PEXperts victorious!

This past weekend, Quality Plumbing, and several fellows from Westgate Church, all based out of San Jose & Salinas, CA, came to GCH and transformed our Education Center. We can now say that our rough plumbing is finished!

Prior to this, we had "hit a wall", and we could not move forward with much of the needed construction. A special thanks to Stan Queen, who made the important connection with Armando Vargas, president of Quality Plumbing. Armando brought with him Israel Jaimes, Arturo Vásquez, and José Saldana.

From the Westgate team: Greg Bacon, Jim Chamberlain (organizer and supervisor), Kai Jensen and Bob Keyarts. Also helping out: Ken La Pointe from Casa Builders, who loaned us his van and helped in construction.

All these guys worked their little tails off, plumbing, framing, making holes, and overall wreaking havoc. Westgate Church paid for the airfare, travel and stay to make this all possible. Quality Plumbing provided the materials and labor, and together, they got the job done. Thank you fellas! You're the best!

KidsGames

This past month, Grace Children's Home participated in a KidsGames program in Rosarito, which was put on by North Coast Calvary Church. The games and the crafts were excellent, and the kids had a wonderful time. Thank you, North Coast! You gave our kids a wonderful time they won't forget. This is in addition to the many beach outings this Summer. A big thank you to the many church groups that came down to spend special time with our kids.

FAQ's

Want answers to some FAQ's... check out our Jan. & Feb. 2007 archives. There are directions, how to get here, intern info., how to contact us, etc.
Want to know what we need right now? Check out this current month of archives for our current needs list. I try to update that monthly (with the exception of this summer).
Thanks for your interest in supporting GCH! We're truly blessed by EVERY partner God brings to us.

Urgent School Needs

As we look forward to another great school year for our kids, we're starting to notice what's missing to get them ready. We could really use your help! Here's the first of a few blog entries with specific requests. Thanks for any little bit you can do to help! (Also, we are doing well with backpacks and school supplies, thanks to many generous friends. Thanks!)

1. 6 pairs boys' solid black "school" shoes sizes 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 (youth)
2. 6 pairs boys' mostly white athletic shoes sizes 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 (youth)
3. solid navy (with grey lining) "uniform" coats sizes 6child - 16 youth ... I saw them at Wal-mart by "Faded Glory" at around $10+ each... they were in the "uniform section"
4. solid white boys' uniform shirts (collar required) sizes 10 youth - 18 youth
5. girls' solid black school shoes sizes 11 child - 7 ladies (please note: the shoes at Payless are good... the Cherokee brand are too tight)

6. boys' beige or navy dockers sizes 10-14

7. sponsors for the uniforms we must buy from the private school - $110 per child

8. sponsors for the books we must buy from the private school - $300 per child

Current Needs List

Want to know what we need?... Here's our updated list. Please note that the school & clothing items are a high priority as we prepare for school. Thanks for being involved!

Grace Children’s Home Current Needs List (updated 8/07)


Gift cards: Costco, Wal-Mart, Home Depot

Funding:
1. To continue construction of the Education Center
2. To pay off land for Senior center & Church/ community center
3. For on-going monthly needs (water, electricity, transportation, medicine, etc)
4. Funding for 7 kids' to go to a bilingual school ($140 per child/ mo for 10 months, plus $1,200 each to get started)

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

Cleaning/ Household supplies: Goof-off, laundry soap, Clorox, oxy-clean, Ajax, dish soap, pinesol, fabuloso, disinfecting spray, spray bottles, fabric softener sheets, ant traps, household foggers (bug bombs), household garbage cans, large plastic storage containers (for clothes, shoes, etc), commercial size pots & pans

Paper products: napkins, Kleenex, surgical gloves, gallon size Ziploc bags, plastic spoons and forks, toilet paper, large black garbage bags, medium kitchen size garbage bags, paper plates!
Personal Hygiene: lotion, shampoo, detangling spray, hair gel, diapers (size 6), diaper wipes, thick diaper ointment, deodorant, lice shampoo, purrell,

Clothes: knit solid navy sweaters & vests (boys & girls sizes 4T – 14 youth), black school shoes (boys & girls sizes 11 – 7 youth), boys’ beige or navy dockers style pants (sizes 6 – 16), boys’ collared white shirts (sizes 6 – 16), navy blue clip-on boys’ ties (avail. at Wal-Mart), boys’ black belts (sizes 6 – 16 pants), boys’ white socks (sizes youth 2+ shoes)

School supplies: hard back & CD-Rom Encyclopedias in Spanish for young adults (10+ yr olds), clear plastic for laminating/covering books, coloring books, erasers, folding lunch boxes

Vehicles:
1. Fairly new 15+ diesel mini-bus – low miles, reliable, good condition
2. Trailer for intern housing – good condition, electrical/ water working

Other: 2-3 large book shelf size cabinet with doors, car-port size canopy (for shade for our kids in the outside)

Shelby Drake

In July, GCH was blessed by having Shelby Drake with us. What's great about Shelby is she is a young woman (a teenager actually), who has decided to compromise nothing to follow Christ. She brought a sweet, loving presence to our home and was a good example to our girls who will soon be facing similiar pressures and decisions.

One special gift Shelby brought was worshipful dance. In her few days here, she taught our older girls a beautiful, God-focused dance to "Here I am to Worship" in Spanish. In a day where dance can be anything but G0d-centered, her dance was a breath of fresh air.

Thanks, Shelby, for sharing with our family!

Plumbers are coming!

Thanks to Greg Bacon & friends from Westgate Church in San Jose, CA, plumbers are coming!!! We asked for prayer for this since the building was stuck at the point where the rough plumbing had to be completed. God Willing, these group of guys will be here soon and the building will begin moving along again. Thanks for your prayers!

Summer teams & Visitors

The kids at Grace Children's Home are having a fabulous summer thanks to the generosity, creativity and love shown to them by various teams from Canada to Mexico, east coast to west coast.

Among these are: Santa Cruz Bible Church (CA), Valley Christian High School (CA), Oaks Middle School (CA), Susan Murphy(CA) & the Jansen family(CO), Calvary Community Church (CA), Shadow Mountain (CA), Lutz Bros. family & plumbing (CA), Aleman family & Right Options painting (CA), Colegio Bilingue Calmecac (Mexico), Brian Fox & friends (CA), Horizon Bible Church (CA), Seacoast Community Church (CA), Twin Lakes Church (CA), Valley Church of Cupertino (CA), Wasilla Bible Church of Alaska, Dr. Lisa Gloeger & friends (CA), Genesis A.C. (Mexico), Westgate Church (CA), New Life Center (CA), Neighborhood Bible Church (CA), North Coast Calvary Church (CA), Faith Bible Church (CA), Immanuel Bible Church (CA), Trinity Covenant Church, Vintage Faith (CA), Grace Community Bible Church (Utah), the Domingue family (CA), the Mena & Strutton families (CA), Shelby Drake (Georgia), Shannon Reed (CA), Cyndal Asselstine (Canada) and MORE!!

We're so grateful for the enthusiasm, energy and fun memories they are providing for our kids. Thank you to all who have come or prayed for those who came.