What's going on at Dulce Refugio
I know that many people have passed through this orphanage and left their mark at Dulce Refugio. I want to keep all of you informed about what is going on with the kids and the construction process. Please remember to keep us in your thoughts and prayers; I hope you continue to help us out here at Casa Hogar Dulce Refugio. Gracias amigos!
Summer is here and so are the kids...all day, every day. The kids have July off from school and are hanging out around the house. Some of the boys have helped me work and we have also gotten them out of the house to see other cities and do some fun activities during their vacation.
In the construction...
I finished making all of the doors. I had to make 14 steel doors. It was a lot of material and a lot of welding but I'm glad that it's done. All that's left is to paint them and hang them. (These are the 3 designs that I made: The type of door on the left will be for the classrooms, the door in the middle will be for the office, and the type of door on the right is for the bathrooms.)
All of the glass for the windows has been bought, cut, and installed. Thank God I was able to do the entire building without dropping/breaking anything.
We had all of the mirrors donated for our dance/ballet room. They were also installed as part of the donation...less work for me! This room is different from all of the others and is looking really good.
We got 6 new faces this month. Dulce, Lupita, Wendy & Roberto are brother and sisters and their oldest sister, Erika (aka Kika), has been at our orphanage for many years.
Fani & Andrea are sisters and they have adapted very quickly. They have had no trouble making friends and love to play with everybody.
Dulce, Lupita, Wendy & Roberto
Fani & Andrea
We celebrated our 16th anniversary! It was a small celebration with the kids, staff and a few faithful friends of the casa. Everybody had a good time. We worshiped God, shared testimonies/memories of Dulce Refugio, ate "pozole" and danced. It really goes to show how faithful the Lord is to those who love Him.
We celebrated 2 graduations. Mari Sol (on the left) finished elementary school and Lolis (on right) finished middle school.
Mari Sol asked if I would walk with her in her ceremony to get her certificate. It is a custom here that one of the parents accompanies their child when they receive their elementary school diploma. I was honored to be chosen...but since I'm the only man working at the orphanage I had a good chance of getting picked haha.
We took the kids to another city inside of the state of Aguascalientes. We went to San Jose de Gracia, which is a small town on a lake. There is a huge statue called the "Cristo Roto" (broken Christ). We took a boat ride to the island with the statue. The purpose of Jesus being broken in the statue is to help us remember the broken and hurting people in this world. After that we had lunch at a park and took a tour of the dam. It was a fun day and the kids enjoyed being out.
We celebrated Mattias' 1st birthday. Mattias is the son of one of our staff members, Marta. He is such a cute little boy and a joy to have him at Dulce Refugio. May God bless you with many more birthdays Mattias!
And as I say goodbye for this month's blog, I share the many faces that we had to say goodbye to this month. 6 kids left and many of them had been here for years. It was sad to say goodbye but I hope they are doing well wherever they are.
Jordan & Emiliano have been with us for around 2 years and I believe the government located some of their family for them to live with.
Lolis is a very bright and intelligent young woman. After she graduated middle school she decided to live with her older brothers.
Osiel & Dilan have been with us for about 1 year and are very sweet young boys. They were hard workers and would help out around the construction sometimes.
Mario was a handful and after many attempts to deal with the problems he has we had to say goodbye. We wish him well and will be praying for him.