cat out of the bag

My little brother, Owen and my Mom

Pretty sure that I have about a million things to say. So I've decided to start with the most difficult one to share and get it over with in attempts at encouraging myself to just blog about everything and update all my followers and ministry partners on my life and ministry here. So here goes....

5 years ago my mom had a big tumor grow out of the muscle wall behind her heart. She had radiation and then surgery at MD Anderson in Houston and has been cancer free by the grace of God ever since. When I was home in August raising support for this upcoming year, I found out my mom's cancer was back. In September, we found out that it had spread. In October, she began chemo. First week of December, we found out that particular chemo was not working. My mom likes to quote Beth Moore when she says that God responds to our prayer requests with one of three possible responses: yes, not now and you've got to be kidding me. She says God is just saying not yet. Yesterday they started a different chemo. Most days I wrestle with where I should be- here in Mexico with the little orphans who i just love and who don't have moms or back in Florida closer to my own mom and my family.

In John 16:33, Jesus tells us that in this world we are going to have trouble. God has never said that everything is supposed to be super easy or painless. I know the God works all things together for the good of those who love him. Alright, that's enough of an update on that for now- for more info, inquire within.

Please join me in praying for direction, God's timing, and wisdom for my time. Also for my mom and my family and for this chemo to work. Please pray for my mom - who is without a doubt the toughest, strongest and most optimistic cancer patient ever - that she'd feel a peace about everything and feel beautiful bald.

Many blog entries coming soon

I realize that I haven't posted too much on my blog since August. I just wanted to apologize and announce that I will be blogging a lot in the next week and will explain or at least try to explain all that has been going on in my life, ministry, family, and life in general here in Mexico. So get excited and check back in a few days for potentially a lot of photos, updates, stories, prayer requests and my ramblings.

In other news- GO GATORS! SEC championships are the biggest deal ever <-- perhaps that was one of the first things I learned growing up as a Gator. Oh and like me and my dad say, "SEC over family." You could argue that my priorities are messed up. I'll take that. Don't judge me.

Happy Belated Halloween

Mexican Culture:

Photographed below is what I will call "The Mexican Breakfast of Champions" -- hot tea and "dead bread" which is only made the week of Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). It's a sweet bread covered with sugar and pretty much the closest thing mexico gets to a donut. But the name of this bread just cracks me up. It's called "pan de muerto" which literally translates to "dead bread." awesome- sounds holy right?

Halloween or the equivalency of Halloween here in Mexico is a very spiritually dark holiday. Many people here believe in a God of the Dead known as the "santa muerto" and they believe that this god of the dead people has power over them. Many live in fear but not those who know Jesus as Savior. Nothing and no one is in power over God. Consequently... if you are a christian in mexico- you probably wont be found celebrating dia de los muertos. The realities of this holiday that I learned about in my high school spanish classes was a total surprise and shock to me the first year i lived here.

But here at B2B, we celebrate a "fall festival" with the staff kids and play games, have a hay ride (not a gentle one at that- thanks greg haha), the kids go trick or treating to all of the staff houses and apartments. It's a lot of fun but usually I think only the kids dress up in costumes- but all of us "single ladies" enjoy this event. Last year we were the ninja turtles and this year - photo below- shows us all as condiments. Ruby made all our costumes- she's got skills.

Floridians: Yes I dressed up like Sonny's Sweet BBQ Sauce- dang how i miss sonny's!

You serious??!

So yesterday, I was outside talking to some of the teen girls who live on our property and are part of Back2Back's Hope Program and of course we were speaking spanish. At one point, the girls stopped me and said, "wow caroline, your spanish is soooo much better. have you been studying or something?" Yeah that does NOT happen everyday and i had to laugh a bit. And I even did a little thank you God dance and the girls laughed. God is good- I'm learning spanish and apparently improving quite drastically. That's awesome especially when you consider the lack of time i spend studying it.

Blessed to be a Blessing

This past weekend, we at B2B Mexico had the opportunity to minister to a family that attends our Church- they have 8 kids and the husband has been out of work for some time now. They called the church asking for help and the church mentioned us and that we might be able to help with clothes and food needs. At first when I heard about this, I'll admit that I thought pessimistic things like, "we have a hard enough time as it is trying to pay the bills for the teens in the Hope Program and make sure they have enough food- why would WE have food for this family?!?" and doubting statements like, "oh goodness! Winter is approaching and the needs for winter clothes are going to be high this year, I dont have much to offer from the donation room." blah blah and so my thoughts continued. But the family was scheduled to come anyways so I put together some bags with toiletries and school supplies and Matt sent an email out to all our staff about their need for food. And much to my surprise, a TON of food was collected from our teen homes and families here for this family of 10. I was honestly shocked at the amount we collected. And I was hit over the head with the realization that God has placed us here in a position of abundance and we do HAVE ENOUGH- sometimes it might not seem like it, especially to those teen home parents struggling to feed football teams of teens under a strict budget but it's true- we had the ability to be generous because God enabled us to be.

I was reminded of the message to the early believers in 2 Corinthians 9:11 -- "You will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God."

Being in charge of our donations here in Mexico always reminds me to be thankful. This summer, we received a lot of soccer cleats as donations. I saved them and hid them away knowing that 2 children's homes in particular would be incredibly grateful for them in the fall when they start playing "organized" soccer with several B2B staff members like the great JJ Lail who is honestly just a rock start at Casa Hogar Douglas. Thank you to everyone who donated cleats- the kids LOVE them and feel sooo cool in their cleats and wear them every tuesday and thursday afternoon for soccer. Back2Back is blessed through the amazing donations we receive and so are the kids we serve.

I just can't stop thinking about thankfulness- I personally have a lot to be thankful for. All 4 of my grandparents are still alive and are such a huge part of my life. I LOVE spending time with both of my brothers and there were years when we were younger that I would have said the exact opposite. My mom survived a very rare cancerous tumor 5 years ago that went through her heart and I cannot begin to tell you how incredibly thankful I am for the past 5 years of health and earthly living my mom has seen. This past August, I was overcome with the realization that my friends from UF are some of the greatest and most amazing saints on the planet. Many crowns await these people in Heaven and I'm honored and blessed and encouraged to call them friends. I grew up in a nation where no matter who you are or how poor you might think you are, no matter your birth parents, no matter your gender or race- you can get a great education and get loans and scholarships to make college a reality. Few countries can say the same and Mexico is sadly not one of them- they are improving though so give them some credit.

And then I read this in my Beth Moore study on the life and ministry of Paul: "The very thing Christ finished we can't seem to leave alone; and the very thing He hasn't finished, we try to halt. The work of Calvary is finished. No more payment for sin is necessary. He did it all by Himself on the cross. We can't earn it. WE CAN'T ADD TO IT. IT IS FINISHED. Yet we try to add our good works to his Salvation.

However, the work He is doing on everyone who has accepted Christ as Savior is not finished. Salvation is finished. Sanctification is not. Completion is not. Philippians 1:6 promises that "He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Yet we wish He'd stop picking on us the moment we're saved and let us be the boss. Like the Pharisees, we wish He'd stop interfering. Give this some consideration: sometimes more effort is required to keep rolling the stone back over the tomb (put Jesus "away" or ignore him) than simply to cooperate with the work He seeks to finish in us.

Do we just want the cross without the resurrection? Are we trying to stuff the living, working Christ back into the tomb so He'll just save us, and then let us alone? Or do we want to know "the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings?" Thank you Beth Moore. I think in many ways, my pride doesn't allow me to acknowledge that I had no role in earning my salvation -- Christ did it ALL. This is a daily reminder to let go and thank God. He's done it. It's over.

New Sermon Series

Thought i'd pass this on because I'M EXCITED ABOUT IT and why not let you be excited about it too? eh? yeah!

So my favorite pastor man- Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill Church in Seattle just started a new sermon series on the gospel of Luke. Mark and a film crew traveled all over the places where Jesus lived, followed Luke's investigation into who was Jesus and was his story real throughout Jerusalem - and the footage, photos, and historical insights are the basis of this sermon series. For those of you who like short, 20 minute sermons- mark is honestly just NOT for you. These are long- at least an hour each but worth it. Check out week one and watch all the way through to the end- it wont disappoint, promise. You can watch/download the sermons yourself if you want from their website. Click here to view. or copy and paste the following: http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/luke/eyewitness-to-jesus

PureNRG visits Monterrey

About a week ago, Back2Back Mexico was blessed to have PureNRG join us on a Family Christian Stores - James Fund trip. PureNRG is a christian pop group who just released their 3rd CD. PureNRG donated about $1.25 for each CD that was pre-sold at Family Christian Stores to the James Fund (which is the orphan care not for profit division of Family Christian Stores) in order to purchase new shoes for orphans. I was told that they raised about $24,000 for shoes for orphans from their CD. CRAZY!!!!!!! and somehow, we at Back2Back, Mexico were blessed to not only receive quite a few of those shoes for the kids we serve but we were also blessed to have PureNRG in person to give those shoes away. Jordan, Caroline and Carolyne are honestly just awesome kids- (soon to be adults) who decided to try to do something to make a difference. It doesn't matter how old you are- God can use you if you'll let him.

The organizational side of washing 350 kids feet at rio 3 and outfitting them with proper fitting shoes and socks with only 2 hours of this group's time to complete the outreach with about 20 people was my job. The day before we set out to embark upon this crazy day of outreach- i felt a lot of pressure- as if we were about to launch the space shuttle and had to do it exactly right. When the day came, we got there on time, washed a ton of kid's feet and gave them new shoes and socks. We saw over 350 kids!!!! and then, jumped on our bus and headed back into town to prep for the concert that PureNRG was going to do for all the kids from all the children's homes we serve that same afternoon.

Enjoy the photos:

Jordan from PureNRG with some rio 3 kids during the footwashing and new shoe giveaway

PureNRG on stage at Nuevo Pacto performing for all the kids from all the casa hogares we serve here in Monterrey - they were awesome and the kids were memorized when they started dancing and doing back flips

my new best friend - Jose Daniel literally head banging and rocking out during the PureNRG concert

possibly 2 of the sweetest boys on the planet- Felix Antonio and Josue Oswaldo hanging out in their seats before the concert started

the love of my life- Kevin from del norte eating his dinner after the concert - this is actually kevin's reaction to seeing the 3 year old i was holding in my arms who used to live at del norte with kevin. he was overjoyed to see his long lost friend Oziel

girls from Douglas performing before the concert

Estephanie and my sweet Jahir before the concert. Jahir kept going to the bathroom to throw up throughout this concert- he was super sick with some stomach bug and then fell asleep yet looks happier than ever here- weird

Side story: As the different children's homes were arriving and taking their seats, the sibling set near me who now live at Douglas started freaking out when they saw the children's home that they used to live at arrive - del norte. (weird to think that the kids we serve change children's homes sometimes isnt it?) Well the 4 boys started yelling and jumping up and running over to their friends from del norte- and the del norte kids just could not get over how fun it was to see their long lost "brothers" and best friends and play mates. It was one of the most joyous reunions I've seen in a long long time. And I sat there realizing how much the other kids at the homes function as siblings and family to these kids - God as their heavenly Father is looking out for them.

What do you want for Christmas?

that's right- kids smiled for me this time

Christmas feels just around the corner to me. A few days ago, I had the opportunity to ask all the kids that live at Casa Hogar Douglas what they wanted for Christmas this year. As you can imagine I'm sure, when you ask a kid this - their face just lights up. It was such a fun afternoon for me and for them too. I also took new and updated photos of each of the kids as I went through the process of asking them individually what they wanted but I noticed a major difference in the photos I took this year and the photos I took last year for this exact same task. This year the kids smiled a lot more and I decided that it's because this year I know how to say "smile and look at me/over here" in spanish which made me giggle. Poor kids- putting up with our pathetic attempts to speak their language. They are so gracious.

Funniest gift request: "I want pizza!!!!"

Cutest gift request: "I want a police car that has lights and lights up and makes noises!"

Most sounds like me at age 7: "I want a baby alive doll that I can feed and change it's diapers"

I can not wait for christmas this year for about a million reasons - it's going to be a fun week and one more opportunity to reinforce the simple fact that these children are not forgotten, they are individuals, and God loves them.

Merry Christmas! Go ahead- pull our your christmas CDs. I did this afternoon.

Breath of Fresh Air

God is good and today I feel like He gave me one constant hug... and it came through the kids at Casa Hogar Douglas. Last year there were many mornings, days, and nights where I found myself praying for this home- alone in the old church that no one was using, in the kids' dorms, as I tried to go to sleep at night but couldn't stop thinking and dreaming about what God could do there, or with other staff members who just wanted to see God move- begging for something different for those kids. But in the past year, I can honestly say that i've just seen and felt God move at this home. He is turning things upside down. Sure... maybe they are struggling financially and having a hard time paying the bills or putting food on the table right now.... but I believe that their heavenly father is blessing this home beyond belief lately. The kids are happier, they laugh more, they smile more, they can BE KIDS sometimes. The workers are happier and you can just sense how much more uplifted they feel. Why??? Because God is at work. He's brought them new leadership, MALE leadership for the first time in who knows how long, and these kids are now in church twice a week with the world's greatest worship team hearing and learning and singing about a God who is obsessed with them and believes in them.

Kids laughing and smiling is just about the most beautiful thing ever. I'm hearing it these days.

Kids opening up and wanting to spend time with you is so healthy. It's happening- even with some of the older boys.

I just love these kids and today I got to spend my entire day with them until I was so tired I could barely stand - that's beautiful.

A lot has been going on in my life personally in the past 2 months but today... being with my kids was such a breath of fresh air. There is joy when you can be about the things that matter to God. I want that. I want to be about that

Douglas Derby Days

I'd like to share with you a "Douglas Moment" from this past month - their own version of the Kentucky Derby. I was at Casa Hogar Douglas with an american team from the Family Christian Stores - James Fund when I saw the 5 and 6 year old boys organizing races down their hill on recently donated toddler bikes with the 3 year olds as drivers. The kids came up with the idea, organized it, orchestrated it, judged it, took turns - and loved every second of it. The americans, who were there for a cookout, just sat back and laughed... it was a beautiful afternoon

Jahir, Alex, Cesar (in yellow), Josue, Angel, Marta, Aldair and Alexis getting all set up on the starting line

they competed in teams of 2 -- road blocked by Cesar

went very fast

and often crashed but laughed afterwards

The Hole in our Gospel

I've been reading "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns because it was highly recommended by one of my favorite visionaries on this planet-  Kristen Marks.  I'm having an increasingly difficult time actually reading it because of how incredibly convicting and challenging it is- Kmarks does not disappoint and nor does this author.   So what "hole" is he saying exists in our modern interpretation of "the gospel??"  Great question - sadly I get the impression that there may be more than one hole.  For starters... Stearns says that for many, our view of the gospel has been narrowed to a simple transaction where the only thing we do is make a decision to accept Christ as Savior.  We as Christians, then attempt to get as many people as possible to make a decision for the next life - to spend eternity in heaven with God.   That's great!  but what about THIS life, on THIS side of eternity? (sounds a bit like the Savior vs. Lord dilemma eh?) 

Stearns says that the kingdom of God was intended to change and challenge everything in our fallen world in the here and now - so if i'm part of this kingdom (His kingdom, the kingdom of God), i should be all about changing and challenging things in the here and now.  Being a part of the kingdom of God was not meant to be a way to leave the world but rather the means to actually redeem it.   After making a decision for Christ we are commanded to go into the world -- to bear fruit by lifting up the poor and marginalized, challenging injustice wherever we find it, rejecting the worldly values found within every culture, and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  He goes on to say that God's love was intended to be demonstrated and not dictated.  I find that my thoughts on evangelism are spinning.  What is evangelism?  Is it just a verbal proclamation?  What is it that we are supposed to be proclaiming?  How do you do that?  When Jesus came into town, I recall him saying that he came to proclaim freedom for the captives and to release prisoners from darkness.   What does that look like for you and me today?  

When Jesus taught the disciples how to pray he told them the Lord's prayer which includes that part about "your kingdom come, you will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."  As followers of Christ, we are to be passionate about bringing the good news into the here and now - into making God's economy a reality for those around us.  I don't think simply checking "yes" on some response card and then going about life how I want it as usual is going to make this happen anytime soon.  

I'm still trying to muster up the courage to face the next chapter... more thoughts to come

Thank you Supporters!

I had the privilege of attending the adult sunday school class at Riverside when I was home in Cocoa Beach two sundays in a row.  They've been going through John Ortberg's video series called, "When the Game is Over, It All goes back in the Box."  Throughout this series, John Ortberg elaborates on this idea: Winning the game of life on Earth is a temporary victory; loving God and other people with all our hearts is an eternal one.  Session 4 led us into discussions about our calling in life and times when we choose comfort over our callings and in essence tell God, "No thanks."  

Sometimes, and probably more often than not, I think that God calls us to do things that require the assistance and teamwork of other people.  When was the last time that God called you to do something that didn't involve anyone else?  Divine appointments from the Lord involve others- to help others, comfort others, teach others, love others, forgive others, etc.   The Church is a group of people who are unified in their faith, cause, purpose and passion.  Our personal giftings have been given to us individually and differently and uniquely but they are not in a vacuum.  When one person feels a call to go love on the homeless in their area - they could probably use a lot of other people to help them in that calling- to carry it out.  We end up helping others to fulfill their callings and others help us to carry out our own.  This is all so evident in my own life.  I LOVE my job here in Monterrey.  I absolutely LOVE that I have been called and placed in a position where I can spend my everyday defending and loving on the orphan child in this city.  But in no way at all could I do that all by myself.  There is a huge and amazing team of people who have joined me in this - to send me here - to support my life and work here and I'm so incredibly thankful for each and every one of you.  Thank you all for being so encouraging and supportive through your words, emails, notes, hugs, thoughts, donations, financial contributions and prayers.  WE are in this together.  THANK YOU THANK YOU!!

Romans 12:4-5, "For as in one physical body we have many parts and all of these parts do not have the same function or use, so we, numerous as we are, are one body in Christ and individually we are parts of one another [mutually dependent on one another]."

Kevin

Kevin when i first met him 2 years ago, age 1

Kevin today at age 3

This post perhaps wont make much sense to anyone.... I'm currently still trying to process through my thoughts and emotions and frustrations and joys and concerns for a little boy named Kevin who lives at one of my favorite children's homes to visit here in Monterrey.  Lately (this whole past month), my heart has just been completely broken over him.  I want so badly to take him home with me.   One of the high lights of my summer was seeing him eat dinner with a fork while sitting on my lap- all BY HIMSELF.  For those of you that know kevin or have seen him at lunch time, you'd know how big of a deal this is and how starkly different that is from his typical lunch time tantrum.   Kevin has special needs and is soon to be tested to determine what kind of autism, if any, he has.  This kid doesn't do too well when his daily routine is interrupted - for example, when we have an american group present to take this home on a field trip or have them on our property for a pool party.  I found him many days this summer, screaming and crying near the little palapa while everyone else was in the pool, frustrated and confused but not at all wanting to go near or in the pool because he's scared of it, simultaneously with a confused american unsuccessfully trying to pick him up and make him happy.   Somehow, he seemed to end up on my lap on those afternoons.  We'd talk and he'd just sit back in my lap and watch the other kids in the pool.    And these days.... when i go to his children's home, he's almost always in my arms- just hugging me.  I'll be honest- I really just want to take him home with me, seriously I've considered attempting to make that legal.  Whenever I leave that children's home, I cry - still, and i live here and can go there whenever i want but I lose it.  I find myself frustrated and broken, crying to God and begging him to tell me why little babies have to grow up parentless and abandoned.  

So would you join me in praying for Kevin and the millions of little babies that grow up in similar situations.... just lost and broken- that they would come to know the love that their heavenly father has for them.  And I'm pretty sure that God's heart hurts more than mine ever will for kids like Kevin.  

May we be His hands and feet to this lost and hurting world so that they could see our good works and give glory to God in heaven

Vamos Tigres!

Now that our intense 8 week summer is over, I've had some margin to go to some professional soccer games with Jhonatan (cowboy hat) who is a staff kid here at B2B.  There are 2 professional soccer teams here in Monterrey- the Tigres and the Rayados.   I'm not allowed to like the Rayados according to Jhonatan and in about a week- they play each other in what is called "the classico."  They aren't Florida Gator games.... but at least I get to wear a jersey and sit in game day traffic.  

My STINT Final Exam

Below are rare photos of me working.  Many people ask me, "so what do you do in Mexico at the children's homes?"  And it's difficult to communicate sometimes.  We do so many different things but many days- I do construction and I LOOOOVE it.  The photos below are from the last work day of our Back2Back summer and what I now refer to as my "Back2Back STINT Final Exam."  It was perhaps the best day of my entire summer work wise.  Somehow I got lucky when Greg divided up the work projects amongst the staff and interns and ended up with the task of prepping and pouring a small sidewalk with a team of about 10 americans who thought I knew what I was doing.... hahahha.  I sure fooled them!  They kept asking questions like, "so how long have you been doing this for?"  And I'd answer with, "oh today is my first time- fun huh?"  It was AWESOME.  

This is the inside of one of our 5 trailers which used to intimidate the junk outta me when i first moved to Monterrey.  On this work day, it felt like we used every single tool in the trailer to prep the area and build the frame for the pour

After we dug out the area, built the frame and put the rebar grid together, we started mixing the concrete, i had to direct wheelbarrows to dump one row at a time, and scrape out the concrete

then i'd move the concrete around so the slope was appropriate which was a move I've seen the masons do on concrete pours- seemed good

Then we'd smooth the concrete out- Chris (a sweet child from the Villa de Juarez home who came up to me and wanted to help) mostly played but he was awesome and SO proud of his work when we finished

me and Christopher with the finished sidewalk that I was pretty confident I did NOT know how to do- can you tell I'm proud?

So after a year here, I think I got an A.  I even knew the names of the tools in the trailer- crazy!  And I just kept laughing to myself the entire time about how if they could have come up with a final exam for me on purpose- that this sure would have been a good one.  

But as I was thinking back on this task that I had before me, which I didn't think I was capable of or fully equipped for - it reminded me of many times in my walk with the Lord.  Often, I feel like I've been dropped into situations that maybe I wasn't ready for - or at least that's what I thought - but then I realize that - "yeah... I just did that.  How crazy was that?!  Wow!  Didn't know I had that in me!"  God doesn't put us into situations in our lives and ministries just to show us what we don't know.  He puts us in these situations because He's equipped us or will equip us in the moment to complete the task at hand for His name's sake.  We just have to trust God to move in us and through us and He'll do the rest.  

I'll be in Florida in a week so if you have some construction needs - I'm for hire.  yeah umm... JUST KIDDING

Interns... I love them!

Imagine having a core of friends who are your age, LOVE your job, understand your heart for the orphan child, have more energy that you do and push you when you're tired, and make you laugh even when you're half asleep at your morning meetings.  For me Back2Back's summer interns were exactly this and more.  Many of our interns sacrifice summer jobs or summer classes and internships to live and work alongside of Back2Back's full time staff for a month or two in the summer.  They work behind the scenes, prepping and cleaning and running errands or grilling out dinner for 350 people all day.  Looking back on the insanely busy and awesome months of June and July, I'm amazed at how much God blessed me through our interns.  I sobbed my eyes out on the day they left.  It felt like a funeral.  They were without a doubt the high light of my summer and they have left me feeling so encouraged and just much more obsessed with my job and God's calling on my life and live and serve here.  

Andrea and Amanda - absolutely beautiful women of God

Sammy, Meg and Quin at Super Salads.  "I miss them!"

 

My sweet little sister Meg Weaver whose shampoo is organic

OMQ!!!!!!!!!!!!  I loooooooooooove you <-- 10 year old boy

Taco's Fede for Andrea's Birthday, June Interns

BEATING!  Plip.   Sammy, Quin, Meg

Fist in the air!   July Interns minus Mike

Hey Todd!! Do that thing you do! - Lisa Grote

"hey you want to dance with me?!?!  I need a kid" - Quin and Sammy

I miss you all and I'm looking forward to the day when you each return to go to the garage with me and eat half baked brownies, sweat on Gema buses, and of course.... jam out in the donation room.  Speaking of which - THANK YOU THANK YOU for working so hard on Saturdays to make my life so so so so so much easier.  Clearly yall are the best ever - don't forget it.  You are extremely appreciated around here.  

Future Glory

Ricardo Adrian, age 8

Fernando, age 7

Christian, age 2

The siblings in the above photos are 3 children who if i could and was given the chance, I'd adopt in a heartbeat.  They live at one of my favorite homes that Back2Back serves and were on our property for dinner last night.  

Baby Christian almost never smiles until I throw him in the air and catch him.  Fernando loves to jump on the trampoline.  And Ricardo, who is just 8 years old, almost always acts as the father to his little brother Christian.  I often find him feeding his little brother or playing with him or carrying him to wherever he needs to go.  When I was 8, my little brother was almost 2 and I couldn't stand him - all my friends wanted to play with my little brother when they were supposed to be over at my house to play with me.  Looking back, I feel pretty selfish - but is an 8 year old supposed to want to take care of their baby brother?  Last night, right before this children's home left our property, I saw Ricardo - who in my mind is a little kid himself - hug baby Christian and pick him up and make sure his shoes were on and that he got on the bus with everyone else.  I see him do this every time I'm at this home and my heart just melts and I often have to walk away to hide my tears.  Why is an 8 year old boy a caregiver?  

There are 148 million orphans worldwide today and only 8 million of them live in institutions like the orphanages we serve here in Monterrey.  That leaves another 140 million out on the streets or the head of the household in some shack somewhere to fend for their younger siblings.   I can picture millions of 7 and 8 year olds acting as a father to their baby brothers just like Ricardo does everyday with no choice in the matter.  

I absolutely love these 3 little boys and when I hold baby Christian or feed him lunch myself so that Ricardo doesn't have to, I wonder what could the future hold for them?  And I'm comforted by Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the GLORY that is to be revealed to us." -- When Christ comes back and like in Revelation 21:4 says Christ "will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the order of things has passed away."  Then God says, "I am making everything new!" 

There will be a day with no more suffering, no more pain, no more orphans.  This world is not our home.  God is preparing something far better for us and for these sweet little boys.

Rio III

Below are photos from one of my favorite outreach locations - we call it Rio III because it's the third impoverished community Back2Back serves here in Monterrey.  I love going to this place mostly because I admire the woman we stand back to back with out there - named Olga.  She's awesome!  I've blogged about her before.  She is a perfect example of someone with no wealth to speak of herself but with a wealth of faith and vision to provide for a people that everyone else would have soon forgotten.  And through her, God is doing mighty things to revolutionize this community full of prostitutes, drug dealers, and shady people.  Children are being fed and taught about a God who loves them.  And later, their mothers come in to see what's going on inside the church and eventually come to faith in Christ themselves.  That's hope!  

These people don't have running water.  The water they do get, isn't safe to drink.  This past week, we brought some American teams who were able to finish working on a water purification project that will hopefully provide water for the entire community (photo below).

Many of these kids go without food or clothes or shoes.  Yesterday we were able to give away 200 pairs of shoes and 200 new back packs with school supplies.  My entire life, i've never been without drinking water or food or a shirt or a pair of shoes.  But millions in our world today go without everyday.  What an extreme joy it is to be part of what God is doing in the lives of the people out at Rio III  -- Only God can mend the broken heart, cause the blind to see, erase complete the sinners past, set the captives free, be a father to the fatherless.... He alone is the solution.

Jesus once stood up in a synagogue and said following:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to release the oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Jesus has some good news for us - seriously.  No matter what you think might be causing God to turn away from you or to judge you or condemn you to hell for can be erased through Christ's shed blood on the cross.  The good news is - Christ rose from the dead.  He won.  He's still winning.  And he can win for you - he can set you free.  You can't out-sin his grace.

pretty sure this is a little girl

locals traveling from place to place - live stalk is everywhere

these tires are the pathway/bridge across the river on the way to school

a rare photo of yours truly... ME

2 beautiful children in front of the river

Olga (bottom left) in front of the church and outreach center

on a prayer walk through the community

Jim (B2B staff) and the new water tanks with purification system