And that's a wrap!
Today is special. Today marks "the end". The end of what, you may ask? As of right now, our crazy Fall sports schedule has ended. That's right! I said it! No more trying to keep track of who has to be dropped off/picked up from practices (and with 5 different kids representing 4 different sports teams...that was no small feat!) No more driving to far away games/meets. No more kids being gone from home for over 12 hours straight due to a sporting event being hours away from our town. No more double checking to make sure they have their shoes, shin guards, uniform, knee pads, snacks, money, etc when they walk out the door in the morning (on top of the usual school stuff they need to remember!) Don't get me wrong. I am SO grateful my kids got to enjoy sports this Fall. This is actually the first time any of them have gotten involved in team sports, and it was a positive experience for all of them. It has been fun watching them try new things and seeing them grow in confidence and responsibility. They have made so many great memories these past couple of months and it makes my heart happy when I listen to them chatter about what happened at practice or how much fun they have had with their teammates. But it will be nice to simplify our schedule again and not have to run around like crazy for awhile. Our kids aren't doing Winter sports, so it will be a good break for us where we can get back to enjoying time together as a family.
We have something else that we are wrapping up, and that is our affiliation with Cord Ministries International. We partnered up with Cord when we first went down to Mexico and they handled all of the money that people generously gave us to make that trip possible. It was a great organization for us to partner with on a short-term basis. However, since we are going to be returning to Mexico next summer as long-term missionaries, FFHM (Foundation For His Ministry) is able to accept financial gifts on our behalf and direct that money into an account set up for us. Since FFHM is the organization that directly oversees the orphanage, this streamlines the process quite a bit! Earlier this evening, we finally got word that our online account with them is officially up and running! Yay! So for those of you who have decided to continue supporting us monthly, please click the link provided here to access our new donation page. https://ffhm.kindful.com/?campaign=1040212
In other news, we have two exciting campaigns we are working on. About 2 weeks ago I enrolled in an online course to become certified to teach English as a foreign language. This course will train me in how to prepare lessons and run a classroom of students who are learning English as their second language. It will be a very useful skill to have in Mexico! I am excited (and a bit nervous) to be a student again and see how God will use this opportunity. Second, Gabe has initiated a book drive for the orphanage school library. We are specifically trying to gather new non-fiction books in Spanish for the school (although are open to non-fiction books in English as well), as the current non-fiction section is a meager three shelves. We have put together an Amazon list that we can share with the public. We were able to find and add quite a few books in Spanish onto this list and it makes it easy for people to buy books and have them shipped directly to us. We will take whatever books we have received with us when we next visit and again next summer when we move back down there. The link for the Amazon book list is here for any of you who would like to see it! https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2LN8ZK6JN2UIY?ref_=wl_share
We are planning on visiting the orphanage this Christmas. We truly miss "our" kids down there and it is hard being separated from them. But we also know that we have a ministry right where we are as well. So I want to leave this blog post by showing you a couple pictures taken last weekend when we allowed our kids to invite their friends over for an evening of food and fun! Filling up our living room with kids brought me great joy and reminded me of all the different ways we are blessed. Investing in these kids is so rewarding! Who are YOU investing in?
