Father to the fatherless..

      Well, August is now well on the way.. baby and I are now at 32 weeks!! Hard to believe that we are getting so close to getting to know our little boy face to face! Everyday seems to be way to short and the list of things to get ready seems to never diminish! I'm sure that most moms will be able to identify.. and probably tell me that that's gonna the story of my life! =)" ...but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31 

On Aug. 8th, we celebrated Samy (turned 33) and Analia's (turned 26) birthday.
She is my best friend with whom I started Dulce Refugio in 2009. =)

      In Dulce Refugio, there has been much change again but we continue to see God's hand at work. I wanted to share a special testimony that one of our teachers has from her time with our kids in Dulce Refugio. In June, we had a celebration for fathers day.. and it's always a challenge to know how to face that day since 98% of our kids do not have their fathers present in their home lives. So, we prayed and our desire was that the children would once again be able to see God as their Father... the father they never had. It's no easy task, knowing that being abandoned by your own father leaves deep marks in the heart. But, our teacher Vivi was the perfect candidate to talk about the topic during their devotional times that week. She is wonderful Christian woman, infected with HIV/AIDS herself and she has 2 little boys.. and the father of those boys is no longer with them. It was so beautiful to see how God touched the lives and hearts of some of our children with His deep, never-ending love. 
Here is the story she shared with me:
"I, Viviana, had the priviledge of being the kids teacher during the week we celebrated fathers day here in Dulce Refugio. Every morning, we take time to have a devotional with the children and that week we decided to talk about fathers and the love of our Father. On one of those days, I had 5 children with me and when I began to talk about our topic, the children reacted with a very defensive attitude. One of the girls said, "I don't have a father" and that reminded me of what I was going through with my sons. They are also growing up without their father. The girl was obviously hurting and didn't want to talk about this topic but I decided to tell them about my sons experience. They would always ask me why their father was not with them, my oldest boy insisted more and really needed a father figure. I asked to Lord to give me strength and wisdom to know how to deal with this situation because sometimes they asked so many questions that I didn't know what to tell them anymore. I always told them that their father loved them, but that they have a Father that will never abandon them and that this Father is God. As time went by, my boys started to accept that Father's love and put Him in first place. God showed me this one night when my oldest son (6 years old) was getting ready to pray and he said, "Mom, I want to pray for my dad so that he can also come to know Jesus like I do." I was so happy to see what God was doing in my son's life. He had taken away the pain, sadness and all the questions and in that place He was giving my son the desire to win a soul for His kingdom. 
   When I finished telling this story to the children, I looked at the little girl that had been so hurt and she had tears in her eyes. I told her, "Jesus wants to fill that empty place in your heart, and He wants you to invite Him into your heart." She prayed with me that morning, and invited Jesus into her heart. I thank God for the life of that little girl, I know that God planted a precious seed in her heart that day and it will give fruit one day for His glory."

Viviana is the teacher in the purple shirt... here the kids are having fun painting eggs! 

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, 

   is God in his holy dwelling."

Psalms 68:5

Going deeper...

     July is here.. half way through the year! God has been good and faithful in every area of our lives! I am proud to announce that our baby is a boy!! And he is already revolutionizing our lives.. =) Last week we had a 4d date with our baby but he didn't allow us to see him so easily on the first date. His arm and hand were covering his face... guess he's a little shy. But, we'll get to try again soon.. the doctor ordered a week of bed rest because according to the due date he's too small and might not be growing at the rate he should be... or the due date could be off! The baby is completely healthy and strong otherwise... and we left the doctor's office with peace in our hearts, knowing that this baby's life (just like ministry) is not in our hands. We have a God of the impossible, a Great Doctor, and all-loving Father on our side.. what is there to be afraid or worried about?

This is me and my tummy at 27 weeks

 So, here I am, sitting in front of the fireplace with lots of time to catch you up on some Dulce Refugio news. =) I mentioned in one of my previous blogs that in March we had an answer to prayer when Yenny, a psychologist, came to work in Dulce Refugio. It has been the most amazing blessing and so exciting to see the changes in the childrens' room, the teachers, some of the children and their mothers since she has come. She has taken over the majority of coordination in the childrens' room, working very closely with the teachers as they had to work through mayor discipline issues and teach the children to respect authority and other children as well. It's no easy task when you are dealing with many kids that do not come regularly AND come from homes filled with violence or abuse. It's been wonderful to see Yenny working with these children, teaching them how to play with each other, learn that there are limits and that above all, we LOVE them despite the limits and discipline we give them. There are so many stories I could share with you.. but today I want to tell you about Cristian and Sofia.
     These 2 children were literally our worst fear. =) When they would walk into Alto Refugio, the staff would cringe and the teachers knew they were in for a tough day! Cristian is 6 years old and Sofia is 4. Victoria, the mother, is one of the hardest, most violent women I have ever met. She basically grew up on the streets and in prostitution. She never knew what love was in her childhood. Her mother beat her up and her family relationships were disastrous. Victoria was raped by her own brother and Cristian was fruit of that act. Some time later, Victoria moved in with her boyfriend and Sofia was born... but their home was no safe place. The kids witnessed many beatings, verbal abuse and violence and lived out those actions in Dulce Refugio. They had no tolerance for frustration and any time there was any attempt in controlling or calming down their violent actions or a string of bad words.. it would only get worse.
       During the time Sofia was growing up, Victoria felt there was no other option then to go into prostitution in order to get money to feed her kids. She finally got out of the relationship with Sofia's father and moved into a little shack far away from the city. But, that little shack was burnt to the ground with most of her belongings (story almost sounds unreal, eh?). At this point, Victoria is now pregnant once again and her and her 2 kids are homeless. They moved into a house with one of Victoria's friends and she started to come daily with her children so that she could work (selling sandwiches and clothing at Alto Refugio) and get together some money to keep her children fed. Of course it helped that she and the children get breakfast and lunch at Alto Refugio, plus they get a weekly bag of food products to take home. Cristian was admitted into a public school a couple blocks away from Alto Refugio and so by March, Victoria was coming everyday with her children and in the afternoon Cristian goes from Alto Refugio to his school.
    This of course was where the challenge began in the children's room! But... it was the best thing that could happen for us and for them! We now had.. and have.. the chance to work with them on a daily basis. For the first time in their lives, they were loved unconditionally, treated with respect and taught with patience instead of slaps on the head. It didn't take long for them to start responding positively to this interaction and the changes have been undeniable! So much so that Victoria made a deeper commitment with the Lord and is now doing a weekly Bible Study at Alto Refugio... when asked if she wanted to take this step and if she believed in God, she said, "Look at my kids and the way they have changed in the last months! If God can do that in their lives then I know and believe He exists and I want to follow Him!" Victoria is a work in progress.. we still have our collisions with her temper and see her struggling to learn how to love her children... but she is determined and the hard layers of her heart are slowly being peeled away.
    God touched my heart deeply when it dawned on me once again what an impact we can be on the children's lives and their parents as well, when God does His transforming work through our lives! Please continue to pray for these children as they grow and get to know more of God's love. Pray for Victoria, that her heart will continue to soften to His healing touch. Pray for Yenny and the teachers as they face the daily challenge of working with these children. They need wisdom, strength and energy to keep up the good work!
   May God continue bless your lives... thank you for sowing into ours through your prayers, financial support or whatever other way God leads you to.

Yenny playing barbies in her office with one of our girls...

Dulce Refugio (Sweet Refuge)

            Sweet Refuge began in 2009 after seeing the great need to assist children affected by HIV/AIDS. Our main objective is to provide an environment where they can find physical, emotional and spiritual support through which joy and hope may be found during their childhood in spite of the adversities they face. We have a children’s room where there is time for educative and fun activities, a place where they can enjoy being children. We also offer counseling and social assistance where we accompany the families with a holistic approach by also providing clothes, medicine, dental care, powdered milk for babies up to 12 months old, school supplies among other things.

           We see an imminent need to provide integral development to these children affected by HIV/AIDS, being that they face so many challenges such as extreme poverty, desertion, rejection, fear of the death of loved ones, sickness, discrimination and much more. Our goal is not only to be a centre where we help families in the moment by giving the child supplies and attention – but we also seek to provide essential tools which will give them the opportunity to face the future with more security. This is accomplished through educational talks offered monthly on health, hygiene, HIV/AIDS prevention, and other topics, as well as workshops which give them tools to generate income. We also implement projects where they learn skills such as money management, saving, setting goals which they learn to reach through their own effort, among other valuable life skills.

        Sweet Refuge has more than 1,000 children registered and we know there is much work ahead, seeing the government is overloaded in the area of the Protection of Children At Risk, especially of those who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Our vision is to expand our services in some specific areas such as social work where we can do a complete follow up of families with children in risk of abandonment or living in extreme poverty. In order to face and accompany these children in the best way possible, we dream of having a team of professionals equipped to assist every child according to his or her psychological, emotional and/or intellectual needs. We seek to provide opportunites such as scholarships through which a child can integrate in society and have the adequate tools to face his or her future. We also need our own building, specifically constructed for children and the activities developed throughout the day.

            We invite you to be a part of this vision and sow into fertile soil as we plant seeds of hope and offer opportunities to our children. They are the future of our country, but their present lives can be touched through our helping hands. 

Where has the time gone??

    Another month has flown by and there is so much going on! Tummy is growing steadily.. although it's still only a small package to carry.

Our Dulce Refugio team.. with those going
and those coming.
Top: Bianca (teacher) and Laura (accountant)
Next 4 starting from left: Claudia, Wendy
Yenny, Noelia.
Bottom 3 starting from left: Evelyn, Ana
Alicia.

    In Dulce Refugio things are picking up pace and there is a never ending list of things to do and changes to deal with. Ana (working with the database) and Evelyn (morning teacher in the children's room) left the team in May. Several new people came on board - Sylvia is helping us in the area of counselling, Claudia is in the area of counselling and also helps with getting donations. Romina is temporarily taking Ana's place on the computer, keeping the database updated. We hope that she will be making a long-term commitment with us and since she is a Social Worker, she'll be moving from the computer to another department in Dulce. =) Yenny started in the month of March, she is our much-needed and long-awaited psychologist. She is doing an amazing job working with the teachers in the children's room, and spending a lot of time with the children, doing counselling and evaluations with some of the more "difficult" children (due to abuse and other problems). Then, end of June we loose 2 more members of our team that have been here since last year.. Alicia who was in charge of the area of counselling and social work and Noelia, who was working in the area of proyects and donations. So, needless to say.. there is a lot of shifting around, evaluating, orientation of new staff, finishing off different proyects and working on improving and stabilizing every area as much as possible. There is always more then enough to do in the "improvement and stabilizing" department... Dulce Refugio is still in construction with so much to learn and get set up yet. But, I thank God everyday for His faithfulness and presence even when the process He takes us through can seem so frustrating, confusing or hurtful a times.
   I ask for your prayers during the month of June as we face the many changes, work on completing proyects, finalize with some workers while orientating new ones, dealing with the daily demands and prepare for a new campaign. The campaign is specifically to ask for donations for the children in Dulce Refugio, we are in desperate need of milk, clothes, shoes, diapers, and toys! Winter is right around the corner and mothers are asking everyday for any one of these items and we are very low in stock. So, we ask for your prayers for this campaign as well, that God would provide in abundance for our little ones in Dulce Refugio! (P.S. There are more than 1,000 children registered in Dulce Refugio)

Our good-bye party for Ana and Evelyn!!

   

DuLceS vAcaCiOneS!

In the month of February, we had a week of special activities with the kids which we called "Dulces Vacaciones"! We spent several mornings in the swimming pool where Jonas gave some swimming lessons and the kids played and laughed a ton. After lunch, we had devotional time and then some time for crafts and games. 

In the swimming pool of our new addition to Alto Refugio.. the future "Albergue"!

One afternoon the kids went to Cerro Lambare, which is a high "hill" on the outskirts of the city that gives you an amazing view of Asuncion. Many kids have never seen more then what is in their neighborhood so outings like this are very special for them. The next special outing that week was to the zoo! The kids had a blast visiting all the museums and seeing the animals. They played some games in the park and we had lunch together under the trees. 

My guess is that this was taken after visiting the monkeys.. =) 

They also spent 2 afternoons doing crafts! 

Making little soaps!

A friend from my church came to teach the children how to do decoupage! 

And of course there was always special meal times and devotionals.

All in all, we had a blast with the kids and were able to bless them with lots of love, laughter, the Word of God and give them special memories! We hope to do this again soon.. =) 

Only for the strong hearts!

Our baby graduates from embryo to fetus, which literally means "little one." He  has discernible fingers and toes...and his little brain will make an incredible 25,000 new neurons every minute this week!!! No wonder mine isn't working!!

   The victims of mosquito bites have been many these last weeks! They're not only annoying for the welts and itchiness they leave.. they are also keeping many in bed once again with Dengue. Yenny, the newest member of our team is in bed with fever, sore body and headaches. There are many, many others that have been hospitalized or in bed due to this bug. There are other sicknesses going around like colds, a lot of fever, stomach flu, ect. No fun time to be facing all of this especially if you have HIV and your defenses are low!

    Last week we met a little 8 year old girl, Rosana, in the hospital who has HIV. Neither mother nor father is infected with the virus... so where did this beatiful girl get infected? The mother opened her heart up to us and told us that her mothers companion (Rosana's "grandfather") has HIV and he sexually abused Rosana and now her life has been changed forever in every aspect possible. The social worker tried to put this case through the legal system so that Rosana and her sisters would be safe from this man, but after examining the little girl and her sister, they said there was no physical evidence that shows that this man was abusing them so there was nothing they could do to protect them. They had to go back home...

    A couple of weeks ago, Samy and I had a little one year old spend a couple nights with us. Maria comes from a very poor home, and her mother could not take care of her for several days since Maria's newborn brother was sick and had to be hospitalized. Maria is malnourished and has not developed a healthy, strong body that a normal 1 year old should have. When we took her home she was smelly and full of rash. So, we had a crash course on being parents! She's a very sweet girl.. but those 2 nights where she kept on waking up at night and we didn't know what she wanted after having changed her diaper and given her milk.. those were trying moments! Maria went home after several days because her little brother was better, but after a week again, he was back in the hospital and Maria was homeless again. Since this was going to be a more long-term stay, we decided to take her to a home close by where we knew she would be very well taken care of.

This is Maria! a very precious little girl... she won our hearts.
Opa even had some nice long naps together with her.. =) 

     So, what do we as Dulce Refugio really do with children affected with HIV/AIDS? There are hundreds of other stories I could share with you all.. but, the point is, what future awaits these beautiful children? Are we really transforming lives when all we get is a glimpse of their stories and then they are sent home again? I know we can't rescue each child from an unideal home... but, what can we do so that these children can have a chance in life? What should we be doing so that these children don't get sent back into danger at home?

Round number one...

There couldn't be a better moment to start a blog... It's a gorgeous sunny day outside and I'm in bed with nausea! If you didn't know yet.. I'm 2 months pregnant and some days are just rotten! But, everyone tries to give me hope and let me know that it gets better after 3 months. =) We'll see about that! 

This is Evelyn in the childrens room. She loves doing
crafts and other special activities with the kids!

The good thing is - it's Friday! This week has been especially challenging for several reasons. Dulce Refugio is going into it's 3rd year of existence and I thought we were starting the year with so well, with a great team and some of the support we needed for our staff! Well, I am first having to try to figure out what and how to help one of our team members that literally burnt out last year. She is one of our teachers that worked from April to December last year in the childrens room. Not only is it a place that demands a lot of physical energy and mental alertness.. it's a place where the spiritual battle is intense! This young woman came in with amazing vision and passion to lead the children to God, she wanted them to experiance His love first hand and said that it was only when the children could leave Dulce Refugio knowing that God was with them that their lives would actually change. It was so refreshing to see her passionatly teach the children to pray and search for God. But, soon after the challenges began to rain down. Almost all of the children began to have horrible problems at home and when they got to Dulce Refugio, it was havoc. There were signs of abuse, frustration, rebellious and violent attitudes that were extremely hard to work with. That was what this teacher had to live through here in Dulce Refugio, never mind all the challenges she was facing in her personal life. She is from Uruguay, so all of her family and friends were far away. She wasn't getting enough financial support from us as a ministry and was constantly without money for transportation, food or health! She had to keep up with a rigorous study load and cover many extra hours of work at her university in order to get a discount from her tuition costs! Who wouldn't burn out with all that going on?? But, she was determined to come back this year and still longs to see God complete the good work He began here. It's been really hard for her and we are trying to support her as best we can. She is now working from 8 - 12 noon and just started up with her classes again. 

   I ask that you would keep Evelyn in your prayers as she strains to see God in all of this and get her feet back on the ground again. If there is anyone that is willing to send her an offering or support her monthly, it would be more then welcome! Just let me know and we'll get the money to her. She is working on finding more support here through our church members and other friends, but it's very challenging!

This is my Dulce Refugio team!
Now in March, we have one more member - Yenny, our much needed psychologist!