Brandon and Roselia stopped by to receive their Christmas basket.

As the boys grow up, the absence of a good male role model in their lives is evident. Bidkar is constantly out working and trying to earn for the family and Roselia stays home to care for the kids and sells eggs as she can. The boys have become more disobedient and Roselia is at her wit’s end trying to control them and get them to behave. Growing up, her only example was her mom, who used corporal punishment and fear to control the kids. According to the boys, however, she is too strict. So, when they can, they “flee” to their dad’s house where they get away with a lot more since he doesn’t pay attention to them as much as he is usually either working or drinking and Carmen (grandma) can’t enforce much as she struggles to get around herself. They also have more friends in that area of town, so it is more attractive to them to be there as they feel freer.

Recently, there also haven’t been as many eggs to sell. Roselia and Bidkar go on the weekends to the chicken farm to get eggs from the wholesaler but there have been fewer and fewer eggs to sell and there have even been a few times where there weren’t any at all! This of course is disheartening as they had been able to supplement their income with egg sales while Roselia stays home and cares for the kids. One of the factors which is making this even more difficult is that Bidkar’s ex-wife has sought compensation and back pay for child support. Even though he has been helping with costs to support his kids as he has been able, he doesn’t have any receipts or physical proof that he has. So, the judge ordered him to pay Q31,000 ($4,000) or face jail time. The only reprieve he got in this sentence was that one of their three children they have together emigrated to the US, so this amount is only for two kids, not three.

Kevin and Anthony passed their classes last year in public school and from what we gather, intend to continue this year. We had stopped paying for them to go to private school because they weren’t attending regularly and Roselia wasn’t making them go or complete their homework. It is encouraging to see them do it on their own and take a greater interest in their own education. Last year Roselia had asked if we could help with school supplies and backpacks, which we gladly helped them with. We are waiting for her to ask again this year instead of just offering it to her.

As a final note of prayer for this family, about a month ago Roselia told us that Andre (her oldest) and Kevin (second oldest) were caught smoking marijuana that they supposedly got from one of Bidkar’s older sons. Bidkar caught them and scolded them but of course, this caused even more tension between Roselia and the boys.

Please pray for Roselia to seek God’s guidance in how to discipline her children and that He would give her peace as she is in a really tough spot dealing with all of this while feeling alone and isolated. Also pray for their provision as well as a resolution to the case against Bidkar, that he wouldn’t get sent to jail and be able to pay what the judge ordered, even though it will most likely be in payments.