In my last post I updated you with the news that we were going to have four of the five nieces and nephews for about a week.  I thought I would give you a glimpse of the fun things we got to do.  

In the Fairmount Park area there is a playground called the Smith Playground.  It is for children under the age of 10 and it is free!  They have a large wooden slide and lots of cool things to ride and climb on.

On Thursday, Jonerik and I had our monthly food give-away to do at Cornerstone.  The kids were a big help in getting ready, giving out the food, and cleaning up.  We had about 30 people come to pick up bags of food.  One woman came in and kept saying with a desperate face: "Thank you so so much! This could not have come at a better time"

The kids loved helping people sign in, get bags of food, and they thanked them for coming on the way out.  They did an excellent job except for when Gigi whispered to me (rather loudly) "I can smell him from over here!"  ...teachable moments.

That night we wanted to reward the kids with something special so we decided to make our own individual pan pizzas!!  Everyone rolled their own dough and topped it themselves.  As one kid was rolling the dough, he asked in wonder..."this is the pizza crust?!?"

Limaris is now out of the hospital after her 5th round of chemo.  She has an appointment on the 30th to talk to the doctors about the possibility of surgery to remove the cancer from around her heart.  Please be in prayer for the doctors to have wisdom in know what steps they should take.

For more adorable pictures of our week go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/Emily.Santiago109/TheKidsJuly2010#

Kiddos

This past weekend was a whirlwind of events.  Emily's oldest brother (who lives in TX) was in PA and proposed to his girlfriend here in Philly!  We got to be a part of the process and we are so excited to see God providing in His perfect way.  

Also, Emily's parents were moving and so we spent some time helping in that process of packing, loading, and unloading.  This was valued family time in the midst of plenty of hard work!  Emily's other brother and his family live over seas, but he was able to be present for the weekend of the move.

Lymary (pictured above) came with us to help with the move!


When we got home we returned to some other little ones waiting for us.  One of Jonerik's sisters, Limaris is in the hospital this week receiving her 5th round of chemotherapy.  She has a form of cancer called pericardial sarcoma which is basically cancerous tissue surrounding her heart.  It is very rare and unpredictable, but it is responding to the chemo and we are praying that the Lord will heal her of this.

While she is in the hospital we have had the privilege to watch her children.  You will recognize Lymary on the left.  The other kids below belong to Limaris - Dante (bottom) age 9, Dagiani or Gigi (right) age 3, and Damian (top) age 5.  They are riot and are certainly keeping us busy!

Lymary is at camp this week (thank you to anyone who gave money to support kids going to camp!  We'll write more on that later!).  Carlos is also staying with us this week because of his mom's work schedule.

So we have 4 kids this week!  We are having fun - playing Pretty Pretty Princess, having tea parties with the teddy bear (ok that's mostly me and Gigi), playing other games, reading, and singing.  These kids are great, but they have a lot of energy!  CEF has a group at Cornerstone this week doing a VBS every afternoon and the kids (and us) have been loving that.  What good timing.

You can be in prayer for us as we get a taste of parenting lots of kids.  We are taking it a day at a time.  It gets a little tricky when we need to go somewhere because we only have a car that seats 5 people, but we can walk most places in the neighborhood.  I have been blessed by the kids praying before meals and at night.  Their most common prayer is something like this, "Dear Jesus, thank you for this food.  Help us so mom can get out of the hospital.  Amen"  

The doctors are talking about the possibility of doing surgery on Limaris soon to try to remove the tissue that is around her heart.  This would be a very difficult and dangerous procedure.  We will post more as we learn when they might do this.  

God is moving in Jonerik's family and we are encouraged to know that nothing is impossible with God.  I have been greatly encouraged by 2 Corinthians 10: 3-4 - 

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. ⁴The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 

Summer Fun

One of Jonerik's sisters has two kids - Carlos (9) and Lymarys (11) and due to a recent job that she got (praise Jesus for his provisions!) we are getting to spend lots of extra time with them this summer so far!

This has been a great opportunity to pour into their lives and reaffirm God's love for them.  They go to our kids programs at Cornerstone and are loving the summer program Reading Rocks where they get books to read and are given rewards after finishing their books.  


Carlos (or Bubba as we call him) has been watching Jonerik play the guitar in church and seems to have a love for music.  This year he asked for a guitar for his birthday and asked Jonerik if he would teach him how to play.  We pulled some things together and were able to buy him a guitar this week!  He is loving it and Jonerik is slowly teaching him some starter chords.  We are praying over him that this would flourish in his life and that he would use his music for Jesus.  That the words of the worship songs would take seed in his heart.


Jonerik and I are getting tastes of parenthood with our nieces and nephews here in Philly.  We are stretched sometimes with the energy and effort it requires and we struggle with outside influences that threaten their innocence - but it gives such a personal thrust to our ministry here in Kensington.  They need Jesus like the rest of us and the rest our community.  The fight against the enemy is more personal and it is more intense.  We trust in a God who is all-powerful and is present here in Philly.  He is pursuing our hearts and He is relentless.  Praise God that there is hope for a community that sometimes seems so dark.


Romans 13: 11-12 - 
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.