Giving Thanks!

                                      Psalm 100

1	Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.
2	Serve the LORD with gladness:          come before his presence with singing.
3	Know ye that the LORD he is God:          it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4	Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,          and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
5	For the LORD is good;          his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Spur One Another On

There are over 50 verses in the New Testament that have the phrase "one another" or "each other" in them. Mark 9:50 "Be at peace with each other." John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Romans 12:16 "Live in harmony with one another." Romans 14:13 "Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another." Romans 15:7 "Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God." Hebrews 10:24 "And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds. (NIV)
No matter who you are, where you live or where you work you will always be around people. Maintaining good relationships with others is so important.This is especially true in communal living. At our school there are 32 students and 20 staff and families. We are with each other daily ten months out of the year. Here's the other thing, we didn't pick each other. There is rarely a time when you are alone. A hike up to the hills is about the only place to get away from others. I, along with another young woman, Alyssa care for sixteen deaf girls ages six to eighteen. We all share one large room. It is our bedroom, living room and play/homework room. In a situation like ours you need to be constantly looking out for the needs of others ahead of your own. This is true for all families, living, work and ministry situations, but even more so when you live, work, eat and sleep with people you didn't necessarily choose. God choose us all to be here together. Over the past five years I have lived and worked with many different personality types. On our own our differences can be the source of great conflict. When we let him, God has used all of our differences to make us stronger and more effective. A few weeks ago, one of our teachers commented on how well we as a staff complement one another. I have been so impressed with how willing and helpful all of our staff are. When some one is sick or something comes up there is always someone willing to pitch in and lend a hand.

Most of our students are looking out for one anothers needs as well. Don't get me wrong there are those backbiting moments. Over all I know that the majority of them are there for each other. In the girls' dorm "buddies", every week our older girls take turns helping the little girls get ready in the mornings. It teaches the older girls responsibility and helps the "moms" out allot. When ever one of our girls is down there is always other girls read to give hugs. Life isn't perfect, there is conflict. There are times when our boys and girls bring one another down. When we make it a practice to love and encourage one another life in definitely more peaceful. We are all many members of one body with Christ is our head and we all have a part. When we encourage one another and show our love and appreciation for one another it makes our staff and kids want to do the same for others. So today, make your effort to spur one another on to lover and good deeds.

Shoe Day

Last Saturday was Shoe Day. Every year a church from San Diego blesses our students with new shoes. We meet them at a shoe store in Ensenada and then the kids are alowed to pick out two pairs of shoes. Oh course we decide ahead of time what kind of shoes they need. Once we get there the kids go around with our staff and members of the church to find the perfect shoes. It's a busy and a bit crazy couple hours but the kids love it! They are so proud and excitied about their new shoes.

School Days

Rancho Sordo Mudo is now into it's third day of school. This past week end was a busy two days of our deaf students arriving and checking them in. So far only ten of my girls have come. I am expecting fifteen. I hope they all come back again. Thankfully, so far they are all lice free! This morning started off like any typical morning. I was up at 5:30 getting ready. I had hoped to water the garden before waking the girls up at 6:00 but it was a little too dark and foggy so I waited until they started their chores, and then went down. Breakfast, staff devotions and they kids' chapel are all over and now "mom" gets a break while the girls are at school. Morning classes are from 9:30-1:00. Three evenings a week the 1st through 9th graders have night school. In Mexico there is primary school which is K-6th grade, at the end of which students receive a diploma. Secondary school is 7th-9th grade upon completion of 9th grade they receive another diploma. Preparatory is 10th-12th grade, at the end of 12th grade students receive a third diploma. Most of our students only complete primary or secondary school. The reason being many do not come until they are 7, 10 or 14. Most come with no language, other than pointing or gustering. So for example our 1st grade class has a 12 year old, an eight year old, a ten year old and an eleven year old. It is so amazing to watch them learn sign. A whole world opens up to them. They learn who they are, that they have a name! So many of our students don't even know that! Best of all as they learn MSL, they learn who Jesus is! Our goal as a school is to give our students a language, teach them about Jesus and give them a good work ethic when they leave. The girls are learning how to cook, clean, sew and garden. The boys are learning how to do landscaping, painting, stuccoing, laying tile and roofing. Our school is a residential boarding school, our kids come in September and don't go home until June. Parents will come and visit but not very often. They either live too far away or can't afford to visit very often.

It's so exciting to have our kids come back after the summer break. I enjoy seeing my family and friends every summer but I always miss my girls and our life here.

This year my daily morning chapel class has nine kids. The ninth just showed up an hour ago. It's so exciting teaching them about God. Right now we are learning about prayer. Here is a picture of my chapel class from a couple of days a go. As you can see, not all of my kids had arrived yet. More keep coming every day!

The Kids Are Back

I finally have girls here again! This past week a few boys showed up but it wasn't until Saturday that my girls started arrive. So far only eight have come. I hope more come in the next few days, I am supposed to have between 14 and 16 girls. I have a new girl in the Dorm, here name is Dayan, she is 14. She already knows Mexican Sign Language, which is a huge plus in Dayan ajusting to life at our school. Today was is the first day of school, be praying for out teachers and students. Most of the teachers are still learning MSL which makes it hard for the students as well.

Waiting For the Kids

It's wonderful to be back in Mexico. It's like coming home. I've been back for a week and a half now. The dorm is clean and orginized, waiting for the first girl to arrive. It's been almost three months since I have seen them. I'm so excitied for my "daughters" to come back! Our first boy, Guadelupe arrived Monday. Normally most of the kids don't arrive untill the weekend when their parents have time off form work. It's looking to be a crazy weekend if some of my girls don't come before then. I should have fifteen this year. Two new girls may be coking this year. One girl is around five years old and the other around seven. Be praying theat God safely brings all our students back to us.

Summer

In just a few short weeks I will be heading back down to the Ranch. How time flies when you are having fun! It has been such a blessing to spend time with family and friends. At the end of June family parents, my sister and I flew to Missouri to visit with family there. I hadn't seen some of them for two years! This past week my mom, her friend and I went up to Washington to visit my friend Laura and her husband Levi. It was a wonderful trip! Now I'm gearing up to return to the Ranch! As sad as  I will be to leave my family it I am looking forward to getting back to my "girls".

San Felipe

Our trip to San Felipe was alot of fun. All of the kids had a great time. We all practically lived in the pool. Eddie (one of our directors) led the trip. He always makes sure that the kids have a good time. We stayed in a hotel that was right on the beach. From our room all you had to do was walk about ten feet and you were on the sand. The pool and volley ball net were both right there as well. All of the kids got great tans, I burned my sholders depite faithfully using sun block. I'm wasn't even the whitest person there. We wre all really tired by the time we got home but it was a great trip.

It's hard to beleive that the is less than a month of school left. This coming Tuesday the Ranch is taking a trip to San Flipe which is a town on the Sea of Cortez. The kids have been talking about it the entire year. Now they finally get to go. I have three new girls going this year, Wendy, Lesly and Celeste. They are going to have so much fun What kid doen't want to spend three days playing in the beach and in the pool? This Friday we need to be sure that all the girls have suits that fit. We have bag of suits that we pull out and hope that there is one to fit every girl. Then comes packing and getting all the little things ready to go. Maybe I should start today.

Well what you know we have lice again! I've tried just about every thing. Lice shampoo, mayo, tea tree oil, viniger,... Lice combs and combing out gell are a joke. They don't do anything! We just can't seem to get rid of them! It's also cold season so we have been fighting, coughs, sore throughts, eye infections and stuffy noses for a month now. Oh the dorm , don't enter if you don't want to be sick because your bound to get something with all the stuff we have going around, I'm just hoping that we don't get the flu! Beside all the fun stuff we have spreading around the dorm things are going well here. We have new girl on staff who just arrived last week. Ally is from Stockton. Which is close to home for me, it's nice to have some one else form my area here. She is helping out in the class rooms. Today she is teaching kindergarden because Katie, the teacher for that class is sick. Hopefully the Ranch will be rid of this cold soon!