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The Art of Parenting
March-July was a whirlwind of translating, editing, proofing, and approving (Yay!) the core elements of the Art of Parenting. We now have in Spanish:
- Like Arrows: a feature length film.
- The Art of Parenting DVDs: an 8-session video series for small groups.
- The Art of Parenting Manual: to guide the small group discussions and individual/couple’s projects between sessions.
You can take a look here:
Like Arrows movie in English
Como Flechas movie in Spanish
The Art of Parenting in English
El Arte de Ser Padres in Spanish
Global Summit
July brought nearly 100 international partners to FamilyLife HQ in Little Rock, AR. Roger led a team of simultaneous translators so our delegation of 30 from Latin America could fully participate in the 5 days of teaching and sharing.
Agora
1,470 ministry leaders from all over Latin America gathered in Rio de Janeiro in August. FamilyLife presented Like Arrows and the Art of Parenting in one of the plenary sessions, and led four workshops for about 320 people. If you like detailed reports, you can read it here.
Blue-bobbies and Chicken Bus
Laura writes: A little more than a year ago my sister, bless her heart, sent me a video from the SC Heart gallery of a precious teenage girl who we would have loved to fold into our family. Her text said, “I think this one is yours.” I laughed because Roger and I had settled the question of fostering or adopting years ago.
It was the numbers that got me this time. In SC alone there are about 500 children looking for adoptive parents. That doesn't include the thousands of kids in the foster system. Thousands! And that is just SC.
With fear and trembling Roger and I started the process for becoming approved as an adoptive home about a year ago. We thought that perhaps we could give an older child a soft place to land while figuring out life choices. It's a long, winding road through the Department of Social Services. I think they try to give you a strong dose of reality as you work through the process. The foster system seemed the hardest to us, but also the best fit for the way we have always functioned. Helping families stay together is a high priority in any language for us. So we opened our minds to fostering as well as adoption, whatever the Lord would want. That is how we moved from considering adopting a teen... to a giggling 7 year old Hispanic girl stealing our hearts. Oh, but our God is all wise and certainly has a sense of humor!
We have been awestruck at how easily God has removed the boulders such as financial issues. From one day to the next, this little girl who came to us with one set of clothes and a unicorn was completely clothed and outfitted with anything a child could ever need. His providence is swift, perfect, and generous. Those seemed like the easy boulders. What surprised us was that the boulders lodged in our hearts were moved with such ease by the hand of God Himself. He made us willing.
It's been harder and more exhausting than we ever imagined, and much happier than we could have hoped for. As our little girl learns English, there are certain words that I hope she never figures out, like blue-bobbies (blueberries) and that old Christmas favorite, “Chicken bus, Chicken bus, chicken all the way!” (Jingle Bells). I contemplate how perfectly God suited us for this little one in language and so many other ways. I also contemplate the day when this little spitfire who screams Hudson's wrestling opponents into submission is no longer in our home. I know that is where we are going. God's provision will be waiting for us then too.
Cru LAC FamilyLife Leadership Team
January 2019, Roger will meet in Panama with the rest of FamilyLife’s Latin America Leadership Team to lay out our plans and strategies as we head toward 2020! We need your your prayers for this crucial meeting!
Like Arrows and AOP Online Launch
We are working toward launching Like Arrows in Latin America. This will be huge! A Latin America film company is thrilled about Como Flechas and is is helping us work toward a theatrical release during February and March of 2019. Our main responsibility is to help prepare the churches to minister to everyone responds to the movie and wants biblical guidance to becoming better parents. This is a major prayer request! How can we prepare so many churches in such a short time? We need your prayer for God’s Holy Spirit to guide us clearly.
One of the first steps was creating the Small Group Leader Guide in both Spanish and English to help get the churches ready for this amazing opportunity.
Another major step in helping churches prepare for a possible flood of parents seeking help is a total revamp our web presence. Starting with the Art of Parenting, our goal is make vidaenfamilia.org the best online library of marriage and family resources on the planet! We need a team of volunteer translators and proofreaders. Please pray for God to put this team together. You can help connect us with the people you know that have excellent Spanish writing skills.
Finances
God’s provision is swift, generous and perfect, but we want you to be aware of our needs as we run short of funds at the end of each year. Pray that God will provide the time to raise support and the funds to continue in ministry. It is getting very exciting and very busy!
As you pray for God to bring us up to full support in 2019, you could by the key to making that happen! Please share this link with anyone that may be interested in helping: dyefamily.org/give
Thank you!
It is our joy and privilege to work with you in service to our King!
— Roger and Laura Dye
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