Wonderful opportunities....

Tomorrow morning will be a wonderful blessing for Lar Feliz. The 1st of Mai is a national holyday, “Labor day”. There will be a huge activity in Jaquariuna; focussed on the family, between 6000 to 15000 people are expected. Lar Feliz will be the only one allowed to sell soft drinks and potato chips. As you can understand we are praying for a huge turnout and some nice temperatures. It is amazing how God provides opportunities to not only raise money but to also make our name known.

MANY COLORS....

Many Colors
When one travels to Brazil from the north, immediately he notices a color change, the color of the sky, a bright blue, and the red dirt, as well as the greenery everywhere. There are trees with purple blooms in them, and bright yellow and red. These colors inspire the children in their drawings and coloring. When coloring pictures of flowers, many times they choose strong bright colors rather than pastels. God also created many different colors of people. In the baby house, we are blessed to have a rainbow of colors of babies and toddlers. We have dark negro babies and blond blue-eyed babies all together in one nursery, each one beautiful, each one loved.

Happy...

We want to share a praise with all of you. Some of you may remember a little 4 year old boy, A. who was new to Lar Feliz. The first weeks were difficult as he constantly needed attention and supervision in order not to hurt himself or other children. I am happy to report that the monitors together with Asterio, Jade, and Ronaldo have been doing an excellent job reaching out to help this young life. Every time I arrive to work (and wouldn't be in the baby house) I would find one of them or Marcos, the monitor for the boys, taking this boy by the hand and spending time with him, conversing with him. After these few weeks of this time of quality individual attention, we can see good results. He is calmer, smiling, happy, and learning to obey and follow the rules. I am very pleased with these staff who are always willing to go the extra mile in order to help a needy child.

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE, I AM GONNA LET IT SHINE.....

Isaiah 42:16 “…I will make darkness into light before them.” One description of Jesus that I find so wonderful and comforting is, “the light of the world”. To be enlightened in a dark world is to have knowledge, wisdom, and power to see and make things better in our surroundings. Most children are afraid of the dark with the inability to see causing fear of the unknown. To have light and sight is to have power and causes one to want to help others who do not see, others who sit in the dark, afraid. I heard in a sermon last week, a guest speaker was preaching and sharing how if the whole sanctuary was enclosed in darkness, that if only one person, had a light only an inch high, it would be enough light to help everyone to be able to see. Wherever you are, if it is in a dark place, maybe spiritually or materially, the light of Jesus in you has the power to shine, illuminating your surroundings, enabling those around you to see. There is a children’s song, and it goes like this, “this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine!” Today, be encouraged, and don’t be afraid to shine.

ALL KINDS OF NEWS BITS....

Strange and Wonderful blessings
Yesterday at the seminar for child care workers for children ages 0-7, we learned what kind of toys are the best for stimulation. The woman there made very interesting toys and dolls from natural products as well as from recyclable plastic contains as well as tins. One worker from the baby house told me later that she loves learning how to better care for children, and that she would like it to be her goal to always work with them.

Last night, the four rock bands finally came to do their beneficiary concert. Maybe Paul and I are getting older, but the music sometimes resembled wolf howling. After the first and second song, it seemed that the third and fourth song sounded exactly the same. The teens who were there, around 100 in total, however are forever fans of the groups who came. Jeremy said it was one of the best music that he had ever heard and was inspired already this morning to practice on his drums. They made a profit of around $60 which will be donated to the project. A big congratulations to Elisa who organized the whole event by herself! We are very proud of her!

This morning a Presbyterian church came from Jaguariuna to have a service for the kids at the project. It was a blessing as they had nice music, and a message about Noah.

Tomorrow will be the beginning of another busy week. I will have to work now with the baby house workers during the nights to make sure that every shift of workers follow the same rhythm and rules in order for the babies to stay on the same schedule. I hope to introduce a few new ideas and toys to the babies. Every day, the new baby house is reaching a little bit higher, and we look forward to the day when it is complete. We want to give the house a name, “Esperanca” which means “hope” in Portuguese. It is a fitting name because the babies are hope for the future of the world, and as well we have had a lot of battles this year trying to take care of so many babies, and a new house will be a new hope for all of us, especially for the children.

ROCK CONCERT...

Another week went by, boy does that all go fast. Today we will be taking about 25 teen-agers to a rock concert Elisa is organizing.
She has about 4 bands lined up who will be donating their performances and any money left over after the show will go to Lar Feliz. The kids of Lar Feliz are all very excited to go. Elisa on the other had is excited but also very nervous because everything has to go smoothly, and everybody has to show up with all the equipment etc.
Jill has her course again this morning and is excited about what they will be teaching today.

WISDOM NEEDED...

Last week I got a phone call from the mayor of Jaguariuna himself. He asked if we could not help out a town close by here by opening a bed for a 14 year old girl. To make a long story short, this girl has such a sad life story. When she was 5 years old she suffered a car accident and the results were serious brain injuries. Then after a while her stepfather started sexually abusing her. When she finally had the nerve to tell her mother, so was thrown out of the house, because her mother blamed her instead of the step father. Up until this day her mother is living with this man.
S. was put in several mental clinics but this really is not the right place for her.
Now she is with us, and we have a week to see if Lar Feliz is the right place for her. Pray with us for wisdom, so that we will be making the right decisions.

DEPRESSION AND ADOPTION

The young woman that stayed here together with her young daughter left today to go back to her family about 20 hours traveling from here. It turned out that the mother is suffering a very bad depression and is unable to take care of her child. The social services of Jaguariuna will be taking her today half way to meet up with her family. Lord bless them!!

At the moment we have two adoption possibilities at the project. I cannot say much about it, but God knows, so please pray for this possibilities.

AGAIN WALKING THE STREETS...

Yesterday night the social services called to ask if we could house a little girl of 4 years old together with her mother. Usually we do not house adults, but since it was an emergency I agreed to house them for one night.
It is such a sad situation. The mother had mental problems and hardly says a word. The police found them walking on the busy highway and they had been sleeping on the streets. Originally they come from a place about a 20 hour bus trip away. Pray for this situation, so that the right decision will be made in the first place for this little girl but also for her mother.

STAFF MEETING....

Yesterday afternoon we had a meeting for all the monitors working with the children 6 and up. As you can tell quite it is big group. We were all sharing and the biggest problem is, and has always been, getting the staff to all talk the same language. In a regular family the parents have to make sure to say yes together and so no together. With so many different people working together that is even a lot harder. We had a good 2 hours of sharing and talking. Pray with us that this group of people will continue to look at each other as one unit. Pray that all of them will know what authority they own with the children and for the children to respect that!

Puppets everywhere.....

Yesterday we had a nice Sunday. In the morning the children of Lar Feliz all went to a church in Jaquariuna. We received a special invitation from the pastor there, because a guest speaker was coming with all of his puppets. The town Jaquariuna was so nice to send us a buss so we could all get there. After a nice time of singing worship songs the guest speaker started singing, talking and playing with his puppets. It was great for the kids. It was wonderful to hear the clear Gospel message again. God loves us so much, that He sent his only Son to die for us. Not just to die, but resurrect after three days. He died for us, to whoever believes in Him and accepts Him as their Saviour, will not die but have eternal life!!

THE BIG BLACK BAG...

My black bag
For the past years, I have enjoyed making cards with the children of the project. I would bring my supplies every morning, pencils, crayons, markers, scissors, glue, stamping kit with ink pads, colored paper, whatever I could fit into a big black vinyl bag. Usually, when I would arrive in the morning, the children would see the bag and know that we would make something. They would come running from whatever they were busy with and would follow me to the dining hall. After emptying the contents of the bag out on to the tables, usually around ten children would participate giving the attention for an hour to coloring, stamping, and making some really beautiful things from their hearts. I never had to force anyone to be involved, and we were able to actually make enough Christmas cards to sell (1000) for three years in a row. Sometimes, the children who were the most difficult with the monitors were the ones who came and sat and colored and longed to talk and be listened to. I realized that the black bag had a special meaning to the children, and when I arrived without it, they were often asking where it was, and to please bring my bag the next time. At the baby house the effect was the same. I brought the black bag, and the children would sit and look forward to what we would do. And the last time that I came without it, one of the two year old boys who was learning to talk, pulled my arm and said, ”where is your bag?” Sometimes God uses the simple unexpected things to be a great blessing to others without us even realizing it.

walking the streets... alone!

It already passed 5 o’clock in the afternoon. I was still organizing a couple of things and was about to go home when a police car from the nearby town stopped in front of the farm. Out came a counselor of the child protection services with a little girl of about 8 years old. Little wounds all over her body from being abandoned. The counselor told me that she had received a couple of phone calls about a little girl always walking around alone on the streets. When they finally found the girl they took her to the little house she was living in. The house was locked up with a padlock. /after a lot of calling and clapping the stepdad came to the front of the house. The counselor asked him why they would leave this girl on the street so often to fetch for herself. He got mad and said;” aren’t you with the child protection services? Well then, do whatever you want with this child, because we do not want it anymore. These stories are heartbreaking. The sad thing is that we hear these stories more and more. Pray with us that Lar Feliz will be a happy home for this little girl!

Healing lives....

When R. came to us, he was only 5 months old. He was diagnosed with respiratory problems. His first days with us were spent going back and forth to the doctor. He was sick for many days. The doctor said that this baby was fighting for his life. Our nurse on staff closely monitored his development, and together with the help of our monitors of the baby house, R. was nursed back to full health and recovery. Today, he is a smiling chubby face very happy and friendly. At the last doctor visit, the doctor informed us that this baby is lucky to be alive. He and his sister P. have been with Lar Feliz for 6 months now. They have a mother who for some reason has not visited them since leaving rehab center. We thank God that he saves these little lives.

CREATIVE WAYS!!

Yesterday we received a visitors who owns a couple of clothes stores. He is also opening a store in Holambra and he wants to help Lar Feliz. His idea is to make a T-shirt of Lar Feliz, sell that in his store and all the proceeds will go to Lar Feliz. An advantage is that we will be able to use that t-shirt for our staff, so we will have less spending. It always amazes me that there are so many creative ways to raise money for good causes.

Today I am including an updated pictures of the new home for the babies/toddlers. It is going well!!

Visitors from Belgium..

Yesterday we received an unexpected visit from a family from Belgium. Their church has been involved with us last year and donated a substantial amount of money towards our animal farm and green house. They were very excited when they could finally see with their own eyes whom they have been helping. With them they brought hand painted table clothes painted by the children of their church. A nice moment was when the toddlers were all dancing in the dining room and all of us and the Belgium family were dancing along. We feel very privileged to have so many partners all over the world to support our ministry.

Changing lives....

Around four months ago, we received a 12 year old boy, D. who had a very sad story, and who proved to be a challenge for the workers at Lar Feliz. He didn’t have any family that we knew of, and he had been on the streets living alone for the past 4 or 5 months. The first days at the project, he showed an inability to bond with the other children and the workers. He used foul language and gestures when anyone angered him. He seemed to be in the middle of many an argument among the boys. His schooling was also far behind where he should have been for his age. In these past months through prayer and patience from the monitors who work with the boys, he has learned to help around the house. He seems to be getting along with some children at least to the point of not fighting. He shows interest in activities at the farm. A while back the school he is attending even asked for him to be transferred to another school because of his aggressive behaviour. Yesterday the director of his school said that he has changed 100 %. He still has to catch up with his studies, but it seems like the Lord is slowly preparing him to also make other changes in his life.

Two new baby lambs.....

Monday morning already. A busy day... one baby had a medical appointment in Campinas so the van had to leave very early. Then three kids had to go to horse therapy, so my little car was needed to take them there. The sheep had two lambs this morning and all the children are going to school and doing well. It is amazing how faithful God is to us.
The foundation of the baby house has been built. It is wonderful to see it grow slowly but steadily! Last week we received another couple visiting the project. They really loved the project and will be donating about 5000 dollars towards the construction of the baby house.
God is good!!

HE IS NOT HERE, HE IS RISEN... MATTHEW 28;6

A beautiful Easter day. The day we remember what Jesus did for us. He suffered, carried all we did wrong by dying on cross. But then on the 3rd day He rose from the dead.
At Lar Feliz today things are calm. The mayor sent a trampoline, cotton candy and chocolate eggs. Lunch will be special with Lasagna and icecream. Because so many children are away we will talk about Easter with them the day after. We pray that your Easter is very special!!!

Pray for our new 4 year old boy A.

Here is an update about a new four year old boy who is staying at the baby house: A. had a very difficult time when he came to us, and he had asked me repeatedly to be taken back home. Not surprisingly, A. has had a lot of rough days so far at the baby house. He has a very pronounced stutter. Though he has bonded somewhat well with the workers, giving hugs and asking for things, he doesn’t play at all with the other children. In fact, he has been hitting the other toddlers and babies when spending any time with any of the other children. We found out that his mom is dying of AIDS, and his father has abandoned him and his sister. At this time, these two children seem to have no one else in the world, but our social worker must still search for other family members, like an aunt or grandmother. Please pray for A. during this adjustment phase of learning the rules, and getting along with the other children. We have to be extremely careful with him at all times, that he doesn’t cause harm to himself or the other babies. One time while I was at the baby house, I turned my head for one minute, and he was busy turning on the gas stove. So, you can imagine with the baby house already being so full and challenging, that this one more life can make it even more difficult there then it already was.

And He blessed the children!!

Good Friday, we are remembering the day that Our Saviour was crucified. Looking at the sacrifice of God, offering His only Son to bring us Salvation is too good to be true. But it is true, and this wonderful truth makes everything else fade away. Everything we own, everything we do, everything we are, it is nothing compared to Jesus. He suffered death so we can have life!!
8 children of the baby house were invited last Wednesday to go an Easter party of one of the private schools in Holambra. They were received so wonderfully and had a great time. Jill heard one of the children of the school say to his friend;” They have no mom or dad”. Of course we know what this child meant, because our kids live away from their parents. But when we think about it bit more, then we can be a little bit more optimistic. The Bible says in Marc 10; 14, 16; Jesus said to them. "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them . . . ." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.
Which the death and resurrection of Jesus we are saved and with His blessing on top of that; Wow, what else can we ask for?

Easter is upon us....

Easter is already upon us, how the time goes quickly by. 36 of the children of the project will be going to different homes during the Easter break. Some will be able to go back and stay with their families, and others will be able to stay with sponsors, and some of our staff members will also take them into their homes. It is quite a big job to organize and observe all of the places where the children will go. Our psychologist and our social worker on staff work hard in organizing this, for every holiday, and they do an excellent job. Every place where the children go must also be approved by the judge. We have found that during the holidays, it is a wonderful treat for the children to be able to stay in a home. Sometimes the child can have difficult behaviour, but then when they are able to visit a home for even a short time, they really behave well and seem really to enjoy themselves. It is also an opportunity for us to learn more about their behaviour in other settings than the project. We also pray that Easter will have a special meaning for those who will not be able to leave the project. Many times with fewer children there, it gives us an opportunity to do something special for those who are left behind at the project. Please pray for those who are going to homes and also pray for those who are left.

Wonderful..

Yesterday was another wonderful day. Our troubled teen C. went back to school for the first in two months. So that was a nice victory. Today we had a wonderful meeting with the town of Jaguariuna and they are really willing to anything it takes to help us build the new baby home.
Today internet at our house is not working, so a short little update!! God bless!!

Rejoice!

Yesterday we did have a really nice and promising visiting of the mayor of Jaquariuna. Tomorrow we have another meeting with some people to see how Jaquariuna can financially help with the new home for the babies. Our little internet café is up and running and today we will be having a meeting with one of the 5 star restaurants in town to talk about a fund raising dinner for Lar Feliz.
Another encouraging news bit is that our teen-age girl C. is having a change of heart and behaviour. Up until now it has been impossible to find another place for her and we have done lost of praying, talking but also disciplining. We will keep you updated about this situation as well.”
Today I just felt to encourage all of you with the verse in Philippians 4;4 where it says; “ Rejoice in the Lord always, and AGAIN I say rejoice” . This verse tells us to rejoice in the Lord, not in our circumstances. Look to our Heavenly Father for everything you need, rejoice in Him.

Lots of visitors today!

Yesterday, while Paul worked, I was able to stay home. It is such a good feeling sometimes, just to be home doing little things like baking a cake, and weeding my flower beds. Today, however, is a big day for all of us at the project. Today we will have a visit from the Mayor of Holambra, together with the Mayor of Jaquariuna, and various representatives of counsel men. They are coming to see the work of Lar Feliz first hand. Already this morning, the workers have been advised to have everything ready, clean and organized. A good first impression can touch the heart of a politician in power who can give help when we need it. We pray that Lar Feliz will shine today for those who visit.

Let's thank God for the little things...

Those of you whom read the blog of yesterday know that we were having problem with a lack of water. When I got there I heard that there was absolutely no water. Not to cook, shower or clean. I asked one of our staff if she had a lot of faith. She said;”YES”. Let’s start calling around then. This has happened in the past and throughout the week it is possible to have the city bring a big truck of water to fill up our boxes. So we started calling, but they all said without a written authorization of the mayor it will be impossible. Suddenly I remembered that Jill had the mobile number of the mayor. To make a long story short; the number now belonged to her main assistant, who happened to be working with her on the Saturday. She authorized it and Lar Feliz had water again. Sometimes things that we do not even worry about become very important. When there is water we often take it for granted, but when it is lacking then we realize how important it is. Thank you Lord for your Faithfulness.

Great meeting, finally internet and a lack of water

Yesterday was a very fruitful day!! We had a great meeting with all the staff of the baby house. The women could share their frustrations, ups and downs and also shared their points of view. After that Jill and I spent some time instructing and training them in order to make their work easier and above all create ways to really impact the lives of those wonderful babies and toddlers. Continue to pray for our staff and for us as well. God has given us so many children to take care of; we want to make the most of it!!
Also yesterday, after many years of trying, we finally had regular internet installed at the farm!! Yippee! A problem is the lack of water. The new well that was drilled two weeks back is still waiting for its pump so we are really low on water!

Love, love and more love.....

I looked into his round brown eyes that began to water with tears. He was a four year old boy who had just been dropped off to the project together with his sister by the social worker. The tears started to flow down his cheeks and he asked me,”Where is my Mom?” When I told him that he would be staying here at Lar Feliz for awhile he asked me to please take him home. He just wanted to go home. His tears became an outburst at that moment when he realized that he was left here. I took him by the hand and said that we would walk around a bit. While we walked around, I was impressed with the reactions of my staff and even the other children. They all came near to him to help him feel welcome. The staff that was actually the least qualified to counsel children were the ones who were reaching out to him the most. The secretary talked to him very gently, the cook gave him a smile, and the kitchen manager found him some new clothes because he came with nothing, and the monitors were also very moved by what they saw in the little boy. The other children quietly came near to him with knowing faces, realizing his pain. When his tears still didn’t subside we decided to let him stay next to his sister for awhile, and then he was calm. I thought about him the rest of the night and wondered how he was. I was remembering the reactions that I saw that day, some expected and some unexpected, and I thanked God for the love that this little boy was able to feel at Lar Feliz during his first moments there.

Update on taking on another Shelter....

Yesterday we got a call from the non-profit currently in charge over the shelter in Artur Nogueira. As many of you know, this is the town that had asked us to consider taking on the children’s shelter. It has been decided that the Catholic Church there will be taking on the home. From the beginning we have trusted the lord that if He wanted for us to do this, that He would then also open the doors and the other way around. With some of the problems we are having with some of the teen-agers, it was kind of a relief that right now we wouldn’t have to take on this new challenge. God know what he is doing!!

No to drinking and yes to JESUS

Yesterday we were invited to a city council meeting to talk with them about a campaign against drink under-age. For about an hour and a half we talked about prevention, controlling the places who sell the drinks etc. Amazing was that there was a trauma doctor in the panel and he said;” there is a void in all of us, and because of that many start drinking or using drugs. We need to feel up this void with doing sports. People who practise sports cannot drink nor do drugs, because it will affect their achievements. After he said that I thought about that for a bit and thought that partially he is right, although there is lots are lots of sports that do a lot of drinking afterwards. I think the void needs to be filled up with the presence of God. With Our Heavenly Father in our life’s we cannot abuse drinking nor do drugs because it will distance us from God.