Christian Arrives

A new boy arrived today. He will turn 11 in January. Christan has lost both parents and has only an older grandmother who isn't able to care for him. We're glad to have him. As he is a bright boy, we are checking to see if Arelis' teacher who comes to the orphanage can work with him as well.

Maria Perez and Ron discussed some repairs needed and possibly re-upholstering the living room furniture. We'll pray about that. Maria was really excited about that possibility as she wants everything "spiffy" when the Roof Dogs come in Feb.

We'll put a picture of Christian on the blog as soon as we take one!

Simba

Simba at 4 months is the youngest resident at Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia. Coming from a church family yesterday, Simba seems to be adjusting well to his new surroundings. He is nearly full size now. Susana seems the most enchanted with him and even Margot (who doesn't like dogs) was all smiles. Of course, he has made friends with the cook Ana Rosa. Smart dog! Padre took him for shots this morning and will take him back in two weeks for boosters. Welcome to the family, Simba!

Wedding Announcement

Diana, one of the "educadoras" for Casa Hogar San José, got married on the 28th of October. There was much excitement and the wedding was beautiful. One glitch, however, was that the rings didn't arrive so they had to borrow some at the last minute. This week the couple came to church Sunday and Father Ron blessed the rings when he arrived for the service. Full of smiles and excitement, the young couple was fun to watch. Congratulations, Diana and Henry!

Ana Margoth- 8 yrs. old

Daniela- 5 yrs old

Miguel Angel- 9 yrs. old

Julio César- 3 yrs. old

The Family is Expanding

Yes, we are growing. In the last couple of weeks we have added 4 more kids. Each one with a smile to melt your heart! Their backgrounds are sad. We have a couple who, because of the extreme poverty of the mother and her inability to feed them, care for them, or send them to school, have been declared abandoned and labelled "orphans". A couple of others were removed from a mother involved in gangs. She was severly injured in a knife fight and has not taken much interest in the feeding or fate of her kids. Thus, the court declared her an unfit mother. It is sad that there are so many cases of children left to fend for themselves. Finding food becomes the entire focus of their little lives. Often, even at the incredibly young age of 4,5,or 6, they end up as "domestic help"somewhere (i.e. virtually slaves.)

While the directors and I were meeting today, we had a call from a judge trying to place 4 brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, one was too old for us to accept. At the end of our meeting we prayed for God to provide a loving place for those 4. Saying "no," even when one feels led by the Spirit to set perameters, is very hard to do.