Christmas Blessings!

I wanted to take a moment to share with you some of the blessings we have received in the last 4 months. We have been able to cultivate from local groups some very good donations to help us care for the 60+ kids in the children's home. The result is that this Christmas, our pantries our full. Just take a look at the pictures below.

The picture below shows some of the 200 gallons of milk we receive each month from a local distributor.

We have 2 storage rooms that are 10' square each and have storage shelves from the floor to the ceiling on all 4 walls.

We have cereal, pancake mix, tuna, oil, beans, rice, pasta, canned vegetables, salt, sugar and more!

And finally, we have 3 chest freezers FULL with beef, chicken and fish!

Praying for Daniela

We have a specific prayer request this Christmas. Daniela is a 13 year old 7th grader in our children's home. Last wednesday she woke up and could not walk. By the afternoon, her arms were feeling weak and we took her to the emergency room. She was diagnosed with a rare syndrome that they believe was triggered by her auto immune system that was fighting an infection. Within hours she was almost completely paralyzed and suffering quite a bit of pain.

Today, a week later, she is beginning to show signs of improvement. Last night she was just a little uncomfortable but for the most part resting pain free! We want to thank you all that have been praying and ask you to continue to pray that God would continue to move in her life. Daniela has lived at Casa Hogar Douglas since she was 3 years old. She may have anywhere from 1 - 3 more weeks in the hospital but we are expecting a full and complete recovery. We also expect God to use this to touch Daniela's heart and reveal to her how much He loves her! Please pray that those of us that love her and care for her can guide her in allowing God to speak to her through this.

More and more God is showing me that it is NOT us or Back2Back that is working in the lives of the kids we serve. God and only God can bring change to broken hearts. All that any of us can do is be faithful. Faithful in loving others as Christ loved them first by laying down His life for them. Never once have I read in scripture where I was called to "change" someone's heart. But over and over I feel called to love as Christ first loved us, and through that GOD can turn hearts toward Him. I truely believe God will use this to lead not only Daniela but possibly others closer to Him. And that is ALL He wants!

A Landmark is Destroyed

I mentioned about spiritual warfare in my post about Holloween. To state things correctly, ALL of the work that we are involved in at the children's home is spiritual! Sometimes it might appear that we are working with discipline or finances or education or food. The truth is that we are really battling Satan in all of these areas for the very souls of these children!

For a number of years now, we have sensed that there was a building on the children's home campus that was associated with something evil. I have heard numerous testimonies from adults who were former children interned in the children's home that this building in particular was a reminder of sadness and abuse. I have also had groups in the past 3 years who have prayed over our campus and more than one has said they sensed something evil associated with it. This building was a 14'x14' three story water tower. It's origin dates back over 50 years when the property was a rural quinta. Our campus library is less than 4' from this mammoth concrete structure which made demolition very difficult.

This week though, we hired a group of guys to tear this building down and remove all the rubble. To be honest, it feels like a great victory! I have numerous times stood on the highest point in the valley where we are located, next to our chapel, and prayed over our campus. I always ask God to fill every square inch of our property and to send away anything that is not of Him. I believe that would include spirits, people or even buildings! This week I believe God answered this prayer by removing a symbol of something evil! I can not explain everything, but I feel we are cleaner in more ways than one with this building destroyed!

Kids with identity

This is Lilliana and Rubi. They play in their school's band. We are very proud of them! I want to thank all of you who support us in any way because your support enables us to make this possible for these two girls.

7 Schools for 61 Kids

One of the things that we have been working on this year is to develop an identity for each of the kids in the children's home. I hope to give you more updates in the near future of specific cases where kids have the opportunity to be individuals. We have kids playing on soccer teams, participating in the band at school, developing a love for reading novels, learning dance, cooking and art. We are constantly looking for ways to give them more of their own identity.

Three years ago, all of our kids were enrolled in 2 schools. One school for elementary and one jr. high. If the child was having trouble in their school we had few options to help them. In addition, we learned that it was not really healthy to have so many kids from a children's home enrolled in the same public school. When the teacher had a problem in her class, it was very likely that "one of those children's home kids was to blame!" That was not the identity we were looking for them to have! So we did something about it. Today, we have our kids spread out over 7 schools. Some students attend a special education school that is designed to help them catch up to the grade level they should be at. Some go to schools where no one knows they live in a children's home. Yesterday, one of our oldest boys played guitar in church for the first time ever. Many are beginning to participate in extra carricular activities and we believe they are beginning to know who they are in Christ.

Much of this is made possible because many of you are supporting what we do. Our budget for gasolene is $50 per day. During the week we have vans moving kids almost all day long. But we believe it is worth it. Thank you for your support!

Milk Donation!

We recently worked out a monthly donation from a local milk distributor here in Monterrey. They agreed to donate 200 gallons of milk each month to the children's home. We give them a tax deductible receipt for their donation. Normally, we have been purchasing about 1/2 this amount each month at an expense of about $300 U S dollars. This donation not only saves us that money but it makes it possible for the kids to drink twice the amount of milk each day. If we use the money we were spending on milk to buy fruit, the kids could all have smoothies as a bed-time snack!

A New Day in the Children's Home

I wanted to show you a new staff photo for the children's home Casa Hogar Douglas. One of the real blessings this year is that we have 5 staff that are Back2Back staff that raise their own support! We are working to raise the level of care that we offer for the children. At Back2Back, we have developed a 5 part Child Development Model that we use to define our work with these kids. It not only addresses physical development but emotional, social, spiritual and educational development as well. We have big  hopes for the coming year and we ask that you keep this staff team in your prayers as we minister to the  61 kids that call Casa Hogar Douglas home.