MOVIN' ON UP

Today makes a week.  A week ago we moved.  Love and Hope Children's Home used to be located in Nejapa (north of San Salvador) and now we have moved to Los Planes de Renderos (south of San Salvador).  There are many reasons for why we moved but to actually move a children's home of 25 kids, 15 staff members, and 10 missionaries was quite a task.  The move went well, we are still recovering, but are happy in our new home.  The Planes de Renderos is a small quaint community about 15 minutes up from the capital.  You literally get to the edge of the city limits and go directly up a road for that amount of time.  The climate is much cooler and the neighborhood is called "Las Neblinas" or "fog" due to its high altitude and the clouds that pass by.  The new house is absolutely beautiful with 10 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.  It's four floors tall and has all tiling with beautiful iron railings and doors.  We can walk 1 kilometer each way and find a beautiful park to walk in or play with the kids and in the other direction find a gigantic rock/cliff that you can climb and find yourself at the highest point to look out across the country and see the ocean.  The climb is great exercise and the top is rather peaceful.   Right now I am sitting on the terrace while the kids sleep.  It's the only time the terrace is a quiet spot.  The cool breeze reminds me of Ohio and September (and football season - Go Bucks!)

Through it all I lost track of the days and the hours.  It's hard to gain perspective or center myself with so much going on.  Sometimes I stop and think about all the things that I am doing and I don't know how I get through them.  For example, sitting through legal negotiations on a house, calling water companies to order tanks to fill cisterns and understanding how cisterns flow in a house, driving a stick shift vehicle while learning the roads in the capital, facilitating job interviews, managing staff members and making sure all the needs of the home get taken care of promptly.  Did I mention all of this is in Spanish too?  I'm in over my head but the work always gets done.  When I look back I smirk and think about how cool it is to be in a position to be challenged and accomplish what seems like tall mountains to me.  Some days seem like I am never going to make it and when I recognize just how hard it is for me in my own skin, I speak out silently from my heart, "Oh Lord, help!  I can't do this!  You have to come and help me!  Come quickly!"  And then He does.  I relate to this psalm,

"As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless.  He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.  For who is God besides the Lord?  And who is the Rock except our God?  It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.  He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to stand on the heights.  He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.  You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.  You broaden the path beneath me, so that my ankles do not turn."

Well maybe I don't relate with all of it.  I certainly don't feel like my way is perfect, that I can bend a bow of bronze or that I am great in any way.  But I do feel like He is sustaining me, that I am standing and not turning at my ankles.  May He continue to sustain!

I have to share some praises.  We have received so much help from other organizations in order to take care of some of our basic needs.  We recently received donations to purchase new vehicles to transport the kids to school and back, for 5 new dining room tables (all natural wood from local builders!) and a protection screen for the terrace.  I have seen people answer the call for the needs the home has and it is so comforting to know that there are people out there who care so much.  "But the needy will not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish".