Alive

Ben, Amar, Sam, Fred, Peter and friend Joe

Our first night with Amar

Fred at regionals. He made it to regionals in shot and discus. This was his first year, and he was also playing baseball for the high school.

Peter on crazy hair day. I can still tease!

My poor forgotten blog! Life has been BUSY. Too busy to record. School is over and summer has begun. Peter is on swim team, but now is down with a pretty bad cold that he can't seem to kick. Fred is at Virginia Boys' State this week having a ball. Ben started working for our neighbor stacking hay. He's not very fond of it, but he is fond of the money he's making. Sam is grounded for a while, so he isn't up to anything.

We have a boy from Bombay Teen Challenge staying with us. He's been here for over a week and will leave next Friday. It's been fun, challenging and stretching. Our church partners with BTC and these boys are here to meet Christian families (they live in a home, like an orphanage), to share their testimonies, and to work at FCA Power Camp. It's been quite an experience. Teen Challenge serves the red light district of Mumbai and rescues runaways and orphans. Many of the boys here (13 in all), have horrifying stories that end in being rescued and saved. Amar, our son, has been at BTC for 3 years. His mother was mentally ill, so his father left her and married another woman when he was young. She thought she was getting a job, but ended up being sold in the red light district. When they found that she was mentally ill, they didn't want her either. Workers from BTC found her in the street and took her in. They prayed and fasted for over a month, and Jesus healed her from the mental illness. She went back to get her two sons, but their father wouldn't allow her to take them. On the pretext of taking Amar shopping, she hopped a train with him to Mumbai. When he saw that Jesus had healed his mom, he gave his life to the Lord. She went back and got his brother as well and they all live at BTC. He is a wonderful boy, kind, polite and he loves sports. He is 15. We have enjoyed him so much and learned so much.