control 

Teamwork activity: everyone-must-fit-on-one-folded-sheet

Take 1

Take 2: the sheet just kept shrinking!

Final

Apparently we work well as a team. 🙌🏼

Day 3: Search and rescue, Practice Drill

(I got more videos this day than pictures.) We practiced lots of rescue methods (how to move injured people).

 

Rescue races! 🏎

We had fun, learned a lot, and hopefully can put it into practice. Our trainer put things into perspective for us when she presented some statistics. In Magdalena there are a total of 4 ambulances and twenty hospital beds. In comparison, there are thirty schools and we are on the outskirts of the city. What's more, emergency services are not that speedy here, so it's serious business to have some experience!

Thankfully, even if we don't have the most top-notch emergency services, we have a Protector/Physician who has us covered 24/7! Trusting Him...

Father's Day in August! (And some critters.)

Sunday August 27th we celebrated all the men here at CVE with steak, potatoes, bread, salad, and apple pie! (We postponed Father's Day due to the busy summer schedule.) In our CVE culture, Father's Day isn't only about real dads, but a big "thank you" to ALL the men that invest in our children's lives. What would we do without them?

We hosted Rachel Witzig here the week prior to "Father's Day" and she helped me make 10 pies for the event. 😳 Lots of pies! I was still worried about the pie running out, but we had pie and to spare. (I may have eaten approximately an entire leftover pie since then.)

Just out of the oven.

August 28th we celebrated three years with Zoom. He is now seven years old, starting second grade, and very sharp riding his new ripstick.

Preparing to remove a long undetected mouse from behind the fridge. Marce detected it. I removed it. Teamwork!

Whiz's tomato plant continues to flourish, but I noticed some chewed tomatoes. With a closer look I discovered the culprit! 

I was very thankful that the boys and their father attended church on Sunday after two Sundays absent. Please keep praying they will feel welcome and God would open their hearts to the truth!

Mexican version of a snowball fight using fake cotton snowballs...

Pau had mentioned to me that she heard kittens meowing above her room, but I hadn't heard of any missing cats, so I didn't think much of it. Sunday afternoon, Jodi and kids were on my porch having discovered their cat, Emily Elizabeth, on the roof. Suddenly it clicked! "Pau said she could hear kittens!" I informed them. We decided to try the attic. And there they were back under a board. I managed to crawl in and we relocated the five kitties to Jodi's house.

Please pray for Madison Kupferschmid who has been very sick this past week and is currently in the Tucson hospital recuperating. Raquel is also absent on a trip, so pray for the kids from Casa Rincón who have had various caregivers in and out the past few days. Pray that they can find a sense of security in the insecurity and that their life be able to return to normalcy soon.