Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Get Invloved!

Get Involved!

With all of the sickness and suffering around us sometimes it can be
overwhelming to figure out how to help. But in placing Esthela in our lives, God’s given us-and you- the chance to be that help for one little girl.

In order to adopt Esthela we need to raise $2,000 to complete the adoption plus an
additional $1,500 a month to be able to give Esthela the care she needs.

Will you join us in fighting for Esthela?
Will you join us in giving her an
opportunity to live?

To get involved write a check out to “YWAM San Diego/Baja” and send it to:

YWAM San Diego/Baja
100 W. 35th St. Ste C
National City, CA 91950

Or Donate online at:

www.ywamsdb.org

All donations tax-deductable.

Thanks for helping change Esthela's life!

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Our Journey with Esthela

Just a few days ago Eddie and I sat down with Esthela's transplant doctor, Dr. Ismael. We spoke to him about Esthela's issues and found out some very harding truth.
Esthela's kidney is in chronic failure. Why did this happen? The doctor's best guess is because it wasn't taken care of well enough. While Eddie and I were gone doing DTS in Minnesota and spending the summer with my family she was hospitalized a few times and had trouble taking her medication at the right times.This is the most likely reason for the kidney failure. He says the kidney should have lasted 15-20 years.
Within a year Esthela will most likely have to go on dialysis. When that happens she will be able to be put on the list for a new kidney. The doctor said that if Esthela stays with her mother that no doctor will do the transplant because if the kidney failed due to not being taken care of then a second one will as well. We told him that we are wanting to adopt Esthela and he said that if that was the case then he would do everything possible to make sure that Esthela got another kidney. He wanted us to be aware that there was still a chance of the second kidney to be rejected as well.
We realize that all of our work still could result in Esthela suffering and, possibly passing away, but we know that it is the only chance that Esthela has.
Please be in prayer for us as we continue to work towards the adoption of Esthela

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Our Journey with Esthela

Eddie and I have spent a whole lot of time praying, thinking and talking about the issue of adopting Esthela. We both have come to love her over the time we have known her and we both realized that adopting her is something we want. So we began to dig a bit deeper into the process and see how we can move forward. We spoke with DIF (like children services in Mexico) and they told us that if the mother wants us to adopt her daughter the process is very simple, an independent adoption. Then I checked with immigration, and an adoption agency in the US, to see what steps we’d have to take to get to her to be able to cross the border. What I heard was not encouraging for our situation. A new law passed, basically to help prohibit Child Trafficking, which does not allow children who have been adopted by an independent adoption to be taken to the US. This keeps parents from selling their kids. If we did do an independent adoption it looks like we would have to wait a trial 2 years, in Mexico, before we could even apply for her to cross into the states. For us this situation is impossible because Eddie only has a two year permission to be outside of the states because of his green card and the legal process to make the adoption official will take at least 7 months. The other option for us to take us is to move to San Diego, do a home study and get approved through the states to adopt and then carry on with the adoption in Mexico. We are still looking at the whole process, making sure we are clear on the steps we need to take and also making sure that it is for sure what God wants. If we do have to go to San Diego it means major fund-raising and I know God can do miracles but He has to be in the middle of it all in order for it to happen so we are still waiting to make sure that He is in it. Please continue praying for us, for wisdom, for guidance, and for sleep (we’ve not been able to sleep well lately). Thank you.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Esthela

We ask for your prayers as Eddie and I find ourselves in the middle of having to make an important decision that will change our lives and the life of the little girl we’ve been helping for two years. Esthela has been living in an unhealthy situation with her mother, who has to be taken care of like a young child. Over the course of the time we’ve been with Esthela we’ve only seen the situation become worse and worse. Esthela has suffered verbal and emotional abuse living with her mother. Esthela’s mom has basically said that Esthela could stay in an orphanage while she returns to her family down south. This has put Eddie and me in an interesting situation. Do we place Esthela in an orphanage? Do we adopt? If we adopt how can we afford it if we don’t even have enough support for ourselves? What about Eddie’s green card, would adopting a Mexican in Mexico affect the visa situation? What does this look like for us as a couple? What does it look like for Esthela? We do not want to make a decision out of emotion but really want to find God’s will for Esthela and for us as well. As we are praying we are researching both sides trying to find out the steps to take whether or not she is put into an orphanage adopted by us. So we ask for prayer. We ask that you join with us as we continue to find out what God wants

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Living on the edge of water....Tsunami warning!

I'm sure we've all thought about what'd we'd grab if our house was burning down. I thought about it a lot too thinking that I'd grab pictures (memories) and my Bible (what else would a Christian want?) and other small sentimental things...well Saturday morning Eddie and I got a chance to experience this and find out what we'd REALLY bring.

Around 10:30 we were awoken (sleepy Saturday off) by a hard rushed knock on our door. The first thought that jumped into both of our heads was that there was some sort of accident and they needed Eddie as the nurse. When the door was opened we saw one of our fellow YWAMers there looking panicked.

"There is a Tsunami Warning for here, we are all evacuating. You need to grab your passports and leave NOW!"

We ran back into our rooms to get dressed. I ran down a few doors down to where my sister, Aliza and Eddie's brother, Bobby, live (yes, brothers married sisters and are neighbors. It's great). Because they aren't YWAMers YWAM hadn't contacted them. They too started the hustle of grabbing a few things and running to their car. Bobby's response was "well, we gotta go!"

What did we bring? Eddie first grabbed our little file box of legal papers then started getting the cat's stuff (food and litter) and our laptops while I run around like crazy trying to figure out what to do. My first thought was "clothes" but when I went to grab a suitcase I thought "WHAT AM I DOING" and grabbed a plastic bag and ran for the bathroom. I grabbed our toothbrushes (who wants to be stranded without a home and no toothbrush?) and a few other toiletries. We jumped in the car and drove off to my mother-in-law who lives up in the hills.

While driving away my mind rushed back to all the things we had left. Eddie forgot his wedding rings and my mind wanders to our wedding albums and my Bible - the things I always said I'd grab first.

Obviously nothing happened, no Tsunami praise God. We had a bit of an exciting experience finding out what our reaction would be to an immediate evacuation!