Currently. {Vol. 01}

Last week, I was browsing through some of the blogs that I read, and came across a cool little link-up. The link-up is called Currently, and it's a cool way for me to jot down some things currently going on in my life. Without further ado...here are my 'currently's'... 

Thinking about: June! June is quickly approaching us, and there are quite a few exciting things on our calendar for that month. A couple highlights that I am looking forward to in June are; Isanon taking his vacation time - Paul and Nan coming to visit - Visiting family in Recife - (Brazilian) Valentine's day - my birthday. 

Reading: Red Knife by William Kent Krueger. I wouldn't say that I love it, but I am pretty into it. When Nancy headed back to the US, she left a stack of books here for us American girls to read, and this was one of the books in that stack. It is a mystery book, and has me pretty intrigued to see how it all plays out. 

Listening to: The Miami and Indiana b-ball game. Obviously, the mister has taken over the TV every single night with his excessive basketball watching. I don't really mind though, it is better than Soccer! Current song that I play at least 8 and a half times a day....Oceans by Hillsong United. It speaks to me. 

Watching: Isanon and I had actually just gotten pretty hooked on a couple Series on Netflix...and then our internet started messing up, and we no longer can get Netflix. Wahhhh! (First World Problems!) So, he has been watching basketball, and I haven't really been watching anything lately... 

Thankful for: Days off! I love all our crazy boys, but the mister and I were in major need of a date day - away from this mountain. We have spent too many days off sitting at home, waiting for the Federal Police to come and do our home visit, so it was nice to be able to go out today. 

Verse of the Week:  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Meet & Greet Mondays. {Ronisson}

It's Monday! 

Today I get to introduce you to Ronisson. 

Ronisson has been here at Hope Mountain since December of 2009. He just had a birthday this last week and turned 17. Before coming to us, Ronisson lived with his mom and step-dad. He told us that him and his siblings would mess around a lot and get into a lot of trouble at home. His step-dad would get upset with them and lock them in a room for long periods of time. The neighbors called Social Services, and Ronisson and his three siblings were removed from the home. Because of Ronisson's age, he was brought to us, while his three younger siblings were taken to a different home. Ronisson misses his siblings, but thankfully he is able to go visit them on weekends and holidays. 

Ronisson is a joy for us to have. Despite being far from his siblings and everything he has went through, he is truly a joyful boy, who is fun to have around. It is not uncommon to find Ronisson making noises and pretending like he is riding 'his motorcycle' down the halls. It is also not uncommon to find him dancing or singing. He has an awesome smile and a contagious laugh. 

He, also, began going to a private school recently (please read about that here!) and has been doing really well. He has some learning difficulties and is quite a few years behind, but has been getting some extra help to try to catch him up a bit. Since he recently turned 17, he will soon be transferring over to the 'Republica', and given new responsibilities. 

 Please join Isanon and I in prayer for Ronisson this week. We are praying that he would continue to have this contagious joy. Please pray with us that he would continue to do well in school, and that the opportunity to begin to work would open up for him. We are praying that he would continue to make wise decisions and learn to seek the Lord more and more each day. 

Meet & Greet Mondays. {Djon}

Happy Monday to you!

How was your weekend? Isanon and I enjoyed a very relaxing weekend. Isa had the weekend off, so we enjoyed some much needed rest and quality time together. We had planned to go to the beach on Saturday, but we woke up to a very gloomy and sun-less day, so we opted to stay in. He also seems to be coming down with a little bit of a cold, so hot tea and rest is what the doctor (me) ordered. We have a little on-going list of movies we want to watch, so we got a couple of those scratched off this weekend!

As promised, today you get to meet one of our crazy boys. Say hello to Djon (pronounced Jon).

Djon is 16 years old, and has been back with us at Hope Mountain since August of 2013. He had been with us for quite some time before, but due to him getting in lots of trouble and running away various times - he was transferred to another home in early 2013. When he returned to us in August, he was on a 'last chance' basis, and has been doing quite well since. 

Djon recently began going to a private school (read about that here!) and has been doing really well! It is challenging, but it is so awesome to see him come home from work, and go straight to studying. Speaking of work, he also just recently began working as a receptionist at a Hospital nearby. It is an amazing opportunity for Djon, and he not only seems to be doing really well, he seems to be truly enjoying it. The change in his attitude has been enormous! We love seeing this (happy) side of Djon. 

Please be praying with us for Djon this week. We are praying that he would continue to enjoy life. That he would continue to see that he can do whatever he puts his heart to do. Please pray that he would stay encouraged, and continue to choose the right path. We are extremely proud of the change we have seen in Djon, and are praying that more and more he would seek the Lord. 

Ademir turns 16....

We got to celebrate another birthday this week. Ademir turned 16 on Wednesday. Ademir is the oldest boy in our house. When he first arrived at Hope, he was put into the older boys home (because he was 15) but couldn't seem to get along with the boys over there, so was temporarily moved to our house. Since he turned 16, he will be moving back to the older boys house some time this next week. 

After dinner, we called all the boys from our house over and started the party off with a slideshow of pictures of Ademir. Isanon puts together a slideshow for each boy on their birthdays, and it may be one of the best parts! Depending on how long the boy has been here, it is fun to look back and see the differences. 

After watching the slideshow, we played "Never have I...." 

If you are not familiar with the game, the game starts off with everyone sitting except for one person in the middle without a chair. That person must say something that they never have done. For example, one of the boys said: "Never have I put on make-up." If you, also, have never put on make-up, you stay seated. However, if you have...you must jump up and switch seats. The person left without a chair must then say something they have never done, and so on. 

We had quite a bit of fun with this game, and went many rounds. After we tired of the game, we gave Ademir his present, and prayed for him. 

One of the presents that Ademir received was a card that Paul and Nancy had sent him from the states. It was one of those cool little cards that when you open, it plays a song. The boys LOVED it! I mean, LOVED it! They thought it was the coolest thing! So cool, that it started a mini dance party in my living room. So much fun. 

When they finished their dance party, we had banana cupcakes with coffee flavored frosting. The boys always want me to make something "new" for them for their birthday, so I am having to learn to be creative. If you have any unique cupcake/cake flavors, please leave them in the comments! 

After cupcakes, we piled the mattresses in and settled down for a movie. The battery on our camera had died by this point, but I did happen to remember and snapped a photo on Isanon's iphone. 

Happy Birthday, Ademir! We hope that you felt super special on your special day! 

Happy birthday Carlos Israel!

When we first moved to Hope Mountain, we lived in a house that was not connected to any of the boys' dorms. We lived there for a few months, then moved into the house that is connected to the youngest boys' dorm. Shortly after moving in, we decided that we would do what we could to celebrate and make each birthday special. The very first birthday that we celebrated was for Carlos Israel, he was turning 14. We decided to wake all the boys up at midnight, and I will never forget watching their sleepy faces go from grumpy - to confused -to excited, as they figured out we were having a party. 

Last Tuesday, we celebrated Carlos Israel's 15th birthday. Oh, how time flies. 

This year we did not, however, wait until midnight for his party. After dinner, we called all the boys from our house over. We played a 'Minute to Win it' game where they had to keep three balloons in the air for 60 seconds. After the first two boys didn't even make it past 10 seconds, we dropped it down to two balloons. 

When they made it to 60 seconds, they won a little box filled with candy. 

We all had so much fun with this simple game. After it was over, I tried to get them all together to take a group photo...but as you can see, they were not cooperating! 

I finally gave up on wanting a good picture, and we sang happy birthday, prayed for Carlos Israel, and cut the cake! We ate our cake, and then the boys brought their mattresses, pillows and blankets and we all crammed in our living room and watched Rio 2. I wish I would've gotten a picture of how many mattresses we manage to fit in our living room, but its always so crazy, that I forget to snap a picture. Maybe next time. :) 

 Happy Birthday, Carlos! It has truly been our greatest pleasure to be able to celebrate two birthdays with you. 15 years old means you have hit the mark to be considered one of the "older boys" and will soon be leaving our house. I am excited to see you mature, as you are given new responsibilities. The happiest of birthdays to you! 

Meet & Greet Mondays. {Paulo Vitor}

Happy Monday!

Remember way back when, when I promised a new boy every Monday? Well....life happens.

Today, I'd like to introduce you to Paulo Vitor.

Paulo Vitor has been with us since the beginning of January. I remember very clearly the night he arrived. It was probably after midnight, when we heard honking outside. Isanon stood on a chair to look out the window and saw a man with a little boy. Isanon went out to receive him, and I didn't meet him until the next day. Paulo Vitor had this cute little face and looked to be only about 9 or 10 years old. I didn't believe him when he first told me he was 13 years old (he turns 14 in 2 weeks!). 

Right from day one, Paulo Vitor has been a very affectionate boy. It is very rare that a day goes by without him knocking on my door just to give me a hug. He is constantly making things at school to bring home to give to Isanon and myself. He is an extremely bright child and does so well in school. He is also very quick to apologize when he does something he shouldn't have, and has even told on himself a couple different times. 

Please pray for Paulo Vitor with us this week! We are praying that he would continue to make wise decisions and be the sweet boy God has made him to be. We are also praying that he would continue to excel in school, and be a good example for the other boys around him. We pray that he would come to know the love of God, and seek Him truly.

In the midst of grieving, we will cling to hope.

It is currently almost 1am, and I have started this post 4 different times today. I like to write. I feel like I express myself way better through written words, than spoken words. Yet, I can not seem to find the words for this blog post. Fact is, I don't want to find the words. I don't want to be sitting here writing about this. It's painful, and ugly, and it hurts. 

One of our boys, Luis, is dead. The reason behind it, and specifics are unknown (to me). 

What we do know, is that it was gang related, and he was shot. 

Luis was a bright and charismatic boy. Shortly before coming to us at Hope, he witnessed his step father murdered by drug traffickers. His mother was fearful of his safety, so she begged the authorities to have him sent to us. Luis had a hard time being with us here. He held a lot of anger towards the people who killed his step father, as well as missed his family. He ran away several times, always getting into some type of trouble before being brought back to us. His father was a well known drug trafficker in his neighborhood, and Luis had every intention of following in his footsteps. 

In January, after running away 3 times in two weeks, Luis went back to live with his family. He no longer showed any interest in being here, he missed his mom, and convinced her to let him stay. April 25th was Luis' birthday. He turned 14 years old. That day, I joked with some of the boys here about how if he was still here, they would be eating cake. I got on Facebook and wrote to him for his birthday. The very next day, I read on his Facebook that he had been killed. One day he is celebrating his 14th birthday, the next his family is finding his body in the street outside their home. 

Isanon and I stayed up with a couple of the boys until 2am the night we found out about it. They had questions, so many questions. The next morning, Isanon and I sat and talked about the bible studies we had had with our boys - trying to remember exactly how Luis reacted during each of them. We remember, he was knowledgeable. He had answers to the questions we asked. But, he also had a hardness about him. A hardness that I recognized, a hardness towards accepting that God truly cared and loved him. I know his life was hard, and things seemed unfair (and probably were) to him, but I pray that underneath that hardness, there was more than just knowledge. I pray that he knew the Lord. 

I needed to post this, because I need to grieve. The time that Luis spent at Hope Mountain, he was Our boy. He lived in Our house, and was Our responsibility, just like the rest of the boys who are here with us now. My biggest heart-cry right now, is that Our boys would grasp and understand that this is the life that we are so desperately trying to pull them out of. That Luis' story did not have to end this way. That there is hope, and that All are made new in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Please, take a moment to remember and grieve Luis with us. Please, take a moment and pray for his family and loved ones. And, please, take a few moments to pray for the rest of our boys. Pray that through their grieving, they would be filled with the hope of knowing that through Christ, their old life is gone and a new one has come.