We had some good news about Lydia. She is the 3 year old who weighed 8 pounds. Well after 3 weeks she had a hospital visit to look at her health. She had gained 4 pounds. Pretty amazing. The hospital was so impressed they want us to take brothers 9 months, 1.5 years and 2,5 years.
To explain a little about the building I sent pictures out of today. It is 35 feet by 35 feet or almost 2500 sq. ft total both floors. Each floor has 4 bedrooms that has 2 bunkbeds in each, so a total of 32 sleeping spaces on each floor and then in the middle is a common room where the kids can study or just hang out. This building will house 64 children. It cost about $60,000.00 total and after it is stuccoed will look fairly nice. We need another $60,000.00 to build the next building which will have the kitchen dining area and classrooms for both orp kids and community classes. It can also house more kids if needed or have some volunteer rooms.
The kids in the garden are planting black beans.
Vicki

I know everyone thinks I dropped off the face of the earth, but I am still here. We arrived in the US 5 days after our passports had been unfrozen. I was so.... glad to touch US soil. I know we need to change alot in this country, but it sure looks good after having lived in a third world country. We had supper with several of our kids and grandkids when we flew in and then headed for our mountain and home. we got there at 1 in the morning.
We saw another son and his two daughters and then went to work getting our gardens planted. Our sil had planted alot of things and we planted more. I got to see my 6 goats and two great Pyrenees that I had gotten for a present for Mother's Day.
The next week-end we went to see our oldest son's son get dedicated. Jake was born in Jan.
Then we went to see our 2 month old grandson that we had not met yet. At that point we had seen all 10 of our grandbabies.
The next week i started again on orphanage work. Man you guys and gals did a great job on the donations. My whole living room and my upstairs den are stacked full of donations. i am spending some of each day sorting and packing buckets to go back to Guate with us. thank you so much for all your efforts. There are some great things here and will come in handy when we get them down there.
I got to be at my 4 year old grand daughters birthday on Sat. and had a homecoming barbeque on Sunday for my daughter who had spent a semester abroad in China. This next week-end we have the baby blessing of the two month old and all the kids and their kids will be there. I will get to see my 4 new grandsons together for the first time. it promises to be an awesome experience.
For orphanage news: things seem to be gong well. Lydia our 8 pound 3 year old went for a cat scan. She is alos CP and fetal alcohol. The babies are getting fatter. The government people visited us and said how pleased they were with the care of the babies. We had to turn down an 11 year old as there is no more room in our current facility.
The new residence home is progressing. The are pouring the floor for the second story.
We have a large, 32 people, group coming the second week in July who will build shelf units, a porch on the residence building and work with the kids.
Will try to write more.
Vicki

I just had the most wonderful spiritual experience. The reason I do this. We got a new little girl at the orphanage. She is 3, but severely malnourished. She weighs 8 pounds and has the muscle tone of a 4 month old. She has the sweetest smile ever. And the spirit that radiates from her is so awesome. Her name is Lydia. She came from the hospital in Xela and I shutter to think where she might have gone if we had not taken her. My staff is totally mesmerized with her; the reason I love my staff. Let me know if anyone wants to sponsor her; I am sure she comes with extra blessings.
The same court is sending us a 5 year old and 9 year old girls next week. And I have someone begging me to take 5 teens in a bad situation.
We have our passports back.YES................................
It will be hard to leave the kids tho. They are so cute.
Well my last blog until we get settled in the states sometime next week.
Vicki

One group member asked about the children we receive. She wanted to know where they came from and what the court system was like. (By the way, feel free to ask questions. Email them directly to 20.vicki@gmail.com)

Vicki mentioned last time about the eight children from Xela that we got because we offered to take a few, trying to help out. They are desperate for places to send children and we are one of the few places still taking them. They tried to send 13 and Pedro pled that we had no beds, only cribs left. We did not want to take too many teenagers at one time. When teenagers come from the courts they have usually been severely abused or out on the streets (probably doing prostitution). A 25% increase in unruly teenagers would have been disasterous but luckily these kids had all been in an orphanage and were well mannered and little trouble. They did , however, come with only the clothes on their backs. The other ones were left at the old orphanage and are unavailable. We have scurried all week to find clothes and shoes and rain gear for these kids. Not to mention the extra money for food.

We seem to be at a critical junction because there will be many, many more children in desperate need of our services as the economy winds down.
Pedro just told us the courts are sending us a malnoruished 3 year old girl tomorrow and a 5 year old girl who has been physically abused by her dad.
We have had rain for 5 days and are told it will contiue for 5 more. First it was tropical Storm Alma coming from the pacific. Now it is tropical Storm Arthur coming from the carribean and going inland. The mudslides have already started and we don't know where it will end. We are trying to increase our storable food supply so anyone who wants to donate grains, cans of meat, dried milk, or dehydrated fruits and veggies, they will be much appreciated.
For those of you who put stuff on the container from Utah, I have had word about it. It has arrived and Julio, the main recepient of the items is trying to gather the money to pay the taxes. They were like $4000.00.
Good news and thanks for all the prayers and positive thoughts. The judge told our atty. today she would write the letter we need to unfreeze our passports. He will pick it up tomorrow.