Christ's Blood Shed for You

Easter Sunday was a great day that ended with a wonderful blessing...after our evening church service, two people came forward to accept Jesus as their Savior after watching our children's passion play! What a wonderful way to celebrate Christ's resurrection!

Easter Fun

After waking the children up at 6am for our own sunrise service, they presented a play to re-enact Christ's death and resurrection. Then, we had our annual pancake and sausage breakfast and opened some gift bags that had been sent from a church in Canada. Loeci, Josiane, and Julio (CLM Plus young adults) planned a series of competitive games for the rest of the morning including Bible trivia, sack races, bobbing for apples, water balloon volleyball, and a hunt for eggs with letters that spelled out, "Jesus Ressuscitou!"

And Then There Were....37!

This past week we were faced with a very difficult decision. The social work agency in Guarapuava called to see if we would take a sibling group of four. Even in an ideal situation with 12 missionaries, taking these children would put us over the limit of our 36 beds. Although many of us had doubts, the desperate situation of the four won out and they arrived on Tuesday. We were all running around trying to rearrange bedrooms and find the crib and other baby items from the upstairs storage area. It was beautiful to watch as our kids quickly reached out and calmed the fears of the four new children as they watched the car that brought them slowly pull away. Helen is only 11 months old, Everton is three, Raquel is six, and Arivaldo is nine. They have two older sisters, age 11 and 14, who have been forced into prostitution. Thank you for praying for their quick adjustment to the CLM family and for the Holy Spirit to begin to heal their emotional scars.

Malone Team

I have mentioned the Malone team in previous posts but finally have a picture of them together from today when we said goodbye! Reed and Nancy Varian are from East Canton and Nancy and I taught together at the primary school several years ago. Dave Kleffman works with Nancy in the Malone Graduate Studies program and also attends First Friends. Dave's fiance, Jenny and Melissa Wagner, an elementary ed major at Malone rounded out the team. They brought a gas-powered weed eater and lawnmower, as well as 4 seventy pound bags of school supplies, arts and crafts, and other miscellaneous gifts that were collected by the students and staff at my school in East Canton. They also brought blankets, bug spray, sunscreen, and clothes to leave for the missionaries and children. They generously offered to treat us and four children (our February good behavior winners!) to a night at our favorite pizzaria. The following evening, they purchased pizzas for everyone (more than 60 people), did several skits, and passed out Girl Scout cookies for a special snack. Although they were only here for a week, they have definitely left their mark on the CLM family. Please pray for them as they travel back to snowy, cold Canton today!

What Now?

What Now?
I saw the face of Jesus
In a little orphan girl
She was standing in the corner
On the other side of the world.
And I heard the voice of Jesus
Gently whisper to my heart
Didn't you say you wanted to find Me?
Well, here I am
Here you are
So what now?
What will you do now that you've found Me?
What now?
What will you do with this treasure you've found?
I know I may not look like what you expected
But if you'll remember
This is right where I said I would be
You found Me
What now?
by Steven Curtis Chapman

Our First Sunday Lunch

A few weeks ago, we were honored when Elielton and Robson asked if we could make their birthday lunch and cake...but a little nervous about our first solo attempt. It just so happened that it fell on the weekend that the Malone team was here to help us! With five extra sets of hands, preparing kielbasi sausage, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread for 60 people only took about two hours. The cake on the other hand was a different story! We had to make the batter for two 13" x 9" cakes in four separate pans and layer them on top of each other. Our recipe was for a very moist cake which made it very difficult to get the cakes to come out of the pan in less than 12 pieces! We made strawberry pudding for the middle of the cake but when we got it out of the frig, it had a hard crust that left chewy chunks when we mixed it up again. Then the frosting we made with butter and powdered sugar was so sweet that we imagined the kids wouldn't be able to sleep for days. We ran out of icing and as we were making more, pieces around the outside of the cake started falling off and we had to mold it back together with our hands. We finally finished after about 6 hours, topping off our "masterpiece" with a bag of M&Ms, spelling out "Feliz Aniversário!"--of course, running out of room and having to separate the second word. Although we had only positive reviews about the taste of everything, we are hoping to improve aesthetically next time!

Please remember to pray for Elielton and Robson...that they would know how thankful we are for the day they were born and that each birthday would find them closer to their Heavenly Father.

Blessings from East Canton!

I was blown away this week by the generosity of my former colleagues and the primary students at East Canton Elementary. In collaboration with a service learning project of Malone College, the teachers and students collected school supplies for our kids and bulletin board decorations for me. The Malone team arrived on Friday with 3 seventy pound suitcases full of school supplies! My friend, Chris and her sister had also gathered art supplies, flipflops, and pool toys to fill a fourth suitcase. Knowing that so many people are thinking, praying, and so generously supporting the ministry to our children is overwhelming. Thank you is not enough for the time and effort you put into this project. We pray that God blesses you abundantly for this special blessing.

FESTA!

Yesterday, a teacher from the community threw a party for the entire CLM family. In the afternoon, her family arrived with a trampoline for the older kids, a closed-in play area filled with balls for the little ones, and ice cream for everyone! They brought all the food and prepared our evening meal...which is not a small feat when you're feeding over 80 people! The kids jumped, and played, and ate until almost 11pm when they fell into bed exhausted. It was a great day and we thank God for the generosity of this special family.

February's Winners!

Elielton, Janete, Aline, and Sabrina found out today that they are going to the Pizzaria! We are so proud of each of them for demonstrating exemplary behavior during the past month. Please continue to pray for all of our children.