“I’ll go.”  “No, I can’t go.”  “Ok, I will go.”  “No, it’s just not going to work.”  This was the back and forth of my recent decision to go back to Guatemala.  I had said no to this trip at least 5 times for very valid reasons and yet the opportunity and question “Will you go?” continued to come back around. And then I got an early Christmas gift from Juan Carlos with a note that read in part “May God bless you for all you have done in my life. I love you very much.” And suddenly none of those reasons mattered anymore. The only thing that mattered was this boy.

It’s almost been a year since I was last there and we have continue to nurture and grow this relationship despite the miles and language barriers.

Two days ago found the tipping point in my decision to return to Guatemala and I leave in less than a month.  My heart is absolutely bursting with excitement and anticipation and more than a little bit of panic as to how we are going to pull this together so quickly. I am looking forward to what God has in store for this trip.  It took him awhile for me to get the right answer to the question of  “Will you go?”  but we finally got to the “Yes.”  Last year, God rocked my world (you can read all about it and meet Juan Carlos, if you haven’t yet, here) and this year, with eyes wide open, I have put my heart on notice.

We are working to put together some really fun surprises for the kids while we are there this year – quite possibly, among other things, a trip to the zoo and a pizza/glow party for the entire orphanage!

We need two things – first and foremost – please pray.  I am much more anxious about the language barrier than I was last year and because of the timing , or lack there of, I have to pull a lot of things together very quickly.  Please also pray for the team that is going down.  We have a lot of “first-timers” and everything they are about to experience takes a lot of bandwidth to process.  Pray that we can help them to do that. And pray for the kids, that we would be able to touch their hearts in a way that lets them know they are loved. Secondly, I need to put together the funding necessary to make all of these extras happen.  Would you consider being part of this? We have set up a fundraiser through our non-profit Love Runners and Pure Charity in an effort to pull all of this off in this short amount of time. By combining our efforts, no matter the size of the donation, we will have a huge impact on the lives of the children at Casa Bernabe! You can make your tax-deductible donation here and help us reach our goal of $1500 by January 8, 2018.

From the bottom of my heart – THANK YOU SO MUCH! Have a wonderful Christmas and watch for details of our upcoming trip!