hurricane passes...

Hello all! An update on the hurricane that we expereienced on Tuesday morning. We barely got touched by the storm. All we had was wind. There was very little rain. A couple of trees on Melissa's parents yard blew down, but nothing that caused very much damage. We are very thankful it didn't do as much damage as they were predicting (although a very small part of me wanted to see a BIG storm). If only you could see that much power without damage to people and buildings. We travelled to Corozal which is on the border of Mexico and Belize. That town is in VERY bad shape. The further north we went the more damage there was. The jungle just looks like a tangled up mess, as well as many houses that look this way. Terrible damage.

We are on our last day here at the orphanage. Actually that isn't entirely true. We aren't at the orphanage today! We took the kids back to Blue Creek yesterday for a kind of "getaway"! So we have a bunch of kids staying at our house. (we just moved into this house on Wednesday night, FINALLY a place to call home) It has been so good for them to get out of there. They are totally different kids once they are out of the home. They have been nothing but a joy to have around and WAY easier to train, I believe. At the home everything has a 'negative' slant to it. If they are asked to do the dishes, they are FORCED to do the dishes. If they are told to go to bed, they are FORCED to go to bed. This is the way it has been for them. So it is good to see smiles on their faces as they help out. Today we'll go swimming with them, and go play at the park. Its really cool too, as they visit their friends that went out of the orphanage to a home in Blue Creek. They had a blast yesterday playing with those kids! Its been an exciting and tiring day and night so far.

Thank you so much for praying! Please pray for one thing in particular. Yesterday Melissa talked to Leslie (the person in charge of the home) and she said that the governement had come to tell her that she needed to shut down the home. It didn't have enough bathrooms for the number of kids, it didn't meet the many requirements they have for a home like this. Leslie was very discouraged. She wants to give these kids a better home but she just doesn't have the finances to build something new. She had asked the officials if they would give any government grant or anything, and they said no, its all on her own. WOW! So I think it is good that we are staying for a year. We want to help her out to find some sort of mission, that would be willing to consider taking over the home, helping us build a new home. So we'll see what happens! It would be terribly sad to see a place like this go down. We'll do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen!

Have a great day. Thank you for your e-mails! We love getting e-mails! We hope that God is blessing you daily!

God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck

Hurricane Dean looms...

I want to ask you all to pray as Hurricane Dean approaches us. It should make landfall close to the Belize-Mexico border later today or early tomorrow morning (Tuesday morning). Right now it is a Category 4 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 150MPH.

Please pray.

We are going in to the orphanage this morning to pick up our stuff as well as to see if they need any help there. Then we will come back to Blue Creek to help Mom and Dad prepare. It could be a doozy!

God bless,
Blaine & Melissa

pictures...

Well, we figured you might like to see some pictures. Here are a few of them. We will post more later.

It has been a while...

Sorry for no update in the last 2 weeks.

It has been very busy for us since we decided to stay. Most of our free time has been spent getting ready for the school year.

Things at the orphanage are going well. By the time I get back to the home there should be a couple more young boys arriving. I am looking forward to this as there has been mostly just girls. Finally, someone I can relate to! haha! And then, probably later this week or early next week there will be another 2 boys coming.

Our time here is almost over. Its hard to believe that the summer is over already. It has been probably the toughest 2 months of our lives. I will say that totally honestly. We have wanted to give up so many times. But God called us here for a reason, and we know that he has a plan for each of these kids. It is great that we can be here in Belize for a year yet. This way we can help the home along to continue to do the stuff we introduced, as well as help them with some fundraising efforts and getting some organization established. I believe that God has a great plan for that place...

So we are here for another week and a half. Our last day will be two Fridays from now. I believe it is the 24th of August. Please pray for the children that are new to the home as they will have some BIG adjustments! We would love to hear from all of you. Please drop us an e-mail... it is always much appreciated. We will try to respond to each individual e-mail. Let us know what you are up to!

God bless,
Blaine & Melissa Dueck