Walter

It is hard to know what to write. 
I know I need to write and update everyone, but what do I say?
Please bear with me in this post as it may be long winded and all over the place, as I feel like I have so much to say.

My Papa died on December 15th. He was an amazing man and I was very close to him. I am the youngest of his 4 kids. He always told me I was his favorite (sorry to break the news to my other siblings!). 

The past few weeks have been emotionally draining. 
We have seen a lot of friends and family, especially since it is the Christmas season. I cannot tell you how many times I have heard the phrase, "I'm sorry about the circumstances, but I'm glad to see you!". How do you tell someone that you love with all your heart that you aren't glad to see them? Because that how I've felt during my time in the States. I love you, but I'd rather not be here, dealing with this. Its hard.

We are also SO saddened to have missed out on spending Christmas at home, in Ecuador. We had so many exciting things planned at school with the students and with our family(the Reegers and the HOH kids). Seeing pictures on Facebook was great and we are blessed that Justin and Jauna stepped up BIG time by helping the school run in our absence... but also, seeing those pictures was just another reminder that we are here in the States dealing with my Papa's passing.

Gosh its been hard.

So now, I am sitting at the Miami Airport. Christmas just passed and it is New Year's Eve.
People are talking about how their Christmas went and their plans for New Years. It all seems surreal. Christmas came and went in a blur. Jake lands in Quito at 11:30pm, and will probably getting through customs and picking up baggage when the new year rings in.

This time has always felt so magical for me, but what do you do when it doesn't? 

Because most of the time I am living in my own little bubble of events going on around me, I have never considered what what it would be like if it wasn't a perfect holiday season. Because of our circumstances I have become aware of just how many other people are sad, depressed, lonely or going through a difficult time during this season. I personally know several individuals struggling with family members passing away, life-threatening cancer, and many other difficult circumstances. 

I was just talking to a friend of mine in Ukraine. His name is Sasha. Sasha and his wife, Anastasia, are working with an organization called "Let's Love". They are working to help displaced Ukrainians, giving clothes and warmth during the harsh winter while spreading the love and brotherhood of Christ. We got to know both Sasha and Anastasia in Mariupol when we did short term mission work there. 

The Mariupol/Doneskt (where the Ukrainian Bible School was located) area is a very dangerous place now. So Sasha and Anastasia had to move. They have consistently been moving from one place to another, finding places to serve but also places that are safe. 

Today, Sasha messaged me via Facebook and asked how I was. I let him know I was OK and am at the airport headed home. His reply was, "I want to go home, but I don't know where that is."

Wow. Harsh.

During times like these, I remember a particular verse (and song) that really affirms me.
It is well known... AND I've just realized that I have blogged about it before! Go figure...

Isaiah 43:1-3 NIV
"But now, this is what the LORD says- he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep you over. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...""

While thinking of this verse, I did a little research to recall the situation and circumstances that these words were written during. Here is some partials of what I found:

The book [of Isaiah] is a collection of oracles, prophecies, and reports; but the common theme is the message of salvation. There was, according to these writings, no hope in anything that was made by people. The northern kingdom of Israel had been carried into captivity (722 B.C.), and the kingdom of Judah was in the middle of idolatry and evil. The kingdom of Assyria had dominated the Fertile Crescent and posed a major threat to both kingdoms; and the kingdom of Babylon was gaining power and would replace Assyria as the dominant threat. In view of the fast-changing international scene, the people of Israel would be concerned about their lot in life—what would become of the promises of God? How could the chosen people survive? And must the remnant of the righteous also suffer with the nation, that for all purposes was pagan?(citation here)

So, the people of Israel where going through many uncertainties, trails and unknowns. And here is this message from Isaiah, whose name means "salvation of Yah-weh", encouraging the people of Israel to not fear because He, God, is with them and He has a plan for them... a plan of salvation. That plan was and is Jesus.

I also like the Message version of these verses:
"But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, Jacob, the One who got you started Israel: "Don't be afraid, Ive redeemed you. Ive called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end- Because I am God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior.""

So, this is what I say in my blog post. 
I miss my Papa. I am sad and this season has been a hard time... and I am not the only one. There are so many out there in the world today where this is a difficult time of year. But I have something. Something that makes it easier. I have the promise of God, that He will be with me in every step. I have the promise of Jesus dying on the cross for me so that when this life is over... when I have partaken and overcome all the heart-aches, joys, struggles and triumphs He wants for me... I will be in heaven with my Creator. 

My Papa also had that promise. 

So now you ask, how am I.
I am doing better. Both my mom and I. We are at peace knowing that Walter is at peace. 
I was able to spend a lot of time with my mom and help her do some paperwork. She is going to fly to Oregon in the beginning of January to spend time with family and friends. I was also able to see my brother and spend time with my two half sisters.

I am also doing well because of so many of you. Despite the fact that hearing that phrase ("its good to see you...") was difficult for me, please know I did enjoy being with you and receiving your hugs! I've never lost anyone close to me before so having your presence, kind words, snail-mail cards, and Facebook messages has been a source of comfort. 

I know we say this often, but I ASSURE you it is because it is 100% true. We could not do what we do with out you guys. Your financial support and emotional support mean so much to us. We talk and think about you often. 

I am also including pictures on this blog of events that happened in November...

Family portrait 1987

Playing in the snow on Mt. Hood

July 16, 2006

Family portrait 2013

Celebrating my Papa's birthday at Chinese with mom

 Friends!

Our formal Christmas picture

On November 11th we had the privilege of having Israel and Gabby (weekend house parents at the HOH) in our home to have their baby! It was such an amazing experience and we are blessed with such wonderful people to be around!

HOH Christian Academy annual Christmas program at Camp Bellevue. Over 400 people in attendance!

HOH Christian Academy annual Christmas service project. Students visited community members and a small poor public school, delivering non-persishable food items, clothes and candy. Students also helped serve in and around the homes.

Home!

Consistency

Consistency.
It is what Jake has been stressing this school year with our teachers and our students. Which is slightly ironic as we definitely are anything but consistent when it comes blogging. Oops!

The past couple of months have gone well at school. I, personally, am excited about where things are headed. The new English curriculum that I've been working on putting together has gone well. It is roughly based upon the TEKS (standards) of Arlington ISD. It has, however, been difficult for some of our students to adjust to speaking and writing so much in English. But, I think this is a good problem to have because eventually they will be accustomed to the amount of English they practice!

Our student population is about the same as last year at 162. We have quite a few new students, including a few returning students. We have accepted a couple of difficult students. Not they themselves are difficult but their family situations. One of our objectives as a school is to be a light unto our community and sometimes that means we have some dysfunctional family situations.
One of our freshman girls has just returned from a year long stint in rehab and counseling classes. She has been doing extremely well in her studies and relationships with others. We also have a former drug dealer we are trying to work with and get him graduated along with helping his family. While these situations and families can be difficult to deal with, we are confident that God can work through us and our teachers to change lives.

We have been blessed to host Jake's mom, Karen, the past 3 months at our house and at the Academy. Karen retired from teaching this past year and decided to come down on a visitor's visa. She has been such a big help getting together our K-2 English classes together. She also has been teaching our current K-2 English teacher on how to complete the lessons and how to work centers. A million thank you's to you Karen for being willing to leave your husband and home and join us here in Ecuador serving these kids.

From the Kindergarten class to Ms. Karen

1st grade

2nd grade

Unfortunately we haven't been able to take Karen around sight seeing too much because our car is still having issues. Actually, this past week we have found a buyer and accepted an offer which will be final next week. However, we did make a trip out to Guayaquil to visit with the missionaries that our home church, Woodland West coC, support. Two members of the missions committee, Hal Pendergraft and Ryan Dill, came to Ecuador (Guayaquil for 5 days, Tabacundo for 1 and 1/2 and Quito for 2 days) to visit and encourage the work. Although it was busy, most of our time filled with meetings, we enjoyed being somewhere different for a few days. Especially with the warm coastal weather.

Visiting with missionaries in Gauayaquil

Another thing we've been enjoying is our church family. The Tabacundo coC meets at Camp Bellevue, just down the hill from us. We generally have about 75-100 in attendance on Sundays. Recently we've developed some new ministries with the hope that we are able to develop more local leaders. We have instilled 9 ministries (Youth, Children's, Women's, Worship, Outreach, Counseling, Finances, Formation of Leaders, and Evangelism) with one or two couples who are in charge of those ministries. Jake was appointed one of the leaders of Finances and I am co-leader of the Women's Ministry. Jake has also been put on the rotations of delivering the message/leading class/giving the Lord's supper meditation. Today he deliver the meditation all in Spanish! We have enjoyed being more involved in the church.

Women's Ministry doing a cooking class. We made cheese empanadas and colada morada!

This week we are sad to say goodbye to our good friend and fellow co-worker Courtney Hard. She has been the case manager at the Children's Home for a year now and is returning back to the States on Wednesday. Courtney, we are gonna miss you so much. Please come back soon! As as your punishment for leaving us... this photo of you will be published, which is also still my desktop photo.

Something that we would like for you to be thinking about and praying about is scholarships. As Jake  is working through the school budget, we are finding that we are lacking funding. One way that would greatly help us are scholarships for our Hacienda of Hope Children's Home students. A scholarship is $100 a month. This covers all their tuition cost, food and uniform. Once we are able to fund all 18 of our kids we would like to reach out into our community and give scholarships to families who aren't able to pay the tuition costs. If you are interest in sponsoring a kid, please let us know!

Thank you for all your love and support!

P.S. If you have not already liked the HOH Christian Academy and Hacienda of Hope Facebook pages, you should! There are a lot of great pictures and information being posted.

Ecuadorian Flag Day

 Doing fire extinguisher training

Teachers during our Teacher "No-Talent" Talent Show

 8th graders making volcanoes explode

Kaiden Reeger, Justin and Jauna's oldest child, was baptized on October 13th. We are all so proud of her!

Maria being Hercules for her English class final exam.

Freshman students doing a little work on the soccer field during PE.

We've been donated 300 books from a couple at Livona coC in Michigan. It has been a HUGE blessing for our kids to be able to check out books from the school library!

Jake turned 39 in October!

3rd grade students working on their geography.

We had a Halloween Community Fun Night at school. There were over 200 people that showed up!

Thank you to our former Sunday morning Bible class at Woodland West who put together a care package for Jake and I. Included in the package were Halloween decorations we used for our community event.

We have a guest writer....

Ok...
The guest writer is Jake...
Here we go!

So it is that time of year again.... 

I have seen many of you talk about the new school year and the many changes with your children or schools.  We just went through our first two weeks of school here at the Hacienda of Hope Christian Academy.  We also have endured many changes this year with the school. 

Let's see...we changed uniforms, the class schedule, English curriculum, lunch schedules, and built new classrooms (thanks Venture- James Cochrum).  We have a new assistant principal, Bible/chapel coordinator, and 6 new classroom teachers...(breathe)...

 Of course, change can bring new emotions also: fear, excitement, panic, hope, etc.  We have experienced all of these with these changes from the ending of last year to the beginning of this year.   And after all the excitement, we still have 160 something students as we ended last year and we are a Christian school like we were last year.

  For once in my life, school and education is about more than just the education; it is about your relationship with God and the overall effect of the school.  I say for once in my life and that is not entirely true, I have always tried to reach out to students and families in my roles as a teacher and administrator, but now I am learning how to actually put my words into action...

BUT no matter how much you try to say, show, or do there will always be detractors on the other end.  In some cases, those people are the ones closest to you.  It is not always popular to make changes and at times doing right and loving as God would do is not always popular.  With the different detractors we have in our life, I have one thing now to say: 

Better Days Are Coming.... 

Do I believe this?  Of Course!  It is not about how many students we have, it is not about if our school is ranked number 1 for English or the best private school in our sector, it is not about our sports teams winning every game. IT IS about all of our teachers and students praying as a class to begin the day. IT IS about visiting our families around the community to pray and give food and items to them. IT IS about our teams competing with a Christ-like attitude...
Now will we miss a few minutes of class instruction to start the day by praying? Yes. Will we miss a day or two every month or two to visit families? Yes. Will we win every game we compete in? No. But we can have an effect on our community by the way we win and lose...

Better days are coming:  With our attitude and focus on a relationship with God. I would argue that our students' academics, attitude, and accomplishments will take care of themselves.  We are still a young school and are determined in being a Godly school.
Two Bible verses that we share at school come to mind with this journey:  Colossians 3:23-24 and Romans 12:1-8

Basically: we are here to serve the Lord, use our talents for the Lord, and our culture does not define who we are as people. 
We live in crazy cultures, but our service is for the Lord.  All aspects of our lives can be about God and the effects He has on our life.  Tanya and I have had many detractors and set-backs, but continuing to work for the Lord is the goal.  Serving the Lord gives us those days in heaven, those Better Days are Coming....


Like I mentioned, we have had many changes.  Below are some pictures of the newly constructed classrooms, new logo, and new uniforms.   We are excited to have enough space now for each teacher!   Thank you again for your support and prayers!  We appreciate and love all of you!