this morning while we were doing our calendar, becky told me that it was tonio's birthday. most of the kids here don't know when their birthdays are, they just know the month it's in because a group from san diego comes once a month with cake and ice cream and we celebrate all of the birthdays for that month. anyways, we couldn't let his birthday pass by without at least singing to him! as we were finishing up with the calendar, i said that today was also a very special day because it was someone's birthday! they all started shouting my name, and then we had to remind ourselves that my birthday was last month. then they were just confused, so becky pointed to tonio and he put his hands on his heart and had the most precious look on his face. it was like, 'me? it's MY birthday? really? are you sure?' it was a little bit sad that he was so surprised but a lot of fun for him, too.

his sister came later in the day, which was amazing! she's really nice but apparently full of empty promises and always promises tonio, jose, and alex that she'll come and then doesn't show up. they spend days waiting for her and then are so sad when she doesn't come. regardless, though, it was great that she came. she brought a big cake to celebrate tonio's birthday and the boys were so happy to have her with them. it was sweet.

like i've mentioned before, gabriel house is in a really bad financial state. we are several payrolls behind and very much in debt. renie and ted have come to the realization that we may need to cut staff (even though we're short already) and send some kids to different orphanages or back with their families. the thing about gabriel house is it's not an orphanage...it's technically a rehabilitation center. the point is not for the kids to spend their whole lives here. some of them, yes, they will never and can't ever go home. anyways, it's been stressful and sad and hard to deal with these ideas. that's all they are right now, are just ideas, but nonetheless changes are going to be made. we are just praying that God will direct us through this the way he wants, and only his way. ted especially has said that he's going to 'nehemiah this place up' with fasting and praying and everything because he truly believes we have done everything we can and now we just need to wait on the Lord for an answer as to what he wants us to do.

some good news, though. angelica, the assistant director, went with some of the ladies to ted and renie's this morning to talk about pay. they ended up praying together, which was awesome because a few of those ladies have never prayed before.
well, this afternoon ted got a call that someone deposited enough money in our u.s. account to cover an entire payroll. coincidence? definitely not :)