Glory Bags

Kind of a cheesy name, Glory Bags, but we are Casa Gloria....so I really couldn't think of anything better.

Anyway, I am excited to say that just from my last post  here on my blog we sold 39 bags. I have been planning to post it on Facebook, but needed to make sure we could actually produce the ones we've already sold first. And we can.

Here is the story-  I have always thought how beautiful the corte is. So many different colors, and patterns, and the long flowing skirt that our Pokomchi and Kekchi women make of it is stunning. This past year, lots of our volunteers thought so too, enough to even buy the full skirt. The corte is rather expensive and sometimes the family has to save up quite a bit of money to purchase one, but every Mayan woman has one or two or three. And I don't remember how the thought came to me, but it crossed my mind that it would be so pretty to have a purse made of the corte. And I thought to myself, "Well, I could never make one." And pushed it out of my mind. A few days later though I found myself envisioning a purse made of the corte again and I decided to use some leftover corte I had already and see if I could find a woman in the community who'd be interested in sowing it into a purse. It wasn't hard to find someone. She sewed and sewed and sewed and brought me back a purse, but I didn't really like it. So I looked around online and found an idea for a bag purse that had two bows on it and cinched in the middle. I decided I would try it myself and I sewed one and it turned out pretty good.
I got the lady back over here and taught her how to do it, giving her the one I sewed as an example and some leftover fabrics and she took it home and sewed it by hand, brought it back, and it was then I knew we had something.

The first bag we sewed.  (Sold out)

It turned out beautiful. So I decided we should go buy a corte and see what we can do. Turns out that one corte can make 12-13 bags. My sweet helper told me that "celeste" was a very popular color and she picked out this beautiful blue corte fabric. I took it home and we gave it to the woman who is sewing and this is what she brought me back:

Wilma presenting me with the second bag she sewed by hand.

At this point, game on. I knew that by making these bags, I would be giving work opportunity to women here in our community who otherwise may not be able to work due to things like having small children in the home, feelings of inferiority and low self-esteem, trapped in a cycle of poverty, etc. Sewing bags meant that the women would be able to work from home, hours that suit their needs, and they'd be creating a beautiful product and being paid a very fair wage. In Wilma's case, she wasn't working because of her small child, but when this opportunity presented itself, although she was very unsure of her abilities in the beginning, not only did she realize a bit of her potential, but her husband was very excited at the idea that his wife could contribute to their family income and encouraged her. He has even decided that he would like to buy her a sewing machine so that his wife does not have to sew by hand. He believes she will earn back the cost of the machine in no time. They have gone to the savings and credit association in our community to seek a loan. Now, every time she turns in a beautifully sewn bag, she smiles ear to ear. And so do I.

Turning in two more bags.
 

 

Blue/Black - Sold out.

 

 

Red - 3 left

 Once I announced these bags on my last blog, they started selling fairly well. At first, the amount of work it required made me nervous. I was not sure how we were going to fill all the orders. Cutting the strips of fabric requires a lot of time and patience. So I decided I would hire another woman from our community who may like to work. Last week I hired Odelia. Odelia came extremely nervous. She did not know what to expect working with "The Senora Gringa". We set her up a large work table in front of the big window in the nursery of Casa Gloria. I worked with her for two days straight showing her how to measure and cut the fabric. It is not as easy as you think and if you cut wrong, you waste fabric. I admit that the first two days of her working, I was thinking it was not going to work out for her. And the third day she came in with a small smile on her face and did a great job. No errors. As long as we continue selling bags, Odelia and Wilma will continue to have work.

 

 

 

 

Odelia cutting fabric at Casa Gloria.

Things are going well and we have almost filled the 39 bag orders. Now I am ready to post this again and see if any more of you would like to buy a Glory Bag. 100% of the proceeds go directly to the building of Casa Gloria, the children's home that we are building here in Guatemala for the orphaned, abandoned, abused, street children, children with HIV, and child mothers. We are more than halfway finished with construction. Lord-willing, Glory Bags could help us continue to move forward and are something I can see us selling long after we have babies in our home. I can see us teaching business skills to the older children and allowing them to run a Casa Gloria gift shop. I can envision empowering even more women in our community to learn sewing skills and cutting fabric. The opportunity to empower is in our hands and also in your hands.

Here are a few of the other bags we have available:

Black/Silver - 4 bags left.

Purple - 12 bags left.

Blue/Orange - Sold out.

All bags are lined with an interior.

So your options for the moment are Blue/Black, Red, Black/Silver, Purple, and Blue/Orange. The bags are $30 each. A check can be mailed to Mision Vida Nueva 305 Lancelot Ln Opelika, AL 36801, or you can pay through the "Donate" button on our website (www.misionvidanueva.info), just add $1/bag to cover Paypal's fee. Because the bags are expensive to make, we can only presell. We will bring the bags with us when we fly home in December and make sure that you get them. If you make an order, please go ahead and make your payment as soon as possible. Once we sell most of these, we will make more and I will post them.

Thank you for your love and support from all of us here in our rural little village in Guatemala and thank you on behalf of all the little hands and feet that will soon be running all over the place they will forever call home.

 

 

Love,

Jenna

Roast Beef

"Buuuuuuueeenaaaaaass."   10 seconds later, "BbUUUUUUuuueeeeennnnaaasss."  Sigh. Down I go to see who is at the gate calling my name now. Yohanna and her little brother, with something in her hand. "Oh me, what are they going to ask for now?" I asked myself with a sigh of exasperation.

I walked across the yard and out to the gate. "Si?" I asked with a smile on my face. I can't help but smile when I see Yohanna's pretty little self.

"Yenny, sorry the bother, but I want to see if you can help me with something?" Yohanna said in a way that was going to make it even tougher for me to say "no" to whatever it was she was going to ask of me.

"What is it?", I asked her fully preparing myself to say no.

"What is rosbef?"

"What is what??" I totally did not understand her.

"Rosbef?" She opens her notebook and points at the word "roast beef" written on the page in English. I couldn't help but laugh.

_______________________________________

Why would I say no? Last night I finished the book, "When Helping Hurts" that was recommended to me by a missionary couple who has lived here a lot longer than Geoffrey and I. After an entire year of "helping" people and seeing that the outcomes, in many cases - not all, were less than desired, and sometimes even scary or dangerous when all we were doing was trying to "help" people, I knew we needed to find out what the heck we were doing wrong. How does doing something nice for a family get a man beaten up? How can buying a wash basin cause women to bad-mouth and bash a family? How can buying a poor family food and medicine cause them to be rejected and bullied to the point where they have to leave and find somewhere new to live? How can passing out free clothes to poor people cause women to treat us and our workers so incredibly disrespectfully? How can free shoes cause children to hit and fight? How can someone handing out cash be so disrespectful and harmful to a relationship? How is it that generosity seems to cause so much animosity? How are small gifts sowing more discord among our people and our workers than blessing? How can we turn people AWAY from Christ when we are only trying to "help"? 

So Geoffrey and I are on a very steep learning curve ourselves. And as we learn we try to warn our guests of what we've learned and ask them to respect it. But I never took a "Living Among Poor People 101" or "Hosting Short-term Mission Teams" course in college. It is important to mention that many people were genuinely helped this year, very grateful, and brought closer to the Lord from our efforts....but, it's a learn as you go job, and if you don't learn as you go, you will go under quick and bring the very people you are trying to help down with you. In every case, our intentions and the intentions of the other givers were 100% pure. But what good are intentions in the long run, really? And we did not, at least I hope, turn people AWAY from Christ, but we definitely set the bar really high for all the other gringos who come in. If they don't come in with cash and candy and clothes and shoes, they can expect to feel some rejection from the people here who have learned to see gringos as superior material dispensers and nothing more. We're newbies, baby missionaries - bare with us. Learning as we go, and by the grace of God alone, we will break that bar that we set and instead of winning people with candy, we will win them with the gospel, win them by walking alongside them - mountain top or valley- and being there in the long haul. Not giving them money or material possessions that they have done well without their entire lives, but loving them enough to gently teach and guide them, to help restore them to what the Lord, their Creator, created them to be - in right relationship with Him and the rest of Creation. We are here to simply EMPOWER them. Hence:

Empowering God's children to change the world.

 

 

So how will we take what we have learned in 2014 and let it shape our ministry for the future? For one, we will not host teams that do not benefit the children's home, what the Lord has called us here for in the first place. Two, all team leaders must read When Helping Hurts pgs 18-204, 296-299. This is because what Geoffrey and I could not articulate well enough, this book can. If the group leaders don't read the book and then explain it to the group, they can't come with our mission. It is now considered "required reading". Three, there will be no more mission trips, only empowerment trips. The projects done by the mission team, if not working at Casa Gloria, must be focused on empowering people. Not giveaway trips, not party and sight-seeing trips, not vacations, not feel good, take lots of pictures of poor kid trips, but trips where the team arrives humbly, in a position to learn what these amazing, and not so amazing, people have to teach them, and humbly work alongside them to advance or complete an initiative that they feel is very important to their community, or school, or health center. Four, any gifts that volunteers want to leave for something outside the children's home must benefit the community, or group, as a whole and will more than likely be put in a fund by our mission and saved until we see a real need that we have enough funds to complete with the help of the community.

And there's a lot more, but I will spare you. I can't wait to see what we learn in 2015! (sarcasm)  No, but really, thank God He lovingly shows us the error of our ways and gives us another chance.

 

So we had 7 working teams in 5 months, one of which was a 25 person team! We've had a total of 12 groups visit us, including the teams,  in the first 9 months of the year - with one more to come in October that we are aware of. Only other missionaries are going to understand the load in which the two preceeding sentences carry. It has been a lot of work, but it has been really good for the mission. The children's home is more than half way done because of it - praise the Lord for all of you who contributed through labor or through finances! I never imagined coming this far this fast!! Next year, unless absolutely necessary, we will try to schedule one team per month maximum in order for Geoffrey and I to maintain our mental health, lol. And we already have our January team in the works. We really, really need teams in the beginning of the year in order to get the home done and ready for the children by the summer. It can happen!! We have sheetrock, painting, trimming, fixtures, doors, cabinets, tile, and all kinds of other stuff that needs to be done. Please consider helping us acheive this as close to the beginning of the year as possible. Go, or send someone who can go, or help us be able to purchase these things and get local workers to do it!

 

Since our teams are finished with for the year I have had a lot more time to really get back into my relationships with our people. I have hired about 15 guys to start the blocking of the home, 3 of which are finishing up the last bits of the framing. We got our 53 windows in and they are being installed. I have started working with our worker Cesar for one hour once a week, a requirement in order for him to continue working here, to learn to read and write. He has multiple spelling and vocabulary tests a week in which he has yet to make below a 90% meaning he actually studies at home. He will be enrolling in school in the next month to start in January, otherwise his job with us ends. I scolded him once when he was ill-prepared for one of his tests and explained to him how important the construction work is to me, but more important than that to me is him, him learning to read and write. I was willing to fire him if he wasn't willing to put in the effort to learn. He was more important than my time and my job. As I told him these things I noticed his eyes filling up with tears - not because I was scolding him, but because he realized just how important he is to me.

Edgar, our neighbor, has conditions also to work with us. A few months ago his mother brought his report card to me and asked me if I would please talk to him because he will not listen to her. I scolded him with my words right in front of her. He got very serious as he listened. I told him if his grades didn't improve he would not be allowed to work here in the afternoons. He had to complete all of his homework, every day, first. He asked if he could come use our internet, and I told him of course not. None of the other kids use our internet and they get their homework done, so he should too. He brought me his report card two weeks ago and his grades went from 30s, 40s, and 50s, to 60s, 70s, and 80s. Remarkable. I was SO proud of him, and he knew it. He is still working here every afternoon. But at the end of each month he must bring me a note from his teachers with his grades.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have also had time to come up with an idea that would not only benefit the mission, but would empower and benefit women willing to work in our community. I think it has the potential to become something. I have noticed that with all our teams, everyone -- even the men -- seem to be enamored with the typical dress of the Mayan people in our area, the corte and guipil. The corte is Mayan fabric that is woven together into a strip that is 8 yards long and about 5 feet tall. It is then sown in the Mayan way to make a beautiful, flowing skirt of elaborate, colorful design. They are gorgeous and the Mayans are one of the few cultures left whose women still wear, for the most part, their indigenous outfit. So using the Mayan corte fabric, I sewed a bag purse (by hand) to see how it would turn out. It turned out really beautiful in my opinion.  I decided to find a woman in our community who did not have a job, but would like the opportunity to have one. I taught her how to sew the purse using the one I sewed as an example. She did two test runs, going back and forth making corrections here and there and then finally sewed one that turned out great. So now I would like to sell these bags, pre-sell them, and bring them back with me in December. All the profits go to the children's home and selling the bags means at ;east one woman continues to have work. If I have lots of orders for bags, I will have to hire another woman. It is a great way to generate funds for the mission and a great opportunity to provide work for women in our community.

 

With that being said, if you would like to collaborate with us: choose a bag (black/blue, olive/copper). They are about a foot and a half tall and wide (square) and can be cinched in the middle by tying the bows on each side. The fabric is expensive and we pay the women per bag, so I can only pre-sell the bags. Right now they are being hand-sown at home so the women can look after their children at the same time, so they aren't absolutely perfect, but they are perfectly beautiful and stand for so much! We are asking $30 for a bag and I will bring it home with us in December. Shoot me an email at misionvidanueva@yahoo.com or facebook if you'd like one or two or ten! What a thoughtful and great gift it could be for someone too - a gift that brings so much good to so many women and children. Help us to empower God's children to change the world.

****note: as of 10/1 we are now sold out of olive/copper. We still have some blue and I will be getting a new color soon!************

 

 

Vilma, the woman who is sewing the bags from our community.

Mayda, my sweet helper!

 

 

That's all for now I suppose. Our great God is doing some exciting things here. I am so thankful to be able to share it with you. And I can not express with adequate words how thankful I am to you all, you know exactly who you are, that have given so much of your time and resources this year to get the babies out of the hospitals and the children off the streets as fast as possible. They will be in our arms before we know it.

 

 

We love you all,

 

Jenna

 



Lately.

I am going to quit apologizing for not writing more frequently. If I was writing to you all the time, it would probably be a sign that I don't have enough work to do here. That is just not the case. I think it is safe to say that we have had more work to do this year than any other year and we have had more days this year with teams here than we have had without. One has no idea how much work it takes to host a team for a week, but you also have no idea how much we have needed these teams this year to really get chunks of hard and intensive work done on the children's home. We are moving right along, no doubt about that.

Let me brag a minute on God.  I am taken aback every time I consider how far He has brought us in only the three years we have been here. I am taken aback at how He has nonstop met and provided for our every need in regards to building this children's home. This is no doubt in line with His will and exactly what He wants and He withholds nothing from us in respect to what it takes to get this done. I've mentioned it before,  - we don't fund-raise for our mission (which is this home) and have yet to ask for a dime. Raising funds to help sick individuals, poor families, or community projects which have nothing to do with the home is different. But we're not shy to ask for help when it comes to labor or skilled workers coming down, but for funds....nada. We are more than half way finished with this 7000 square foot home, not to mention all the land and installations that are necessary to run and operate it. We are finished with our government certification process other than the home inspection. How big is our God? He is big, incredible and rather miraculous and deserves so much more bragging than just one paragraph on blogspot. He touches your hearts and we praise Him for it. You guys deserve praise too for your sacrificial generosity and the way you listen to Him and follow through....who would have thought that you would be building a children's home in Guatemala?

In July we had El Bethel Baptist Church send down 25 volunteers to do community projects which included painting one of the schools, planting 300 cypress trees, working with children, and handing out the newly completed New Testament in Pokomchi, the native language of our people here in our village. If I remember correctly 11 people prayed to receive Christ, to cross the bridge from death to life that day. 11 people turned their lives in to Him who is worthy.

In the beginning of August we had four college girls come down and serve a family who lives in extreme poverty. They served them by teaching them to fish and helping them get started. They made a very nice, large garden and planted many different types of vegetables for the family and taught them how to maintain it if they want a good harvest. They also served our family in a huge way. We feel so undeserving and grateful that they would help us to have a birthday party for our daughter. We would never have been able to do it ourselves. Admittedly, the birthday party wasn't so much for her, as a matter of fact, she slept and whined through most of it. It was for all the people who have loved on her since before she was even born who have been asking us all year when are we going to have her "cumpleanos". To not have one would have been a crime, or so it felt, and they would have been the victims! So we had one, complete with about 150 people, 4 cakes, hula hoops, soccer balls, bubbles, face paint, nail polish, and of course, a pinata - which was destroyed in about 3 minutes. I think that was a good, once in a lifetime experience, that I will be okay with if it never happens again!! It was fabulous and the kids had a blast, but I don't how on earth we could have pulled it off without these four amazing girls!!
Today Geoffrey's uncle who is an electrician for many years is coming down to spend about 10 days with us to install electricity in the first floor of the children's home. The day he leaves, the Lord has generously allowed a group of six skilled framers to come down and help us get the final framing done. Two septic tanks are almost finished and then we work on the plumbing and gas lines.
It's a lot of work and God has truly given us everything we need to complete it. He knew what He was doing long ago. The brains behind the structure and design of the home is Geoffrey's dad who is a civil engineer who spends nearly every day on the phone with us, stressed out, answering our questions, giving us calculations, and making drawings. I know he never thought in his life He would be building a children's home in Guatemala, but if it weren't for him I can tell you with certainty that this would be a nearly impossible feat to tackle and we'd be no where near where we are now.
The Methodists were right, we have a providential God.

That is basically the latest on Casa Gloria, Glory House. There is a lot more work to be done before we can open our doors to the little souls who are waiting for a home. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts, please praise God with us because He is worthy. And please ask the Lord to continue to show us how we can bless Him.

Love, 

Jenna

www.misionvidanueva.info

Casa Gloria - The children's home.

I haven't written to you in a little while, but for good reason - we've been really busy. But I have a moment now in between waiting for other stuff to happen and I want to use it to update you. 

Since our return in January we've been working our fingers to the bone on the construction of this home. It is definitely not as easy, straight-forward, or simple like I thought "building a children's home" would be. It's a good thing I didn't know the amount of work that it would take just to build the thing before I came here, otherwise, I can't say that I'd have come. Or at least that I'd have come with a good attitude!!
Here is our progress so far this year:

End of last year

Dig, pack, spray footings

Pour Footings

Block the footings

Fill inside with gravel

Pack all the gravel with a whacker packer

Plumb the footings

Fill with Nylon and Steel

Pour the Slab

Finish the Slab

Order the first floor's wood

Unload the wood

Frame

Frame

And frame some more.

And since we've been done framing the first floor, we've been putting all the plywood and tar paper up while we are waiting for the second floor framers to get here. What a job! I absolutely love watching how the Lord is providing for this construction and it is a reminder that we are right where He wants us doing the very thing He wants us doing. 

Now about the children's home. As things are quickly becoming a reality, we have been brainstorming and praying about how we are going to run the home. What will the home be like? I have been in a very beautiful, clean, quality, orphanage in China where the children were healthy and content and being loved on with a qualified, well-trained and dedicated staff. It seemed to be the ideal home. And then I have been in a home where there are roaches everywhere, lice in all the children's hair, kids are constantly sick and dirty, the home is falling apart, and it is being run by foreign volunteers who come and go at a whim and speak mediocre Spanish at the very best. There was no control or supervision over the staff and it was obvious that abuse was present within the home itself. That was the home that spurred my passion to start a home here in Guatemala. Being in a country which does not currently allow foreign adoption, it is important that the years that the children will spend here are years where healing takes place within the child, not more hurts. A place where the child will learn and grow and have doors of education and opportunity open to them. A place where the child can learn to trust and love and be the Guatemalan child that the Lord intended him to be. 

Our mission statement is "Empowering God's children to change the world." And those of you who know me, know just how literal, deep and true that statement is. So keeping that at the forefront of your mind, I want to give you a picture of what I pray and intend to make of Casa Gloria. 

In this main building we are building now, there will be three apartments on the second floor and a nursery, clinic, and offices on the first. In each apartment there will live a family. The family will be the caregiver plus four children. That means upstairs we will have the capacity for 12 children. In each apartment there are three bedrooms, a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and one and a half bathrooms. The family will operate as a normal family would. Breakfast, lunch, dinner in their dining room. Homework and other family activities will be done in their home and they will sleep two to a room in their own bedrooms. This is as "ideal" as we can make it for a child coming from the circumstances that they have come from. There will be no communal dining and the kids will only interact with the kids from the other families at scheduled times - outside or weekend play time, etc. 

The nursery will be for the newborns and other infants that come to us. They will have their own caregivers. Each will have their own crib and clothes. And next to the nursery is the nursery playroom where the babies can be free to roll around, play and crawl. We will take in up to 6 babies at a time. 18 children total, maximum in this large home. 

Why not take in more? Our focus is on restoring and healing the children the Lord brings us. Crowding a house with a bunch of already hurting children is not really a good way or an ideal setting for the healing process to take place. 

We will hire qualified, like-minded Guatemalans to fill all the positions. They will be the "mothers" to the children, they will be the secretary, the pediatrician, the psychologist, the social worker, the directors, the cook, the maintenance man....everything. And we will pay them very well, just like they will deserve. 

Why not use volunteers? Volunteers won't have the language abilities to effectively restore and raise a healthy, independent Guatemalan. They won't have the knowledge of the culture to teach the child. Neither myself nor Geoffrey have the language abilities or the deep understanding of the Guatemalan culture to be a long-term caregiver for one of the children. Volunteers will come and go and even if they commit to staying for 5 years, what will that do to the child when they leave? 

I believe the Lord will send us volunteers to bless us in training our staff, improving our home, teaching the children the Bible, English, and different trades, among other things. We will welcome them with open arms and grateful hearts. They will understand that this children's home is not a "zoo" where you can come and look at children who have suffered immensely and take picture after picture...but instead this is a sanctuary, the only place in the world that this child has to feel safe and loved and respected. Volunteers will facilitate and encourage this.  

One idea we have is to give the children a global outlook. Each family will have a country a month to learn about and pray for as a family. We will have a prayer room on the first floor and children can sign up to spend time in the prayer room praying for their family, the other children, and other people around the world. 

They will have at least weekly sessions with the Christian psychologist and regular check ups with the pediatrician. Children will receive preventative care and each child will have health insurance.

One commitment of mine is to make this home not just an accredited home, but a home that goes above and beyond in every area. I want part of our staff's training to be shadowing nurses at one of the nicest hospitals in Guatemala. I want them to learn hygiene practices and cleaning standards that will take our home to a different level.  I want the caregivers to learn to cook healthy meals on a daily basis for their children. I want each child to have their "own" things, books, blankets, stuffed animals, clothes, etc. I want to have tutors come to the home to help ensure that each child is getting the most out of their education. I want to hold workshops with the children based on their interests: music, mechanics, construction, animals, art, etc. I want to teach the children to love and care for others and for animals. I want them to be involved with community service projects. I want to hold workshops with the staff to ensure that they, too, are learning. I want our psychologist to work on a regular basis with the caregivers, giving them wisdom and advice and an opportunity to express themselves in a safe environment. I want to use animals as a source of therapy when possible. I want to work directly with the biological families of the children that have one to educate and train them with the hope of one day being able to restore the child to their family.  I want to go through the grueling process of becoming accredited because that is what the government says is the best. I want to teach the children and the staff that as followers of Jesus, we respect the government, as they are our authorities, even if we do not agree with everything they do. Period. We don't condone sinful behavior or support something that goes against what the Lord has said, but we respect them as our authorities and submit to them where we can. I want to respect the government because it will encourage the ones that seek good and justice to continue to seek good and justice. If we are going to change a country, we have to work with the authorities of that country. It may cost us more money and effort and time in the long run, but there is absolutely no doubt that it is the right thing to do. 

We intend to build relationships with other accredited homes, which now there is one in our area for disabled girls. And there are two more that are in the same process we are....to accredit their home. Praise God there are others doing things the right way to help these children! And we plan to spend time with directors of successful homes and unsuccessful ones in order to learn from them. What has worked for them? What would they do differently? What are the biggest challenges they face? Etc. 

What else? Our profile is children between the ages 0-10 who have been orphaned, abandoned, abused and for this reason a judge is placing them in a temporary shelter (what we call a children's home). Street children, HIV children, and children with mild learning disabilities that are also being put in a home by the judge. Why will we only accept children from a judge? Because that is the only legal and therefore "right" way to do it. We want to be above reproach and honor Christ in all we do. Will we take in a child because his family is poor? No. But we will work with the family anyway we can. Will we accept a baby from the arms of a mother? No. But we will work with the mother, ensuring that the baby is healthy, and hopefully teach her that giving her baby up really should be her last resort....but if it comes to that, she must first go to the judge. Will we admit a child over the age of ten? If it is the only way to keep him with his brothers and sisters who are younger than ten, yes. Will our home fill up really fast? Yes. And we will have to say "No." more times than we will say "Yes." Will our hearts break a million times - definitely. 

We are putting a LOT of effort into the "quality" of the structure we are building, and you can be sure that we will spend a LOT of time and effort ensuring the quality of care these children will receive during their time here. This is no easy task. Thank God I was so naive. There is still SO much I have not thought of. I am utterly and absolutely unqualified to run this home and that is why our goal is to get it built, running smoothly, set the standards and eventually turn this home over into the hands of very qualified people. We will one day just be those "board members" that everyone should be on their toes for :)

Oh, and I should mention that once we are up and running with the main building, we will begin to build more little homes to house more family units. And we also look forward to expanding our ministry to work with and be family to child mothers coming from our area. 

Why are we doing everything the hard way when we could have just simply moved here and taken in babies where ever we found them? Because we feel strongly that the hard way is going to be the very best way - for us, the children, and all the people watching us. And for my friends who are rolling their eyes, yes, I am still naive :) That's probably why God hired me for this job. It's going to be very hard. There will be many many obstacles. Will this not cost us a mountain of money? Absolutely. But we have a big God who honors those who seek to glorify Him - and that is exactly what we seek above all else. Hence the name, Casa Gloria (Glory House). 

So now you have an idea about the structure (internal and external) of our home. And I would like to ask those who support us financially and prayerfully for any ideas you guys may have in making our home a sanctuary for these children? You are the ones who are building Casa Gloria with us, so I would like any input you feel may be useful. For example, I had the idea to put a wash station right at the entrance to the nursery for obvious reasons and a hand sanitizer dispenser at the entrance to the clinic. Do you have any ideas? Feel free to share them with us here, or in an email to misionvidanueva@yahoo.com, or on facebook. I can't wait to hear from you. 

Love, 

          Jenna

www.misionvidanueva.info