NEVER SAY NEVER !!
So many of you have been faithful followers of Sonshine Hacienda for many years and will remember back to when we began receiving children. We were adamant that we would not take babies or toddlers due to the difficulties associated with the little ones. WELL, NEVER SAY NEVER. We began by taking two sisters that needed to be transferred out of another Casa Hogar. The only problem was that the youngest sister was less than a year old. The option was to place the sisters in two separate homes…never a good option in our opinion. So we brought Angelita into our home, and what a blessing she has been! It has been so awesome to see her learn to crawl, walk, and begin to talk. She is now feeding herself and loves to be independent. What a joy to watch her develop and grow. But the story does not stop there. Angela was just the beginning. Since then, we have had a total of 4 blessed babies in our home. Two girls and two boys. The girls, Angela and Amber are still with us. But the boys, Angel & Marcos have been reunited with their mother. What a blessing it has been to see the older children lovingly care for these little ones. Not just the girls, but also the boys are wonderful caregivers to these little ones. They love to help with feeding, playing and watching the babies. They are our second hands & eyes. They have been a great help! We are ready and waiting to serve the Lord in what ever age of children He sends us. What a blessing to serve HIM. |
OUR OWN GARDEN OF EDEN
What a joy it was to walk into our kitchen this past week and my eyes feasted on our table laden with melons, corn, tomatoes, radishes and beans, fresh from our garden. What a blessing to see the bounty of God's blessings. Of course these vegetables and fruits did not just appear out of thin air. This was the result of a great deal of hard work and consultation with people far and near. Roberta Glover, our Master Gardner (and Nanny for the boys), has dedicated a great deal of time and energy into making this garden a reality. Sonshine connected with Jon Stevens from Washington State, and he helped us build our garden, as well as paying for much of the cost of constructing the garden. We locally used a garden consultant to help us with some questions and planting issues. Roberta had learned a great deal about gardening prior to coming to Sonshine. She worked along side her father for years and learned her gardening skills from him. The fruit trees are all growing & are bearing small fruit. Our vegetables look great…can't wait to harvest the zucchini!! I do love the "Hoop" house that we built to house our vegetable plants. With all the wind that we have, it is a very important must here. Our compost pile has been a learning experience…almost everything can go in it. But the best part about our garden is that the kids are able to be part of the garden. They are being taught by Roberta how to do all parts of the care…from the planting, care and harvesting of the garden. PRAISE THE LORD!!
NEEDS LIST
IN CASE YOU COME ACROSS A REALLY GOOD BUY, WE COULD USE SOME OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY A TON OF ANYTHING. JUST A FEW THINGS IN A SMALL BOX WOULD BE GREAT:
SHAMPOO
TOOTHPASTE
DEODORANT
BODY WASH (INSTEAD OF BAR SOAP)
LIQUID HAND SOAP
CHILDREN'S BOOKS IN SPANISH
CLOTHES PINS
KITCHEN SPONGES (WITH SCRUBBER ON ONE SIDE)
|
|
SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF SONSHINE
HACIENDA
May 4, 2014 marked the second anniversary of Sonshine Hacienda opening it's doors to our children. To celebrate the occasion, the children asked if we could return to their favorite restaurant in San Felipe, The China Inn. So after church, we loaded the children in our bus and headed off for our lunch. I am always amazed at how well behaved the children are when we go out in public. We had approximately 23 children and 8 adults present, so it was a very long and impressive banquet table. These anniversaries are very important to the children. The majority of our kids have had many disappointments in their lives. So whenever we can celebrate an event, we like to make an effort to include the children in the celebration and make a special "memory" for the children. Before coming to Sonshine Hacienda, many of these children were moved from family member to family member…or were in other Casa Hogar's. Our desire is to make these children feel that Sonshine is their home. A safe harbor from the "storms" of life. So thank you to all of you who made it possible for us to have a second successful year at Sonshine Hacienda!! |
FRIENDS COME TO SERVE AND HELP
During Spring break, we had many wonderful friends visit Sonshine Hacienda. We had Bookcliff Baptist youth group, from Colorado with us for a week. This is the second year that this group visited us and they worked as hard this year as last!! They painted our breezeway, our benches and made shelving for our sports equipment closet & organized the closet. We have already got a date set for them to return next year.
Another returning group was Mt. Vernon Youth Group from Mt. Vernon, Washington. This awesome group also took on some tough tasks. They extended the roof (for additional shade) for our large bicycle rack. They also built a cyclone fence along side our garden area to keep stray dogs and other critters from getting into our garden. Each day they ate with our children and had a great time getting to know one another.
Savannah Koteita was a special guest of Sonshine Hacienda. She is a teacher in Long Beach, California and felt called by God to come and minister to our children at Sonshine Hacienda. She ministered through music and drama. She brought two friends from her church with her, Kai Kuaha & Kiara John-Charles. They were a very special blessing to the children while they were with us was at Sonshine Hacienda.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT TO
MARKETPLACE MISSIONS/SONSHINE HACIENDA
PLEASE SEND YOU CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
P.O. BOX 9011
PMB41
CALEXICO,CA 92232-9011
|
Our dear friends of Sonshine, Carol & Harold are faithful to help us prepare the lunch meal when we need help. They are pictured here with Diana. Faithful servants!!
|
|
