Their Story

Most of us have a story. A story of where we were born, who our family is and a story of how we got to where we are. These sweet little babies, who recently were abandoned, unknown, without a name, what will their story be? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I think about the issue of babies being abandoned here, and as we work toward opening this Family Style Home for abandoned babies, I pray that God can use all of us to help write their story. I pray this home can be a place that will lead them to a story of life in Him. I pray that God will bring people who want to be a part of their story, to pray for them, care for them and help support them.

 

 

Inviting you to partner with us!

We invite you to help care for the babies of Guatemala who have been abandoned! There are many ways you can partner with us.

Most important, we need you to lift this project up in PRAYER. This is big but we know God is bigger. With your prayer support, we know the paper work (already in progress) will be finished in a timely manner. The upfront costs will pour in as needed and we will overcome the spiritual battle that can sometimes come with a project like this. We also ask you to pray that His will be done, not our own.

We would love for you to send TEAMS that can assist with fixing up the house that we will be renting for the Baby Home. We should have the house by Nov 1st! The teams can bring supplies for the babies. Most of the stuff needed is much cheaper to get in the US. Once we have the babies, the teams can come and share the love of Jesus with them and the staff. The profit from the Guest House will help fund the home.

This project will be requiring FINANCIAL SUPPORT. We are asking people to pray about a monthly faith promise they can commit to the project. We are praying the Guest House will eventually support the home, but to get it going we will need financial supporters. Please see below the approx cost of running this home.

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Estimated Monthly Expenses

Rent - $800

Utilities (are very expensive here in Guatemala) - $500

Expenses for Babies - 4 @ $360 each = $1440

Staff - 3 nannies -$1,200

Social Worker - $200 - part time

Psychologist - $200 - part time

Miscellaneous - $110

Total - $4,450

Starting with one baby = $2,670 ( $360 + $50 social worker + $50 psychologist and only 2 nannies ).

To set up your tax deductible monthly donation

Click on the link below. Please make sure to put "Baby Home" in the Designate My Donation box

https://www.justgive.org/basket?acton=donate&ein=26-3624540

If you would like any more information on the home, please email us at cherryfamily@photasministries.com

 We are working to change the way the world cares for orphans and asking you to partner with us. Join us in what God is doing on behalf of the fatherless.

Becoming Dependent

Well, we did it! We got all three girls through their first week of school. Here is a picture of them on their first day. We had our first night of Youth Group Wednesday night. Did I mention Sean was asked by our Pastor here to be the youth group leader? I am so proud of him! The first night of youth group was great! Getting through all of these things might not seem like much but let me tell you, when you are living in a third world country that is new to you, all of the accomplishments are HUGE!

Today as I was driving the kids to school, (I said I would never drive here) I was scared for our lives! It was crazy! Now hear me on this, the path to school is not a bad one (compared to other routes) and it is fairly close the where we live but my goodness, it adds 15 grey hairs to my head every time I drive it! There are lanes here but nobody uses them and there are turn signals but they are optional and I think there might be a speed limit but I have never seen one and I am pretty sure nobody else has either.

Isaiah 41:13
For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”

Last night as I prepared myself for today's drive to school I realized something...... I am becoming very dependent. I am becoming VERY dependent on God! This kind of dependency is new to me. Don't get me wrong, I prayed before we came here and I tried to rely on God but it was different. Living in Colorado, I had everything I needed. It was easy to get to where I needed to go or to get what I needed. It was easy to go to the Dr if we needed. If there was ever a problem we could call 911 and trust all the people that showed up to help us. There was very little need there.

Things are different here. I completely depend on God to get us to and from school or anywhere else we are going. To bring my husband home safely from the airport at 4:00am in the morning. To protect us from getting sick if we eat something that wasn't prepared correctly. To give us strength to deal with the severe poverty that we see all around us. Strength to care for the children we work with at orphanages, some who are sick or some longing for a mommy and daddy. I have become dependent on God bringing me peace when I miss my family and friends or when our family and friends are hurting and we can't be there for them because we are so far away. I have no control here over anything.

To be honest, it is a little scary to not have control but everyday that I can give up a little more and become a little more dependent, I feel a little more peace. It is starting to make sense to me! A good friend reminded me today.......

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.

Without Him, I can truly do nothing!

Thank you for the prayers

One of the craziest things I have seen here is the number of people who drive at nights without their lights on! The streets here aren't well lit, there are a lot of curves in the road and the traffic is usually moving at a very fast pace. It is so scary!! People go flying around a curve with little time to stop and you can not see the cars without lights until you are almost on top of them! There is a reason cars have lights, right?

The other day a friend asked me how we do it. She had googled Guatemala to try and learn more about it and she wondered how we could live hear and not be afraid.

As I thought about this question I realized we don't do it. We are completely dependant on Jesus and prayer. The prayer support that we are getting from friends, family and even people we don't know, is what helps keep us going.

If I really stop and think about where we are, what we are doing, how will we do it, it would be easy to live here in fear. Almost everything we do here could lead us to some level of fear. We all feel peace here. Don't get me wrong, it has not all been easy and there have been moments of fear but for the most part we have chosen faith instead. There have been some nights of little sleep and a lot of prayer but we have been able to wake up to a new day of comfort and peace. It is truly amazing and hard for me to describe.

Luke 18:1Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

Getting through a day without prayer; would be like driving in the dark, really fast, around curves, without lights. SCARY! Thank you for being 'lights' for us.

So for everyday and everything we do, we will continue to pray.

Psalm 55:17Evening and morning, and at noon, I will pray and cry aloud; and He shall hear my voice.