Open Hearts Nicaragua - Farrington Family

We got Ol’ Red back a few months back but haven’t introduced him to the world yet.  Red’s a little old but built like a steam engine, steel, simple, durable, dominating.   She is a 92 which makes her about 201 in Nica years 🙂  In all the ministry activity and heavy work at different sites, she is going to be invaluable and help us to “get er dun”.  The kids love riding every morning in the back with Papa when we take Mason to school…Good Ol’ Red.

Back in October Daddy turned 34…ol’ man around here 🙂  We had a fun birthday.  Papa got daddy a tomahawk and he got one for Mason too…so we went out choppin’ coconuts and practicing our aim….the aim was bad but we came back with a bounty!

We have been in the United States for the last couple of weeks visiting family and friends in Florida and Georgia.  We have had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving and an early Christmas with Chris’s family in Miami.  We will be heading home on Thursday and will catch up on blog posts, but wanted to share our Thanksgiving Newsletter with you…to view it click the link below.

Thanksgiving Newsletter 2012

Thank you for your interest and support of Open Hearts Ministry in Nicaragua.  This newsletter has information about the future of Colegio Esperanza as well.  When we get home, I will get a post up here on the blog with some more details for those who may be interested.

If you would like to donate to Open Hearts please click here

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families and friends!

Thank You and God Bless You!

    At Colegio Esperanza in La Chureca (the dump) this is the time of year where the King and Queen of each class compete to see who we will crown as King & Queen of the entire school.  It is a fun activity that lasted through this past month with candy sales and things like that, as each class was competing with one another.  Then yesterday it was time for the show and each class did their own special performance.  It is a really fun time for the Kids….and the dances and shows are really fun to watch!

Please stay tuned in these coming weeks as we share about the plans for the future of Colegio Esperanza and our ministry with the hundreds of children there in La Chureca. 

Please keep praying for all of them!

   Krista was teaching Aliyah about the moon and the phases of the moon the other day, so she used Oreo Cookies to show each phase….you will never guess who else wanted to join school time 🙂  They all loved it….it is not suprising at all that Oreo cookies make learning more fun and taste good too!

Another fun thing that Aliyah gets to do in school with Mommy is do her math work outside in the trees…who else gets to do that?!?  Mommy is AWESOME!!

We sent out our most recent newsletter via Mail.  Here is a digital copy if you would like to read it.  Please keep praying for all things going on down here…your support means so much to us…thank you! 

September Newsletter (click below to load)

12-09 Newsletter BW

Also please continue for Brett.  He is on this grueling road and the ups and downs are very hard.  He still has a long way to go and our prayers help him in the fight!  Please keep reading the updates about how to pray and then pray for him….thank you!

Brett’s Caring Bridge page (click here).

TO HELP BRETT’S FAMILY DONATE HERE

Brett, my brother Matt and I at Brett’s wedding in 2009

UPDATE 10.23.12:  Brett is still in this battle.  He is still alive and fighting.  But we need to continue fighting with him.  This is a long slow haul it seems, and it is going to be grueling.  We need miracle after miracle from the Lord.  If you are praying please don’t stop!  Here is the website for updates on Brett from his family.  They list how to pray for him…..constantly for healing, strength, and against infection…and all the other details.  Thank You.  Today pray against fever!

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/brettparks/journal

UPDATE 10.20.12:  Brett is still alive, Praise Jesus!  It is truly miraculous.  He has endured three major surgeries in the last 48 hours.  He is a strong and mighty man, and we believe the presence of God is making him stronger and mightier!  Amen.

His major artery to the lower portion of his body was repaired in that first surgery.  The second major surgery was to save his legs because they clamped the artery and had to do a bypass.  The third was supposed to tend to his colon and small intestine as well has put a stint in his kidney.  His kidney could not be saved, so it became a surgery to remove his kidney.  This was a huge let down to his family after already having gone through so much.  It was for all of us too.  This was last night.

Brett is amazingly strong, and I know so many of us have been on our knees fighting for him.  He is not out of the woods yet.  He made it through last night in a stable condition.  His family is with him, they need your prayers too.  It is hard hoping for the best and being let down, very difficult…..so pray peace on all of them.

For Brett now please pray for healing….this is Jesus’ time to go in and make all things new.  Pray for strength, that the Holy Spirit would strengthen his body in mighty ways and guard his mind and keep him strong in this time.  Pray against infections…that the presence of God would be so strong that all infections would be thrown away immediately, that his white blood cells would be multiplied and reach the places needed immediately!

This is going to be a long haul, and we are committed to be with his family all the way through it!  Will you please commit to them also, to even fast and pray as some will be tomorrow for Brett?  Thank you so much!

This is an article from a local paper.  I hope more will come.  Here is the picture from the article of Brett with his son.

Article in Jacksonville Newspaper

There is also an opportunity to help Brett & Susan in this time.  His brother Derek and wife Ginger have set up a paypal site for now…please do help them in this time!

DONATE TO HELP THE PARKS FAMILY

10.17.2012

Since last night Krista and I have been praying on our knees for my best friend Brett Parks.  He is more like a brother for me, for my brother Matt, and for our other close friends.  He went to the aid of a man being mugged and was shot in his abdomen.  He has been in surgery twice now, once for 5 hours then for 4 hours.  His stomach and colon were ruptured, and also his Aorta.  He lost lots of blood, and the doctors did not expect him to live.  They put 70 bags of blood into his body to replace what was lost.  He came out of the second surgery and is still alive, but not in the clear yet.  His body needs to heal and he needs to be protected from infection.

There are many praying, will you please pray too!  God is doing miracles!  Brett’s wife Susan is 8 months pregnant with their first daughter and they have a one year old son named Jason.  Their families are with them, and he is being tended by great doctors in Jacksonville, Fl.

We will pray until our voice is gone and mouth dry pleading for Brett’s life!  Please Jesus, we plead for Brett’s life, give him life, heal him!  
Rest on them Holy Spirit, do a might work!

This Song has led my heart to worship God deeply while we are praying:

Bless the Lord Oh my Soul                                                                                                                  Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                     Worship His Holy Name                                                                                                                      Sing like never before                                                                                                                            Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                               I worship your holy name

The sun comes up it’s a new day dawning                                                                                        Its time to sing your song again.                                                                                               Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me                                                                          Let me be singing when the evening comes!

Bless the Lord Oh my Soul                                                                                                                  Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                     Worship His Holy Name                                                                                                                      Sing like never before                                                                                                                            Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                               I worship your holy name

You’re rich in love and you’re slow to anger                                                                            You’re name is great and you’re heart is kind.                                                                              For all your goodness I will keep on singing                                                                            10,000 reasons for my heart to find.

Bless the Lord Oh my Soul                                                                                                                  Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                     Worship His Holy Name                                                                                                                      Sing like never before                                                                                                                            Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                               I worship your holy name

And on that day when my strength is failing                                                                                The end draws near and my time has come                                                                                 Still my soul will sing your praise unending                                                                          10,000 years and then forever more…forever more!

Bless the Lord Oh my Soul                                                                                                                  Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                     Worship His Holy Name                                                                                                                      Sing like never before                                                                                                                            Oh My Soul                                                                                                                                               I worship your holy name

It is called 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Matt Redman.

A couple weeks ago Krista’s brother Brinson (Ruby Ranch on Facebook) brought a group of men from Oregon out to Ruby Ranch and they built a pretty stinkin’ awesome climbing wall!  These are the first steps towards getting an adventure section for kids up and running at Ruby Ranch.  The wall is next to the first thing Brinson put in….a huge rope swing off one of the giant trees.  That was a little less technical….the climbing wall required some people with know how from the states….the wall is very impressive!

First step is to fell three large trees, drag them out of the woods and set them.

Next step go vertical with planks and install climbing fixtures.

Last Step…try it out!  You can see Brinson and Moses giving it a go! 

If you are making plans to come to Nicaragua and work with kids, Ruby Ranch is a place you will want to consider taking them.  It is a great place to have fun with them as well as spend time investing in their lives spiritually!

Remember to check out Ruby Ranch on facebook for news and updates.

So we also took Mason out to McDonalds for lunch for his birthday with a couple of other friends from school and the boys from Casa Robles…..look at this sweet face acting silly in this picture below!!!  ANGEL IS BACK AT CASA ROBLES!!!!

The Lord has indeed heard all of our prayers and has brought lil’ Angel back to Casa Robles.  It started at the Havilah Birthday party a couple weeks ago that we mentioned.  His mom realized that she had actually put him in a more difficult situation, even though she wants to be with him.  She allowed him to spend this last weekend at Casa Robles again and on Monday when Angelica and Yuri were taking him home, she let us know she would like for him to come back.  She actually apologized as well for the way she took him out in the first place, and all that happened.

Yuri and Angelica took the time to pray with her and Juan whom she is living with.  They had a really good time with her and at the end of the day it seems the Lord is making all relationships better and setting Angel up for a great future!  We trust that this was all part of it, and honestly all we want is God’s best for this little guy!

Yuri said it was so cute because he went and told the other boys Angel was coming back and they all cheered….Yuri was like shh shh shh we are standing in their house we can’t be screaming 🙂  It goes without saying they other boys were super excited to have him home!

It was so awesome to see him for Mason’s little birthday lunch!  He is taller, it is kind of wild how in only a few months so much changes.  Thank you all for all of your prayers!

Please keep praying for Marcos, Freder, Heyler, Denis, Angel & Andrew….and for Luisa and Kener too who we still have hope for and are still in contact with.

Our son is five now!  He is officially a soldier 🙂  Krista had the great idea to have an Army Birthday Party for Mason.  He loves playing soldiers, it is pretty awesome.  He will sit quietly for hours in his own little world….yes every parent’s dream right!?!

So Krista made an awesome Army cake and we had a party with the Army theme.  We created a cool obstacle course for all the kids involved to run through and at the end of the course they became soldiers!!!  Woohoooo!!!  Chris was the drill sergeant, Sir Yes Sir!!!  They had to scale jungle gyms, throw grenades at bad guys (Uncles Mosey & Brinson), maneuver a ropes section, and slide into a giant Football at the end, why a giant football you may ask….because when you have a giant inflatable football, you gotta use it!!!  We even cooked hotdogs on a fire in the spirit of football season…..lots of good football last weekend…Go Canes!  Go Noles!

It was lots of fun to celebrate Mason.  He is such an easy going little guy, always pays attention to his sisters if they need something or something is going wrong he helps them….it is fun having him getting to the age where we can go out and throw a ball or kick a ball with him….he really is a great little guy!