Prayer update

Diane Mesiti-Miller, our good friend and wife of the engineer who has overseen the master plan and recent building at GCH, is now at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. Things seem to be complicated with the cancer spreading and the doctors are planning an intense intervention. In the meantime, they are trying to alleviate the fluids around her heart. PLEASE PRAY now for this special, godly woman, Mark (her husband) & their adult children (Patrick & Gina) as this is a trying time for them. We thank God for them & hurt to see them hurting!

Jeanette, one of our Canadian volunteers, has been re-hospitalized, but is fighting hard. It is her desire (& ours!) that she'll be over the pneumonia soon & that she'll back to loving on the kids at GCH soon (which she does quite well!).

Prayer Request Update

Just to update those of you who are praying, Jeannette was allowed to go home last night (thank God) & is under the careful watch of a nurse and fellow missionary. We haven't received any updates on Diane yet. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for praying!

Marcus on the congas

George & I have the privilege of serving on the worship team in our Mexican home church, Calvary Chapel of Rosarito. For months of watching practice, Marcus decided one day that he wanted to join the team. After being kicked out of the drums, Marcus settled for congas & shakers.

The funny part is that he's quite good and he works diligently at it for the 20 mins. or so that we practice (without budging from his spot). Now he's a regular in our practices.

Urgent Prayer Requests!

To all our praying friends, we have 2 urgent needs for God's intervention.
The first is for Diane Mesiti-Miller, a long time friend & wife of the engineer responsible for the buildings/ master plan of GCH. She has been fighting a courageous battle against cancer and needs your prayers now as she's in the hospital. This is a woman who has seen her health as an opportunity to bring glory and honor to Christ. Diane is truly Christ's servant!
Second is for Jeannette Dube, a newer partner to GCH. She & her husband, Gerry, recently moved from Canada to serve here full-time in their "retired" years. They've quickly become important partners in our daily functions. Jeannette just got rushed to the hospital via ambulance for a pneumonia that looks quite difficult.
Some of GCH have committed tommorrow, Thurs. the 26th of April to fast and pray for these 2 wonderful, godly women. If you can, please join us in prayer &/ or fasting. We know God is going to work through each of them according to His will & glory!

A family for Sheila

Recently, one of our children, Sheila, was adopted by a Mexican family. Sheila came to us this past year and during the time she was here, we watched a frightened & tramautized little girl bloom into a sweet, joyful & fun-loving child. While Sheila's emotional & physical wounds began to heal, Sheila learned to give and receive love, and mostly she learned about Jesus. It was OUR honor & joy to have been the bridge to help Sheila begin to heal.

While we miss Sheila GREATLY, we are glad she is in the hands of people who had to work very hard to get her (it's not easy to adopt here!). So it is with much love & joy (& some tears), we say "see you later, Sheila"... see you in heaven, if not sooner!

Sounds frivolous but...

Once a month, every month, we celebrate all the kids & staff that had a birthday that month. We put up ballons & decorations, make a HUGE cake or 2, wrap presents and try to make those kids feel like a million bucks! For all our kids in their first year here, it is by far the biggest celebration they've had for them. By the second year, they know they've got something great to look forward to!
The part that's frivolous is that before moving to Mexico, George & I bought a bounce house through Costco that was about $400. It's a medium size bounce house, that has made for MANY fun celebrations here. But too many kids, over too many months has meant the end of our bounce house.
Sounds frivolous & silly, but we could really use a new bounce house for our b-day parties. We really enjoy making our kids feel like kings & queens for the day. Know someone who can get one for us? Please tell them. Our kings & queens would really appreciate it!

Sick kids & staff...

Quick prayer request... many GCH staff & kids have been sick lately with colds, the flu, etc. While in a normal family it's not a big deal, it is in ours (i.e. we're not a normal family... we have 29 kids!). Visits to the doctor, antibiotics, awakings in the middle of the night, etc. can wear on us all, especially given the amount of children we have. Please pray for health and for a quick recovery of all our children and staff. Thanks!

Thank you, Erin!

GCH sadly says "hasta luego" to our recent intern, Erin Ortiz. Erin is a young woman with a love for Jesus and children. She was a huge blessing to us these last 2 months. Before Erin left I told her I will always remember 2 specific things about her... her fun loving attitude (even in stressful times) and the great Bible studies she prepared. She was truly an example of Christ to us all. Thank you, Erin, for serving Jesus here at GCH. We love and miss you!

Easter dinner at GCH

Like you all, we celebrated Easter with a wonderful family dinner... only our family has a lot more kids than yours. Not only did our kids eat yummy food, but we also got to spend an extended time talking about the true meaning of Easter... Christ's resurrection!

From our GCH family to yours, we pray you've had a blessed Easter and are able to take time to remember our RISEN SAVIOR!

New Paint!

Muchas Gracias to Eduardo & Alex Aleman & their employees for the beautiful paint job on our Education Center. Eduardo & Alex have their own painting business, Right Option, based in Santa Ana, California.

When they heard of our need to paint the building, making it weather tight and appealing, they commited to the task. After Day 1 with their crew, the building was looking beautiful already!

Thank you Eduardo & Alex for your efforts and generosity. It is through such generous partners, who follow God's call, that GCH continues to grow.

Day 2 with our new lil' ones

It's day 2 with our new arrivals, Josh (age 2) and Naomi (age 1). They're now the youngest jewels at GCH and seem to be settling in well. Because of their age, they require a lot of extra time of the staff. This time it was my turn with Naomi. Obviously neither of us was unhappy about the situation. (Even Bob the Tomatoe was having a good time).

New GCH Kids!!!

It was QUITE a surprise today when we received 2 new little ones at GCH. Here's a photo of Pastor Martin Castro (fellow Yugo Missionary, our local partner and contact with the local authorities), with the 2 new children. Josue is 2 years old & Naomi is 1 and they are siblings. While we know they won't be here long (they're top of the list to be adopted within Mexico), we're grateful and honored to be able to take care of them for now. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM & GCH STAFF, as we do our best to take good care of them. We never forget that every child, every volunteer, every team, every staff member was brought here for a reason.

April Current Needs List

Here are our current GCH needs, for those of you who have asked. Thanks to all who have helped meet so many of our needs in the past!

Grace Children’s Home Current Needs List (updated 4/07)

Note: All bolded items are high priority needs

Any items you want to mail can be sent to: The Palaus, 266 Coralwood Dr., San Diego, CA 92114. We are able to pick up items there and bring them into Mexico.

Gift cards: Costco, Wal-Mart, Home Depot

Funding:
1. To continue construction of the Education Center
2. To purchase land for Church/ community center
3. For on-going monthly needs (water, electricity, transportation, meds, etc)

Food: spaghetti sauce, pinto beans, noodles, canned fruit, canned corn, wheat sandwich bread, butter, canned fruit, pancake mix, cooking oil, potatoes & tomatoes, cheese, chicken, hamburger meat, beef for stew, roasts, bacon, sausage, cilantro, fresh fruits & veggies, eggs, ham/ sandwich meat, hot dogs, maseca, onion, ketchup, flour tortillas

Cleaning/ Household supplies: Goof-off, laundry soap, Clorox, stain remover for clothes, Ajax, dish soap, pinesol, fabuloso, disinfecting spray, spray bottles, fabric softener sheets, mops w/ refills, foggers (bug bombs), household garbage cans, large plastic storage containers (for clothes, shoes, etc), brooms & dust pans, commercial size pots & pans, 2 quality large knives (for food prep), rolling pins, tea kettle

Paper products: napkins, Kleenex, paper towels, surgical gloves, gallon size Ziploc bags, plastic spoons and forks, lunch bags, large black garbage bags, medium kitchen size garbage bags, paper plates!

Personal Hygiene: lotion, shampoo, detangling spray, hair gel, diapers (sizes 6), diaper wipes, thick diaper ointment, deodorant, lice shampoo, disposable razors, hair brushes, purrell

Clothes: girls knee-hi navy socks (sizes 8-14) and knee-hi white socks (size 6), knit solid navy sweaters & vests (boys & girls sizes 4T – 14 youth)
School supplies: hard back & CD-Rom Encyclopedias in Spanish for young adults (10+ yr olds)

Vehicles:
1. Fairly new 15+ diesel mini-bus – low miles, reliable, good condition (we have some funding already for this)
2. Trailer for intern housing – good condition, electrical/ water working

Other: Large book shelf size cabinet with doors, large garden storage sheds (3), kids/youth 2 wheel bicycles (durable!), car-port size canopy (for shade for our kids in the outside), Bounce house (for monthly group b-day parties)