Beautiful views the whole way down to GH...it was hard to focus on the road!

I did it! For the first time ever, I drove to Gabriel House by myself and made it back through Sentri, the fast pass lane at the border that is almost impossible to find. You have to head away from signs that say San Diego and go down these sketchy back roads in the middle of Tijuana...eek.

I was able to bring a bunch of stuff down and see some friends as well as introduce some new friends to the kids! Two of my supporters met me at Gabriel House and we spent the afternoon hanging out with the kids. It was so cool to merge those worlds!

Jaime practicing walking with Pati, his favorite caregiver!

Kim and Pilar making friends with the neighborhood horse.

Just bought this gem of a heater for half off - with Groupon! Ah, the joys of the modern age. A couple of our infrared heaters have broken recently, and last time Jan and I were at Gabriel House, Alex came up to her and signed that their heater had broken and it was really cold at night. The way he signed cold - hugging himself and shivering uncontrollably - was so sad but just priceless! That kid is great at signing because he is ALWAYS so full of expression. 

While I could not do what I do without monthly support, one time gifts are also wonderful because they allow me to make large one time purchases like this. Not sure if you've heard, but it's been cold over here on the West Coast. Like, really cold. I know it's nothing compared to other parts of the country - but you have to watch this to understand just how ridiculous we are.

So - thank you for allowing me to buy this! I'll ask Alex how he's doing next time I see him and hopefully we'll get a better answer.

Sonia's been sick for a long time. A looooong time. There have been ups and downs, but she is a weak girl. She's on a feeding tube, and she got moved to the baby room awhile ago, which doesn't really have any babies in it, but used to. Now it's our medically fragile room.
She always has this nasty cough, but since she has very little control over her body, she can't force a cough to clear her lungs like you and I can. Her body will finally give in to the cough and then her legs and arms shake uncontrollably as she calms down. It was really unnerving at first, but Sonia's a champ and keeps hanging in there.

Renie called me today and was so excited - she found a cough assist machine. It had been in the workroom for reasons that we still have to figure out but the bottom line is it's exactly what Sonia needs to breathe better! She's been in the hospital twice this month for issues that this machine will get rid of.

Never a dull moment around here, people. I am constantly blown away by how things happen. It's this kind of stuff that get me through the darker times because let me tell you, we are so blessed to constantly have stories like these.

Just the frame alone is well over $1000. Then you have to buy the pelvic supports, arm, chest, thigh, and ankle prompts, the hand loops, and the hip positioners, each around $300 (and you need to buy two of everything!)

We've had 2 small pacers donated in the past - a HUGE blessing. The only terribly painful thing is we don't have kids that size who need to practice walking. That certainly doesn't mean they won't come to us, so we are faithfully waiting!

We tried to make the small pacer fit Jaime back in November, but it just wasn't going to work.

You see, we have been waiting and praying for this exact pacer for YEARS. One of my favorite GH stories has to do with this pacer. It was right after I moved to GH in the summer of 2009. I was playing with Jaime and Tonio, and Martin, our jack of all trades whose back is to the camera in the picture above, started telling me about Jaime. I had almost no Spanish back then, but I remember very clearly understanding him say "This boy can walk. He just needs a really expensive and fancy walker. We have to pray for God to bless us." I was like, oh yeah, sure, that would be awesome, I'll definitely pray for that. Tonio, on the other hand, heard that, put his hand on Jaime's legs, and started praying. Can it get any simpler?? This kid knows what's up.

Fast forward to December 2012 -  a woman whose son had recently passed away donated us a lot of his things - a wheelchair, a carseat, Pediasure, diapers, medical supplies, and A MEDIUM PACER.
Exactly what we need for Jaime. I had to see it to believe it, and I almost started crying when I did! We got him in it last weekend and it's a great fit. He was excited and definitely knew what was going on - this went a lot better than when we tried to stuff the poor kid into the smaller pacer.

But. The work is not done. And we need your prayers. Half the battle is getting the equipment, yes. But the other half is finding the time to use it. Our therapist is stretched so thin and honestly, the fact that we even have a therapist is amazing. It's just that, of the 31 kids living at Gabriel House right now, each of them could use about 4 hours of therapy each day (at the very least!). So to have kids getting about 15 minutes a week, when you factor in all of the things that get in the way of Pati doing 8 hours of therapy a day, it's just...hard. And frustrating. And discouraging.
Knowing that Javier, our 16 month old, could walk but might not if we don't put in the major therapy he needs right now, is terrifying.

And then I have to remember. I have to go back to the one who brought me here in the first place. Who hasn't asked me to fix every problem or to make every kid walk. Whose to do list looks soooo much different from mine.

He's called me to live the gospel - to love his children unconditionally. Not to give up on therapy and the things our kids need. But rather to see it in a different way.

And that is what I will do.

The Gabriel House Christmas trip was SO great. We had an incredible team of about 25 people from all over Southern California, most of whom had been to GH before. They LOVE those kids. 

Martin doing his happy dance in front of the tree as it was being decorated. (Thank you Odyssey for the beautiful ornaments!) 

Putting together a "dispensa" - gift bags for the staff. 

Ely helping us decorate! 

Marcos showed us his own version of the Stanford marshmallow experiment, asking if he could decorate two cookies - eat one right now and put the other one in the fridge for after dinner. This boy is muy intelligente. 

Story time with Ely! 

All decorated for Christmas. 

Chely coloring. 

Marcos helping Martin turn his head lamp on (his favorite present).

Jose's reaction when I asked him to put 2 batteries in 40 different mini flashlights. Love him! 

We are blessed. A month ago this shelf was empty - we have 7 kids who use feeding tubes and go through at least 3 cans of nutritional drink a day (each!). Gabriel House can never have enough of this! 

Dana, founder of Enable Ministries, using his expertise to fix Sonia's chair. This former car mechanic has transferred those skills to wheelchairs and is amazing! 

We had a wonderful Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus. It's always such a special time for our kids, staff, and the group that's there. Regardless of how hard and challenging the year has been, this is such a good time to recenter ourselves - to remember who has called us to this, who loves these children more than we ever could, and who will one day bring us home as he waits for us with open arms. 

Thank you to everyone who was a part of this beautiful celebration!