Joshua´s second day!!

OK everyone,

There will not be posts everyday of Joshua because I know that not everyone wants to see thousands of photos of any person´s child BUT....

Sarah wanted to tell a story about one of the pics and I wanted to send some pics of Joshua up close...

So as for the story,

Bubby (grandma) Keeling gave me (Sarah) a very special outfit after she found out that I was pregnant. She gave me the outfit that my dear husband wore 37 1/2 years ago when he came home from the hospital. So guess what little Joshua Judson came home in yesterday? Yes that is right. He came home with the same little outfit. It is a secret to Joshua, but my plan is to give it to Joshua´s wife one day and maybe we can keep the tradition going (we will have to see if the outfit holds up). Second part of the story is that Pa (Lance´s dad) and Bubby (mother) took a photo of him in his outfit with a football next to him. Back then, Pa was a very big football fan so it was a great photo. Well as you can see from the photo, we have a second generation photograph with Joshua and Lance´s football completing this photo. Just wanted to share that little story.

Thank you all for your prayers and great emails. So many of you have written us and taken part in our joy and excitement. We praise God for such a wonderful little blessing!

and some close ups....

and some more pics...getting his feet stamped on his birth certificate...

and then getting his feet stamped on my shirt....take a look at the upper right hand of my shirt...his little feets...

and going home from the birthing center....

and how about a beautiful photo of mom, who is doing much better, and little Joshua at home in his room...

all for now...

Joshua's first day

Hello from South Mexico!!!


Joshua Judson Keeling DeLuca (as a Mexican citizen he must have both last names) was born on Tuesday morning May 20, 2008 at 12:24am.


Momma and baby are both doing fine after their 8 hour natural birth experience.


"A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow [because Jesus was going to be crucified on the cross of Calvary]; but I [Jesus] will see you again [at the second coming of Jesus]and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you." John 16:21-22


Here is little 15 minute old Joshua Judson...we now know what the cone head is that is sometimes referred to in a new born baby...but now his head is just fine and normal (except for the big bruise right at the top of his head where the cone point was)

momma was so intent on getting daddy's picture taken right after the birth...so here it is about the same time we took the first photo

Little Joshua in Grandma (Bubby) Keeling's blanket she made for Sarah about 2 years before Sarah and Lance were even an item...how beautiful is the providence of God...







baby weighing in at 6 lbs 8 ounces...and 20 inches long...





a few pics of momma and baby taking it easy...

Joshua just taking it all in....

Here I am letting grandma Keeling in on the news...I don't think that it was even necessary for me to have this headset on because I think I could hear her responses of joy all the way down here some 1,800 miles away....

Here are the three amigas plus one....all four of these in this picture had worked so hard just a few hours before bringing the little one into the world....our midwife Chris is on the left and her assistant Alana is in the middle with my dear wife and son making up the rest of the team...

Doing a few more checks on little Joshua...

Our pastor C and his wife came with his daughters to visit us at the clinic...our first visitors...what a sweet prayer pastor C offered up to our God on behalf of Joshua Judson...Oh Lord, bring about the petitions that we made...

Momma's verse for Joshua: "As you do not know what is the way of the wind, or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything." Ecclesiastes 11:5

Daddy's verse for Joshua: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9

Thank you all for your prayers and support,

Lance, Sarah and Joshua

started up orphan facility construction once again !!!!

Hello everyone,



I know that it has been quite some time since the last blog post concerning the orphan facility, but that is because we have not been doing any construction since about the end of January. We ran out of money to continue the construction but praise be to God that He has stirred the hearts of several people and we have received some very generous donations over the last few months. Thank you all for supporting this endeavor; whether that be with prayers or monetary support.



I know that many of you have seen these first few pics but I like to start the blog posts concernign the orphanage with these pics as they show our progress from before day 1 to the present...just in case someone is logging on for the first time.


The property is located just outside of town at the base of a some small mountains. There is actually a waterfall during the rainy season and is very beautiful to behold. The forth photo is of the ground breaking on Thanksgiving day last year.

These pics show us starting back up on the orphan facility last week (the week of April 22nd)

We strung this heavy metal re-bar where the supports for the roof are going to go...

The we had to set up a bunch of posts to put the bottom boards of the horizontal supports needed for the roof and give the walls strength as well...

Then we fastened these metal supports to each other by using these square pieces of metal...yeah I know, this is real technical...

The end product looked like this...

We then boxed everything in so that it would hold all the cement that would be poured inside...this would make our supports for the roof and walls....

It was then time to do that thing that I love so much...yep, time to mix and pour cement again...but this time it was 25 bags of cement in one day...we had 8 guys so it wasn´t that bad but really this was just a preview to the day we pour the roof...we are going to have 2o guys and we are going to mix 130 bags of cement...IN ONE DAY!

this pour of the supports only took 7 hours...just think about 130 bags!!! man, these guys work soooo hard...

first comes the sand, then the gravel, then the cement and then the water...and then the mixing!"

Then we put the cement into buckets and...

carried them up to the boxes and poured it all in...talk about a bunch of little ants running around...and actually, you know how ants run into each other in their little lines, well that happened several times...but no accidents to speak of so thank you Lord...

And when we were done, it looked like this...a bunch of boxes filled with cement...

and after removing the boxes, it looks like this...ready for the roof in a few weeks...

That is all for now folks....will send more updates later....