I’m sure we’ve all heard the joke about the dog named Lucky:

“LOST: male dog, has one eye, mangled left ear, paralyzed hind leg, crooked tail.  Answers to the name, ‘Lucky’.”

Well, the rocking chair that has been a part of our children’s home for the last several years must be named Lucky  because it’s been through it all.  The back is completely torn apart, it’s missing it’s back left rocking leg, and the right arm rest is missing!  It barely functions as a chair much less a rocking chair.  But this is what we have been using to rock our babies to sleep in.  Obviously far from ideal.

Thankfully we weren’t the only ones that felt that way, and recently a member of the Asbury Youth Ministry team that came down last month donated the money for us to buy a new rocking chair!  But not just any rocking chair…it’s a glider.  When I brought it to the home yesterday the ladies expressed a collective sigh of relief and were extremely happy to finally have an appropriate rocking chair to give Angel his bottle or put him to sleep.  It may seem like such a small thing, but every resource like this is greatly appreciated by our staff and greatly benefits our children.

So goodbye Lucky, you were nice while you lasted.

The vision we have for Hope For Tomorrow Children’s Home is HUGE! I mean incredibly huge! Our list of ideas, changes, and projects is almost never ending. The only problem we have run into is that our vision is bigger than our bank account, and a lot of the things we desire to do have to get put on hold due to financial constraints. For example, while we’d love to repaint the home in colors that are more indicative of happiness and joy, it’s more important to make sure our children have food for the following month and that we have finances to pay salaries. So while our list is large, some things have had to be put on hold.

One of these items that has been on hold was the purchase of cribs for our newest children. In June we had graciously received a donation to purchase beds for our first 6 children, so thankfully they were taken care of. But when Moses and Luis Fernando came along, we had to pull out the old, and may I say decrepit, wooden cribs, since we didn’t have the funds to purchase new ones. We longed for the day that we would be able to replace these cribs that had paint chipping off, holes in the bottom, and bars that were spaced too far apart. An OSHA nighmare! (more…)

Occasionally, our children’s home is blessed to receive very generous gifts, whether they be toys, food, or clothes. But every now and then we receive a gift that is an obvious labor of love and this is the case with a package of quilts we received a few week ago. A few of the ladies that go to Brenda’s church were kind enough to spend their time and energy making quilts for our children and after a long journey, they finally arrived thanks to a team that brought them down. Each quilt is different from the rest but all of them have a beautiful prayer sewed on to the back and is a reflection of our biggest desire for our children: for God to watch over them and protect them and grow them into men and women that chase after Him. So on behalf of all the children, thank you so much for these beautiful quilts. It’s a tangent reminder of the warmth and protection we receive from Christ himself.

Follow the “Read More” link below to see pictures of the children with their new quilts. (more…)