Unique

Life lately has seemed to emphasize uniqueness! The uniqueness of each day! The uniqueness of each individual! The uniqueness of each situation! The uniqueness of culture! Thankfully, we have a God who, while He made us each unique, He never changes! He provides a solid rock on which to stand and His unchanging Word with which to guide our lives! Only with that security, that unchanging assuredness, can we effectively face the uniquenesses that life throws our way!

Unique Individuals

Just yesterday I was laughing with my mom, who is here visiting for 10 days, about one of those differences. When Martha joined our family nearly six years ago she spoke no Spanish nor English, only Mazatecan Indian dialect. As she learned to speak Spanish, and then English, she had a real hard time putting the endings on words. We believe this is connected to a learning disability as she seemed to not even hear or distinguish ending sounds. We thank the Lord that this is a much lesser problem now. However, we have the total opposite situation with our two year old, Daniel. Due to the abuse, neglect and health challenges he has faced in his two short years of life, he is somewhat delayed in his speech development. The other day, as I washed his face, I said the word "soap" in English. He repeated it right after me, bathing me with spit in the process as he emphatically pronounced the "p" at the end of the word! When he calls out for Martita, all he says is "Tita", just the ending of the word! So, put Martha and Daniel together and the words will be pronounced correctly!

Josiah and Caleb form the same kind of team when they eat! We tease them that they help us save money because we can buy one sandwich for the two of them. Caleb will eat the meat and vegetables and Josiah will eat the bread and cheese!

Of course, each child has his or her own talents and abilities. Angie is a great organizer, guitar player, hairstylist and the family fashion consultant! Diana does a great job translating, helping to lead the dance team at church and playing piano and violin. Martita is very creative with hands-on projects like sewing, cooking and candle making. She is also a very effective communicator through writing. Josiah has an insatiable mind always wanting to learn more about the world around him and invent things. Fidel would be happy using a soccer ball as a pillow! Ruth tumbles, turns and runs everywhere she goes! Ana delights us with her songs! Some of the kids are still in the discovery process, including Lolis and Jocelin. Up to this point, their life has been concentrating on survival and they have not had the time or emotional energy to discover the person that God has created them to be, so we are helping them through that process as they learn, grow, mature and enjoy living in the safety of God's grace and their family's love.

As a parent, one of our goals is to help each of our children become all that God wants them to be and this includes giving them opportunities to develop their talents and abilities. Hence, Angie teaches the preschool Sunday School class at church; Diana, Martita, Lolis and Jocelin form part of the liturgical dance team at church; nearly all of the kids take piano lessons; Diana takes violin lessons; Angie will be restarting guitar lessons soon.

Our two newest adventures involve Ruth and Fidel. Four year old Ruth began gymnastics classes last week in Cuautla, about a half an hour from Refuge Ranch! We spent the next 36 hours listening to Ruth talk non-stop about her teacher, her classmates, her class, etc. (She isn't at all like her mother now, is she?!)

Ruth on the balance beam

The gym where Ruth began gymnastics last week

Fidel will be joining a soccer team the first week of May. The team forms part of a professional circuit, so Fidel has great aspirations!

Fidel playing soccer here at home

Unique Days

While we strive for a routine here at Refuge Ranch, each day ends up being quite unique! Take today for example! Parts of the day are the same as always - breakfast at 8 a.m., then daily chores and chapel at 9:30, like very Monday. School this morning and swimming lessons with Ashleigh this afternoon, like every Monday. That is about where the routine ends and the uniqueness starts. First of all, Magda is not here today, but we have two visitors - Grandma Claassen and Ashleigh's friend Dani. Victor is off to have a meeting with two other pastors from the church we attend in order to resolve some major moral issues that we are facing with our senior pastor. (Please keep this in prayer -that the situation will be resolved in a way that glorifies the Lord!) Later this afternoon, all 20+ volunteer Evangelistic Medical Mission Crusade members will convene at our house and spend the night here as they prepare to set out on a crusade tomorrow to the state of Guerrero.

Unique Crusade

Victor will not be joining the team on this crusade as he needs to stay back and help resolve the issues happening at church. We thank the Lord for the team that He has brought together for the crusades and the ways in which each of the members has grown and matured, to the point that they can carry out a crusade without Victor, when necessary. Our son, Fidel, along with Ashleigh and her friend Dani, will be forming part of this crusade team. Fidel was especially interested in this crusade as the team will be ministering in his home town. Please join us in prayer that this would be a special time for Fidel to see old friends and have the opportunity to share the Lord with them.

There is always a twinge of concern in my heart when one of the kids heads back to their old stomping grounds. Their perspective of their previous life is not always very accurate. For example, when Fidel came to live with us Victor literally took him out of the local jail cell to bring him home. He was six years old! However, talking about the experience a year or so ago with Fidel, he told us that he had been living at the policemen's house! He was totally convinced that the jail cell where he was being held was actually the guest room at the policemen's house! There are moments in each of our children's lives in which their previous lives seem more attractive to them than the life they are living now. (Like the people of Israel in the Old Testament telling Moses they would have been better off staying in Egypt as slaves!) That thought process may seem difficult to comprehend, considering that the kids have come from situations of abuse and extreme poverty. However, when your parents are making you do chores, study, give your best, respect others, etc., a life of complete freedom on the streets can appear more attractive. (Satan is an expert at disguising, lying and making slavery look like freedom!) So, we pray that this crusade will help Fidel to see the reality of where he came from and all that the Lord has given him and that he will come home even more emotionally bound to our family.

Unique Culture

A little over a week ago, our family participated in a unique cultural activity. The Saturday before Easter, the day before Easter, is called "Sabado de Gloria" (Glory Saturday) here in Mexico. I have absolutely no clue as to why, but the tradition is to get each other wet that day! Our kids look forward to Glory Saturday each year so that they can douse buckets of water on each other! (Not exactly my idea of fun, but live and learn!) Well, Victor and I decided to prepare some water balloons and have a water balloon fight with the kids. As you can see from the pictures, the water balloons quickly digressed into buckets of water!


Unwilling family members were carried outside by their father where their younger siblings greeted them with buckets of water!

Diana - a very wet princess!

Here at Refuge Ranch we try and save the water from the washing machine that is spun out after the wash and rinse cycles. Rather than sending the water down the drain, we store it in several large barrels and use that water to wash off the patio, keep the dust down on the driveway and other uses in order to not waste water, since we pay about $90 a week for water to be delivered to the house. So, we used the recycled water for our Sabado de Gloria waterfight! Needless to say, we all smelled a bit like fabric softener! Since it was Saturday, bath day, we all got a nice hot shower that night. It was like going through the rinse cycle before the wash cycle! This may all sound very weird, but it was great fun, culturally appropriate and a great family bonding time! Watching Victor douse Lolis, and vice versa, was incredible! Lolis has spent the first 12 years of her life running from her own biological father's druken abuses. To watch her run from her adoptive father's playful bucket of water was truly refreshing (in more ways than one!)! A joyfully wet Lolis!

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8

In the midst of parenting twelve children from different backgrounds, of different ages and different personalities; in the midst of partnering with staff who speak different languages and come from different cultures; walking through days that present different challenges and surprises, I am oh so very thankful for a God who is the same! He is my rock, my never moving point of reference! May He be the same for you!

In the mist of so many differences and uniquenesses, I am so thankful that the Lord not only provides a solid center, but also serves as the unifying force among so many differences. I am repeatedly amazed that He could make a family out of 14 people that are so different and aren't even related by bloodline! Only God can do something like that and His Word explains it!

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men." 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

I am so thankful that you have that same Spirit and that even as we serve Him in different countries, in different cultures, in different languages, in different ways, we are truly one in Him!

In Christ,
Julie Zaragoza