Saying Good Bye at Genesis.

    

The staff at Genesis for the Despidida for us on Thursday

       Karen's last day at Genesis was Friday of last week. The custom here is to have a despedida for staff when they leave. On Thursday after most of the kids had left, they had Chocolate cake and Coke and made sure that I was there too. It was an interesting time as there was only one teacher there that was there when I left Genesis a little over three years ago. That was probably the hardest part of being here was the constant change of staff, teachers, just always someone leaving with new ones coming.

Juan Carlos, one of the students that we especially bonded with

      Just like the staff changes, so do the students change.  They might move to another area or they might not have the money for the transportation or some of them go back to the regular school system back into a regular classroom. We have had a couple that have left to go back to the regular school system when they opened up their own special education program here in town. And then there are some parents that it is just too much bother to get them there so they leave them at home all day.

Marcy singing along with one of her teacher friends from Doulos

       Juan Carlos is a student there that Karen and I really bonded with his family. We made a lot of home visits to his house with teams and sometimes Karen and I would just visit with his dad and sisters. His mother died soon after he was born due to complications related to his birth. It seemed like some of the kids ended up being really special to us and Juan Carlos for sure fell into that category.
      Karen and I went to see a movie last evening with the girls, "Miracles From Heaven". There was a line in there that really struck me with our time here and it was quoted in the movie from Albert Einstein.  "There are two ways to look at your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is a miracle." When I think of our time here is is very evident to me that everything is a miracle from God. All those faces at Genesis, the loving staff, the supporters that we have back in the states, our health while we are here; every little and big thing. "Miracles are everywhere. Miracles are goodness, Miracles are love, Miracles are God, and God is forgiveness".
      Thank all of you for praying for us while we are here and we would covet your prayers as we continue to plan on going back to Northern Indiana the end of May. My job is still up in the air Karen is also exploring options regarding that too for her.