A Sole Saved is a Sole Earned

On Tuesday nights Paul has been meeting with several women from a local church here in Pucallpa to start an ASCA (Accumulating Savings and Credit Association). They have been diligently discussing rules and policies for the last 4 weeks and this past Tuesday (2-12-08) they finally made their first contribution into their savings account. The women were really excited to get started and Paul was really encouraged by their excitement in starting the group. Following this year, the women want to use these savings groups as part of an outreach to their community and nonbelievers. Please pray for wisdom as Paul facilitates the group as well as introduces new ideas concerning business and its purpose in glorifying God.

Celebrating FH Office Birthdays

Paul along with six other coworkers within the FH office celebrated January birthdays today at our morning meeting. Here is a picture of Paul and Alex with the cake and Janette off to the side.

"These Splints Were Made For Walking"

I just wanted to share some photos of Efrain with his new splints. The walker is a little big and we are working on getting some shoes and socks to complete the set, but he has made tremendous progress over the last several months. In September of last year he wasn’t even able to stand on his own, let alone use a walker for mobility. Enjoy the photos.

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Paul! Yesterday we celebrated Paul’s 28^th birthday on the 28^th of January…I believe some people refer to that as the golden birthday. We also celebrated our 1 year anniversary here in Pucallpa. It was a wonderfully refreshing day here in the jungle, raining the whole day with the temperatures in the high 70’s. We were able to go out last night to a local restaurant that serves great tasting river fish, and then on the way home we picked up some Lucama (Peruvian fruit) ice cream to go with our birthday boy’s coffee cake. I included a few pictures of the evening. The first picture is Paul, the little guy, and I together, the second is Paul blowing out the candles, and then the third is Paul with his cake.

We will also be traveling to Lima in three weeks to await the arrival of our child. We are excited and would appreciate your prayers during this time. 9 weeks left!

Home for the Holidays

We have officially returned to Peru following our three week visit to the states. We thoroughly enjoyed the time we were able to spend with our families and friends.

To start out our time at home, we were greeted by our families at the airport. They were anxiously awaiting, with their Santa Clause hats, the news of whether or not they were going to be grandparents, aunts, or uncles to a grandson/granddaughter or niece/nephew. As promised we were wearing shirts to signify the gender of the baby.....a little boy!

As we entered Indianapolis, the first time for Paul in 15 months, we were also greeted by a snow storm. Most of you by this time are probably tired of the cold weather, but it was so refreshing to be able to experience some cold weather for a few weeks as the temperature here in Pucallpa rarely drops below 70 degrees at night and is at least 90 degrees during the day.

Following our exciting welcome home, we split time in Dugger and Wabash visiting with our families. During this time we were given two baby showers, were able to enjoy some American food and the land of never ending refills, and were able to speak English for a few weeks and be completely understood.

Now that we are back in Peru, our plan is to remain in Pucallpa until mid-February (6 weeks remaining in the pregnancy) and head to Lima to stay until after our little guy comes. Please be praying for us during this time as we continue to look for an apartment to rent during our time in Lima, safe travels, and a healthy delivery and baby boy!

I will continue to update our site from time to time to keep you all informed. Happy 2008!

My Little Friend

Since August, I have been working with a 3 year old little boy named Efrain. He was born with dystonia and basically has no control over the lower part of his body. He continues to remain moble, crawling around the house, and is super independent never wanting his mom to carry him anywhere. He has been super motivated to walk and continues telling me that he will walk someday , and he has already made great strides in achieving this goal of his. His main limitation is the strength of his muscles (flaccidity) and ligaments in his legs, which do not provide much stability when he is standing. He continues to lack some control over the movements in his legs, but the muscles are beginning to respond. Although he has a long road ahead of him, he is full of faith that the Lord will one day give him the opportunity to walk on his own two legs. I have really enjoyed my time with him and his family, they are truly a joy to be around. They continually talk about the blessings that the Lord has given them over the years. Efrain has 2 other brothers and a sister and they live in about a 5oo square ft. house that is attached to the church his father pastors. I have been challenged and encouraged in my faith working with this family and wanted to share their story with all of you. Please pray for Efrain and his family.

Also as a side note, through this relationship Paul has been invited to teach in Efrain's father's church. He will be starting a small savings group and teaching biblical principles concerning business in the church. So please pray for this partnership and for the Lord to use Paul and be glorified in the process.

Baby McCann

Next week I will enter into the 5th month of pregnancy. It is hard to believe that it has already been that long. We have our next doctors appointment this Friday in Lima and if all goes well we should be able to find out if we are having a little boy or a little girl. Then the name game can start!

As for our plans in finishing out the year 2007, Paul is continuing to teach business classes at the school, Refuge of Hope, one afternoon during the week, he is also looking at starting a couple small groups that study biblical principles on savings and family finance with local churches in the communities, as well as a couple other small projects in the office. As for me, the school year at Refuge of Hope is coming to a close and I will be finished with classes in December. I continue to make visits to Maricruz (a 13 year old girl in La Perla with Muscular Dystrophy) and Efrain (a 3 year old boy with dystonia in his legs) throughout the week in the afternoons. I have also been doing some translation projects in the office.

We are also looking forward to being able to finish the year with our families as we will be spending Christmas and New Years back in Indiana. We will be headed to the states the 15th of December for a short 3 week visit. At this point I should be almost 7 months along and we will begin making preparations to go to Lima to spend the remaining month to month and a half there as we wait on the little one to make his or her debut at the end of March or first of April.

So there are plenty of things happening here in the southern hemisphere and we love being able to share some of it with all of you at home. Enjoy!