My Operation Obligation Journal

Hopefully soon we will have the photo of Marcos and his family receiving their Christmas basket from us! :)

I just want to apologize for being so "quite" lately. My husband had surgery last week, after the New Year I will be writing more.

Keep praying for the kids in Guatemala. Hopefully soon I will also have photos to share with you of the kids receiving their Christmas gift baskets. :)

Sharon, from Mayan Families took a photo of the books after they arrived. Thank you, Sharon! :)

Christmas Tamale Basket Dinners

A meal of specially prepared tamales with seasonal trimmings is the traditional Christmas dinner of the indigenous Guatemalans. But many families cannot even afford to feed themselves nutritious daily meals. Mayan Families prepares and gift wraps baskets containing enough food to prepare a festive Christmas dinner for as many as 12 people.

Each basket contains oil, 15 lbs of rice, a block of drinking chocolate (the traditional drink at midnight), a loaf of bread with which they eat the tamales at midnight, raisins, grapes, apples, sugar, 5lbs of meat, tomatoes, 1lb of coffee, leaves to wrap the tamales, cloves, pepper, sesame, pumpkin seeds. As an added value, the plastic bucket that holds the groceries is a useful household item after the holidays.

The ladies who sponsor Oscars siblings have purchased a tamale basket for Oscar and his family...

This morning, I purchased Tamale Baskets for Marcos and his family as well as Rafael and his family.

This is great news! All three of our families will have their bellies full this Christmas!

When I started my blog, I intended to write about helping others - everywhere in the world... not just Guatemala. So, here is a post I wanted to share with everyone...

I have two military families up for "adoption" this holiday season.

Two of the families on the Christian Military Wives message board are really struggling this holiday season.

Here is the story of one of the families. An Air Force Reservist was deployed to Iraq for a year. When he came home, he found out that his full time job was no longer there for him. He has only been home a short time, and is searching for a job. His wife is a full time college student. She may have to find a part time job to help them get by. They have three beautiful children.

We also have a small family - a mom, dad and infant. The soldier is low ranking, this means they do not have much pay. Holidays are always tough for lower ranking soldiers.

If you would like to help either family - please let me know!

Soon, I will be selling homemade items from Guatemala to help raise money for Oscars home.

Items purchased, support artisans from Guatemala... we support fair trade!

I am very happy to announce that we have a total of 30 online wreath orders!

Daphne sold 10 wreaths to be shipped for her Playground Project, and I sold 20 online to go to Oscars home.

We were able to sell 15 local wreaths already, Daphne sold 4 local wreaths for her project.

I ordered 15 extra to sell, once they come in I will go door to door selling the 15 wreaths!

Not so shabby for a last minute project! :o)

The Christmas Wreath Sale is officially over - I will let you know within the next two days exactly how much we have earned towards Oscars home. :)

Raphael was able to finally come and pick up his tote! :) His sister had a baby, and it is traditional that they cannot leave the home for X amount of days after a woman has her baby. It was good to see that he was able to come and pick up his tote full of goodies. :)

Tomorrow, I will be out and about - trying to sell Christmas wreaths.

Pray that I will do well, and that people will be receptive. :)

Send a fresh, fragrant, natural balsam wreath – perfect for friends and loved ones, don't forget to order one for yourself!

We are now happy to announce our wreath fundraiser... 100% of proceeds will go to build Oscars home!




* 22”-24” in diameter fragrant natural fir wreath
* Fancy red velvet waterproof bow
* Three white-tipped cones and red holly berries
* Sent via Fed ex or UPS in a holiday gift box, wrapped in plastic for freshness
* Add a gift card
* Delivered between Nov. 27th – Dec. 7th
* Made by Evergreen Industries of Minnesota (making quality Christmas products since 1964)
* All wreaths have an unconditional product guarantee
* Only $34.00 each
* FREE Shipping to anywhere in the USA (sorry, we cannot ship overseas)

This week, I was able to send money to Oscar and Marcos family for food. I will have photos to post soon.

It's almost time to pay for school sponsorship again. I am debating if I will be sponsoring Raphael again this upcoming year.

The main reason, I want to do larger projects that will impact families - such as I did with Marcos floor and building Oscar a home. Raphaels mother has lied saying that Raphaels father was dead, so that her children would be sponsored under Mayan Families. Raphaels father alive - he is a drunk.

Part of me wants to make sure Raphael will be sponsored - however, I am pretty sure he will be - as he is still elementary age (it costs less to spnosor younger students).

I do not feel comfortable giving Raphaels family items that the parents might sell, using the items purchased to exchange for boose instead of bettering their lives.

Oscar and Marcos both have hard working parents that are tying to make a difference in the lives of their children. I know in donating larger items (tables, chairs etc) - that the parents will not sell them. They will charish the items.

I am thinking that I will not renew Raphaels sponsorship right now. If he is still not sponsored in a few months - maybe we can pick him up again.

I would like your thoughts on this please.

My good friend Daphne is trying to raise money to have a playground built at a Christian school in Guatemala.

She is in the process of selling Christmas Ornaments.

You can CLICK HERE to go to her blog and order if you'd like. :) I ordered one today.

I'd love to hear your suggestions on how we can raise money for Oscars home! :)

I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of organizations, and also from a newspaper reporter or two... this will help generate publicity for Oscars home.

Marcos and his family are THRILLED to have their new floor! Look at how happy he is!! He has on one of his new outfits I sent also! And, he's playing with one of the ballons too! :) :)

Right now, we cannot afford to donate extra for food for the boys... I am saving up money but, right now things are tight...

If you feel motivated - you can make a donation for food to the families we sponsor.

The amount is $65 per family for all of the basic foods they need for one month. Or, $125 per family that includes meat/poultry as well.

In the past, we normally pay $65. We do not help with food every month. The last time we supplied the families with food was a couple of months ago.

After sending the totes for the boys (aprox $300 for shipping and supplies inside the totes), & paying for shipping costs of the books (aprox $75) our budget is a little tight.

To send donation, its simple. Just email personaldonation@mayanfamilies.org and let them know who you would like to benefit from your money donation... and let them know which student number the money is for.

You go to: http://www.mayanfamilies.org/food.htm and click the contribute button.

Here are the student numbers:

Marcos: 592
Oscar: 594
Raphael: 605

Please let us know if you donate food for the families - so I can post it here and let others know that it is taken care of.

I was just noticing that Oscar looked a little thin compared to last time I looked at photos of him, however - he could just be growing taller.

I do know that the families are lucky to eat tortillas with salt as a meal...

This is a tax deductible donation through Mayan Families.

I am so excited about building Oscar a home, I cannot sleep. It's almost 11pm...

Oscar and his family have no idea that by this time next year they will be living in a brand new home.

They are going to know something is up this week, because I have contacted a couple different organizations for price quotes... so the organizations will have to visit the home. I have also contacted Habitat For Humanity to see if we can work with their organization here in North Carolina. I feel like this could be a very good way to raise the money for the home, as Habitat For Humanity is very well known for their wonderful work.

Please pray about this - that everything will fall into place. The sooner everything works out, the sooner Oscar can have his home.

Not only do I want a home placed on their property, but I want to supply them with basic supplies such as a table and chairs (right now they have one table and one chair in their home). This family is very hard working and I know the parents will take care of their belongings. Once their home is set up, the family will be able to really better themselves without struggling to stay warm in the winter, or dry in the rainy season.

Oscar and his family lost a home in 2005 due to Hurricane Hugo. They have lost a set of twins due to sickness... they deserve this new home.

Late last night, I almost had a heart attack! I thought someone hacked into my PayPal account... stealing $100. Low and behold, someone did not hack into my account - someone DONATED to our cause in Guatemala.

Thank you for the $100. It will go towards building a home for Oscar!

I really want to build a house for Oscar and his family. I posted that someplace before posting
the photos of the boys receiving their goodies... I did not want this post to drop down to the bottom of the page just yet! :)

Oscars home has all sorts of "issues." Oscars current home has a roof made of tin and a plastic tarp. It is made of wood planks. The wind and rain blows inside of it.

It will be better to just rebuild a home on their property.

For a two bedroom block home, I was quoted a price of aprox. $4,100.

However, this did not include the toilet (not sure why?).

I want to raise $5,000.

This is going to be tough, as our family is on a tight budget right now... but I am hard headed, and when I set my mind to something... it is set.

When sending the boys their totes full of gifts, I made sure to include art and school supplies... along with a bright colored towell.