Greetings to all of you!!! We hope that you are all well. First of all we wanted to THANK every single person who made an end of the year donation apart from their normal giving. We are so very grateful for your generosity as we begin this new year with excitement of what this year holds. Your donations help to give us peace of mind that the months that there is a low in giving for our monthly expenses, the end of year donations help to cover that gap. SO, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!
So, now onto the updates. The first few 6 weeks of 2026 have flown by and we have A LOT to share with you!
Personal:
Kaleb is on summer break! We are happy that this year he was able to enjoy summer since last year we missed all things summer. He has be able to participate in a summer camp at his school where he has learned how to do many new things like baking, playing new songs on his recorder, piano and guitar, and learn how to play volley ball! He has enjoyed a few pool days when invited by friends, and of course daily visits to a local park to play. He has grown a TON! In 2 weeks he will go to his very first away from home summer camp with the church! (Dad is going as a volunteer so he won’t be totally alone :) . He starts 4th grade on March 3rd!!
We finally found an apartment and moved in at the end of January. We are slowly getting organized and settled into our new space. We are thankful that this place has a small outdoor patio which we didn’t have before. It is going to be a great space of rest once we get plants and furniture in it. For now, our cat Tango seems to really enjoy being “outside” since he never had the opportunity before. We also celebrated Tango’s second birthday and watched the Superbowl even though Kaleb’s beloved Eagles didn’t play this year!!!
In early January, we lost a fellow missionary, mom of 2 littles, and friend, to her battle with cancer. It was a very shocking and fast process. We continue to grieve her loss and the implications this has on her dear family as they navigate life without her. We appreciate your prayers for her family and for the hearts of those who loved her.
I celebrated 1 year post op from the cervical fusion surgeries praise The Lord! I feel better than I did before the surgery and have much more capacity to focus mentally and get things done physically so that is really great. However, I do appreciate continued prayers as I continue to fatigue in the afternoons physically . My prayer is that I can continue to gain strength and endurance so that I can return to doing most things without fatigue . I appreciate your continued prayers for this as well.
Service:
Clever and I started off the year making a work plan document for both areas of service (disability & care for vulnerable people) that we are leading. When we put it all on paper we were incredibly surprised at the amount of stuff that we do!!! If anyone would like a copy of this to see what we do and what our plans are for this year, we are happy to send it to you. Please just send us an email. Ps, it is in spanish…. But we are happy to share it anyway.
So here are the highlights of the first 6 weeks of 2026
We celebrated the graduation of 4 youth with disabiliites from the children’s ministry and their transition to the youth services.
We welcomed those 4 youth into the youth services with support as needed. This is a big deal because the youth services called GetUP are on Saturday afternoons and parents are not allowed in the service with the youth. So it is a big step for any kiddo, but even more for our youth with disabilities. One of our friends Josue, LOVES GetUP and loves being around the older crowd.
We believe that everyone has gifts and talents that God has given them and also have the ability to serve others with those gifts and talents. So, we have started to train volunteers on how to receive a person with disabilities into their area of service to serve alongside them! We are excited to report that Valeria, one of the youth who graduated from kids, is the very first youth with a disability to serve in a team of the church!!! One of the team members was so excited and moved that they bought her the serve shirt that she will put on each time she serves with them! Her mom was in tears when she came after the service to pick up Valeria. We ask for prayers that EVERY team in the church will soften their hearts and open their eyes just like this team did with Valeria!!
We had the opportunity to help with baptizing 2 people who are wheelchair users! For us it was a first to baptize people with physical disabilities during the same service as the rest of the church. It was a lot of preparation, but was really a beautiful sight to participate in their public display of faith. You can see in the picture Clever had the privilege of assisting in the baptism of Lucia!
Clever has been busy training up a group of our certified volunteers in how to do the predistribution process of distributing the wheelchairs through Free Wheelchair Mission. This included finding new people in need of the wheelchair, getting all their documents, and doing an evaluation to determine if they are a good fit for the chair and what size they need. We are grateful for the team that is forming since Clever has been doing the majority of this process on his own for the past few years.
Lisa has taken a Seminary class in the month of January that was called “Discipling and Engaging All Kids”. This was geared to inclusion kids with disabilities as well as vulnerable populations. It was a really good class and we wish there was more than just the month long class.
We were able to host our first community outreach meeting of the year for both parents with kids with disabilities AND parents of foster/adopted kids or those who are interested in fostering/adopting. Both meetings were attended well, and parents were able to connect with others. We were able to also promote the small groups that the church offers to help support these families. We look forward to the other 2 times of year that we will host this community meetings.
Phewwwwww, I told you a lot has happened over the past 6 weeks. I can hardly believe its ONLY been 6 weeks. We know that God has good plans for this upcoming year. A year for growth for the entire church. Growth in acceptance and inclusion. Growth in understanding and caring for others. Growth in expanding outside the church to other churches who are interested as well. We are so very thankful that you continue on this journey with us. We covet your prayers for our health, provision, and unity along with a covering over our ministry. We thank you for your financial support because without it, we would not be able to get to do what we are doing. It is a great privilege serving God and getting to be a part of changing culture for a better more inclusive future for our vulnerable families. Thank you. If you feel led to partner with us, it is never too late to join us in this mission. Please reach out to us if you have a desire to do so! May God continue to bless you deeply in this new year.