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Monday, September 21, 2015

New Adventures!

Next month the House Parents for the childrens home move to our new property!!!  The kids will move in November.  There is a lot that has to happen between now and then. Our new property, which we call, "La Finca" (the farm), is about 25 minutes outside of the city.  It is almost 30 acres. It's beautiful - and my new office space has a beautiful lake view.
Here's a picture of the beginning of construction 3 months ago, and a picture from last week:




As you can imagine, things have been a bit crazy!  So much to do.  I lot of my work has been working to prepare the staff for how things will be different when we live on La Finca.  All the effort put in to this move was not done to just transfer the same program that we've had, but rather to change an enhance what we have.  So I've spent a lot of time processing through HOW they will live in a different manner and all the issues that they will deal with (including that the House Parent's biological kids will now be living with them and be part of their ministries).

I'm also still helping out at the elementary school that my church has.  I enjoyed my summer vacation (even if it was only 1 day a week), but it is fun to work with the kids again.

I also finished my first rounds of training for caregivers in childrens homes around the city.  The feedback was very positive, but I certainly learned a lot on what I will improve on for next time.  It is rewarding to teach to people so appreciative and excited to learn what is offered.

Next week I will do a training for the mediators and lawyers whose job it is to resolve conflict in the country.  I will teach them about trauma and how their own personal traumas inhibit their work, how their clients are effected by trauma, and some practical skills that they can take with them to calm their clients down in stressful situations. It's amazing to be able to impact the people that work to resolve conflict in this country. I'm excited and a bit intimidated.