Woke up again to no water. And I gotta admit, it made me a little grouchy.

And then the Lord gently reminded me that people all around me were living every single day of their lives without running water in their homes, without hope of ever having a hot shower, but worse yet...

without Him.

 And then, because God is God- He blessed me in an even greater way…

With this…

And I stand in awe.

Moral of the story… always look for the good in life because sometimes,

 it’s right there,

 just waiting for you to take notice of it.

Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place.

1 Chronicles 16:27

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

~Albert Einstein

Her eyes, His hands.

I remember the day so clearly as if it were only yesterday...

It was a few days after Christmas, the house was chilly despite the heater kicking off and on through out the morning. The kids and I were sitting on on the couch snuggled up in blankets, doing a devotional, when the phone ring. As I had done for the past 2 years my mind quickly sent up a silent prayer "Please Lord let it be our adoption agency with a referral."  After 2 long years, our prayers were answered. On the other end of the phone was our adoption caseworker announcing "we have a baby girl!"

Thirty minutes later, after the cheers settled down, we received an email of what we thought was the most beautiful baby girl in this entire world...

And 6 long months later the day finally came when our dream came true... the baby girl we had prayed for, dreamed of, and loved before she even existed, was placed in our arms in the comfort of a hotel room in Guatemala.

The miracle of adoption...

there is simply nothing more beautiful in my book.

And yet, as with any adoption story, there is another side that we often choose to ignore. The side that goes unnoticed on our adoption announcements, the side that the photo of the proud parents holding their child for the first time doesn't show. The side we'd just as soon forget ever existed...

The empty arms of another.

For the past 8 years, from time to time, I would allow my mind to go there... I would wonder if she was okay, what she was like... did she have her eyes, did they share the same laugh?

And I wondered, if she too, wondered the same...

About a month ago I came to the decision that I needed to know the answer to these questions if at all possible. While I didn't and still don't feel that Aleigha is old enough to handle meeting her birth family, I also didn't want her to one day say to me- "we were right there serving the people in Guatemala and you didn't even try to see if they were okay?" And so, with the help of two friends- the search began.

It didn't take long actually... we had the general area from her adoption paperwork and so Felis and I simply drove my Guatemalan friend (who speaks the native language Cakchiquel and Spanish) to that area and we started asking if anyone knew of her. We were careful not to let them know why we were asking out of respect of her privacy. We also didn't know if she would even want to hear from us and we certainly didn't want to cause her any harm.

After about the 12th stop we landed at the home/store of her brother-in-law..

There we were told that she no longer lived in the area, that she and her children and husband worked in the fields somewhere near the coast- but that sometimes they came back to visit. And so, with little hope, we left them a phone number, knowing we had at least tried.

Two days ago my Guatemalan friend called and told me that he had just received a phone call from her because her brother-in-law told her a Guatemalan man and two gringo's had come by looking for her. (so much for trying to be nonchalant). Apparently it is rare for Americans to visit their area in the mountains. :) Anyway, after a short conversation she was thrilled to hear it was us and agreed to meet with us. We warned her that Aleigha would not be with us, and while she was of course disappointed, she understood and we promised her we would bring pictures.

I have to admit I was pretty nervous. So many thoughts and emotions kept going through my head- I can only imagine how she felt. We sat in the car waiting and waiting, ready to give up when all of a sudden I looked up and saw a family standing near the side of the street and our eyes met. There was something about her- something so familiar. Then suddenly I felt myself needing to look away because the look of saddness I saw in her eyes pierced through me like a sword. Eyes that told a story of a loss deeper than any I could ever imagine. This woman, who had given me one of the most precious gifts I have ever been given, stood before me now, dirty, unkept, and yet beautiful all at the same time. A woman to whom I owed- more than I would ever be able to repay.

The first few minutes of our meeting felt somewhat awkward... neither of us knowing where to begin or how to break  through the barriers of culture, language, and lifestyles that stood between us. We exchanged a quick hug and were then hustled into a small, Guatemalan restaurant that held 2 picnic type tables.  Not knowing what to say or what to do- I thrust 5 pictures of Aleigha towards her that I had held in the grip of my hand. As she and her family poured over the pictures I began to search their faces... I saw traces of my daughter... her nose, his eyes, her silky straight hair, his hands. Something I knew Aleigha and I would never share, no matter how much she was now 'my daughter'. And in an instant, just like that, my love for this family became fierce. A part of them, was a part of me- and I felt a sense of protectiveness I didn't expect to feel.  

As the moments passed we both seemed to begin to relax. Questions that both of us had carried for years were asked- and answered. One thing that is important to me that you know is- quite often people somehow believe that a child placed for adoption is 'unwanted'. While I know that every story is different I also believe that often that is the farthest thing from the truth. Aleigha was placed for adoption for one reason and one reason only- poverty.

And her precious birth family still faces this same struggled 8 long years later.

Aleigha was born just a year after her brother. There was simply not enough food. And, not enough food equals not enough breast milk for a mother to feed two children. My heart breaks just thinking about it.

 I will never understand, as long as I live, why one of my greatest blessings had to come in the form of someone elses greatest loss. But what I do know is that God understands- first hand-about the loss of a child. His one and only. And I trust that He and only He can bring about complete healing to this family.

And I also know He has us here now, for this very reason... to teach others the way to receive that healing and to bring hope to those who have so little.

Along with the pictures of Aleigha I gave to her birth family, I gave them the one thing I know that is more valuable than anything else in this world- a Bible.

And my biggest prayer is that through it they find the answers to eternal hope and salvation... and if they and the Lord allow it, I am more than willing to walk by their side through it.

I fully admit I have been an awful blogger lately. I had every intention of blogging more frequently once we moved here to Guatemala and yet somehow the days just seem to get away from me. Before we came, I was a stay at home mom with 9 kids- and while my days were definitely full- they were nothing like they are now. I have come to realize that being the mom of 9, plus caring for 36 more- leaves little time for blogging. Yet I long to share our lives, the things the Lord is teaching us and the people he brings into our paths. There are days when the Internet is weak, the water and electricity go off... and days that I fall into bed at night too emotionally exhausted to think. And sometimes even on the days when things do go as planned- life here just doesn't run on the same pace we Americans are used to. Everything takes so much longer. There is no such thing as a quick trip to the store and no such thing as hurrying.

These past two weeks have been full of blessings and celebrations. Blessings being I was able to spend some time visiting with a friend who works for a non profit here in Guatemala. She took me to visit a couple of families who they had recentally worked with. No matter how much I see, no matter how much I try to prepare myself- it is never enough.  Because behind door after door that looks much like this...

is a story.

A story of life,
a story of love,
and a story of hope... .

This sweet family lives just right outside of Antigua with their 2 daughters- one of whom they adopted. :)

 They welcomed us into their home with open arms excited to have visitors.

They were thrilled to show me the garden my friend had helped them build by providing them with plants.

They also helped them build a new chicken coop- all right inside the 4 walls of their home. Assurance that there will be food and assurance of His love.

 What I think I loved most though was how they were also given a new floor made of cement blocks so that they would no longer have to sleep on the dirt floor. And yet this family wasn't worried about their sleep- they requested that the cement floor went in their prayer room instead because the Lord came first in their home. It was one of those moments where I was forced to stop and take a good long look at myself... and I have to be honest-it wasn't pretty. Would I have made the same request?

Before I could get over the ugly truth I just discovered about myself this sweet family quickly scurried into their 'kitchen' to share what little they had. Even at our protest a big cup of Cola was served. My friend Desi informed me that the reason they have Cola is because it's cheap and it makes your tummy feel full when there is nothing else to put in it. Again my heart began to ache as I forced the hot, generic, cola down my throat.

At our next stop we visited the home of a beautiful single mom.

This precious lady worked all day long trying to provide for her and her two children... without much success. The meager $8 a week she made when one of her table runners were sold was just not enough to pay back the bank from the loan she had taken out trying to provide her family with a home...

The home was basic, no windows...

 and no indoor plumbing

But it was home and they were trying... and they clung to the little hope they had.


This week Todd and I celebrated our 20 year Anniversary. When I say celebrated I don't mean we did anything out of the ordinary. As a matter of fact, our day was pretty uneventful. No cards, no flowers, no gifts and no party. We celebrated in a much simpler way- thanking God for 20 years of holding us through the goods and the bads- and for the many, many blessings we have been given. Years ago I would dream of our 20 year anniversary imagining it nothing like it was. But living here and seeing what we see on a daily basis makes those dreams seem not quite so worth it any more. What we have here is so much more than we could ever hope for.God has already taken us to places we never thought we'd see and made our lives richer than we could ever imagine. In a world where 50% of all marriages end in divorce- just being here serving together is the greatest gift of all.

(old picture but you get the point;)

This week we also celebrate both Todd and I's birthdays.
Another year of life passed... and we marvel at how quickly the days go.
Each one a gift.
Each one an opportunity to make Him known.
And we are so grateful.

The 4th thing we celebrate this week is this little miracle...

2 years ago they placed her in my arms and our world was forever changed. Watching God take a child born in a grass hut in Ethiopia, 2 months premature to an HIV+ mother, who died giving birth to her- to becoming a healthy, hopping, bilingual 2 year old little girl who has no fear blows me away.. She makes us smile, shake our heads, laugh until our stomachs hurt and wonder what to do next... and we couldn't ask for more. Her story is nothing short of a miracle- from the way God hand chose her to be in our family, to the way He provided in full for her adoption. Through it all- we drew closer to the King, we felt His presence like never before- and we dared to be just a little bit more.

This was kind of an exciting week for Havyn.

Here in Guatemala you just don't see very many Ethiopian little girls. ;) As a matter of fact, often when we are out people ask to touch her hair and have their picture taken with her- because she doesn't look like anyone they have ever seen.

But not this week...

This week, all of the children in the orphanage kept saying "there are TWO Havyn's now."

Two sweet adoptive families were here serving at Eagles Nest and one had a daughter from Ethiopia who was just a year older than Havyn. It was so cute to see how quickly even they noticed how much alike they looked. :) Needless to say they had fun together- what a sweet gift.

A day in the life.... of us. :)

One of our awesome partners emailed me the other day and said she had a lot of questions about how our lives looked like on the mission field...

"We just want to see what your life looks like.I follow your blog daily and read your newsletters, but I still have some questions for you...

What do y'all do on a day to day basis? What do your kids do? What does your schedule look like? Do each of you have specific jobs? How is the homeschooling going? What has been the biggest disappointment, challenge, surprise, adjustment...? How are your children doing? Do you guys have friends? Are you at the orphanage all day? What does your house look like? I know these questions seem silly, but I am just really curious about all of it.
 "

Okay Rebecca... it's going to be long- but this one is for you. :)

What do we do on a daily basis?

 That is a great question and one that is hard to answer. Each day here as been unique in it's own way. The missionaries we serve here with, Felis and Pedro, told us from the beginning the key word is FLEXIBLE and boy were they right. What I have noticed is, we can make plans but they don't usually happen- so we have learned to go with the flow- something I admit we were not accustom to. Todd and I were both huge planners, list makers- and we have had to relax a bit with that. That said, one of our jobs here is to help with worker and team schedules. Because we are not in any way shape or form fluent in Spanish yet we do a lot of behind the scenes work. We work on fundraising, finances and helping get things in order and organized. Not necessarily the fun and glamorous part- but necessary to help the ministry run smoothly.We work as a team here with the other missionaries and we are all involved in every area. Orphan care is, of course, one of our primary areas of ministry. This includes anything from training the caregivers to having devotionals with the orphans. We plan field trips, birthday parties, hair cuts, meals. We make sure there is adequate support for each child and that we have the right size clothes, shoes, enough school supplies, backpacks and that homework is being done. We work with the children dealing with things such as the loss and abuse many have faced. Each one of them is unique and we work hard on developing their strengths and teaching them about the one who created them in the first place.

One of the beautiful childen in the home- Raul.

Another area we help with is the Manna Feeding Center. Approximately 60 children from the surrounding village are enrolled. These children have to qualify according to income level. They are fed a nutritious meal Monday-Friday at the feeding center as well as hear a devotional. After that they  either do a craft, swim or play soccer. They also occasionally do a community project like trash pick up.

We also have a Christian school on campus where 150 students attend. Some are on full scholarship ($450 a year per student) and others partial. Some have families who are able to pay. The orphans and our children also go to school there. We are blessed to have a 'homeschool' room in the school building and our kids love it.  Our children and the other missionary kids share this room and do their work together. Most of their work is done online- although they do join the other Guatemalan children for Language, PE, art and devotions. It is a perfect mix. :)

Front of the school building...

Inside of school building...

Our kids homeschool room...

Another area of ministry we do here is work with short term mission teams. We have apartments on campus that these teams stay in and this year we have about 35 teams coming through. Those teams can be church groups, families or couples :)  Part of our job is to host the teams and work along side of any projects they may be doing. Their work here is crucial. One of the things I love most about this place is to see how God's people have come together to make it what it is. Some teams build, some teams paint, some offer Marriage Seminars and other teams love on the children- but this place exists because they choose to come here and give of themselves. :)

We also do outreach projects- another one of my favorites. It is an area that is near and dear to our hearts. We are enjoying building relationships and coming alongside the people in Solola in hopes of sharing the Lord. These relationship take time to develop and can't happen over night but they are so worth it the time.

As for what our children do... as I mentioned they are all in school from 8:00- 12:45 each day. After that they typically go to the Manna Feeding Center and hang out with the kids there and then join them in playing soccer. These kids have fast become their friends. We are also blessed to have the other missionary kids here who we adore. Our kids all get along great. :) They actually even opened a little store on the campus where they sell snack and drinks to the teams that stay. All in all they are just normal kids- who happen to live in Guatemala. We serve together as much as possible and just plain old love being together. I asked our kids about 3 month after being here if they could would they choose to go back- and they unanimously said "no way!" While we may not have the conveniences we had in America, we love our lives here, the culture and the people. I will also add that it has been so cool to watch their Spanish develop (way faster than mine I might add).

As for friendships- we feel beyond blessed in this area. While some of my best friends still obviously live in the states- but between email, skype, phone calls and facebook we have continued to remain close. We are also blessed to be working with the most amazing people in this world (and also have another precious couple coming as soon as they raise support!) We never in our wildest dreams imaged that God would bless us with such a fun, supportive and incredible team- and we couldn't ask for more. And in addition, we are also partnering with some of the mostly Godly, loving, big hearted, REAL DEAL people in this world. So on the days when it gets hard (cause life is life no matter where you are) that keeps us going. :)

As for the biggest disappointment... um, probably the food. Sounds funny I know but it's been difficult. We always laugh and say no wonder you never hear anyone say 'hey lets go out for Guatemalan food tonight". LOL It may just be the reason my husband lost 40 lbs since moving here. Altitude and recipes in Spanish make things a bit difficult. LOL Plus the fact that most people don't own refrigerators- so milk comes in small boxes as does pretty much everything else. They typically have to go to the market or store daily and carry their stuff home and use it that day. So for a family our size that is time consuming and a lot of carrying. We do have the option of going to Pricemart in Guatemala City (like Sams Club) but the city is a 2 1/2 hour drive so not convenient either. That said, we can go to the market and buy beautiful, organic fresh fruits and veggies for a fraction of the cost we paid in America- so that is a huge plus.

Biggest challenge?  Hands down the language. Please someone make it stick. ;)

Biggest surprise? How quickly this felt like 'home'.

Biggest adjustment? Not being able to see our boys who are at college in the states as often as we wish (which would be every day if you asked me). My heart aches just thinking about it. :(  We love you Travis and Keegan.

 Now- our home. We live underneath the orphanage and have the pleasure of hearing the pitter patter of little feet all day long. ;) I really do love it and with 9 kids of our own I am used to it.

Outside view of our front door...

Inside our living room... (can you tell my family had no idea what I was doing? Ha Ha)

This is the view of the school/church from our house... no driving required, pretty nice. :)

So in a nut shell that is what our lives here now look like. Each day a gift. Each new experience priceless, each new friend we treasure and we wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Thank you God for sending us. We are truly blessed.

Welcome Kevin. :)

I've been doing a lot more of our updates on facebook lately because it's much quicker to upload photos. If you are on facebook look us up. :) AmyN'Todd Block

Today I had the privilege of going to Guatemala City with Felis and picking up the newest addition to our children's home- Kevin.

 Kevin is 4 years old and the youngest sibling of 3 of the kids currently in our home- Ever, Jeni and Mynor. Some time back we had asked Ever what his biggest dream was and he said to have all of his siblings together.  It was obvious how worried he was about his youngest brother Kevin. So needless to say when we were informed last week that Kevin was found living in another orphanage in the city we were thrilled beyond words. The director in that home was super sweet and also wanted for the kids to be able to live together so we made arrangements for him to move into our home.

It was such an emotional day for little Kevin to say good-bye to the home he had known for the past 9 months...

and also emotional to see him reunited at last with his siblings.

Thank you Lord for your faithfulness... as Ever said, he is now 'complete'. :)

The Lord laid it on my heart today to repost this... and so, I am. ;)


Sometimes, we find it easiest to look the other way.

Sometimes, we believe He isn't talking to us.

Sometimes, we figure someone else will do it.

Sometimes, we blow it off as someone elses responsibility.

But what if... God meant for you to do it?

As we were talking to someone the other day about support for our mission work we heard the all to common comment of 'go ask this church- or go ask that church'.

But what I sometimes think we forget is WE ARE THE CHURCH.

And often times we use the church as our excuse to not have to do what we are called as individuals to do.

We hide behind the title 'the church' and forget the church is made up of individual Christ followers who are all to do their own part.

Because after all, He is a personal God.

Personal to me- and personal to you.

While the church as a whole is powerful enough to knock out the orphan crisis- it's going to take all of us to do our part to make it happen- or it never will.

And yet all too often we sit and we wait...

For someone else to take care of the problem...

For someone else to give...

For someone else to serve...

For someone else to do something about it...

And we excuse ourselves of our individual responsibility.

When perhaps He was talking to us all along...

In the past I have talked a lot on my blog about our ties to money- and what the Lord has been teaching us. As we are raising funds for missions, more than ever before, our eyes are being opened to our cultures connection to the almighty dollar.

And more than ever before- I see how clearly it is the one thing that is bringing us, as a nation, down.

Our love for things...

and our love of self...

Over our love for Him.

I came across this picture the other day and I felt like someone punched me in the gut. I wondered how someone could just look the other way and go on without doing something to help?



But then it hit me..

Aren't we, in essence, doing this exact thing when we- choose that $6.00 latte over giving to missions?

When we choose to take a family vacation instead of giving our tithe?

Choose to have a pedicure over sponsoring a child in need?

Choose to look the other way as the homeless man sits on the corner begging for our help?

Choose a bigger house over adopting a child?

Choose to do nothing- when we could do something?

Choose not to respond.

Roman 14:12 tells us "Each of us will give an account of himself to God."

Belonging to a church isn't enough.

Each one of us, individually, are accountable to God for what we have done for the poor, the helpless, the widow and the orphan.

I once heard someone say the only thing worse than being lost- is being lost and knowing there is no one looking for you. As the body of Christ I believe the Lord is calling each one of us- as individuals- to open our eyes and LOOK. Look for the need and act.

Give.

Serve.

Love.

Take it personal-

Because He does.