Give Hope 2 Kids Blog

A Construction Update

We wanted to give everyone a little update on our current construction projects.  

We’re getting really close to finishing the Furrow house and we (the Furrow Family) may be able to move into it in the next few weeks.  For awhile now our Honduran crew has been finishing the final stucco coat and they've poured almost all the floors and countertops. 

During the past two weeks, we were blessed to have a few electricians and handymen come down and help further the progress of the house.  They were a tremendous help and did everything from spending time with the kids, to installing shelves, to finishing the electrical work in the house.  We want to say thanks to these guys who came and helped us out so much.

Our other main project right now has been putting an addition onto the Library.  We quickly found that our small building struggles to hold the 30-some kids that attend the Library Program.   Also, we've run into storage issues with all the chairs, instruments, and sound equipment we use for the Youth Nights.  So far we've got the walls up and the floors poured.  Once the roof and door are installed it will be ready to use.  We are excited to get our Library Program organized and all our new books in circulation for the local kids.

Introducing More of the Give Hope 2 Kids Team

Ever since we started Give Hope 2 Kids, we've had endless projects to do without the human resources to get them all done.  Recently though, we've been really excited to watch  a great team of people gathering around us.  We feel that we're able to accomplish so much more now.

We've yet to introduce our house-parents to everyone on the blog, so we want to take this opportunity to have you all "meet" Wilfredo & Cindya and their two kids, José (6 yrs) and Dana (1 1/2 yrs).  They've adapted really well to life in the country with us and have done a great job accepting kids into their family and life.

This season, we are excited to have four volunteers here with us.   They'll be with us for most of this year. With the arrival of new kids and never-ending construction and agricultural projects, we are thankful for the extra hands.

Kelvin and Monica have always had an interest in missions.  With their newborn baby Kelly, they made the decision to sell their house and move down for year.  So far they've been living with some of the kids and helping parent them.  Kelvin is a great dad and handyman and loves to work on agricultural projects.  Monica has been an excellent mom for the house they're in and has helped with organizing and running our Youth Night, Library Program, and English classes.  We are blessed to have them as good parental figures on the property.  Kelly is practicing sitting up on her own and is Josiah's little buddy.

Brayden came to visit us on a short-term summer trip with his church.  It didn’t take long to for him to realize God was calling him back to continue building relationships with the community here.  He spends his days working outside with  construction and agricultural projects and hanging out with the kids (and most of that time the kids are literally hanging off him).  Our village soccer team recently invited him to play goalie for the season and Brayden is excited for the opportunity to make friends with and minister to his teammates.

Erin has always had a desire to serve people in Latin America and felt God was calling her to volunteer with Give Hope 2 Kids after her college graduation.  Erin spends time working with kids in the Library Program and English classes and enjoys dabbling in the agricultural work.  She also works a lot with administrative projects (like helping to put together this blog).

 We're really grateful for all these awesome people working with us and helping to make Give Hope 2 Kids a success!

Five New Kids in the Children's Home!

We are excited to announce that we have five new kids living with us.  

On January 5th we brought in a sibling group of three -- Carolina: 9, Javier: 7, & Fernando: 4 -- along with two more 4-year-olds, Carlos and Lilian.  

This bunch of kids is so full of personality and energy that they're hard to keep up with!  We're so thankful that we have the Activity Center and Playground so the kids have a place to burn off their energy.  The kids are thriving on our property, with so much room to run around on and so much to do, like learning how to take care of the chickens.  

All of these kids desperately need sponsors.  With all the extra mouths to feed we're really feeling the strain on our budget.  Please consider sponsoring one of our children.  For only $35/month you can help sponsor and care for one of these kids.  For more information click here.

Gift Catalog Success: Lots of New Farm Animals

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our 2011 Christmas Gift Catalog!  We had a great response this year.  People showed the most enthusiasm in donating towards animals.  With the funds that came in, we were able to buy four cows (two for meat and two for milk), two pigs, and one hundred baby chicks.

We will soon be adding two more pigs and thirty more laying hens.   Then, once we have more pasture fenced off, we plan to buy one or two more steers.  

We’re making progress towards our goal of self-sustainability, meaning that a large portion of our food intake will come right from the property we live on.  Many of the animals will be used for meat within the next year and unbelievably, the new chicks will be ready to be made into chicken nuggets in about 40 days.