Christmas 2010 at the orphanage...Jungle Gym!

Hello friends,

We hope that you all have had, or are having, a great Christmas holiday season. We had our customary annual Christmas dinner (celebrated on the 24th down here in Mexico) at the church and have had some good holiday gatherings over the last few weeks. The children of the orphanage have had an especially blessed Christmas in that many individuals, families, churches and groups gave gifts this year. We thank all of you that gave towards meeting their “wants” this year.

Below, I have included just a few pics from one such group that came and provided gifts to the children. This particular group, collected the gifts from several churches in their area and then brought them all down in many large suitcases and travel bags. Their plane actually landed several states away (cheaper tickets) and then they took a 13 hour bus ride and another short trip by truck to get the gifts here. Blessed be the name of the Lord for men and women like these that have given much energy and time so that a few children in south Mexico could have a really good Christmas this year.

The other thing I have included in this blog concerns a group with Global Encounters that came down to help paint the inside of the orphanage and start the construction of a new jungle gym at the property several moths ago. But because of rain and lack of time, the group was not able to get very far with this new project. HOWEVER, about two weeks ago a much smaller group of local missionaries (along with one of the members of the original group) came back and finished up that neat project. They came for two days and after all of their hard work, the children now have a new and very large place to slide, swing, climb, and hang. Thank you guys for all of your hard work and dedication to finish up this project. [I have included this project in this blog for Christmas because most of the money for this jungle gym was raised in the states during a Christmas toy drive for the children.]

Several pics of Christmas at the orphanage....here is pastor C

All the girls...

Steve, pastor C and the boys!!!

Pics of the original group that came down several months ago to start the jungle gym project...

This is when the rain stated!!!! Couldn´t get much done then...although Nathan (the man in charge of this whole project, including raising the funds in the states) tried to continue!

These are photos taken during the two days that the second group came and continued working on the jungle gym to finish it up...

A few of the workers!!!

Tommy came with the first group as well...

Getting back to work...

Here is Nathan pulling out the big guns...nail gun that is!

And finally it´s play time!!!

That´s all for now folks,

Lance for the gang

Pics from the New Zealand Group

Hello friends,


Hope everyone is well and getting ready for a great Christmas holiday season. Sarah, Joshua, Caleb and I had a whole lot of fun putting up our Christmas tree the other day...lots of fun but also a little bit of stress with our two and one year olds as every two seconds it was Caleb no, Joshua put that down, Caleb stop that, Joshua why on earth would you do that?????!!!!!!



We are making this post because we wanted to share a little bit about a family (+ one) from NEW ZEALAND that just came and visited us. Gordon, Wendy, Wendy´s two daughters Debrin and Katie, and Dan came and stayed in our house for 6 days and what a great time it was. Wendy found out about us, and our ministry, when she found our blogsite and web page back in 2008 as she was surfing the web about things in Chiapas. And since that day, we have been in contact about the orphans and of course what the Keelings are up to. Wendy kept telling me that there are no coincidences but rather God has a plan for our meeting up in a small place like Teopisca (I mean after all, New Zealand is on the other side of the world from us).


I can´t remember exactly what Gordon said, but he said something like ¨we not only came to visit the orphans but to minister to, encourage and serve Lance and Sarah and the boys¨....and did they ever.


We had some good days visiting the orphanage, but we also just hung out at the house and talked and talked and talked. Gordon repaired a whole bunch of things around our rent house (our water pump works now!) and Wendy shared some baking secrets with Sarah (man those cinnamon rolls where the bomb...and Sarah knows how to make them now!)


We have had visitors (and short term missionaries) come stay with us down here in south Mexico over the last 3 1/2 years, and these guys have done what they all have; blessed us and the orphans in special ways.



Take a look at some pics below;




Here is a photo taken about 20 minutes before the gang got back on a bus and headed to the airport





Gordon and Wendy...they really love their rugby!





Dan and Katie...they are in their second and first year at a music universtiy...not sure how to say that? They played some good stuff for us!






And here is Debrin...who was the resident photographer and was doing this for much of the trip...she is a professionsal by the way!





Sarah and Wendy in the kitchen...cake and cinammon rolls...gotta love that





and here is Wendy doing what she does best; encouraging a tired missionary...



And take a look at this new water pump that Gordon put in...I know that he probably isn´t too thrilled with the final product because it doesn´t look ¨professional,¨ but let me tell you...you have to make due with what you have...and Gordon is definitely a professional in my book as he fixed mechanical and electrical things in the house and fixed my car as well.





Some pics at the orphanage playing soccer... (and as you can tell Debrin was at work because these photos were not taken with a point and click $100 camera)





Everyone keep their eye on the bouncing ball...





Check out the three things going on here...Sarah Grande is actually playing the game of soccer (goal keeper), Paty is possibly giving some encouragement (?), but check out Rubelsi...I think he is flexing for someone on the sidelines...not sure what that is all about!



Here I am hoping that Chepe does not kick me right in the face again...tone it down kid, tone it down!





The dog was on our team...



Go get em Dan!



Here is Katie lining up the shot (with her boyfriend Dan trying to get the best view he can)...SHE SHOOTS AND...









SHE SCORES!!!!!!!!!!!



Paty and Carlitos going after it...



I think Chepe was shooting at the goal and I was blocking his shot...thought this was a cool photo.

Two photos of Katie and Dan playing some songs for the children...and can they ever play and sing!

Our little Caleb liked this song so much, he thought he would start dancing!!!




And lastly, here are some pics of little baby clothes (and some older children´s clothes)
that Wendy left with Sarah and me to hand out to those families that are in need...and there are plenty of babies that are in need! Wendy said that a group of ladies from New Zealand got together and hand made the baby outfits, so they these are original New Zealand clothes...gotta like that!









And here we are handing some of the clothes out...have many more families that we need to visit with but it is a start...

This is Cruz with her new little 6 week old Karen...we have known the husband Daniel since the frist day we arrived here in Mexico...





The hammock in the background is little Karen´s bed...that is common in the part of Mexico we live in...

Here are some pics of two families that attend our church...

Chus and her 7 month old granddaughter...

Herminia and her 7 month old daughter Esther...this is Humberto´s wife.

And the rest of Herminia´s children wearing various things that Wendy left with us...

And that´s all for now.

Thanks for taking the time to keep up with what´s going on down here,

Lance, Sarah, Joshua and Caleb

Did someone say it's dinner time?

Hey friends,

We wanted to send out a quick blog to let everyone know that the Lord continues to bless us with more children here at the orphanage! We received another two children about 3 weeks ago; two brothers ages 8 and 5. They are pretty shy and haven't really come around to life here at the orphanage but that is to be expected from such little ones. But as the Lord has done with the others, He will bring them around in due time. Please continue to pray for their progress and growth here at the orphanage.

With these two addittions, we now care for 20 children here at the orphanage.

So just this morning as we were preparing breakfast, I thought that it would be fun to take a few pics of what it looks like to feed 19 children at the same time.


A whole bunch of cups and plates...






Plasticware...and even some real life silverware (but then again it is not real silver so who knows)...



8 lbs of tortillas!!!!!!!!!!




Call me anything you want, just don't call me late for breakfast!!!!

Now it is time to get down to business.......

It's every man and woman for themselves.....

Orlando trying to figure out who took his tortillas...should never leave the table for anything around here!

Esteban is really only happy three times a day...and this is one of them!! Yum-Yum!

The six girls are outnumbered more than 2 to 1...so they gotta stick together...

Chepe seems pretty content don't you think?

Saulo showing us how it's done here in Mexico...the plasticware is available but not many of the kids us it...they prefer tearing a piece of tortilla off to use as a type of scoop!!! I still haven't switched to this style yet...

And these two brothers aren't the newest kids on the block any longer....

And that's because these two brothers just showed up less than a month ago....

And you probably wouldn't believe it, but this whole scene only lasts about 12 minutes because as soon as the food hits the table, it is goooooone!!!



And we are left with THIS!!!!!!!!!!

That is all for now....please continue to pray for all the children!!!

Lance for the Keeling gang

Three new children and a visitor

Hello friends,

Ok, so this blog is like so late but what is the old saying…better late than never!

We have received three new children (all boys) at the orphanage over the last two months. In addition to these three, a young girl has come to live at the orphanage in order to help out with the daily work and chores around the facility.

The first child arrived at the orphanage in August and is named “Adam.” He is the one whose identity we really need to protect due to the circumstances I described in the accompanying email. He is 13 years old and so far he has really fit in very well.

At the beginning of October, two brothers named Ruben (age 12) and Jose (age 9) came to live at the orphanage as well. They are still trying to adapt but it appears that this will be pretty easy to do. Ruben has a "go get em" attitude and has not allowed his new surroundings to bother him. His little brother is taking a little more time to adjust but in time he should be just fine. One awesome thing about Ruben is that he has taken a liking to Joshua, and Joshua to him, so that they are always hanging out together...along with Jose (Chepe). Chepe is the one that has been loving on Joshua for almost 2 years now.

And as for our visitor, her name is Sara and since we already have another little girl named Sara, we all call her Sara Grande. Sara is not an orphan nor has she been abandoned. She is the daughter of a friend and is accomplishing two things. The first is that she is being a great help for Yara as she helps out doing the dishes, clothes, cleaning etc. and the second thing she is doing is making some extra money which she gives to her family on a weekly basis (her family lives in a neighboring community). This is not a permanent arrangement but it is working out really well right now for everyone involved.

With these three new additions, the total of orphans/abandoned children now stands at 17 and with the addition of Sara, we now care for 18 children. There are 12 boys and 6 girls.

Ruben just doing a little work...if it wasn't for him I would have had to cut a whole bunch of wood by myself!!!!!

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Jose simply hanging out, not doing much of anything...

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These two are rarely separated...just as it should be!

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Here is a pic of "Adam"...he really seems pretty content with his new home...

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And last but not least is Sara...she works so had and has really been a blessing to all of us!

These are the six girls...

That is all for now.

May the Lord bless you all,

Lance, Sarita, Joshua and Caleb