We are coming up to the end of the year once again. As I reflect on how God has carried us through this past year, I find it is so AMAZING!!! My heart is filled with praises and joy to Him, Who is the giver of life.
As the New Year began I prayed and told God I wanted to see what He desired for me this year. I had this excitement that as I made Him my number one He was going to show me His best for us. When the social worker called in January that they had a two month old baby boy for me to care for I thought, “YES! This is a wonderful thing I can do for the Lord.” A few days later they told me he would go up for adoption. I asked if I could make a suggestion where he goes and they said yes. I was so blessed that in two weeks I was able to pass our little bundle of joy over to our good friends Joel and Denise. Yes we did miss him and Cory was upset that I did not ask for permission to adopt him but I did feel peace about how it all went.
Then in June we got our next bundle of joy. This little one was born premature and weighed 3 lbs. 9oz. I have never taken care of such a little one before. It was a blessing to have her in our home for the 48 hours; then she went to a foster to adopt home. When the social worker came to pick up this one (we never did get a name for her) Cory suggested he let our dog lose so the social worker would be too scared to take the baby. He was hoping we could take her on our trip north. I must admit it would have been fun to do that.
In March we secured legal title of the three lots that God provided for us to buy. We had four Cahoon trees removed which is no easy task. By end of June we had a fence built surrounding our new property. Then we were to the point of not being able to do anything more seeing the finances were not there to build. We were at a standstill. God surprised us by placing the desire on someone’s heart in California to come down and build us a home. They are working out the details of wanting to have Lowe’s hardware store in the states put all the supplies into a container for the house (kind of like a house in a box!) then ship it down here. After it gets here they want to come down and build our three bedroom home. If it all works according to their plans, we will be in our new home by the end of this year. Praise God! He keeps His promises ALL the time!!! He has provided for me and my children and been the Father to the fatherless.
Our trip north was a blessing to both Cory and me. The first three weeks we spent in Manitoba with family and friends. We had a huge family reunion of around 300 people. It was a blessing to hear all the stories of my grandparents who passed away some years ago. Another blessing was to get to know each other better during that weekend. This reunion caused many of us to really look forward to the day we all are in heaven and have this huge family reunion with all believers together. Our three week trip went by fast visiting family and friends.
Next we had two weeks in California where we spent a few days in Chico, Alta and finally Sacramento with Brian’s family. We have so many friends in all the different towns that it is hard to know where to begin to account for all the blessings that were bestowed upon us. Cory was able to go fishing, house boating, camping, partake in VBS, and one of his high lights were to see Pastor Sam Allen teaching. Cory made many new friends on this trip and also reconnected with his cousin Connor, who is one day younger.
We arrived back in Belize the beginning of August. A week later the social services department brought us a beautiful one year old girl, Shaleni. The first month was a real challenge; she would be happy enough during the day but crying, kicking and screaming in her sleep at night. When I held her she would continue this behavior. Whenever Cory and I sat down to pray, she would scream. I decided to give her something to eat when we prayed at the table. This helped. We continued prayer at meal times, and now she folds her hands to pray before she eats anything. God is doing His work in her. It has been almost three months since she came to us. She is now a part of our family. With God’s help her transition has occurred quickly. It amazes me! We love her dearly and pray for God’s will in her life.
Hurricane Richard came to Belize the 24th of October. It did a lot of damage on the coast as well as some inland. I heard two different reports as to how fast the wind blew. One reported the wind at its strongest was 75 mph and the other 90 mph but both are strong enough to do damage. I praise God for His protection upon us. There was no damage done to our home. Only three trees came down in our yard. Many homes were destroyed while some others had their roofs’ blown off.
We always look forward to getting mail and I know I have not been very good at getting letters in the mail myself. That is why I decided this year to do a year end up date. God bless you. We look forward to hearing how it is going in your end of the world.
Thank you for your prayers, love and support.
Love, Margaret, Cory and Shaleni
