Christmas is coming, in fact it is right around the corner, days away and you still don't have the perfect gift for that special person. On no! What too do? Don't worry, don't fret I am here to solve all your gift giving needs. Why not make a donation in the name of your friend, family member, secret Santa, co-workers, mailman, gardener, next door neighbor, teachers, your dog, I think you get the idea.

This is the gift that keeps on giving, investing in the school scholarship program $50.00 (great for all teachers and former teachers on your list) see the following blog for more info.

Manna project: We have broke the cost down to $72.00 a year, $6.00 a month, sponsor a child to have a nutritious meal for your pocket change.

One time donations can be made of any dollar amount.

By giving a gift of a donation you are actually getting double the gifts for your money. Your original gift to________ as well as a gift to a needy child. That is what I call bargain shopping and a wise use of your blessings.

If you are interested you can e-mail me at klugefamily@gmail.com or leave a comment. If you just want to jump in you can send a check to :

Central Church of Christ
6221 Proctor Rd.
Sarasota Fl 34241

Just fill in the memo with your designations for your check. If you contact me now I will be happy to e-mail a photo and thank you to the lucky person on your gift giving list.

Oh did I mention that we also do birthdays, valentines day, anniversaries, mothers and fathers day, presidents day, groundhog day, or just because day.

Thank you all, and we are praying that you have a blessed Christmas full of love, joy and family.

What price an education........(part two)

We have always felt that by helping the children here we are helping the future of Honduras. Education is not as valued over here as it is in the States. Children often are not encouraged to attend school by parents who never attended school, they have to stay home and care for younger siblings in order for the parent to work, they have to go to work to support themselves and or their families and of course the fact that many do not have the funds for the basic supplies. We can not do much about the children having to work or watch younger children (even though we do feel that a no cost daycare could provide much needed assistance in the community, interested? Contact us at our e-mail) but we can do something about the lack of encouragement and that is so easy. We daily encourage the children to attend, we ask to see progress reports and notebooks, we attend graduations and make a big fuss over the children. No it is not the same as a parent but the children do know that we care. And finally the funds, this is something that we can do something about. Last year we began a scholarship program for lack of a better term. The education is suppose to be free but children are required to have uniforms, shoes, and basic supplies as well as books. The cost runs about $ 50.00. Yes I know that many of us spend that amount on a new pair of name brand shoes or a pair of jeans with a special tag on them that we rip off and throw away. I am not saying that we should not buy nice things for our children and that it is not a joy to be able to provide them with "some" of the things that they want, but what I am asking is that you take a minute to consider investing $50.00 into a child here in Honduras.

You may ask how we chose the children. We take recommendations from the church, we also have all of the children that eat at the Manna Project. When we first began we had all of the children fill out paperwork which included the school that they were attending and the time their school was in session. We did this for a variety of reasons. First so that we could schedule their lunch time around their school times. We did not want the children to have to chose between eating or school. Second was because we wanted to locate the children who have not had the opportunity to attend school. Now armed with this information along with the personal relationships that we have with the children, and after much prayful consideration we feel that we will be able to chose the children who need the most help and who will benefit from the help. It is hard. We can not help everybody and there will be people who do need help and will not receive it. But I do know that just because we can't help everyone that doesn't mean that we should help no one.

We are having the children fill out an application in which they agree to keep a 75% average, they will have regular attendance, respectful attitude in the school and that they will turn in a progress report. We are doing this to help insure that the children that we are helping are children who do want to attend school. We want to use the donations in the wisest way.

If you would like to sponsor a child you can contact us. If you just want to make a donation you can make the checks to :

Church of Christ in the memo please write: Kluge, school sponsorship


Central Church of Christ
6221 Proctor Rd
Sarasota, FL. 34241

klugefamily@gmail.com

The following pictures are some of the children who need your help.........

Natalia: she can already write her numbers to 10, her name, Mama, and Papa

She loves to play school

Belki is 5. She is sweet and out going, she has four older brothers and sisters who have never been to school.

Lespi is 7. She wants to go to school so bad. She always talks about going to "kinder"

I want to thank you in advance for your thoughts, prayers and your donations. you can make a huge difference in the life of a child. Will you please consider this ministry.

I have to share a sweet story with you from our Sunday school class. I know that I talk about them a lot, but I do spend a great deal of time with them and they are a very big part of my life.

Last Sunday started off as usual. After being dismissed for class all of the kids lined up and we walked down the hill to the "flat" spot at the bottom of the hill. The reason we go to the bottom of the hill instead of to the marvelous classroom that we have been blessed with is two fold. First of all our children are loud and active. With our classroom next to the church building we have found that the adults have a hard time keeping up with our enthusiasm. They want to hear their lesson without the background singing of 50 plus kids. Second is the fact that on Sunday morning people use the soccer field for games and there are tons of kids and adults at these games so we feel that we are letting our worship in song spill over into the community.

Well class was progressing as usual with Jen and Evelyn leading the children in song. I am patrolling the boarder to make sure we have no little escapees trying to swim the river. Jen enjoys putting me on the spot by asking me to sing. Well I know all of the songs in English not so well in Spanish and the kids know all of the songs in Spanish and not so well in English. But fear not the kiddos always pull me through. And I can always get Jen back by suggesting we sing Father Abraham or head, shoulders, knees, and toes faster and faster. I can tell you that no personal trainer in the world could design a better workout.

But I am getting off of the point. There was a little guy that was there on Sunday morning. He was wiggling during church and told Jen that his feet hurt. We didn't think much of it. After our singing we went back up to the classroom and had our lesson. The children were all working on their craft projects when I notice this little guy sitting at the table with tears streaming down his face. I ask him what was wrong, he just laid his head down and refused to answer or even look at me. I called Jen over and he finally said that his feet were hurting. Then it dawned on me. I told Jen to take off his shoes. They were sizes too small. His tears stopped. He said that he had to wear shoes for church and that these were all he had. We assured him that God wants him in church with or without shoes.

This little guy wanted to go to church so badly that he was willing to put on shoes that hurt his little feet just so that he could come and worship with us.

Pretty humbling huh?

WE LIVE....WE LOVE....


We knew that living over here would hold challenges that we could not possibly foresee or plan for. We were right.

When we would come on short term mission trips we would always make a connection with certain people and year after year we would look for them and reconnect. Even after it had been months it seemed as if we would just pick up where we left off.

It was always hard for us to leave; more tears have been shed in the Honduras airport than Kleenex could make tissues for.

Well as time has passed our heart strings have been bound tighter and tighter to our friends, many of them are now in the category of family. We share our joys and our heart aches, we celebrate birthdays and births we have cried and held one another in times of sorrow and death. We live, and we love. It is the little everyday things; the little one is now potty trained! Oh no chicken pox! The water line is broken, it is necessary to carry the water up the mountain, grubby little fists thrusting weeds into my hand with the pride of having found beautiful flowers for Melissa. Look at my new shoes, I dropped my sucker, I lost my job because they found out I am pregnant. I'm pregnant! I need a ride! The baby is coming! She is here; Oh no I have a yucky little sister. I have a new dog, it has six puppies. I like my puppies more than my new sister. I love my family; my family is driving me crazy. Church was great today. I missed my friend there today, I was glad to see her back. The children singing loud and strong, me stumbling through the songs. Using new markers, writing on your neighbor with the new markers. CUPCAKES, messy faces covered in sugar, dirty faces offering sugar. Running feet and running noses. It is all part of living life. It is not all glamorous even though I do feel like a star with little ones running and calling my name just to say hello. It is just living and we are so blessed to be able to live this life.

There is great joy to be had in the day to day living; there is also a great opportunity for pain. We recently found out that some children that we are very close to might be moving hours away. We were devastated, these are our children, and we see them every day. We hold them, we chase them, we kiss them, wipe their tears, discipline them. We feed them, we clothe them, and we laugh and cry with them. They are a part of our heart. It was doubly hard on me that my daughter Katrina is just heart broken,

She burst into tears, sobs wrenched from her heart as the news that she might lose some of these children that are a huge part of her life. I had to watch my baby ache for these children whom she loves; this was not a price I had thought to pay. But pay we will for when you have a heart as Katrina does, one that is open and loving, one that embraces all of the love offered to her and returns it honestly and open there is a potential for great pain.

I would not change Katrina's heart for the world, I know that with great love comes great rewards; she loves and is loved in return. If she did not love so deeply I know that she would not hurt as deeply. Would I wish her no pain? Of course I would. I would love to wrap a blanket of protection around my child. But at what price no pain? Would that mean that she would not experience any love? How could I wish that on my child? I know that we will deal with the pain that is part of this life with the help of our Father in heaven. And we know that one beautiful day we will no longer have to be separated and feel the pain of not being with those we love. I wonder if our Father feels that way. I wonder that when we chose to live our lives separated from his love if he feels the pain that we feel? I wonder why he doesn't wrap a blanket of protection around us protecting us from the pain and sorrow of this world. Would that mean we wouldn't get to experience great love? How could he wish that on his child anymore than I could? Do I want to experience pain? Well no. But I do want to experience great love and joy.

If you ever have the chance to put yourself out, to open your heart to someone, never let the risk of pain stand in your way. Look at the great love Jesus opened himself up to and at what a price.

I know that it has been a month again. Sorry, I have been with my Aunt in Texas. I am asking that everyone pray for her. She is having numerous problems with her heart.

I had gone to the states with the plan of seeing my other Aunt (my Mom's sisters) that has the same cancer that took my Mother's life a year ago. I made it to my Aunt Dina's house and she started having heart problems again. I was able to stay almost a month and help her. She said that I was a God send and she didn't know what she would do without me.

I love watching God work. I wasn't planning on staying with her. I didn't know she was ill again. But God knows and he knows what we need and when we need it. It is pretty great having a Father who can and will meet all of our needs.

Please pray for both of my Aunts health. I do still worry even though I have placed them in God's hands. I know I shouldn't but the love I feel for them often blinds me to the fact that God loves them too and can do a much better job at taking care of them than I ever could, and I am very glad he chooses to use me sometimes.

Thank you God for letting me be your hands and feet.

Sorry about the blog neglect, my Aunt has no internet. No, I am serious, it is hard to believe but true. I am more out of touch in Texas than Honduras. Oh well I am home now and feel so blessed to be back in my life.


Melissa