Hello Everyone!
We are currently in PA for Christmas this year and being that we have some free time, we thought we'd take advantage of this opportunity to update everyone. [If you received our email last month, you can skip to the pictures at the bottom. It's basically the same.]
We are currently in PA for Christmas this year and being that we have some free time, we thought we'd take advantage of this opportunity to update everyone. [If you received our email last month, you can skip to the pictures at the bottom. It's basically the same.]
Now for our update. Thank you, everyone, for keeping us in
your thoughts and prayers recently. Last you knew, Martha and Yosidara came to live here with us
at the beginning of September. The initial plan was to provide them
with a safe home so they could finish out their school years at NCA
where we teach. However, we took them in knowing that they could
possibly be staying with us for a longer period of time than just until the
end of the school year.
These past
three months with the girls have been so great for us. In the beginning, Mitch and I have had to transition and figure out some things in our personal
relationship with each other, but we are enjoying our parenting roles
and feel this new change in our lives is just what God is calling us to.
As the girls came to live with us towards the end of our school year, we knew a big
transition was coming up in their lives once December came around - either moving back to their homes where they
didn't want to go OR going to live at a girls' home where they didn't
want to go. We spent a lot of time in prayer thinking about whether or
not we felt God calling us to offer up our lives and home to the girls
here in Nicaragua for a longer time period than
just-through-the-end-of-the-sc
Through prayer and conversations with close family and friends, Mitch and
I knew, without a doubt, that we wanted to give the girls the option of
staying with us for the upcoming school year, and really, as long as
we're living here in Nicaragua. We sat down with the girls one weekend
in October and offered them the option of staying with us more permanently, being clear
of our expectations and also letting them know of our timeline here in
Nicaragua. We told them to take their time in deciding what they wanted
to do and made it clear that it was their decision to make, though Mitch
and I really wanted them to choose to stay :)
Now, we're here in PA for vacation and the girls are just visiting with family and friends while we're out of the country, and they're only visiting because they have decided that they want to stay
with us permanently, while we're here in Nicaragua. Yosidara, 16, knew right
away that she wanted to stay with us and she made the decision on her
own, just letting her mother know what she was going to do. However,
with Martha, being only 13, we wanted to talk personally to her mother
to let her know what Martha was thinking. We got to talk with her mother last month and she was fine with the decision Martha had made.
So now here we are, a year into living in Nicaragua and we've got two foster daughters :) There
are lots of things we need to be thinking about as we are now preparing to start our next school year in January - financial budget, discipline, and home life structure just touch the surface as we adjust to a very different home life.
Please
continue to keep us in your prayers as you have been this past year.
Here are some pictures that we've taken together these last few months!
We really hope you enjoy this first picture of us four in our Christmas
hats the day before we came to PA!
So much love,
Mitch, Lauren, Yosidara, and Martha (oh, and Emre!)
No comments:
Post a Comment