Happy Thanksgiving

Meme and Hope in from of the Thanksgiving Tree (Arbol de Accion de Gracias)

The group provided a great feast of Pollo Loco

I give thanks to the Lord for this life.

I give thanks to God for the food each day and for my family and my children.

Thanks for creating me.

Thanksgiving to me is about being with family and giving thanks. I was unable to be with family from the states and even my own family here because I was scheduled to work. In a way I was able to be with "family" as the people of the Rio have become my second family. As we planned for the Rio, Hope had a great idea to explain our thanksgiving holiday and do a little activity. I tried with my Spanish to explain about the first thanksgiving and that as well as join together for a meal, the pilgrims and indians also took time out to give thanks for all God has given us. Hope then asked everyone to participate in a thanksgiving tree activity. Everyone was asked to take a leaf and write about for what they were thankful. I'd love to share a few with you. One said "I give you thanks for creating me." Another one read, " I give thanks to God for this life." As each leaf went on the tree, Meme read them off and I was reminded how big God is and how much He cares for us. Lord, I thank you for my family, the food you give us each day, for the sunsets and all the beauty in your creation. I think I need to make a thanksgiving tree everyday.

Recent groups at the Rio

putting up a wall to keep cold wind and dogs out

Shoe give away

One of Meme's grand daughters, Leann enjoying watermelon

Two girls who allowed the kids to face paint them.

China and Magdelina teaching the women in a group how to make gortitas.

R and R with my hubby

Thanks to Rodolfo for watching our kids, we were able to go on an over night by ourselves for the first time in about 6 years. We had the opportunity to hike a trail in Chipinque that was both challenging and beautiful. God blessed us with some birds of prey and about three hours to talk about so many things. We laughed and just enjoyed one another. Later we went to a nice dinner, stayed in a nice hotel and returned refreshed and rested. Praise God for the time.

Anderson Hills United Methodist Church Group

Anderson Hills United Methodist Group brought a group to B2B this week. Here are a few pictures of this week. God did so much through and in them. They were a joy to be with.

Fall Festival Fotos

All the adults at the kids fall festival party

Bob the Builder and Princess Leah

SMCA teacher and STINTers as condiments

love the dougnut game

Mark trying to find his doughnut

Creative photos by Bryan

A boy at the children's home named Bryan took Greg camera and took some creative photos of the men who helped. I just wanted to share his creativity and a photo of him. Bryan obviously is in the photo with Greg. Because of Bryan we have a fun close up of Jim in the orange shirt, Rodo in the blue shirt and Mauricio in the ball cap.

He makes all things new.....

One of the glitches in this kitchen was an 8 inch cement base that ran along the old cabinets. With the height of the new cabinets it was obvious that we needed to take this out. Three hours of busting it up and pouring a level base added on a little more to what seemed like a quicker project. God was good in the timing, as I hope you see from this picture many B2B staff men were able to contribute to Manantial de Amor's kitchen. Thanks to Jim, Rodolfo, Mauricio, and Matt for working so hard. Thank you also for the people who donated money to this project. The church of University City from North Carolina, Sherry Osborne from London, Ky, and saved project money made this project possible. God is good. Edgar and Cony are seeking His kingdom for themselves and the kids they care for. It is fun to see how God is caring for them. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be provided for you." Matt 6:33

Renovation Realities

Have you ever seen that show on HGTV called Renovation Realities that shows the reality of the work of renovating parts of your home. As we recently took to renovating the kitchen at the girl's home for Manantial de Amor, I thought of these Renovation Realities for two reasons. First, as always, there are unexpected things that always come up that we needed to deal with. But more importantly, I thought of the reality that was going to change for the people living in this home. As you can see from the "before" pictures, their kitchen was a pretty run down, dungy place. The cabinets were rotting out from the inside out and were literally crumbling apart. I had been wanting to tackle this project for quite some time but needed to wait for money and recently a couple donations came in to help me make this renovation become a reality!