Ministry News

RAISING A WALL

With the construction of the bridge completed, we have turned our attention to raising a wall between Phase II and the property next door. Our friends from Calvary Baptist and Living Hope Baptist Church in Kentucky worked diligently over the course of a week to advance rather nicely on the construction. We are also marking the outlines of the two homes and will start digging footers in the near future.  We love seeing progress!

Jane Doe Update

Last newsletter, we shared about a baby girl we received who was abandoned in a Catholic Church. She is now 2.5 months old and is growing like a wild weed!  She is such a peaceful baby. We believe God has an intended purpose and destiny for her life. The case worker told us that they are still in the process of declaring her abandoned so that she can be adopted.

In the mean time, we pray for the family that will have the privilege of raising her, that they will have a home that is founded firmly on the Word of God and His precepts. Please join us in praying for her placement with an adoptive family.

 

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Phase II Update

Completion of the bridge is estimated for Feb. 23rd.  Not bad considering construction started the first part of January.  We are excited about the progress.  As a matter of fact, we have been able to clear the land due to a generous gift by one of our supporting churches.  Also, a new land survey was completed recently at the request of our engineer.  Once the bridge is ready, we will be ready to move dirt to prepare for the placement of the two new children’s homes.  Off and running now!

 

Miracles still Happen!

After almost 3 years of wrangling with the government, we are now proud owners of Phase II construction permits. The city gave the green light on Oct. 10th and we received the official papers ten days later. To add to the good news, a contract was signed with the company responsible for building the bridge.  The bridge is slated to be finished in 2-3 months.

 

Will You Take the Challenge With Us?

Child abuse among Costa Rica’s children is a growing problem.  Studies show that 1 in 4 children lives below the poverty line.  Despite a relatively low poverty rate in our country, 16% of the population is affected by this problem, with children being the primary victims.

On December 11, 2014, an article in the Tico Times reported that between 2006-2014 more than 20,000 minors were treated for some type of suspected abuse.  This information came from statistics obtained from the National Children’s Hospital in C.R.  With this in mind, we would like to take a moment to share what God is doing with Phase II and our reason for being here.

With the completion of Phase I, we now have our sights set on developing Phase II.  This includes the construction of 4 additional children’s homes.  Our goal is to provide hope for children who are hurting, abused, and afraid.  Since opening our doors in 2004, we have received 91 children.  Of these, roughly half have left in adoption.  The others have returned to their biological families, while 14 are currently living at the A.P.  These 4 homes will allow us to impact more lives.  Our aim is to share Christ with every child that walks through our doors.

We are nearing completion of the permit phase.  It has been a long, arduous task.  Once permits are secured, we will begin with construction of a bridge.  The bridge is needed to span a creek, giving us full access to the main portion of the property.

Several months ago, a team from the U.S. was visiting the A.P.  During the tour, we approached a friend that had the capacity to help us with the task of building the bridge about funding that project.  He thoughtfully told us that he did not feel led to donate for the bridge, but that he would give funds to build a house ($285K)!  He also informed us that this was not an open ended offer.  He would give us until the end of this November to raise the money.  If we are not able to, he would withdraw his offer.  Obviously, this has been a HUGE motivating factor for us.

We have been in negotiations with an outside company to construct the bridge.  After several meetings, we were able to negotiate a final price of $88,000, which is much less than the original estimated cost of $120,000.  Good news…at this point, we have already raised over $60,000!  We only need $28,000 to meet our goal.

If you feel led to contribute, please contact us at sgthomas@ice.co.cr or call 956.287.3131.

“ The Bridge Challenge…Phase II”

PHASE II

One of the first orders of business in developing Phase II is the need to build a bridge to span a creek in order to have full access to the property.  Recently, we were presenting the project to a friend with the hopes he would fund part of the bridge construction.  To our surprise, he instead opted to fund one of the children’s homes, which is valued at $285K.  There is one little caveat, the money ($123K) to build the bridge has to be raised before the end of November to receive the funds.  Our goal is to have all the needed funds in the next few months so we can start immediately after receiving our final building permit.

This is where you come in…we need you to pray and consider how you could help us to achieve this goal and then take immediate action.

Will you take the challenge with us?

If you would like more information please contact us at sgthomas@ice.co.cr

Thank you!

Inauguration Day for our Multipurpose Building!

It’s been a long time coming!  The roof is finally on our building and the inauguration day is here!  There is a sense of closure and excitement to see phase I complete!  Many guests arrived for this special night, approximately 950 people!  We even had friends from the U.S. come celebrate this huge miracle with us!

 Psalms 105:1-3

Oh, give thanks to the Lord!

Call upon His name;

Make known His deeds among the peoples!

Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;

Talk of all His wondrous works!

Getting Things Done!

This past month or so, a lot of hard work has gone into tearing down our old “bodega” (warehouse) in order to plant a lovely garden behind our daycare center.  This past week the grass and flowers were delivered and planted.  What a dramatic change!  Getting ready for the inauguration of our new multipurpose facility at the end of the month!

Ministry News

Greetings from a very rainy Costa Rica.  Rainy season started with a dud, but is finishing with a vengeance.  However, it does produce a very beautiful, tropical paradise.

As most of you know, we are quickly putting the finishing touches on the roof of the multipurpose building  This will bring Phase I to a close.  It is hard to put into words how excited we are to be closing a chapter, after almost 13 years.  It has been quite the ride as we have been witnesses to God’s supernatural provision.  For anyone who would like to come, we will be celebrating the inauguration of the new building on Nov. 28, 2015.

Finishing Phase I has now put us in a place where we can concentrate all of our efforts on developing Phase II.  This new phase will include an additional four children’s homes, office space, a bridge, and new parking.

We have spent the majority of this year working on securing building permits.  This has turned out to be a monumental task as it has required us to complete a series of studies and evaluations.  This past week, we were able to submit the entire package of studies to the Environmental Agency for their approval.  We are hoping and praying that we will have an answer from them in 4-6 weeks.

To have building permits in hand, we are looking at a pretty hefty sum of money.  We still owe $8,000 to the architect and approximately another $5K-$10K to cover the costs charged by the different governmental agencies for the permits.

Please pray and ask if God would have you participate financially.  We are confident that He will reveal exactly what you need to do.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us directly.  Thank you for believing in what God has called us to do.  We pray that He blesses your faithfulness to Him!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

We are so pleased to announce that Isaac, Roberto, Sharon, and Sol now have a new adoptive family!  At the beginning of August, the case worker came out to share the good news with the kids.  They were stunned to find out that there was a family for them from the States.  Needless to say, the children were elated!  During the following weeks, the case worker continued working with the children to prepare them for their adoption.  The kids did great handling the news, despite their ages and possible concerns about leaving.  Isaac mentioned one day that he was super happy about the news, but that he was also sad to leave the project, since this is where he had spent a good deal of his childhood.  We were all grappling with mixed feelings!  It’s what we’ve worked for.  These siblings had been here the longest …7 years, and very soon they would be leaving us.  In September, the children finally met their new family.  Milton and Lisa are super parents!  They have 4 grown biological children, they have adopted 3 kids in the U.S., and are now adopting our four kids.  The first encounter between the parents and children was sweet, as they huddled together and prayed over their new family.  The kids spent several days getting to know Mom & Dad and on Monday, September 14th, they left the children’s home.  The following weeks were spent creating memories and forming bonds with each other.  October 2nd was the big day,  the hearing with the judge, where the adoption was made legal and binding!

We wanted to share this testimony since so many of you have met the siblings personally or have known of their story.  Everyone recognizes (even the Costa Rican government) that this adoption is special.  For 2 pre-adolescent (the girls) and 2 adolescent (the boys) siblings to be adopted is nothing short of a miracle!  We are so thankful to everyone who has prayed for these kids from the very beginning.  Most importantly, we praise the Lord for taking care of them during this long journey and never letting go!  His faithfulness is amazing!  It is a reminder of His stubborn love and zeal for each and every person, no matter their situation.

Phase II

After being on the back burner for a little while, we are excited that things are finally underway to get the necessary permits needed to begin developing Phase II.

Today the surveyors were out surveying the land and taking soil samples, only one of the many hoops we must jump through in order to obtain the needed permits.

Ministry News

We are humbled that so many pray continually for and support the kids in our homes.  Please pray earnestly for a suitable family to adopt Yamil.  He has been with us since July 2013 and has been declared abandoned.  The Office of Adoptions has been promoting his case since February of last year with no interest thus far.  We believe that God is actively interested in his future and that He will provide just the right family for Yamil, in His time!

We have good news with regards to the Pilarte siblings (4) and Anthony and Aislinn (brother/sister).  The Office of Adoptions has notified us that there are families interested in these children.  Both families are in the process of completing their home studies in order to be approved for an international adoption.  Please pray that the families will find grace and favor as they work through this process and pray that the kids will be ready for a new transition in their lives.

We are so proud of Isaac and Roberto for completing their elementary education and graduating from 6th grade on December 15, 2014.  Roberto actually had the highest grade point average for his grade.  Both boys have been accepted to a well known high school and will begin classes soon.

Last month, Katherine was adopted by a single mother here in Costa Rica.  Her mother, Marisela, is a pharmacist that works at one of the main hospitals in downtown San José.  Katherine has adjusted nicely to her new home and environment.  We are so thankful that God has provided a caring mother for this amazing little girl!

Before closing, we would like to include a quick update on the matching fund campaign for the multipurpose building roof.  This is something we had shared about in our last newsletter.  If you remember, we received two donations for a total of $186,000 that we are required to match dollar for dollar to receive full benefit.  To date, we have raised a total of $162,000.  Approximately $92K is from the United States and the remainder ($70K) is from local donations.  Please continue to pray as we are still short of our goal.  Once again, God has demonstrated His generosity and His power to provide.  We stand in awe of His continual provision in all that He has called us to do.

Construction on the roof is progressing nicely.  Structural work is now complete and the majority of the roofing material has been installed.  Electricians are working hard to complete their part, then comes the fun of drywall work and painting.  Projected completion date – late 2015.