September 11th will forever be etched in the hearts of many. So much unnecessaary loss and so much pain...  a day that left the world wondering how something so horrific could possibly happen.

Like many, as time has gone on and the days turn into weeks and weeks turn into years we look for some kind of hope and some kind of good amongst the painful memories of September 11th...

We found ours in the form a tiny baby girl who was born on the other side of the world...

 A baby girl who needed hope as much as the rest of the world did..

When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Psalm 94:19

I am so thankful we serve the King who holds us in the loving arms giving us hope no matter where we are or what the circumstances.

Happy 2nd Birthday Havyn Menayehush~

We love you more than words can say and we are so thankful to have you in our life.

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.

~Rabindranath Tagore

Short term mission trips

I have had several people ask me about coming to visit Eagles Nest here in Guatemala on a short term mission trip, so I thought I'd share the information on here. :)

Short term mission teams are a huge blessing to the ministry here at Eagles Nest. As a matter of fact, the first mission trip I ever went on was here. :) I personally think it's one of the most beautiful places on earth to visit and volunteer.

Eagles Nest (also knows as Nido Del Aguila here in Guatemala) began approximately 8 years ago when Claire and Larry Boggs brought their ministry here. While the Boggs have been missionaries here in Guatemala for almost 34 years. Todd and I adopted our girls, Aleigha and 2 years later Mya out of the Boggs orphanage. A few years ago adoptions closed between the US and Guatemala but the Boggs ministry continued on working with the children and added a Christian school, the Manna Feeding center, a church on the property, a Sports Ministry as well as the continuing care of 25 orphaned and abandoned children ranging in age from 3 months to 12 years old in the children's home.

Eagles Nest rests on the top of the mountain, 6,700 feet above sea level in Solola, Guatemala overlooking Lake Atitlan. (Did I sound like a travel agent there?) It's about a  3 1/2 hour drive from Guatemala City.  The property where Eagles Nest resides is approximately 25 years old and was originally built as a RCI time share resort that eventually went bankrupt- and then sat vacant for about 8 years. But the Lord had a better plan for this beautiful property and it became the perfect place for His Kingdom work.


There are so many reason why we fell in love with this place from the people, the incredible view, the apartments and cabins that house mission teams making it an affordable, safe and a wonderful place for families, individuals and church groups to come and serve. :)

The apartments...

The cabins...

If you are interested in learning more about the work we are doing here, bring a short term team to serve or how you can become a part of our team feel free to contact Felis at: pedroandfelis@me.com for more information. :) We would love to have you and it's a whole lot of fun!

Zip line...

Sports ministry...

Shopping and site seeing...

Hope to see you soon!!! :)

In a day...

A sweet friend of mine (Hi Kim!) told me she would love to hear how a typical day goes for us here in Guatemala. I'm not completely sure what each day will look like because so far, every day has been unique in it's own way. We are learning so many new things daily and trying to take it all in stride. I have a feel our lives will never be boring around here to say the least. ;)

Today though I decided to drag my camera around with me all day so that our partners can see what we see and do because we are in this together. :)

Every morning we are greeted with this view... (isn't God amazing?)

and this view...

For now Mya, Aleigha, Kaden and Carson are going to the Christian school here on Eagles Nest property until noon- although soon they will be starting their homeschool curriculum. The school year here ends in October. (They go from the end of January to October). This is a picture of the outside of the school...

This is a picture of the kitchen in our new home...

This morning Felis, Claire, Addisyn and I had the privilege of going to visit 2 ladies who cook the food at the Manna Feeding program.

One of the cooks has been sick the past couple of days so we went to visit her and pray for her. She is so precious. It has been such an honor to work along side Felis and Claire- I am learning so much from both of these amazing women and I am so thankful for their examples. They have been such a gift to us in so many ways!!

This is the 2nd cook Dominga and her four beautiful children. Domingas husband was killed before her youngest son was born. She lives with her mother and beside her other relatives. There are 35 children between them all and they all live in the same area and help each other out.

When we asked Dominga if she was in need of anything the first thing she mentioned was shoes (those will be coming :) and the second was corn (to make tortillas) and beans. This is us outside of Domingas home when we dropped her her corn and beans.

These pictures are of the inside of her home.

Her kitchen...

The room where her and her four children sleep...

and the outside of her home...

More of her family...

(Yep, they need shoes too)

After our visit we hurry home to get the kids from school and head to the Manna Feeding Center where we serve as a family...

Todd and Pedro teaching the lesson...

and praying with the children...

After Manna is over we get news that we are getting a new 7 month old baby girl in the orphanage today, so we head over there to love on the children and meet our new little sweetie.

Introducing princess Dulce... she is such a doll baby!

And this is baby Lizzy (who was found in a garbage dump)... isn't she beautiful? She is such a sweetie.

Havyn with her buddy Florie... they crack me up together.

Pedro cutting the boys hair in the Children's home... the kids all adore him and his heart of gold. :) We are so blessed to work with the most amazing people in the world.

At the end of the day we head home to cook dinner (which is a lot more work here since you can not find most things we were used to cooking and everything is made from scratch) and to have some time together as a family.

So thankful for this day, for this opportunity to serve and for these beautiful people the Lord has put in our lives.

And to our partners... we are so thankful for each and every one of you who are doing your part so we can do ours. We appreciate you!!!

How beautiful...

Today at the Manna Feeding Center the bible lesson was on 'serving'. After the children were fed their lunches we had an opportunity to serve them in a way that many had never experienced before.

Due to the amazing response we have had towards purchasing shoes for these kiddo's we knew we needed to start getting them all sized for their new shoes. The thing is, we also knew it would be hard to take off their shoes and trace their feet to size them- while ignoring the sores, dry skin and unkept nails. So to go along with our lesson we demonstrated an act of serving- by washing their feet, clipping their nails and rubbing lotion into their dry little feet... letting each one know how precious they are and how much they matter.

After the children left I got to thinking... I don't believe it was a coincidence that little girl rubbed her feet a few days ago in front of me allowing me to see the pain her feet were in. I don't think it was a coincidence that it bothered me so much that I wrote a blog post about it, and I don't think it was a coincidence that so many of you stumbled across that post and were moved to act.

Because, I don't believe we serve a God of coincidences.

This morning in my devotional book I read these words... (not by coincidence)

"God loves to use things that we consider to be insignificant, like Moses' rod which parted the Red Sea, or Davids sling-shot that brought down a giant, or a boy's lunch that fed a multude..."

or perhaps in a single pair of worn out, too small shoes- to make Himself known...

And I stand in awe.

Lord, thank you for who you are and for how much you care about every little detail of our lives.  Forgive us when we fail to trust you with our every need... and forgive us when we let opporunities pass us by to make you known.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns! Isaiah 52:7

Thank you again to the many of you who gave. Because of you and how you chose to act, these children saw Him.

For more information on the work we do at Eagles Nest you can check out our amazing co workers blog here: We love you Pedro and Felis and we are so grateful to be serving by your side. Thank you for your wonderful example, insight and hearts. We couldn't do this without you!!