We recently said goodbye to four siblings, ages 18 months to fourteen years of age, who had been living in our children's home here at the ranch for the past six months. Saying goodbye to these kids is never easy, but we know that they are in God's hands. Our prayer is that we have done our best to point them towards Christ while the kids were under our care. These particular four kids were sent to us through the state foster care system here in Arizona. While we are currently licensed as a foster home for the state of Arizona, the White Mountain Apache and the Navajo, God seems to be moving us in a new direction, causing us to think outside the box a bit when it comes to filling our children's home with Native American children. A major problem has been that tribal governments are very reluctant to send children "off reservation" and even more reluctant to place them with non-Indians. As such, placements with the tribes are slow and few and far between, at best.
We recently felt led to try something a bit different by offering the opportunity to a few selected needy Apache families in nearby Cibecue to send their children to live and attend our private school here at the ranch. It's a volunteer program and Kingdom Flight will sponsor each child. The tribe has no direct involvement nor do they provide any financial compensation for placements, as is normally the case with children sent to us through Child Protective Services (CPS). We will also continue working through the government foster care systems as opportunities arise for child placements.
Five-year-old Zita and her seven-year-old sister Jessie are the first kids to live with us full-time through this new volunteer program. Working through the "official" government system can be very frustrating at times, offering very little benefit whatsoever. The only downside of taking in children through the new volunteer placement program is that we will no longer be receiving any financial compensation for the children. This will leave us with a HUGE deficit with our children's home budget each month, but we strongly believe that God would have us step out in faith by trusting Him to provide for these kids.
We fully expect that we will be able to fill our children's home in a very short time through the volunteer program, and in faith, we're currently working towards that goal. Our initial goal is to offer scholarships for five Apache girls. Considering the cost of food, clothing, school curriculum and other needs, we have estimated that it will require approximately $500 per child, per month, to meet these needs, for a total need of an additional $2500 per month.
Please pray that God would be glorified through our efforts and that He would provide above and beyond for these precious children through His people, as led by the Holy Spirit!
Una Esperanza update: We'd like to say thank you to those of you who recently gave towards the re-opening of our Una Esperanza ministry center in Juarez, Mexico! We were able to re-open the ministry center for the first time in over two years when Patsy and a team of ladies from her church in El Paso, TX, went to the shelter. Nearly 100 children showed up for food, fun, and Bible lessons for the re-opening! We would like to continue keeping the center open on a regular basis, but we still have several obstacles to overcome before this will be possible. Patsy is still in dire need of a reliable vehicle, and keeping the center open will require a monthly financial commitment from us which is above and beyond our current budget. Please pray that God would provide for these and other needs through His people, as we believe it is the heart of God for us to continue reaching these precious children.
In Him,
