It’s been awhile since our last update. Many new things to share. Lots of victories. Unfortunately at times with victory comes loss.

On February 7th, Paige had surgery in Atlanta. It probably won’t help her “pain in the neck”. Unfortunately, the doctors said they can’t do anything for her in respect to that problem since it began on February 28, 1987, and may last many more years.  (21 years of marriage this last February 28th!)

We officially opened our home as a halfway house. We have 14 adolescents/young adults living under our roof, including Matt and Rachel. The Lord impressed upon us last July to make this move and we have slowly been working towards it. We’re in the middle of remodeling, bought a bunch of bunk beds and mattresses and brought them in. The kids have transferred to local city schools to become a part of our “Youth Apprenticeship” program, participate in higher education and go to college. We have 4 currently working and going to school and a couple more that have good prospects. Marcos just got done spending his summer vacation in Cascavel working in a bakery and is considering moving in with his stepfather to work until his July 19 date with the army.

We jumped in with eyes open, but bumps along the way have been surprising. Personality issues, schedules, tight quarters, etc. In time everyone will adjust and it will be smooth sailing. Our biggest surprise was bills. Our food bill more than doubled as did our water bill. Pray for our personal finances. The dollar continues to bring lots of challenges to missionaries worldwide. With the construction and bunk beds and mattresses and, and, and. Well, you get the point. Our budget wasn’t built for this kind of speed. She is definitely breaking up. I was looking at the numbers over the last 2 years and found that with inflation and the falling dollar, the value of our support has dropped 24% since 1/1/07 and 37.6% since 1/1/06. The dollar has dropped 3.5% in value just this 1st quarter. Please pray to our Lord to help us in this. These figures with the above double + in expenses make times difficult. Yet we serve a mighty God and know He will provide.

On a more exciting note, the Lar is in its best financial state ever and we can praise God for that and the faithfulness of His people to participate as He leads. We are looking for another halfway house to purchase in the city to divide my house and provide for the others that will be leaving in the coming years. We already have funds designated and promised. Pray for the search that is ongoing.

Nilnara is back from the states after a year. She graduated from La Quinta High School in California. Pray with us as we are still discussing her options. Part of her would like to go back and go to college. The other part would like to stay and go to college here. She has a wide range of options to get work here while studying because of her English. Pray for wisdom and discernment both for her and us.

Now some of the losses. We have had quite a few kids leave the Lar. Some because they wanted to have freedom, some because they refused to abide by our rules so went to other institutions and some that went back to their families. Pray for these kids. Pray that the seed planted would come back and remind them of the “yes” that they have in Jesus and of all His promises and faithfulness. It is hard to see them go. But as we learn in Ecclesiastes, “There is an appointed time for everything”. Some of them are ready but you don’t want to see them go as they are “yours”. Others aren’t ready but need to be let go as the Prodigal was. Still others need to be let go “as a little yeast works through the whole batch”. You know how a parent feels the day the child leaves the nest. “I hope I did everything possible.” “I hope he is prepared.” Oh how we feel that for each one! Pray for these kids and give God the glory as he is in control of all things.

The unfounded lawsuit by an ex house mom was settled yesterday. She was seeking an unimaginable and unfounded figure U$ 38,000. Due to projected attorney costs we settled for U$ 1,800. Praise God as even the judge and lawyer for the plaintiff weren’t familiar with the house mom legislation. Once they read the law, it was a slam dunk. God is faithfully at our side in all situations and not only at our side, but doing battle. 1 Sam 17:46, 47 (Read It).

Pray for strength and faithfulness on our part as the battle gets rougher every day but the verse above gives us hope.
Praise God for our friends Wade and Michelle Withrow from First Baptist Church Brunswick in Brunswick, Georgia. They felt the calling of the Lord to serve, specifically at the Davis Lar, and have come down with a 2 year commitment to work alongside us. They will be a great help as we open up a new orphanage and fine tune the 1st. Pray for their assimilation to the culture and language.

Pray for the foster care program that we are working to implement by the end of 2008. We received a grant from Petrobras, a Brazilian oil company, specifically for this program and those funds should arrive by the end of March.
Pray for us as we present the Lar and the foster program to churches in a yearly socail ministries convention with TONS of people in May.

Thank you for your faithfulness, prayers, encouragement and especially your love.

In Christ,

Mark, Paige, Matt and Rach