Being Part of a Christmas Blessing

Christmas 2011 God chose us to be a blessing to the Gonzales family. Here is the story. Oct 2011 our friend and sister in Christ, Doris, was hospitalized for 10 days. At the same time her 2 1/2 yr old granddaughter was hospitalized with complications with the chickenpox. During their hospitalizations Milagros, the 10 yr old, granddaughter was ALSO hospitalized with sever pain. Quickly they realized that Milagros had Purpura. The next 2 months continued with one by one getting out of the hospital, expensive tests to complete, many new medicines to try & BUY, and bedrest. As a church community, we called, visited, dropped off dinner and groceries, and PRAYED.

Like all good sisters do, my sister and I were talking about life and I was telling her about the Gonzales family and all of their recent struggles. Her heart was burdened just like mine and she committed to praying for their family. Not only did my sister pray, but she talked to her small group about the Gonzales family and got MORE people praying. Her small group decided that they wanted to try and help miles and miles away. AND HELP THEY DID! They mustered up and sent A LOT OF MONEY to practically meet the needs for this family. Now comes the fun part for me. I got to spend the money in a practical way to help this family. I knew that they needed money for bills, medicine, and more testing but I knew they also needed food and some emotional blessings. So this is what we did...

These are the gifts that we bought for the kiddos under our tree.

One basket full of food

2 baskets full of food

1 bucket full of cleaning supplies and toiletries

Wine, champange, sweet bread, budin, chocolates, peanuts, traditional christmas candy bar= 1 super caja feliz (1 box full of traditional Christmas foods/sweets) I am told without these things in Argentina, you are really not celebrating. ;)

We went to the Gonzales' home on Christmas Eve about 8pm becuase we were invited to celebrate Christmas Eve with the Rengel family. (another blog about that coming soon.) This is early because you don't start to really celebrate and eat until about 10:30pm and it goes on ALL NIGHT...... Seriously! Until like 4 or 5 or 6 AM!

Here Zane & Mateo (5 yrs old) are being silly and covering their ears from the noisy FIREWORKS!

Doris and her granddaughter, Barbara, talking with us at the table.
Recently Doris was in the hospital with Pulmonary Fibrosis & Pulmonary Trombosis & is now at home on bed rest for 3+months. She will live with these diseases for the rest of her life. Please pray for her healing and God to continue to meet her needs.

Barbara (2 1/2 yrs old) opening her new kitchen cooking set.

Mateo opening up his gift.

THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE! Here Mateo is realizing what the gift is and is saying "Grandma, Grandma this is what I just saw at the store yesterday and I wanted soooooo bad." He was completely astonished and SUPER EXCITED! I (Beth) prayed before I went shopping for the Gonzales family that I would purchase things that would bless the family and spend the money wisely. I was blessed that God directed me to buy that specific gift. God cares for each and everyone of us that he would even bless a little 5 yr old with the desire of his heart for a Christmas hotwheels set!

Milagros (10 yrs old) opening her gift. Milagros was diagnosed with Purpura
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purpura 2 months ago. She has battled for her life on serveral occasions and we praise God she is still with us. She will be traveling to Buenos Aires to see a team of specialist next week. Please pray that they will assess her correctly and put her on medicine that will be able to maintain her health. Pray that she draws closer to God through this confusing time.

Julieta (12 yrs old) opening part of her gift. Pray that Julieta will have the peace that only the Holy Spirit can give. Pray that she will step up and be a big help in the family.

On the right side is Maria Amilia, the mother to these 4 children. Pray for her emotional healing and ability to raise her children.

Luis, Doris' husband the the children's grandfather, is helping Barbara open another gift.
Pray for Luis, as he works MANY hours in a LOW PAYING job. He is trying to provide for his family and is exhausted. Pray he draws closer to God through this trial.

Milagros and Barbara opening up at 5 in 1 board game for the whole family.

Barbara 'praising God' for their Christmas gifts and the money that they can use for bills.

Doris and Luis took 10 minutes to give us a blessing and thanks to give to my sister's small group. So THANK YOU for being God's blessing to this family. Thank you for being selfless to help this family. Thank you for allowing us to be blessed as we were able to see their blessings up close and personal. AND PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR THIS DEAR FAMILY IN CHRIST!