Kevin

Kevin, Gloria and Sandy's son, is here to visit his parent and see their work. Kevin is a seminarian in the US and will be helping the kids practice English at Sagrada Familia as a part of his course work. Being an Englishspeaker, the kids will HAVE to use English!!! Thanks, Kevin

Saying Goodbye is Hard To Do

At the end of the month we will be saying "Goodbye" to our tutor Luis Quispe. Luis has been working at Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia since we began this house. All the kids will miss him. Luis has finished his seminary studies and will be leaving Arequipa at the end of the month to move to Juliaca where he will serve as a licensed lay minister assisting the newly ordained Fr. Ruben at Santa María Magdalena. It is exciting to see Luis take another step towards ordination, but sad to lose his presence here in Arequipa. Many thanks, Luis for your outstanding service.

The Arrival

The big day has come. Everybody at Sagrada Familia was waiting in the yard listening for the arrival of the combi bringing the 5 kids over- Waldir, Hermelinda, Adda Margooth, Miguel Angel, and Maricruz. Pedro had given his talk the night before about being sensitive to the newcomers. Balloons were filled, posters decorated, welcome cards completed, and snacks prepared.

Finally the vehicle arrived and the kids and Maria Perez began to pile out. Each kid bringing big bags of clothing and toys.

NEWBIES

Pedro welcomed the new kids. Maria Perez said goodbye (not without few tears!)and wished the best for them as they enter their teenage years.

Growing UP

What is it with kids? They keep GROWING!! We have 5 kids that have reached the age of twelve and need to be moved over to the teen home, Sagrada Familia. Xavier is 12 as well and we had planned to move him over too, but the Peruvian department of adoptions has recently declared him and his sisters Angela and Lizet as "adoptable". Now the government wants him to stay awhile longer at San Jose as they search for a family for the three of them.

Director Pedro came up with the idea of joining the two cabanas together to give us a bit more space for bedrooms at Sagrada Familia. That construction has been done and turned out quite well. Now the finishing touches are being done- the new camarotes(bunk beds)are in and the armarios (closets) are being finished. Add mattresses, pillows, blankets, more chairs and tables, and ,Voila! we're ready to receive the younger ones.

PROJECT HOPE

We are really very excited to announce the launch of PROJECT HOPE. This will be the name for our expansion project for Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia. We are out of dormitory space!! We have a three stage plan to expand and better utilize our property. First, after building an urgently needed retaining wall to keep the existing structure in place, we will build the first floor of a new dorm building. Read about it here at PROJECT HOPE.

Visiting the Casas

A really cool project the St. Matthew's team worked on were cube puzzles. They constructed 7-piece puzzles by gluing small wooden cubes together. Each child got one in a carrying bag. The team worked with them not only on forming cubes, but beds, houses, and about 15 other things one can build with a single cube or two kids working together can build with the 14 parts. Everyone had a blast and there was good interaction and real brain teasers figuring out the designs. Many thanks, team!