Dear Friends and Family,
My trip in India is coming to a end,just under one month left. It’s been such a amazing journey. I have learned so many countless things. I never would have thought I could feel that “homey” feeling somewhere other than the states but I have. There will always be a piece of my heart here and I refuse to say that is cliché because its so true. This is now one of my homes I even have family here now. James and Sarah Rebbavarapu have been such a blessing, they are so wise and are profoundly gifted. James has such vision for everything here and it doesn’t stop and as a leader it can’t. Sarah is “love” she gives it freely and to everyone. They are and have been great leaders. Something else I have learned, not just to love but how to love in different ways. Simona, Shayna, and Amira are James and Sarah’s daughters. They have taught me an abundance of things. Simona, ah she was a breath of fresh air. Being around young people is so comfortable. She goes to school in Ooty, a city in the southern part of India and I haven’t gotten as much of a chance to see her but when I do I love that girl even more. She is a mixture of her dad and mom to the core. She is so mature for her age, she walks with vision, conviction, and love stronger than I see most 14 years olds walk in. Shayna and Amira I‘ve had the chance to get to know these two the most. They are so bright and very 7 and 8 years old. I love them. I love their questions. I have learned through them that every child is different and need love in different ways. Shayna is always singing and acting. Her personality is so outgoing, and when I say out going I mean she could have her own show. She is a lover and it’s very genuine. Amira goes with the flow she loves information you could just sit there for hours and she would ask you all sorts of questions. She loves doing the right thing, she loves righteous justice. She always tries to be fair. I have no idea the magnitude God has for these three girls but it will be profound for His Kingdom. I can’t wait to watch this family in all He has for them.
SCH has been lovely, hard, beautiful, and painful. So many kids to love. I have never felt uncomfortable working with special needs. I can say that in these last 5 months I went through times where I didn’t feel good enough, that I couldn't love big enough. What I’ve realized is when you give love and it stems from the Father it IS good and big enough. The greatest thing I have learned was how Jesus pursues us in different ways. I know and talk about “Jesus the Pursuer“ all the time, I would actually like to teach on it later on, but in this case I saw Him pursue the special needs, the children that were not very cognitive even. I think sometimes we don’t look past “Oh He loves them” As in, we know He does, but wonder if they know it, but beloved He not only just loves them He purses them and THEY FEEL it. He pursued them with love so deep, it has affected my heart at the deepest level. Did they know who He is? Maybe not, but I’d like to think they do. If they don’t understand “Him” they know love and happiness from every caregiver and staff that walks in those doors. I know Jesus pursued Ahuz and Yemima, who pasted away while I was here. Oh, how our sweet loving Father pursued these two beautiful children and Oh how He purses the rest of them. Sarah, Theresa, and Erin help hold SCH together and I have so much respect for them. It’s not easy, it’s a lot of work. Sarah is the Director and does the medical research and trips this is just a huge chunk of what she does. With 84 special needs kids this takes a lot of focus and time. Theresa takes care of the everyday stuff. How things run, ideas of how to organize things, checking to make sure everything is done properly. That isn’t even close to all she does there is so many different directions you can take just those three things. Erin helps with admin stuff but also takes more of a evening shift at the home and makes sure things get done as well. All 3 of their jobs bleed into other jobs, they all have to work as a team. They are lovers and they don’t quit because He never quits. They will always love and put their best efforts into Sarah’s Covenant Homes. I am so blessed to be apart of this journey with them.
What’s next you might ask. I was asking myself the same question a couple of months ago. What I knew was that I wouldn’t be living with my parents for a extended time. Probably, not much longer than 2 weeks. Then a couple of months ago I was talking to my former youth pastors. They are in need of some youth leaders. They pastor a youth group in Houston, Pennsylvania right outside Pittsburg. They have a internship for me there, and I’m beyond excited to team up with them. I will leave May 24 for Pittsburgh, PA and will be there at least till the end of August. Which now leads me where I am at right now financially. God has truly stayed faithful to my needs and through a lot of you. I have a little less then one month left and need more support through April and May, because of my transition I wont have a income in May. I will not be support raising after India only through the end of this trip and my transition to Pennsylvania. Also I need prayer about a car for this next ministry opportunity. To be honest I sold everything I had to come to India so I can not financially afford one. If you feel lead to bless me in these next two months as I transition, It would be such a blessing. My address is 3303 E. 113th Ter. Apt A. Kansas City, MO 64137 or my paypal is located on my website www.lovepeopleunconditionally.blogspot.com. I will keep my blog going while I’m in PA. So now you, my friends, and family can see what God is still doing in my life. Thank you so much for those who partnered with me and carried me in prayer through this journey. I love you all very much. Blessings beloved!
Rebekah Woodruff
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Sunday, April 10, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Hey family and friends!!!!!SO I did this video blog a wk or so ago but then got busy and forgot to put it on my blogspot.....I know genius right! =)I want to encourage you all to watch all the videos on my youtube. I put some shorter ones on there sometimes. I love you all so much! I have 7 wks left and I will never be the same. This has made me grow more than you know. Well I just got Shayna and Amira off to school it's time for me to get ready, gotta do some hair cuts at SCH!!!! LOVE YOU!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
HEY LOVESSSS
Hey my loves!!! I know it has been a while sooo much has gone on. I video blogged lol. It is 1am so I look....rough. When I say I tried to make this video 3 times I mean 6 and then 3 after this video.....so out of 10...this was the best lol......=) Well here is whats going on in my live. Love you allll!!!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Ahuz...sweet sweet Ahuz
I know I did not post the last week. I was trying to gather my thoughts and emotions. Right before New Years, Noah(Ahuz) had a seizer and it lasted longer than normal. The Iya(caretaker) brought him upstairs and then they rushed him to the nurse room. They have a heart/oxygen monitor, I think that’s what you call them, it goes on your finger. His pulse was to high and his oxygen to low. We have a oxygen tank there but it was to tight….it wouldn’t open….5 people trying to get it to budge with no luck…..I didn’t know what to do so I stood there and prayed in the Spirit…..After much effort we ran down stairs to the car to go to the hospital.
Hospitals I guess can be picky here on who the do and don’t admit. We rushed in through the doors to lay him on a bed with working oxygen right next to him while the men just stared at Sarah. They wouldn’t at first let her give him oxygen…until the “Momma” in her came out like a lioness. Like she was crazy, for some reason the thoughts of a crazy white women informing and asking a medical questions through them off. Here you can’t sugar coat things. You yell or you get walked all over…and when there is a 10 year olds life in your hand…that’s not going to happen. Some where laughing even. Really, she was a protective and jumping into action…that’s what happens when you have 80+ kids and a majority have epilepsy. She was fighting for his survival, a seizer lasting 5 mins is long a seizer lasting now hr and a half…Something had to be done. By the time the neurosurgeon came, he said he couldn’t do anything because he was just that, a neurosurgeon. Makes sense right?? Neurosurgeons shouldn’t know anything about seizers right? I’m sure it never came up in medical school!!!…We stayed there for maybe 45mins and left right after he showed up. We went to our next option, the hospital that actually turned a different child away because the doctor wasn’t a pediatric doctor. This time we make it in and they did take Ahuz, they medicated him but he was and had been seizing for I don’t even know how long now past 2 hours for sure. They got him somewhat stabilized, the next day we all when back. Sarah decided to take him to Hyderabad, the hospital in Ongole could no longer do anything for him and there are better hospitals in Hyderabad. They traveled my ambulance, it normally takes about a 6-7 hours but would be faster in a ambulance. They got him there but shortly after Ahuz passed away.
I had played with him, with all the boys but the reality of death as a possibility was far in the back of my head. It may not happen often, but it does, and it effects everyone. One boy, his friend, Joshua who is epileptic and so sweet ,cried and couldn’t eat for a day. Not sure if he really new what happened or if it was because he could sense why his Iya’s were so sad.
The questions in my mind were, “God why did everything go sooo wrong?”…..no oxygen.…the hospital not cooperating,… I still have no idea. What I have come to realize that Ahuz was in a environment of people that talked and loved on him all day. He laid or sat next to his friends and was always smiling. If there wasn’t Sarah’s Covenant Homes then he would have been somewhere else malnourished(most likely) and would have possible gone through that alone. I like to think that God placed him at SCH to know love….and see it….and feel it….when he fell asleep at night someone was there….when he had a seizer someone was there. God not only died for that little cutie pie but he orchestrated from the beginning that someone would pick him up and take him to his new “home” and love on him till it was his time to meet Jesus…Jesus desires us to see love, and Ahuz defiantly saw Christ’s love because all of those Iya’s loved him like Christ does. Even when we are cognitive or mentally delayed or have some other kind of disability God still pursues us…..He pursed little Ahuz by giving him love from amazing Christian people….I have so much joy knowing that Ahuz knew he was loved……and now he’s in the presents of the man that loved him and pursued him in the first place. I bet that Jesus told Ahuz all about how much He loved him, and about how he showed it when he was on earth. I also bet Jesus melted when He saw his incredible smile.
I don't have a picture of him but this link http://www.facebook.com/schindia is to the Sarah's Covenant Homes Facebook page and the profile picture is his beautiful smiling face. Love you all and thanks for your prayers!
Hospitals I guess can be picky here on who the do and don’t admit. We rushed in through the doors to lay him on a bed with working oxygen right next to him while the men just stared at Sarah. They wouldn’t at first let her give him oxygen…until the “Momma” in her came out like a lioness. Like she was crazy, for some reason the thoughts of a crazy white women informing and asking a medical questions through them off. Here you can’t sugar coat things. You yell or you get walked all over…and when there is a 10 year olds life in your hand…that’s not going to happen. Some where laughing even. Really, she was a protective and jumping into action…that’s what happens when you have 80+ kids and a majority have epilepsy. She was fighting for his survival, a seizer lasting 5 mins is long a seizer lasting now hr and a half…Something had to be done. By the time the neurosurgeon came, he said he couldn’t do anything because he was just that, a neurosurgeon. Makes sense right?? Neurosurgeons shouldn’t know anything about seizers right? I’m sure it never came up in medical school!!!…We stayed there for maybe 45mins and left right after he showed up. We went to our next option, the hospital that actually turned a different child away because the doctor wasn’t a pediatric doctor. This time we make it in and they did take Ahuz, they medicated him but he was and had been seizing for I don’t even know how long now past 2 hours for sure. They got him somewhat stabilized, the next day we all when back. Sarah decided to take him to Hyderabad, the hospital in Ongole could no longer do anything for him and there are better hospitals in Hyderabad. They traveled my ambulance, it normally takes about a 6-7 hours but would be faster in a ambulance. They got him there but shortly after Ahuz passed away.
I had played with him, with all the boys but the reality of death as a possibility was far in the back of my head. It may not happen often, but it does, and it effects everyone. One boy, his friend, Joshua who is epileptic and so sweet ,cried and couldn’t eat for a day. Not sure if he really new what happened or if it was because he could sense why his Iya’s were so sad.
The questions in my mind were, “God why did everything go sooo wrong?”…..no oxygen.…the hospital not cooperating,… I still have no idea. What I have come to realize that Ahuz was in a environment of people that talked and loved on him all day. He laid or sat next to his friends and was always smiling. If there wasn’t Sarah’s Covenant Homes then he would have been somewhere else malnourished(most likely) and would have possible gone through that alone. I like to think that God placed him at SCH to know love….and see it….and feel it….when he fell asleep at night someone was there….when he had a seizer someone was there. God not only died for that little cutie pie but he orchestrated from the beginning that someone would pick him up and take him to his new “home” and love on him till it was his time to meet Jesus…Jesus desires us to see love, and Ahuz defiantly saw Christ’s love because all of those Iya’s loved him like Christ does. Even when we are cognitive or mentally delayed or have some other kind of disability God still pursues us…..He pursed little Ahuz by giving him love from amazing Christian people….I have so much joy knowing that Ahuz knew he was loved……and now he’s in the presents of the man that loved him and pursued him in the first place. I bet that Jesus told Ahuz all about how much He loved him, and about how he showed it when he was on earth. I also bet Jesus melted when He saw his incredible smile.
I don't have a picture of him but this link http://www.facebook.com/schindia is to the Sarah's Covenant Homes Facebook page and the profile picture is his beautiful smiling face. Love you all and thanks for your prayers!
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