For the Love of Books

I brought down some of my old favorite books to share with the girls. They are LOVING them! When I pulled them out for everyone to look at the got so excited!

I try read a book with the girls a least 3 evenings a week. Our first book to devoure was #1 of The Box Car Children. We moved on to #2 and are now reading some short Christmas stories.

Life on the "Homestead"

Just like the past couple years, in addition to the day to day school life we are still continuing on with Bible Classes, cooking class, and learning “homesteading” skills by caring for our small garden and chickens. This year we may be adding a few goats! Which will allow us to have fresh milk to drink, make ice cream and cheese. The homesteading projects has always been a things that only the girls and I did but the school principle Johnny, his wife Amber and I are hoping to get the boys involved and make it a Ranch wide project.

I think it is so important for the kids, especially the girls to learn things like gardening, baking, chickens and making cheese because they are viable ways for them to make money and start their own bussines when they leave our school. Mexico overall looks down on the Deaf making it hard for deaf men to find empolyment. It is even more difficuilt for women to find work. That is why being self imployed can have it’s benefits. 

Goodbye September

The first month of school has come to a close. It is so exciting to have all the students back.

What a year it has been! As many of you know I did not have an assistant this past year, so it was just the girls and I  most days. There were ladies on staff that helped on my day off or at other times here and there. In a way it was just what the girls and I needed. It was a blessing for it to be just with my girls.

This school year I have an assistant, Noemy. As much as I enjoyed our year alone I am very greatfull to have her with us. She is so enthusiastic to be in the dorm and is eagerly learning Mexican Sign Language.

I had two new girls this last year from Quertero, Mexico. They are sisters who came with their little brother. I was told that they weren’t going to be returning but they have! It was amazing to see Leticia (18), Isabel (13) and Alexis (7) learn to communicate in sign language! All three are doing amazing in school.

The greatest blessing of all was watching Lesly, one of my girls tell Isabel about Jesus! Lesly herself had just accepted Jesus into her heart the week before. Her enthusiaum was contagus! Two of my other girls Esmeralada and Sheley also decided that they wanted a relationship with Jesus. I could have asked for nothing better! 

A Job for Edith Marisol

A very exciting thing happened this summer, Edith Marisol one of my girl who graduated at age 18 in June was given a job and housing at an orphange in Provenir, just 10 minutes away. She has been with me from the beginning. It has been amazing to see her grow and mature from the shy 9 year old to a confident young woman with a gift for young children. The orphange, Ninos de Baja is connected to another orphange Rancho de los Ninos that I first visited as a teen when my youth pastor introduced me to the Ranch. I am so thirlled to have her near by! 

Changes

It's hard to believe that five weeks have gone by since I returned. The girls have been here for a month now. There are changes that I did not expect as usual, life is full of changes yes? I only have 2 new girls in the dorm, Letti and Isabel. They are sisters from southern Mexico. It was decided that their younger hearing sister would not come after all. As of now I only have 10 girls in the dorm. Not nearly as many as we had initially thought. Three of my girls that have been with me for years, Miriam, Ana Lidia and Celeste have not returned. Thankful they will be back "home" soon. Ana Lidia and Celeste will be here this weekend. As soon as he has time, one of our director's Eddie will be going to pick Miriam up. All the girls are excited for them to return. Milagros asks me multiple times a day, "Where is Celeste?". I explain each time that she is sick but will be better soon and come back to school. Even thought the past few weeks have been not quite what I expected it is still a time filled with joy and contentment.

Newletter Summer 2012

The school year will soon be getting underway. Over the next two weeks our staff will be returning. We are excited about what this new year will bring! As of now one new staff will be going us. Regina is from Stockton, California! She has experience in office management and will be assistaning in the office this year. It will be nice to have someone close to home down there this year.

This coming school year is bringing many changes to the girl’s dorm at RSM. I am currently without an assistant dorm mother. The current dorm mom is switching to a teaching position. I have heard of two women that are possibly interested in the helping in the dorm but nothing has been decided yet.

I am looking forward to having up to seven new girls in the dorm.  For the first time since I’ve been at the Ranch I may have a full dorm of eighteen girls.  This is what I have been praying to happen for over seven years! I’m excited and a bit nervous.

 We may have a hearing girl in the dorm this fall. She has three older siblings who are deaf. The children come from a single mom home and are part of a small native tribe in southern Mexico. It was decided that it would be in the best interest of the family for the youngest to come to school as well even though she is hearing.  She will go to school and take classes in Mexican Sign Language along with the rest of the students. She will be able to keep up her Spanish as well.

I was blessed with the opportunity to buy a used car this month that is still in good condition for a fair price. It is going to be wonderful to have reliable transportation this year!

It has been wonderful to reconnect with many of you this summer. As well as meet many new people. I am heading back to Rancho Sordo Mudo on Tuesday, August 21. I want to thank you all for your prayers, notes and financial support. You make it possible for me to continue ministering here. You are all such a blessing!

My current need for the year (June 2012-May 2013) is,

 $15, 000. This covers rent, medical and car insurance, dental care and girls’ dorm needs. If you are interested in helping, please send checks made out to Berea Baptist Missions Inc, noting that it is for Katie Stanley and send them to my support address.

Hello From California!

Hola from California! It’s good to be back in the valley for a while. I arrived in Lodi two weeks ago. It has been good to catch up with family and friends and supporters from church.  I’m excited to see many of you and bring you up to date about everything that has been happening at the Ranch this past school year. I’m going to be in Lodi until August 1^st. After that most of the month of August is going to be taken up by weddings and reunions in Missouri before heading to back to the Ranch on August 22.

This coming school year is bringing many changes to the girl’s dorm at RSM. I am currently without an assistant dorm mother. The current dorm mom is switching to a teaching position. I am also looking forward to having up to seven new girls in the dorm.  For the first time since I’ve been at the Ranch I may have a full dorm of eighteen girls.  This is what I have been praying to happen for over seven years! I’m excited and a bit nervous. I may have a hearing girl and a mute girl in the dorm. The hearing girl has three older siblings who are deaf. The children come from a single mom home and are part of a small native tribe in southern Mexico. It was decided that it would be in the best interest of the family for the youngest to come to school as well even though she is hearing. The little mute girl’s name is Sofia. She is four years old and lives in orphanage in a near by town.  She can say a few words but that is all. This past year we had a young boy named Mario came to live with us. He, like Sofia has a very limited vocabulary, consisting of about five words. In his year with us he was able to pick up on sign language very quickly. Mario can now express all the thoughts that he has had for nine years. It is amazing to see how alive he has become. I would like the same thing to be possible for Sofia. Even if at some point Mario and Sofia’s vocabularies expand and no longer need to be at our home and school it will have been such a blessing for that period of time that they were with us.  A time for them to communicate, learn about Christ, be loved and introduced to the great need the Deaf have.

I’ll be sure to keep you updated about what is happening this fall. In the next few weeks I’ll be sending out a newsletter with some pictures of the year.  I would love to have the opportunity to see more of you. If you would like to hear more about the school year and watch a video of our Christmas Drama please let me know. I will be sharing with the Encourager’s Class that meet at Faith Community (Lodi) and the Word and Deed Sunday School (First Baptist Lodi).

Thank you all as always for your prayers, notes and support. You are all such a blessing and encouragement to my girls and I.

Prayers for the summer:

·      A new dorm mom for the fall, that we will be likeminded in raising the girls

·      All the students to return and for the prospective new students

·      For our students to stay safe over the summer

·      That I will be energized and full of passion for the new year

·      To raise the support I need for the year