At the end of last year, we were working diligently to encourage Carmen to use her vacation time to study and complete her make up work so that she could pass the year once she took her test in January.  Unfortunately, it did not go as well as we or she had hoped.  We sat down and had a heart-to-heart talk with her and her mom to find out what it is she really wants to do.  We knew she had been struggling the past year with some of her classmates looking down on her and making fun of her for being of a different socioeconomic class.  We also knew that when she chose to study to be a teacher, she picked it because she wasn’t really sure.  Now, she spent a year in school and failed, which adds onto the struggles she was already having.  We told her she didn’t have to study to be a teacher, but that she should work on seeking her true desire for her career and ask God what He wants for her.

Every time we talked to her about a career she wanted to do something completely different.  We know that she has always had dreams of being a veterinarian or going to the military academy.  At the beginning of the year she had a sprained ankle, so the academy wasn’t an option.  She looked into a school that offers a medical course of study, but the workload is almost double what she just struggled with the year before.  Then she wanted to take a general class.  Then she was undecided again.  Since our agreement with all the families that we support is that if they fail twice in a row we will not continue to pay for their schooling, we felt this was setting her up for failure.  There are basic courses in medicine she can take that are offered by the ambulance and firefighter squads in her area where she can begin to study in that area without the full commitment of nursing school.  She was not interested in those classes.  We tried to encourage her to really seek out what it is she wants to do with the guidelines we gave her but she is still undecided.  So, we talked to her as a team and told her (at this point she was already 2 weeks behind if she were to start school) it would be best to take the year off and use it to really seek God’s desire and will for her life.  Mirna agreed this would be best for her.  In the meantime, since she is 17, she could look for work and help support the family.  Her ankle has since healed, and she has begun doing exercises at home.  We believe she might be looking towards the military academy next year, but we want to see a commitment from her first.  We told her we aren’t going to keep on top of her about it; she needs to take responsibility and do her part and if she shows she is committed, we would gladly help her in any way we can.

Oscar is doing ok in his first year in middle school.  The teachers have complained about his lack of paying attention in class and his misconduct, which includes getting up and walking around while the teacher is teaching.  Mirna had a parent-teacher conference recently and we talked to him about why he is doing these things.  Like most boys his age he didn’t have any good answers, but he said he would try to behave himself from now on.

Mirna continues to sell bread to sustain themselves.  As her kids grow up she sometimes struggles with ways to discipline them or get them to listen.  She recently told us she would like us to help her learn more about God so we will be starting a bible study with her and Carmen using a book called, “An Anchor for your Soul.”

Please pray that God uses this opportunity of their open hearts to grow closer to him and closer as a family.