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.