Okay, here it goes…
This is a very difficult update to write. I have been putting it off for weeks.
5 weeks ago today, we had to drive two of our girls back to Aceituno and drop them off with their families. We discovered some pretty huge rule breaking that was going on. And unfortunately it wasn’t just a mistake that was made that we could overlook. It was very thought-out deception and lots of lying to cover it up. I don’t want to give details of what happened, but I just want you all to know that Maudilio thought and prayed hard about what to do, and we both came to the same conclusion. And despite how hard our decision was to send them back, God has given us so much peace in knowing that we made the right decision.
The two that had to go back were Seleste and Reyna. And things with Seleste have ended very well. She was respectful, took full responsibility for her actions, and apologized for her behavior. Unfortunately, we have had a very different outcome with Reyna. She will no longer talk to us, and she is holding on to a lot of anger in her heart. Not only that, but she is spreading all kinds of lies about us and the other two girls that are still with us. Maudilio and I can take the lies, they don’t really bother us. What’s hard for us is that we tried to pour so much into her, and this is how she is thanking us for it. I mean, 5 weeks ago she was calling us “mom” and “dad” and now she will barely even acknowledge us. But, God is helping us through it. And like I said, we feel confident that we made the right decision. This has just showed us how hurt Reyna is; it has become obvious to me that the hurt goes way deeper than I could have imagined. We continue to pray for her and Seleste. I still love them and I want to see them learn from this situation and use it to help them grow.
So, I would say my main prayer request is for us and for our girls that stayed to not harden our hearts toward Reyna. Delmy and Marisol are very hurt by the things that Reyna is saying about them, and at this point want nothing to do with her. And this breaks my heart because they all grew up together and have been best friends. I want to see healing in their relationships. And I pray that we can continue to love her with God’s love and that one day we will see the healing.
And another prayer request is that another organization is trying to help us with financial support for us and for the girls. If everything works out, we will hopefully be fully supported soon. Please pray that everything goes through and that it is a good fit for us and the other organization.
And a praise is that the girls that have stayed with us have been flourishing! We have been able to build deeper bonds with them than we ever could with all four of them here. We are going deeper and we are seeing huge changes in them!
And also, they are half way through the school year! This week they had a week off school and went to be with their families. They were so excited to get this time, and it provided a nice break for me and Maudilio. We are so grateful for this time, but also ready for them to come home tomorrow!
And as always, thank you for your support and coming along this journey with us
