Rain Boots!

We had an early Christmas present arrive for the girls a couple weeks ago. Some of my wonderful supporters sent rain boots for every girl. They were so excited to open up their gift bags. What a blessing these will be as the rains continue. We had fun jumping in puddles right after we opened them.

  

First Day of School

The first day of school is finally here! Now "Mama" can breath a sigh of relief for a short while. I love all my girls dearly but this weekend has been quite long. Time to spend with God, blog, exercise and do dishes is much needed. Only eight of my sixteen girls are here so far. So today embarks the first semi normal day. I love routine, it makes everything else go so much more smoothly! Of course with only half me girls here everything takes twice as long. Go figure, who would say that life is easier with sixteen instead of eight? Almost all my little girls are here and only two of my older girls are here. So that means a lot more work for, Serafina (the new dorm mom assistant), our two older girls (Edith Marisol and Wendy) and I. All the same chores need to be done to keep our school and dorm clean.  All the little girls still need help with hair and learning to do their chores. And I just plain miss them. A few I know why they are late but others, I have no idea why they aren't here. There's always that fear that their parents won't bring them back and we won't know how to contact them or see them again. That's when I need to remember that God is in control. He knows where each of my girls are and what he has planned for their lives. I need to pray more and worry less. We are blessed to have a new ten year old girl in the dorm, Shelly. She is from Ensenada which is about 35 minutes away from us. She knows some sign and is getting along wonderfully with the other little girls. They all became fast friends while playing with the doll house. Let's just hope they stay that way. :) Please be praying that Shelly continues to adjust well and that all our other children arrive safely. Pictures will be soon to follow!

Heading Back To Mexico

Well, my car's all pack up and ready to head back to Mexico. It's a bitter sweet moment, it's my last day with my parents and sister but tomorrow night I will be back with my "Ranch Family". By Sunday all of our staff will have returned. After a week of meetings all our students will start returning on the 1st of September. I will finally be reunited with all my girls!!!! Please be praying for safe travels in the morning and afternoon. I should be able to get to the Ranch by 5:00pm. I'll be back on in a few days to let you know what's happening!

Rancho Sordo Mudo Mexican National Anthem Graduation 2010

Rancho Sordo Mudo Graduation 2010

Geography Lesson Part 3

Celeste could have used a chair when it was her turn, you get the idea. She still did a good job at knowing where the countries are.

Geography Lesson Part 2

Now here is Lesly signing and pointing out different countries on the map.

Geography at Ranch Sordo Mudo

The wall behind my table in the chow hall of our school has a big map on the wall. During the meal time I have been teaching my girls the signs for different countries. The first little girl is Bianey. The second little girl is Karen. 

Bianey's Afternoon

When you have sixteen girls, it's hard to find time to spend a lot of one on one time with every girl. A few years ago I started the tradition of "stealing" the girls. On my free day or in my free time I steal a a girl a away for a couple hours and spend time with just them. Normally it's during a meal time. At the beginning of the school year I make a list of their favorite foods. It can be a meal I have to cook or it can be  from a restaurant in town. What ever they want. When we're done we sit and talk, play on the play on the play ground, go hiking, make cookies, you get the idea. It's a great time to hear what's going on with them, what their home life is like and for the older girls, their dreams for the future. This past week was Bianey's turn. She wanted to make pizza and play on the swings. She's s girl after my own heart, when I gave her the option of tomato sauce or pesto she chose pesto! When we cut open the bell pepper we found a "baby" pepper inside.

What a yummy pizza, pesto, chicken, bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, garlic, sausage and a little cheese! We used my soaked whole wheat bread dough to make the crust. 

A little bit about Bianey.

Bianey is an orphan from Sonora, Mexico, about an eight hour drive from here. During the summer she lives at the orphanage with her older sister and brother. She is ten years old. This was her first year here. She is such a bright and intelligent girl! I was blown away on how quickly she learned sign language. She came knowing only  few signs and now she carries on rapid fire conversations! A few months ago she asked Jesus into her heart!

Setting Goals

I'm sure at the beginning of the year many of you set New Years Resolutions that have been long forgotten by now. We all do it, they may be goals full of good intentions yet in the business of life they tend to fall to the side and not be attained. How do we set goals and then carry through with them? First of all they should be measurable. Secondly it is always helpful to have a person to keep you accountable. This past year I  have been blessed to be able to audit a few Bible classes at a Bible College about 30 minutes from where I live. This semester I am taking a womens discipleship class and our teacher had us all right out goals we had for the semester. They needed to cover three areas and be measurable. All the ladies in our class had varying goals. I ended up picking four areas. Many of my goal are measurable but a few are not.

Spiritual

• Stick to my Bible reading program (reading through the Bible in one year) There are days when I get overwhelmed by the amount of reading in addition to my own study time. I decided to listen to it on CD while I exercise or cook.
• Memorize John 15:1-17 by May 19 (the end of my Bible class)
• Write down five new things I am thankful for daily. You will be amazed at the amount of things you can give thanks for. It is a wonderful way to look at all the ways God has blessed us. Especially at the end of a hard day.

 Physical

• Exercise 30 minutes five days a week . A few days a week I walk with a friend, the other days I have to be accountable to myself. Sometimes I take my girls hiking.
• Drink more water. I try to mix it up a bit by drinking a few cups of herbal tea as well.

Intellectually

• Research two herbs a month and write about them on this blog. There are so many wonderful herbs that God has created for us to use for health and healing.
• Learn how to make lacto-fermented sauerkraut and pickles before the end of the school year. I've tried making a couple batched but I didn't like the taste. So I need to make some more.   

 Others

• Write one or two notes of encouragement or thanks weekly. I love to be encouraged by others yet I don't return that encouragement to others. Writing notes is an amazing way to brighten a person's day. 
• Be more hospitable. When people come by our dorm I want to take more time to focus on them and not various things I have on my list for the day. There are times when we may consider those interruptions an inconvenience yet taking time with that person may be exactly what they needed. I want everyone  who enters my home to feel loved, wanted and cherished. 

Now that you know about my goals, what goals do you have for yourself and your home? Be sure to share them with a person that will keep you accountable.   

Special Day

Yesterday was such an special and exciting day! Two of our students, Celsete(7) and Juan Carlos(11) asked Jesus into their hearts!!!! Juan Carlos has been here for three years and Celeste for 1 1/2 years. We have been praying for them and teaching them for so long and finally they understand! Now we will be seeing them in heaven! It is always so exciting when your students finally realize that they have sin in their life and that Jesus is the only one that can offer them that healing forgiveness. We also had an amazing rainbow yesterday! Unfortunatly I couldn't get a picture of the whole thing. All the girls, one of the teachers and I ran around trying to find that best place to take a picture. As you can see the little girls had alot of fun but came back very muddy. Oh, well where's the fun in staying clean all the time. Cloths will wash and little girls can be showered.



   

The Ranch is 2010

Happy New Year to you all! Sorry I am so behind on updating this blog. The new year has gotten off to a good start. Last week we had stormy weather as I am sure many of you heard and experienced. We got almost seven inches of rain over six days. Our average rain fall for the year is seven. God is blesing us with more water in our well. Thankfully the Ranch recieved very little damage form the rain. One of our old pine trees fell and one of the staff houses flooded but besides that we are fine. Other areas are no so blessed. Many towns have had their bridges washed out. One city, San Quntin has had to have food flown in becasue all of their brigdes washed out and there is no other way to get into the city. Many of our students parents live in that area so we don't know when they will be able to come and vist.

A few weeks ago a new girl from Chihuahua, Mexico was brought to us by a Mennonite family. Esmeralda is eleven years old. She lived with her mother and their tribe near a Mennonite settlement in the mountains of Chihuahua. Esmeralda is a sweet but strong willed girl. She may not know very much sign but she knows how to get her point across! She is just now realizing that things have a name, that she has a name. Please be praying for Esmeralda to pick up on sign language quickly and that she will come to know Jesus

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