Per child costs and puppies

I just heard a pod cast of a nonprofit discussion group talking about costs and raising funds. Probably the quintessential labor of non profit people is to discuss how to raise funds, and then to try to explain to boards why they were unable to get what they needed. (I am so glad that Jehovah Jireh told me years ago that it was his deal to provide, and my deal to obey...it definitely takes the edge off)

I then read an article about the Dallas Public school district that pointed out that some schools receive $8000 per student per year, while others were as low as $4000 per student per year. In a 10 month school year that is $400 per child per month in the poorest schools in Dallas.

Why am I bringing this up? I am very insecure, and a miser, and have had a hard time with the idea that we are spending about $300 per child per month ( total organizational costs) to not just educate, but to feed and house, and provide medical care and all the special things that make the special children feel…special.

For instance, our latest guilty indulgence:

Labrador Puppies.



I hope they will grow to become good guardians of our children and our houses. But in the meantime, the people who sway me the most are happy to have them














Yes...I said "Puppies", as in 2




Jose likes to get on the ground and wrestle


























Hannah just plain loves them


Danny is not so sure


And Selvin is such a servant hearted little person that he makes sure the puppies are well fed.














We will keep working at being a good organization, and at being a place where the children who have no say over whether they would be here or not...would choose to be here if they had.

Thanks for your prayers that keep us going!




Please forgive the photo quality. I shot in low light with my available camera. I hope you agree with me that a fuzzy picture is better than no picture at all.

A Child of Promise

The arrival of a number of our children has had a sense of something special attending it. Each one is a special arrival, and we fully believe that their attendant angels as well as the prayers of all the saints are involved in working out their becoming part of our little family. Although we do not make decisions based on special “coincidences” or signs, it is fun to note them as part of the general joy.

This week, we were blessed with the opportunity to take care of a little boy, who was abandoned at the Roosevelt Hospital at birth. He was born with some physical problems that were actually considered worse at first than they turned out to be. That is a shame because the mother who may have been frightened into running away due to the first diagnosis is now no where to be found.

He had no birth data and had not been given a name when he arrived with us, maybe a week old. Usually, the court papers assigning a child to us come with either the name the parent gave, or a named given by the police or social worker or nurses involved. Names are important, and we don’t mind when the people who brought him to us have given one, but it is really special when we get to name our new family member.

I am POSITIVE we have given him the right name.

Isaac.

The child of promise.

Shyrel talked it over with the staff, and especially the nannies. I think Rosa was the one who first said Isaac. But as Shyrel liked it and when I heard it it sounded very good. Little Zak! We decided to think about it and see how it fit him. But the icing on the cake was talking with a good friend (who likes to remain anonymous in these things)the next morning about the nameless child who had joined our family. He said, straight out, “If I had another boy, I would have named him after my great Grandfather Isaac.”


Who knows what plans the Lord has for this little boy. But it gives us a long term perspective and insight into potentialities to think about names and namesakes and especially that Isaac born miraculously to Abraham and Sarah so long ago.