Hello to all of you. I hope you all had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year and gearing up for a gleeful Groundhog's Day. Life has been quite adventurous the past few months. Some major changes have been made to the orphanage (from now on it will be called The Beehive). About 3 months ago, Catherine and I decided that it would be best for the orphanage and for us if we moved back to the States. For work reasons we decided I could best serve the orphanage by moving back home and fundraising part time, while Catherine and I find work and begin a new phase of life in Portland. The following will catch you up to date on what is happening with the Beehive and our transition back to the States.



The Buzz
The girls in The Beehive had a wonderful Christmas break, starting with a series of Novenas (which is a Latin American tradition), which included two nights of festive parties with singing, dancing and eating traditional Colombian Christmas food. The motive of the parties was to invite people (many of whom were representatives from big businesses) to the orphanage to meet the girls and get involved in supporting the orphanage. We choreographed songs and dances that the girls performed (pic to the right is of the girls striking a pose in their festive outfits) and I made chocolate truffles for the guests. There were about 4o guests between the two nights and many expressed interest
in getting their businesses to help sponsor the orphanage during 2009. The night after we had our Christmas party with the girls and they were so excited to open their presents. I think it was the first Christmas anyone of them had spent in a warm home with presents and food and no drunk relatives. (The pic to the right is of a very excited Nataly and Sarita, who fell asleep in Santa Claus's arms.) Thank you to the Timberview Church small group for donating money to purchase the gifts.


One of the changes that will come about is that we will be adding 8-10 girls to the orphanage over the next few months and this will be an adjustment not only for the volunteer staff but also the girls who are currently living in the house. We continue to rely on God to provide for these wonderful little girls as he continues to surprise us with the people he brings to us.


My work with the church and the orphanage will continue but will take on a different role. I will be visiting churches and speaking with people about our plans to developing the orphanage into a self-sustaining home. If you would be interested in hearing about the orphanage and how we are working towards self-sustainability please write me at grady.jacob@gmail.com



Seeing Colombia


Before Christmas Catherine and I went on our long awaited trip through northern Colombia. We had been planning this trip for months and due to both our demanding jobs we had seen very little of Colombia. The church paid for our tickets to and from the coast as a wedding gift, which was a huge blessing. We had a wonderful time first spending a week on a remote island in the Caribbean called Providencia (the first pic) and then traveled up the coast passing through Santa Marta, Taganga, Cabo de la Vela, Parque Tayrona (second pic) and then ending up in Cartagena (the third pic) where we first fell in love... aaaaaaaah, I know 'how sweet'! It was a wonderful trip and reminded us both just how beautiful Colombia really is. I would encourage anyone to travel through Colombia; in my opinion, Parque Tayrona is one of the most beautiful places in the world (oh, and there is a 17,000 ft peak that comes right out of the ocean, which is breath-taking that close to the ocean).









Starting Over


The familiar chatter of people discussing relationships, politics or classes fills the coffee shop in north Spokane. Despite that everything is in English and it's freeeeezing outside, its the little things that remind me most that I am no longer in Bogota, Colombia. For starters: searching for the trash can in the bathroom and then remembering its totally acceptable to throw the toilet paper in the toilet. I also notice how everything is so much bigger (roads, cars, houses, people etc.). I was at a gas station the other day and instead of getting back a handful of colorful bills, they were all green and much longer. Oh, and the smallest cup at the station's soda fountain was 24 oz. (again, everything is so much larger).


It's good to be back though, and life continues to be a wonderful adventure. One thing I have been thinking a lot about since being back is how I am going to keep the orphanage fresh in my mind. How I continue to remember the girls in the orphanage and maintain the passion to work for the orphanage while dealing with my pressing current situation of starting over again, finding a place to live, starting a business and on and on. Both Catherine and I are committed to working with the orphanage for 15 years or longer if God desires, but what that will look like when my job isn't exclusively working with the orphanage, is something we have yet to discover. However, two days ago I read the following passage in My Utmost For His Highest, and it reminded me of the very important lesson I learned while working in Colombia, that still applies to me today.
"If I am devoted solely to the cause of humanity, I will soon be exhausted and come to the point where my love will waver and stumble. But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a 'doormat'."



I will continue to update this blog and keep you all informed on what is happening at the orphanage. Thank you for taking time to read this and being apart of this ongoing process of transforming lives.

Construction & Business

    

These past few weeks have been quite busy as progress on the church construction continues, work with the business picks up (the Detail Difference: restoration business) and the orphanage starts to take in more girls.  For those of you who stay up to date on the blog, I will include a part at the end that deals with Juliet (the girl, whose father was murdered two weeks ago).  Enjoy this blog as it will fill you in on the progress being made and the ways you can get involved with the work going on here.  

Construction

Several of you have been very generous in donating time and money to help with the orphanage and church building.  As I have explained in the past, the church is comprised of basically one large room for the sanctuary, three bathrooms, and two small offices (one that is mine, which is really a converted bathroom and the other that serves as office/classroom/youth room/library...etc).  We began building the third floor (the second floor is just a small balcony/mezzanine).  Thanks to several generous people and churches, we have been able to build the third floor and now have finished the fourth floor structure.  The third floor has finished walls and floors and we just poured the columns and beams for the fourth floor.  This is so exciting because we are desperately in need of space.  The fourth floor space will not only be great for classrooms but also we plan on using it for a day care during the day that could generate a small income for the different ministries at the church.

Unfortunately though, with the good news comes bad news.  We are currently in the rainy season and the rain continues to cause damage to the inside of the church.  Everyday I come into my office to find puddles of water on my desk, computer (with a bag over it), floor and pretty much anything uncovered.  The water continues to damage the paint on the walls and stain the carpet we have.  In fact,  Steve Hillis from Milliken carpets has donated a 1000 yards to the church but we cant even put it in until the church is closed in (i.e. have a roof and sealed walls).  

The water is destructive but not the worst.  Already twice this week, we have had thieves break into the church, risking their lives scaling the thirty foot brick facade to climb into the third floor windows.  We have plywood over the windows, but twice, the thieves have broken in and almost made off with tools and anything else of value.  We have at least two people spending the night every night in the church to ward off the thieves, though I think it would be more effective to have 110v running through the bars on the 2 floor windows.  

In any case this has presented us with several urgent needs to prevent further damage or the possibility of being robbed. Our needs to close in and secure the 3rd and 4th floor are (prioritized):   

• Metal roof  $10,000
  
• brick and block to close in 4th floor $8500
• Fence around the church, windows and bars to protect windows $20,000
• Plaster (cement and sand) for inside and out $6,000

For information on donating to help with these needs or those of 

the orphanage, the end of the blog explains what you can do.

(Pastor Daniel and the architech Arturo, mapping out the changes for the new roof, also, the outer concrete beam of the fourth floor is being poured. Second: the almost finished entry way of the third floor thanks to Tom Murphy)

The Business: making sustainability a reality

As many of you know, a year ago, our good friends Brian and Sue Templin came down to Bogota with my parents and trained a few of us to start our own business, The Detail Difference.  The idea was to provide a good job to some hard working people in the church as well as create a business that could financially back the orphanage.  Carlos, Aida and I all worked part time for a year and then finally this September, Carlos to the step of faith to work full time and take on this opportunity as his career.  Carlos has worked the majority of his life with a dairy company loading trucks and working delivery

routes.  Despite his struggling financial situation and long hard hours, he always has a smile on his face and is the first to help someone in the church, fixing anything they might have.  Two months ago he left the security of a steady job, though horrible as it was, to work full time with The Detail Difference.  Carlos and I committed to taking the first half an hour of our day to pray and ask God's direction for the business.  With his family of five's welfare on the line, he is determined to make this business work.  

(Right: our work bikes out in front of the church.  We put all the tools in the box on the black motorcycle)

It is with great relief and thanks to tell you that God has continued to provide us with constant work these past few weeks and this Friday we were called by a 5 star hotel to do $3500 worth of work and began working  Saturday.  It is really hard to explain how great a blessing this is without knowing Carlos, his character and the challenges he has had to put food on the table.  So I ask you to continue to pray for Carlos and I as we work.  If you want more info on the business go to (www.thedetaildifference.com) to see what the business is about.

Expanding the Orphanage

Life has been a little crazy at the orphanage these past few weeks (see the blog entry below), but its amazing at how resilient children are.  Friday night Catherine and I spent the night at the orphanage and woke up early to make breakfast for them.  All the girls were running around in their little pijamas playing and brushing each others' hair.  Jennifer and Natalie ran up to me and gave me a hug, "good morning Uncle Jacob" they said, and then off again to play.  These are the same two girls who witnessed their dad shooting and killing their mom less than a month ago.

Last month's blog shared about Juliet, who's dad had been shot in front of her.  Sadly to say the slow moving government is leaning towards giving custody to one of Juliet's neighbors, who is without a doubt in it for the welfare check she'll get for taking custody of Juliet.  The government would rather give custody to an individual (despite having nothing to offer Juliet) than our orphanage.  This is not set in stone yet, but its been discouraging for all of us especially Ruth Herrera, the director, who has spent days working to bring Juliet back to the orphanage.  Please continue praying for us as we deal with this.

The more time I spend at the orphanage the more I realize how God has perfectly orchestrated the creation of the orphanage and fulfilling the needs of these little girls who have been abandoned and abused.  While our needs to pay rent, groceries and utilities continues to be a reason for worrying, one only has to take a step back see how faithful God has been these past few years to see that this orphanage and these girls will be taken care of.

If you have any ideas or would like to get involved and help out with the orphanage or church construction please email me at (grady.jacob@gmail.com).  The following is information for those of you who are willing to donate to the building or orphanage.

Write checks to, Timberview Christian Fellowship (my home church), and put Bogota orphanage or Bogota construction in the memo line.  Timberview's address is,

15511 N. Howe Road
Mead, WA  99021

 

If you have any questions please email me and I would be glad to help.  Take care and stay in touch.

Pray

The following isn't the most fun or cheerful bit of info I've had to share with you all but without a doubt just as important as any news of progress.  As I have mentioned many times before the orphanage takes in girls from abusive impoverished backgrounds, which many times includes the worst of human behavior.  The past week has been a troubling one as we have had several examples of this behavior that have hit several of the girls hard.

Last week an older woman (in her late 50's, but looked much older) walked into the orphanage house with a younger woman and two little girls.  The older woman introduced herself as the grandmother of the two little girls and the other lady as a close friend.  Ruth H. (the director of the orphanage) talked casually with the women about how they had heard about the orphanage, and then the two little girls were dismissed to go play around the house with the rest of the girls.  The grandmother went on to tell us that the previous week the two little girls had lost their mother.  It turned out that their dad had come home to their small shack and in a fit of rage shot their mother in front of the older daughter (7 years old) and that now he is in prison for 18 years.  The girls were living with their uncles and grandmother but she has very little to support them with and their uncles are just as unstable as their incarcerated brother.  So with no one to turn to, the girls have come to us until they are 18 years old.

This Friday evening, Catherine and I went over to hang out with the girls and play with them.  Friday night is one of the most hyper times for the girls because not only is school out for the week but many of their parents/caretakers come and pick them up to take them for the weekend.  In the middle of playing ninja with them (which involves me defending myself again 6 or more attacking ninjas) the doorbell rang.  "Its my mom" one girl shouts.  "No, its my grandma, she said she'd come this week" says another girl.  I ran down to open the door and saw that it was William, Juliet's father.  William is a single dad who is a carpenter who does odd jobs where he can get them.  He raises Juliet's older brother (12 years old) alone and has no idea where his promiscuous ex-wife is.  He has been consistent in coming and picking up Juliet for the weekends.  When she came running down and saw him, her face lit up and ran over to give him a hug.  He asked me briefly if she was behaving well and then took her by the hand and walked off.  This morning as I was walking into church, Ruth Ramirez (the caretaker that lives in the orphanage) took me aside.  She had tears in her eyes when she told me that Juliet's dad had been killed last night and right in front of her.  It was sort of hard to believe at first and then Ruth went on to tell me that Juliet was always praying for her dad because he was always getting into fights.  Well, it turns out that a neighbor heard the commotion and called the cops and took Juliet in for the night.  That was late last night 

and when Ruth H. received the call this morning, she left immediately with her husband, Isaac to go get Juliet.  The danger now is that the government will take Juliet away and stick her in one of their huge state run orphanages (which resemble a more run down version of the projects).  

Juliet is the girl in the green dress, second from the left.

As I said, this isn't the most uplifting news I've had to share with you, but it is equally if not more important.  I am reminded time and time again that this orphanage is not built with bricks, new clothes, food, donations or even volunteers, but with prayer.  I am absolutely convinced that without prayer, I am simply filling time, at best.  Life change is not brought about by food, shelter, new clothes or things, not even loving attention.  Real change is made through diligent and constant prayer.  So I ask you, the reader, to please not let this pass by as just another bit of news.  Please stop, take 5 minutes to pray for these girls.  Pray that God would protect them and provide for them.  Pray that those of us working with the orphanage would give them Christ's love.  Please continue to take time everyday to pray for these girls, and please pray for the Thomas family as they deal with losing Mitch to cancer.  Prayer is much more important than any donation we could receive from you so please take time, make time to pray for the girls here.

September Salad Bar

Hello everyone!!! I must say sorry to start off with because this blog is long overdue and I have been doing a poor job updating you all on what is happening here. Today's salad bar includes two new personalities from the Beehive (what we call the orphanage) and some interesting bacon-tid-bits on some changes in my life. Grab a fork and dig in....

The Beehive

As I had mentioned in my previous blog, the girls in the orphanage have been going through a process of transformation in which many of them have/and are leaving bad habits behind. There is still much work to do (parenting is never a seasonal job) and each girl has her own problems to overcome. With that in mind lets meet Karen.

Karen came to us in the second wave of girls that came to the orphanage. She is one of the lucky two or three who has both a mom and dad. When talking with her father he told me that they lived in the barrio Soacha (where many of the girls come from) and that everyday he goes to work as a security guard in the north side of Bogota (an almost 2 hour commute). He told me that his wife works sporadically in cleaning people's homes and that his daughter stays home all day. They struggled financially to care for Karen, yet it was apparent that they loved her, which was refreshing to me after seeing so many parents indifferently hand over their kids like they were an unwanted dog. Karen's biggest problem, which was quite obvious from the beginning, was that she had never gone to school in her life and was absolutely terrified of social situations. At 10 years old this was no longer just a little problem with being shy. She didn't know how to read or write and the idea of being in a room with more than three people made her go running for her room. When all the girls had arrived and were living in the orphanage, she would spend the activity times in her room.


Almost five months later you cant find Karen in the house when all the girls have left for school because she too is in class. Despite still being behind academically, she is reading and enjoying school a lot. In the mornings she works with Liliana on reading and mathematics and in the afternoon she goes to school with everyone else. She also has blossomed into quite the socialite and partakes in the fun with the rest of the girls.


Speaking of socialites, the next character to meet is Daniela. One must not be misled by the stature of this little girl, she is a giant in terms of personality. Daniela is a little sparkplug who always has something witty to say and is never lacking in expressive gestures that emphasize her clever comments. When she arrived she was much more reserved and was very argumentative. Although she has always been a loveable little girl, it hasn't been until recently that she has learned how to forgive.

Several weeks ago during the nightly prayers Daniela began to open up. That night's talk was about forgiving others and how Jesus has forgiven us. Without prompting, Daniela began to share about how her mother had beat her and how different people had hurt her. She then began to talk about how she was mean to other girls and to Ruth (the lady who lives there). Daniela told those she had hurt that she was sorry and asked for their forgiveness.


Although she is one of the youngest girls in the house, she was one of the first to speak up and her confession sparked a wave of more stories and forgivness. Many of the girls came out with stories of family members abusing them and they asked God to help them forgive those who had hurt them.

Life Changes

As many of you know I had quite the exciting July. Catherine and I flew back to Spokane June 30th and had a nice week at home relaxing before we left for Portland, OR to see my sister Erin, Andy (bro in law), and new nephew Wes, who is chubby and awesome (maybe the only time in your life when those two words go together). Afterwards we went to San Fran to see some friends get married and toured multiple chocolate boutiques as well as an interesting new chocolate company on pier 17. We then spent some great time camping with our good friends Justin and Heather Tillery in Cannon Beach, OR. 

We got back in time to finish our last minute wedding planning and had a wonderful time hanging out with our close friends and family. The rehearsal dinner in my parent's backyard was one of the most fun and meaningful times of my life and it was so great to share it with such great friends and family. All the wedding activities went great and especially the ceremony, which Catherine and I really appreciated. We had our pastor from Bogota (Libni Gasca) do the homily and a good friend led the ceremony and vows.

We went off to BC, Canada for our honeymoon and it was awesome how God provided for us. I was a little worried going into July about having enough money to go out to eat and do activities on our honeymoon, however, God took care of it little by little. Friends of ours paid for our rental car that got us from Seattle to north of Vancouver. When we arrived at our luxury camping suite (www.rockwatersecretcoveresort.com) we learned that for some reason we got 50% off, so Catherine was treated to a massage and we were able to eat out which was a lot of fun. However, the honeymoon was really only 4 days long as we had to rush back for my little sister's wedding. Again, it was great to be with such fun and loving people and my sisters wedding went off w/o a hitch and I was able to catch up with a lot of people I missed at my wedding. Ahhh, how relaxing you might think (maybe)....no, the following morning after the wedding, Catherine and I were up at 5am to catch our flight back to Bogota. Its safe to say we were a bit in shock (especially Catherine) as she went to work the following day.


The shock has worn off though, and life is great here in Bogota. I have quite a few balls up in the air and am in the process of deciding which ones to catch and which ones let fall. I was recently reading my old pastor's blog and was really convicted on the need to be in prayer. I am a doer and getting busy is what I do best, but I constantly need to remind myself that the most important thing in my life is to be spending time with God. How can I make good decisions apart from knowing Jesus? In order to know him more, I realized I need to be taking more time out of my day to tell him my thoughts, ask for wisdom, give thanks for answering previous prayers...etc. It was a good wake up call for me.

Alright, enough for now. Take care all of you and please write to tell me how you are doing.

Progress with the Girls

I just finished reading the blog of a good friend of mine and realized I haven't been doing a good job keeping up on my own.  Partly its because I have been really busy and partly because updating my blog tends to be the last thing on my weekly checklist.  However, a wave of inspiration just hit me and I am going to ride it out as far as I can.

Growing

The girls have been in the orphanage (or as I like to call it, The Beehive) for 2 months now.  My last blog talked about what type of backgrounds these girls were coming from and the 180 degree change has had its growing pains.  Being 5 years old and living with 3-5 siblings you learn how to survive, not just physically but emotionally as well.  One thing each of these girls has in common is that they all have been neglected and crave attention.  Many of these girls lived completely unsupervised with their siblings and thus picked up bad habits of manipulating, lying, or stealing to survive.  Well, to put it lightly in some instances, there has been several adjustments made and many more that are still in the process.  Despite the challenges these girls continue to grow and learn that their old habits wont work or be tolerated in the house.  Even in the short time many girls have really made progress and its so encouraging for us to see progress being made.

I want to introduce you all to the girls but would like to do it by spotlighting a couple girls at a time.  Because we are talking about change I would like to introduce two girls who have come a long way since they first came.

Yeimi (pronounced Jaime) came with her sister the first weekend we took in girls.  She was one of the first girls in the house and came from a family of 7 with 5 siblings and a single mom.  When filling out paper work I had to help her mom complete the forms because she couldn't read.  Not only did the mom not know her own birthday or those of her 6 children but she didn't know how to spell their names.  She must have been 14 or 15 when she had her first child.  When Yeimi (7 years old) arrived she was really hard to understand when she spoke due to a serious speech impediment.  Being one of the youngest in the family she was a spitfire from the very beginning.  Hitting and shouting was the only way she knew how to get attention or get her way.  Recklessly running around her new large house, she would bulldoze anyone in her way with her little 60lb body and when corrected she would spit out some sort of jumbled reason why it wasn't her fault.  Now, fast forward two months, 40 days of speech therapy and countless timeouts.  She is one of the more obedient girls in the house and has turned into quite the delightful affectionate sweetheart with not just the volunteers in the house but with her fellow housemates.  When another girl is crying in the house she is one of the first to console her and tell the adult in charge that such n' such is feeling sad.  This is the same girl who was close-lining her roomies two months ago.  I remember the first few days playing with her and when I said I had to go she ran up and hit me and as I turned around to say “we dont hit”, I was shocked  her to see her stick out her tongue and flip me off.  I almost busted up laughing. That was her in the beginning, and though she continues to have the occasional outburst she is doing much much better.

Mayerli (sister of Yeimi, 9 years old) arrived with her little sister the first weekend.  While Mayerli wasn't as out of control as Yeimi, she was a typical older sister and had a real mean streak of bossiness.  She was quick to pound on or socially isolate anyone who didn't go along with her program.  We would try to rationalize with her why you cant treat others like that, but we might as well have been talking to the stove.  Like several of the other girls, she had assumed a motherly role for her younger siblings due to her mother's absence in the home.  Its not hard to imagine why she acted the way she did.  However, like her sister, she has made big steps in thinking of others first.  She has been more agreeable to doing her homework and obedient to house rules as well as showing more grace to the other girls.  

Little by little, small victory after small victory these girls are learning how much they are loved and how to love others.  As I stated in a past blog, this is so much more than just offering food and shelter.  It is taking a little girl out of an abusive environment that only offers an early pregnancy, prostitution or life of poverty.  It is showing  Yeimi that she is loved not just by us at the orphanage, but by God.  From that foundation, Yeimi learns that she is capable of loving others.  She will go on to get a College education choose a profession and raise her own family on the vary principles she is learning now.  While there are only 14 girls (with 6 yet to come), that is 14 less in prostitution and 14 more with a college education.  What's more, their impact will reach farther than any of will live to see.  I ask you the reader and your family to be praying for these girls, that God would continue to change their hearts, that they would learn how to show love to others, and lastly that we would be able to provide for their needs (physically and emotionally).

They're Heeeeeerrrrre!!!!!!!!!!

That’s right, the orphanage house is filling up with busy little bodies, running around and playing with their new toys. There is so much to share with you all, but I will try to keep it short and give you all a great update on what is happening with orphanage. I guarantee that this is well worth the 5 minutes of reading.

Arrival

The past four months we’ve been trying our hardest to get the government to help us find the girls for the orphanage. We knew the need was there and we met the right people but everytime our hooks came back empty. I relate this to fishing because its like standing in a stream with your pole in hand and watching fish jump all around you but you have no idea what they are biting on (for those of you who don’t fish, bare with me). You make contact with the right person so it seems, but when it comes to reeling in the catch, nothing. It’s a mix of lacking trust and sheer laziness. However, Ruth had the great idea of going directly to the area where all the displaced people are. I must say that Ruth has been a huge blessing to us as she has taken on all the paperwork, bureaucracy and phone calling. For those of you who don’t remember Colombia has the world’s third largest internally displaced population of over 3.5 million people due to 40 years of on-going civil war in the countryside. El Tiempo (the biggest newspaper in Colombia) noted that there are over 500 displaced people who arrive daily in Bogota, the majority of which are women and children.

This last Saturday we went to Soacha (the southern most part of Bogota and by far one of the poorest areas) and arranged to meet up with Pastor Emiro and his wife Janet (who are apart of our church leadership). Emiro showed us around and we went up the hill to the poorest parts of the barrio. Fortunately everyone knows Emiro because he had a church there and so we were welcomed warmly. However, the cases we came across were anything but warm. Though I had been there before and have had plenty of encounters with extreme poverty; brokenness, abuse and hopelessness is never something I have ever gotten used to. Two sisters (11 and 12) prostituting themselves for a coke or a few dollars. Parents openly telling us in front of their kids they hate their daughter and that they don’t want her, or hearing about 6 year old girls who are beaten and raped by their stepdads or just some random neighbor. It’s the type of thing you don’t want to hear, see or even repeat but unless you hear the brutal reality you cant begin to address the problem. We met many parents who were interested, and even more children who ran after us wanting us to persuade their mom/dad/caretaker to let them come and live with us. Having loving parents (myself) it was really hard for me to see the interaction between these children and their parents. Drunk or sober, 99% of the parents who were interested in our program showed absolutely no interest or love for their daughters. It was like they were deciding whether they were going to give up a dirty old shirt or not. Basically the only thing that held them back was whether they had to take a bus to the orphanage or if they could just hand over their daughter right then and there.

We didn’t take any girls home with us Saturday but we set three appointments at the church for Sunday. The caretakers of the girls showed up (one couple, a single mother, and a single dad) and we gave them a look around the house and then interviewed them. Meanwhile the 2 daughters of the single mother and the daughter of the single father had their medical reviews with a doctor from the church. The single mother had to be in her mid 30’s (she didn’t know her birthday) and she was a mother of 6 kids (20,19,11,9,8 and 5 years old). She didn’t know how to read so I read the contract to her and she gave me what answers she could come up with, however, she didn’t even know how to spell her daughter’s name. The single father was the same, didn’t know how to read nor did he know any info about his own daughter. I had a mix of emotions because I always expected that we would get the girls from the State from some foster program, but to see a parent happily hand over their child was so sad for me to see. Upon leaving his child the single dad asked his daughter if she would like to stay at the home or go back with him, and without missing a beat she eagerly replied “no, I want to stay”. All the parents agreed that they will come on a regular basis to see their daughters, but that the girls are to stay until they are 18 years old. So we now have these three little girls, Mayerli (8 years old), Jeimi (5 years old) and Julieta (9 years old). Tomorrow (Tuesday) 3 more girls will come and then another 4 later on this week. We anticipate that all 20 spots will be filled in the next 10 days to 2 weeks.

A Prolonged Miracle

I have received wonderful encouraging emails from many of you and I am very thankful for them. However, I must tell you all that I receive far more credit than I really deserve for this orphanage. Believe me this is not false humility, this is me telling it as it is. A year and a half ago I arrived here in Bogota and we had nothing. I mean nothing, nothing. Actually, I take that back, we had an estimate at how much it would cost to run an orphanage for 20 girls. The amount was and still is BREATHTAKING and the probability of raising that much money MADE ME WANT TO LAUGH AND CRY at the same time. It was like imagining the task of pushing a car up doomsday hill (for you bloomsday runners). I remember vividly though, when after looking at the estimate, Pastor Libni turned to me and said,

“you have a unique opportunity Jacob. You are here, you know the costs and needs for this project to work and you will see how God answers prayer. This orphanage will be a miracle that only God can do. Many people in the US will say, ‘no, Jacob you just worked hard, its not a miracle its just hard work’, but you and I both know the costs and difficulties that they don’t see’”

There isn’t any better way to put it than that. This project is and will continue to be impossible without God’s grace and working hand. I can call people to raise money, but I still need to get authorization from the Government. I can run all the errands and with a little bit of luck get the government to comply and give me a license but I still need to get the girls. I can spend months looking for girls who need a home and not have enough money to feed and clothe them. I can fundraise more, start a business and earn money for food and clothing but the girls still have enormous emotional needs. We can get the best child psychologists and spend lots of time with the girls, but in the end they are still children, rejected by their parents and relatives. Its not until I am exhausted from pushing, that I realize I cant do this on my own or even with the help of others. God and God alone can provide for these girls. In the end its only God that can restore a rejected abused little girl into a person capable of forgiveness, love and knowing just how much God cares for them. So, again, I want to emphasize this is not false humility but simply diverting the credit where it is due.

STAY TUNED…..

My lovely bride to be, Catherine, is working with Ruth to develop a registry with Target for the things that girls need. The only things these girls have when they come is the clothes they have on, which are falling apart. We have some clothes here, but we still need clothes, shoes, and of course help with food (especially as food prices have risen recently). In any case, I will be sending out another group email with all that information and we have friends leaving Spokane, Wa to come down here in the end of May so they can collect the items and bring them down here.

Pushing Ahead

Well it’s been way too long since my last blog update and for good reason. Life has been busy but progress has been slow. There are so many things going on but as for progress with the orphanage, things are slow and I will explain why. However, do not be discouraged as this update packs in plenty of good news and will surely leave you in a chipper mood, and now without further delay…..I bring you The Blog….

A Snail, a Sloth and a Colombian Government Worker
“Take your positions” yells the announcer. The gun fires and they’re off. The snail slowly but consistently inching itself one slimy centimeter at a time, has the slowest start of them all. In lane two, the sloth is mid stride of his second step and seems as though he’ll never complete it, let alone finish the 100 meter dash. Then in the third lane, a short stumpy elderly woman dressed in a floral moo-moo (which reminds me of my elementary art teacher) takes the lead with two short steps. Hours pass and the snail and sloth are almost tied approaching the one and a half meter mark, only 98.5 meters to go. Meanwhile the Colombian Government worker (social worker to be exact) is sipping coffee and explaining in detail the difficulties of her job to a sideline referee. Weeks pass into months and the steadfast snail is only inches from the finish line with the sloth closing with every intentional and well thought out step. Ninety meters back towards the starting line, the stumpy social worker sits on the track glued to the screen of her handheld TV immersed in one of primetime’s over-the-top dramatic soap operas, when she realizes that the race is almost over. Not accustomed to moving she staggers clumsily towards the finish line but it’s too late. The sloth stubbing one of his 3 toes loses his balance sending himself stumbling over the finish line.

Such is the reality of working with the Government in Colombia. After a 4 month process that by Colombian law should’ve only taken 4 weeks maximum, we have our license to open the orphanage. However, don’t despair as we have made good use of the long time and have made contacts with women who work in the red-light district and they are very excited about what we are doing. We will be getting our first girls in the next few weeks as we are working directly with the moms or caretakers (as opposed to working with the gov. to get the girls). Several women have mentioned to us that they will gladly leave prostitution if they can get someone to watch their kids during the day time or during the week days and nights. We have talked with several organizations that say starting off part time, taking in girls for the week days and having their mothers or caretakers take them for the weekends is the best way to begin. Generally what will happen is the mother/caretaker will end up abandoning the girl with time because he/she can’t or doesn’t want to care for the child. The other possibility is that the mother leaves prostitution and is able to find a job that can eventually sustain her and her child, as in the case of Marie, a 28 year old mother of 5 who has been working in prostitution for 9 years. She recently approached us with the proposition of caring for her two little boys (3 and 5years old) during the day so she can take a factory job and leave prostitution.

The Detail Difference
For those of you who don’t remember from past blogs, The Detail Difference is the company that was started by our friends Brian and Sue. They brought all the supplies and know-how down to us last October and trained two people from the church and myself. We have been working on finding our niche ever since and doing work in restaurants, car dealerships and hotels. God has been really blessing us and after doing $1000 in repairs (including some leather and marble work at an Embassy Suites), we have found ourselves in the negotiation process for several large contracts with two other formidable hotels here in Bogota. As just a quick reminder to those of you who don’t remember what it is that we do, we are specialists in repairing basically any detailed surface damage (leather, wood, porcelain, marble…etc) and restoring it to new. For more info please go to the site (www.thedetaildifference.com). What’s been so exciting is that our customers (mostly 5 star hotels) are really happy with our work and realizing they can save a lot of money getting us to restore their damaged areas as opposed to replacing items (sinks, wood floors, tile, leather chairs…etc). Also, my work partner Carlos, who currently is working part time as he has been working with the same milk distributor for the past 10 years, is thinking about working with the business full time. One of several big problems in Colombia, is that hourly wage is extremely cheap and businesses work their employees into the ground. Carlos just recently got a raise after working 9 years in the same position making $250 to now $400 a month at almost 60 hours a week. If we are able to land a few of these large contracts he could easily be making $600 a month, working fewer hours and we would still be able to comfortably hit our 30% donation to the orphanage.

It has been a huge blessing from God because as anyone who has ever started a business knows, it’s a BIG risk and especially in a different country and market. With this recent breakthrough I am confident that this business could financially back the majority of the orphanage costs in 2-4 years. However, I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so I ask you, the reader, to be praying that we are able to get these bigger contracts and that God would bless our work.

Construction Project
As if there wasn’t enough going on already, the church is starting its building project for the third floor. With the orphanage filling up, we can no longer use that as classroom space for the numerous classes and meetings that the church has planned during the week. Space is of absolute importance as our church is growing and we are developing more and more programs for our community. So after a long long loooooong process (similar to our orphanage license, but a year and a half long) we have our building permit. Thanks to several generous donations we have 90% of the structure for the third floor covered. The structure includes extending the 16 columns that are 9 ft high, pouring a concrete slab (reinforced with steel beams and rebar) and then enclosing the floor with steel enforced cement, block and brick walls. We have negotiated both the steel and concrete contracts and they will be arriving in a week, as well as the workers who will be building the columns. I will be building the wood forms for pouring the cement in the columns, and be helping out with some of the manual labor of mixing and hauling cement, but apart from that, its mostly skilled professionals that will be doing the construction.

The whole church is really excited to have classroom space and many people in the church are volunteering to help in whatever way they can. In fact we held a meeting for volunteers for the orphanage the other Sunday and 50-60 people showed up to sign up for different jobs (cleaning, cooking, helping with homework, putting on activities…etc). Again, just another great example of what it means to be in community. Everyone serving in the best way they know how. In the past few months I have found myself a little burnt out at times and it is always refreshing to see others get involved. However, more than just seeing others help, returning to the basics of centering my life around love for Christ and love for others is something I have to do daily or I easily get so involved that I forget what its all for.
As always, I appreciate hearing from you all, so please write.