something different.

So, what ever happened with the footing of the wall? We tore up the last 7 meters and stopped working for a bit due to "letting go" of the guy we had hired to work on it. We did not touch it for about two weeks while we sought workers from a neighboring city. We felt like it was not wise to have anyone from the community working on the wall. Now we have two guys, not from here, and we have made a bit of progress with no more problems (so far).

Last 7 meters

..

We currently have 14 construction workers working every day. We have 3 guys working the wall, 2 guys working trim, 1 guy working the prefabricated doors, one who is a painter and light/fan installer, one who lays tile, one who is working on the laminate flooring, one who does maintenance work around the property and the rest are mudding sheetrock on the second floor. We have finished the sheetrock on the first floor and are painting, installing fixtures, and laying floor, trim and doors. It is AMAZING to know that we are this close to finishing!! Oh my, I just want to hire 100 more guys and be like "Get it done!!!", but of course nothing of good quality happens so quickly and easily. I spent Monday laying laminate floor in order to teach one of guys so he could take over and do the rest.....yes, I used the miter saw all by myself, and it turned out good except for that today is Wednesday and I still can barely walk or use my legs. I am in so much pain from being on my knees for 9 hours and the constant squatting and standing.........But thankfully our guy is stronger than me and doesn't hurt bad enough to not keep on going!

Apt 4 kitchen

Apt 4 hall

Apt 4 Master

Education/Psychology room

Prayer Room

Social Worker Office/Family meeting room

Secretary office

Director's office

Conference room

Conference room with handmade window trim

The big things that need to happen before we can actually USE and LIVE in the home are the water tower, finishing the septic for the home, and installing the appliance and cabinets. We are in talks with a company about cabinets, appliances will be easy, the septic - well I don't know anything about that right now, and the water tower......well that brings me to a much bigger subject.
There is about 2 acres of land on the other side of our fence, the majority of it is a big hill. We have talked to the owner about allowing us to put a water tank at the top of the hill in order to naturally supply enough volume and pressure to the entire children's home plus any future constructions. He told us no problem and he wouldn't even charge us. It seems nice, but we know from experience we can not take anyone's word as law without having something formal in writing. It just does not work like that here, although he is a very nice man and I would like to take his word for it. Wisdom just says it is not wise. With the construction of the wall advancing and two sides touching his property, and with the bad neighbors on the one side whom we had to call the police on, and with the knowledge that he wants to and intends to sell that land behind our property, we started thinking that it would be best for the mission to possibly consider purchasing the property outright - eliminating the need for "permission" and possible future problems that come with our water source and 100's of meters of tubes being on someone else's property, as well as eliminating the possibility of more "bad neighbors" purchasing the property and being right up against the children's home, and other advantages this would allow us....not to mention the possible uses of 2 more acres of land for the children's home and ministry. We prayed about it and discussed it with the board of directors and yesterday we met with the owner to find out a price. Sadly, he asked DOUBLE the cost of the highest amount we were willing to go. We were surprised and we knew right away that there would be no chance of the mission purchasing the land. We said our goodbyes and the three of us discussed it amongst ourselves saying that we would wait and pray and if the Lord wanted us to have that land He would either provide the funds and/or touch the man's heart to give us a more reasonable price.
We laid out all the information before the entire board of directors and it was at that point that we were made aware of a pending donation that we had not known about that "would be enough to purchase the land"!! This was completely unexpected, yet another amazing act of God's provision. Should we receive a more fair price on the property, it will be ours once the donation has come through! I couldn't believe my ears and was speechless!! All I could do was praise our God, who IS the father of the fatherless!! I type this with peace in my heart and a smile on my face because He never forgets about us. He never fails to provide. And when He says "No" or "Not right now", or when it doesn't go the way I hoped it would - I can be sure that there is something far better around the corner.

Old picture, but the big hill directly behind the building where the dry ground is....is most of the land that we hope to buy.

Update on sweet baby Linda who has spina bifida and many of you contributed to the cost of the various tests and consults that she has needed and will need - The diagnosis is worse than what we thought it would be. It appears that her spinal cord is very damaged and that she also has a condition with her bladder in which because she cannot feel when she needs to use the bathroom, her urine backs up the tubes and into the bladder and her bladder is very large and it is possible that the tubes are no longer straight. We need a test for this, but can only do that test after she is cleared of a bacterial infection. We have been fighting the infection with different antibiotics for over a month now and every test reveals that the antibiotics are not working. We are still trying though. If her bladder tubes are not straight, she will need to go to Guatemala City and have surgery. This is very likely and will end up being very costly. Her parents WOULD not be able to help their baby if it was not for your generosity......and we still have funds in her account, but in short time they will be diminishing - hopefully because we are helping her to get better! I will keep you all posted on the progress as time goes by.

And our big Baby, is just that - a healthy, huge, playful, baby who lets nothing and no one come on the property calmly. He is the guard dog of all guard dogs and we love him to death!

And we love you all and we thank you for your prayers. Please keep them coming - 

Jenna

www.misionvidanueva.info