February March2009

The Ramey Report !"

Speaking Tour 2009! As we approach our one-year anniversary here in San M arcos, Kristi and the kids are preparing to head north for a whirlwind speaking tour. They will be staying in Ohio for two weeks. Genna will be left behind for two months to do some college planning and will be available to speak in churches and small groups. We are at a very busy period, so Tod will be holding down the fort at the Children’s Home. The girls need your prayers on two fronts. The first is for God to open doors for more speaking opportunities. The second is for safety in travel. In order to cut costs, they will be hitching a ride to Dallas, TX with an American who lives with his family here in San M arcos. The airfare is much less flying from Dallas. Tod will be driving up to Dallas to sell the trailer and to pick up the girls when they return. Normally crossing the border by car is not a big deal. But, as many of you have seen on the news recently, there is much unrest at the borders making crossings very risky. They will be going through at Laredo TX. Nearby border cites have had protestors and murder rates are up. Just last week, eight M exicans were killed during a protest. The protests were staged because of the M exican government using army troops to help stop drug smuggling. Some of the people were paid to protest. If the violence continues Kristi and the kids may have to fly out of Guadalajara, greatly increasing their travel costs. Please pray for direction in this matter.

Thank You! After a fairly slow period of progress on the building we are now in a flurry of activity, thanks to recent and very generous donations to the building fund. We have installed two large doors upstairs and the windows are on the way. Once the windows are installed, our family will be moving upstairs. A very generous man just installed a fire alarm system and smoke detectors, donating his labor. This system meets the requirements for safety regulations and also allows for future expansion of the building and future security system, panic buttons and a video monitor system for added safety. As I write this, the back stairway is being welded into place. This will serve as an emergency exit and easy way to the nursery that is upstairs, close to mom and dad. In the next few weeks we should be able to move upstairs to our new home. Then the downstairs will be cleaned and ready for children. We are also going to waterproof the roof and start plastering the outside of the building. The front porch will be cemented in and a roof put on to provide a nice place for children to play. We hope to begin accepting children by next month, God willing!

Tod and Kristi celebrated nineteen years of marriage on February 23rd! Visit us on the web:

www.faceofmyfather.org

# “ I’m done, I’m done,” I ran through the house shouting. Yes, it was true. I had finally finished. “ With what?” you might ask. School of course! My goal for this year was to complete my school before I turned 17 (and I was able to!). So, throughout the fall and into the New Year, I piled the work on. I only had two more subjects that I needed to finish, so it wasn’t really all that difficult. But the weird thing was, even though I was done (done!), I felt somewhat empty. T he whole “ graduation” thing didn’t feel that amazing. I hadn’t done anything miraculous; I had just completed that phase of school. Don’t get me wrong, I was very much excited. So, why didn’t this accomplishment feel as fantastic as I thought it would? Most of the “ highs” I’ve gotten this past year have been for pretty random things, like doors, running water, a new person at the church, an encouraging note received from someone, a verse that seemed just for me or ` simply a gorgeous night sky. So why now, on the brink of something huge, did I feel great, but not amazing? Because, once again, (as I’ve been learning) all the good things come from God. I was happy those other times because I was serving or receiving some sort of blessing from my Father. T his was just for me. It was a big thing to the world, but I don’t want to impress the world. I want to live up to expectations, but not everyone’s. I want to accomplish things, great things, but absolutely NONE of that will matter if it’s not for God. I knew the only way I could make it amazing, would be if I could glorify Him through it in some way. And I hope I can!

Joy overflows from those

If you ask me where I’m going to college, I will tell you the School of Servanthood. I want to serve, but right now I’m not so good at it. So for this year, my goal is to be a servant: someone to help here with the home, someone to help at church or in the community, and most importantly, anywhere He calls me. Ple ase pray that that will remain my focus throughout this next year

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Speaking Opportunities Needed

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Genna and Jossie with Kayla from Kansas

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Jossie and Annie on the new stairs. Support Form or you may visit our website at faceofmyfather.org Thank you very much! Ple ase che ck the following that apply: I will join ___ prayer ___ prayer ___ prayer

the Rame y’s in…. & give financially at $_____/month & enclose a one time gift of $____ but I can not give financially now.

Che ck to re ce ive our family ne wsle tte r.

_____e-mail

_____ postal mail

I would like to support the Childre n’s Home with building needs, operating expenses, or wherever needed: ____ one time gift of $_______ ____ monthly gift of $_______/month Name_________________________________________ Address________________________________________________________________ City_____________________________________ State______ Zip _______________ Phone________________ E-Mail___________________________________________

Please return form to: Good Measure 785 Harrison Ave. Charleston, IL 61920

Our Mexico Address:

Face Of My Father Children’s Home Tod & Kristi Ramey AP #10 San Marcos, Jalisco 46540 MEXICO

U.S Contact Information Good Measure International 785 Harrison Avenue Charleston, IL 61920 (217)-348-1587 www.goodmeasure.org

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From The Brain Matter of Jossie By Jossiphyne Esther Ramey (missionary kid in Mexico) Ok, first hi to all the people in the world *wink*. Thanks for the prayers and stuff. When I first came here, I wasn’t happy. I didn’t have friends, we had to learn a new language, and our house wasn’t finished. I realized that my pouting was not helping the situation, so I changed my mind set and then I began to enjoy M exico. Spanish has come easy for me, and I even have great friends down here now. The thing that’s helped me the most was probably the fact that I realized I had to let go of the past. I had to realize that I now live in M exico, so I better make the best of it. We recently celebrated Annie’s 12th birthday, and for her birthday she wanted to go to a theme park called Selva M ágica (M agic Jungle). It had roller coasters, go-karts, bumper cars, and a whole lot more, but the ride that I liked the best was called the Fly Coaster. You get all strapped into this rope and they slowly pull you up about 100 feet and just below you is this target that has chalk outlines of bodies like in a murder movie. Well, when the guy says, “Pull!” you pull this string on your harness and you drop towards the target. You feel like you are going to die, but it is just a big swing so it safely swings you up before you hit the target. M y thought when I saw the target was “Oh my goodness, I am going to die!!!!!” The story has a happy ending, obviously, because I am here writing this…or am I? Bye and thanks for reading this.