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

Thankfull for God's Protection

100 Days of Thankfulness

I am thankful for the Lord's protection. This last week I went up to San Diego to get my car smogged, run some errands and meet up with a friend. Finding a smog station that was open took me forever so it put all my errands behind. (My car failed smog on three accounts.) It's not a smart idea to drive on Mexican highways at night, especially when you are a single white American girl with only so-so Spanish. I consolidated my shopping lists and tried to get accomplished as much as I could. As I picked up my co-op order I knew I was pushing the limits but I couldn't leave my things at the drop off house. I briefly thought about calling one of my directors and asking permission to stay the night at a friend's house. I decided against it and headed for the boarder. I crossed the boarder noticed I was low on gas, added some to my tank and went on my way. By this time twilight was creeping in and I had an hour more to still drive on highway that is under construction. A few miles past the city I look down at my dash board and was that my car was overheated. The dial (or whatever you call it) was within a milometer from the hot line. I pulled over to the shoulder and turned on my emergency flashers. I called another director, Eddie and he told me to stay where I was and that he would be there is 45 minutes. Then he called back and told me one of his friends who lived near by was going to come and find me but needed to know where I was. I haven't made this drive in such a long time that I didn't know where I really was. By now it was DARK. I called a couple friends to pray for me and to keep my mind distracted. Pray and chattering out of fear and nerves.

About an hour later I called my dad because I realized "What if?". What if something happened to me I would at least like to least like to hear his voice and let him know that I loved him, and say high to my mom and sister as well. Right as I was calling him Eddie's friends showed up. By this point I already had my dad freaked out, then I tell him I have to go because I'm being rescued by some Mexican men that I don't know. I thought I hung up with him but I didn't so Dad heard me talking to some men in broken Spanish trying to explain what was wrong. Then I realized he was still on the line so I let him know that I was following then back to their house to wait for Eddie. Which was one minute from where I had been waiting. The rest of the story to follow.....