We took Gabby to Incachaca for the first time and she loved it! 

Before we moved to Cochabamba I thought life as we knew it was going to be very different! I thought we were going to be putting our kids in school and I would be helping Nate full time with the ministry here. Getting here half way through the school year we thought we would wait to admit Kyle and Uriah in school till the next school year so they could adjust to life here. After a semester of the older kids going to school we knew the Lord was calling us to homeschool again. We then applied with Accelerated Christian Education because they offer a full scholarship to US Missionaries serving in Foreign Countries and we were accepted so our school books were all paid for, all we had to pay for was shipping. A lady from our team went to the States and was able to bring the books back with her in October. October 17th we started school. I have stepped back from the ministry and have focused on our home. Like it has always been Nate works outside our home and I work inside our home and that is what works for our family!

Nate and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary by staying in friend’s beach house for a week. We enjoyed our time together! It was very needed too because before we left I was really feeling some culture shock and came back with a fresh new perspective!

Shay was able to come home for Christmas! We enjoyed having her home! Just recently she was engaged to be married! They are looking to have the wedding in the summer of 2013! A whole new stage of life for us! We are very excited for them!

We have hired a Bolivian man that goes to the same church to help us with the legal system here and understanding the culture to better run our orphanages. We also hired a Social Worker to help us (which is required when you have orphanages). She is working with Sedeges (Bolivia’s Social Services), so it is very good that she is working with us too. They are both doing a great job and we are close to getting our license!

We celebrated Gabby’s 1st birthday!!! The last year has gone by so fast! She is doing so good! She is very healthy, smart and so happy! 

We had some visitors. Friends came to see us for five days, it was such a blessing and couldn’t have been a perfect time! God does faithfully provide what we need when we need them! My cousin was here for a month to get a glimpse of missions. It was fun for Taneesha and Nathaniel to bond with her and get to know family they have never met before!       

Last weekend we had a surprise birthday party for one of our house father’s at our house. He was so happy!

Not too long before we left the States I had posted on our Facebook status “I have but one candle of life to burn and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” I knew a little bit of what that meant, then. When we were back in California we were surrounded by light. We had a great Bible-preaching church, Bible study, youth group, awana, Small Groups and Sky Angel (Christ-centered TV). Yes, here we are going to church, Bible Study, and youth group, however, it is such a small percentage of what we had in California! It wasn’t till last week that I realized what that quote was really saying and realized we are living it here in Cochabamba. I think of Jesus when He was on earth, He did not stay where there was light He WENT to the darkness! There has been times I have missed all the Spiritual food we got in California, but through this the Lord has shown me that He will and has ministered to us and feeds us what we need! He has shown me I need Him DAILY!!!!  When I was in California I was so blinded by my own self-righteousness and here He has shown me He is the only righteousness in me! God is so good! I am so blessed at how He speaks to me and just at the fact that He does speak to me!

We have received $9,000 in our vehicle fund. So now we have $9,300. We have been looking at used vehicles lately and have found they are very expensive. We will probably need $15,000-$20,000 to get a vehicle that will work for our family. We are trusting that the Lord will bring the vehicle He wants for us. Thank you to all who have contributed towards a vehicle for us and thank you to everyone that is praying!

We wanted to update you on how much has come in for a vehicle; we have received $200 so far. Please, pray that the funds will come in and that the right vehicle will be provided. We are looking to raise between $10,000 – $20,000. If you would like to donate, you can send to Grace Global Ministries at Grace Chapel 44648 15th St. West  Lancaster, CA. -93534- please don’t forget to note; ‘For the Ross Family Vehicle Fund’.  Our friends that are lending us their vehicle will return in August. Thanks!

Prayer Need: For those of you that did not receive our newsletter, we asked for prayer for one of our girls in our orphanage that had been raped. We were able to find a Center here in Cochabamba that provides lawyers and counseling for raped victims. However, yesterday we went and talked to one of the lawyers and she was not very optimistic because like she said it is our young girl’s word against the man that raped her and here in Bolivia they side with men and especially business men and this man owns a tienda (store) and has a family. Please, pray for proper prosecution for this man, I am sure this is not the first and only girl he has done this to. Please, pray that Hilda can get the counseling she needs. Please, pray for our team as we deal with all of this, that God would give us wisdom, strength, and grace. Thanks for your prayers!

This is the jeep our friends let us borrow while they are on furlough and as you can see we squeeze in there. Used vehicles are a little pricey but we are looking to raise between $10,000-20,000, we of course need one that our family will fit in and we will probably need a 4-wheel drive because we will have to drive out to our orphanages that are not in the city.  Our church in California has a vehicle fund for us so if you would like to make a donation you can by sending it to:  Grace Global Ministries Grace Chapel 44648 15th St. W. Lancaster, Ca. -93534-  Please, note ‘for the Ross Family vehicle fund’  Thank you

Gabriella Fe was born March 22,2011h 22,2011
English: American Standard Version (1901) - ASV
Izbrano poglavje ne obstaja!

WP-Bible plugin, she weighed almost 6 lbs. Gabriella means God is my strength and Fe is faith in Spanish.

We were open to adoption but, didn’t plan on it and  especially happening so soon. We were asked on  Thurs. if we would take a baby girl. We took the  weekend to pray about it and also seek council.    Monday morning we decided we would take her,  thinking we had 3 weeks to prepare for her arrival.  Wednesday afternoon we got the call that she was  born. Nate and I went to the hospital to meet the mom  and the baby. The mom is from the Yungas, which is a  tribe that was brought here from Africa many years  ago, she is a Black Bolivian. All we know of her  background is a Dr. brought her to Cochabamba when  she was 9 years old. We don’t know anything about the  father except he is Bolivian. When we seen the mom we  could see she loves her baby. I told my friend to tell her that there is no pressure and if she wants to keep her baby she should. The mom said she wants her baby to have a family. When it was time to pick the baby up the mom was crying and that was so hard for me, I felt like I was taking her baby from her. I had to detach myself from the mom and focus on caring for the baby. The mom has 2 other kids and works at a little tienda and is not able to care for the baby, she rents a room from a Bolivian family and does not have access to a bathtub or shower. After going to start the  guardianship process, we gave the mom a ride to where she was catching public transportation and she thanked us for taking her baby. That is sacrificial love if I’ve ever seen it. This whole situation has been such a growing time for me. It has been so emotional and I have had so many fears and anxieties. Giving birth is so much easier!

We had blockades all over Bolivia from Tuesday to Friday. I was really happy about it because my kids didn’t have to go to school! Yes, in the States the kids pray for snow so they won’t have to go to school, well, here they pray for blockades. We are not sure what tomorrow will look like for blockades, some people said it is going to be worse than this last week and other people have said it is over. A blockade is usually someone putting rocks or trees or whatever in the streets so people won’t drive through and if they do they will get rocks thrown at their car. A paro is like a protest, they will march down a main street and yell stuff, at both they will let off fireworks. We had both going on this last week. The people that were doing it was constuction workers, truffi drivers, fabric workers, and just people upset that there is no sugar, flour, and that milk prices went up. Pil (which is the milk company) is right across the street from the kid’s school. This is the second time we have had blockades since we have been here, the first time was because Evo (the Bolivian president) had raised gas prices but after the big fiasco he decided to bring them back down. We have one picture and the other ones were accidentally deleted from the camera, if we have any more blockades we will get more pictures.

A back road, trying to get around the blockade!

As Orphanage Administrators we thought it would be good if we visited different orphanages to see how they are ran. So we went to visit the Corazon Grande Girl’s home. Actually, our Social Worker’s mom runs this home for girls. It is financially supported by families in Norway that sponsor each girl. They have two houses, one for the older girls and the other one is for the younger girls, they have two Tias in each house. It is really nice. It is also in a beautiful location, in the country outside of Cochabamba. The intern we just had here for a month went with us to this home and also has visited another orphanage/foster home here and said there is such a big difference in the way we run our homes and that our homes are definitely a family. That is the whole idea of our ministry, is that the orphaned and abandoned children that are brought to us will have a family and some stability in their lives. Some people that have been a part of the ministry of the orphanage/foster home says the kids are real hesitant in getting close to the Tias and the people that help because they are in and out of there so often. Right now there are about 120 orphanages in Cochabamba and only about 20 are legal. We look forward to visiting more orphanages.

This little girl was so precious!

Ok, last Thursday we  said goodbye to friends that went home for 7 months! These goodbyes are one of the hardest parts of this calling!