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!