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!
September has been a bit different. There are lots of new faces around the orphanage, both with the staff and the children, and I didn't get to spend as much time in the construction as I would have liked due to all of the random odd jobs that needed to be taken care of.
In the construction...
I continued making the window protections and got to install some of them. There will be a total of 29 that need to be made. So far I have 14 made and 10 installed so only 15 more to go...I plan on having them all finished in October.
The 3rd floor has been completely painted with its final coat. Kyleigh has been responsible for painting the entire school and she "finished" painting last year but after tiling, grouting and other jobs in the construction the walls got pretty stained/dirty. Now with this touch up they look new again...I hope we don't mess them up.
We have a new volunteer. Kevin is from Texas and will be with us for a month and a half. He has been helping out in the construction and with the needs of the orphanage. He is helping me with the window protections. I make them and then he paints them after. We make a good team and he is helping things to go much faster.
We got hit hard with government inspections. 5 different agencies came to inspect us so we've had to make lots of superficial changes to improve our facility. This has cost us a lot of time and money, things that we don't have lots of at Dulce Refugio. We were very busy preparing by painting curbs, putting up signs everywhere (like the kids will even listen haha), fixing things, getting trained in fire safety & first aid, etc. We didn't completely pass the inspections so they gave us a check list of things to do and will be back soon for another revision. Please pray for us that we will get these people out of our hair so we can go back to focusing on the ministry.
We received 6 new kids this month.
On the left (from tallest to shortest) is Adriana, Guiselda & Jazmin. These 3 sisters are all sweethearts. Adriana is the most shy and has talked the least but the other 2 love to play and always want a hug or to be picked up.
On the right (from left to right) is Jonathon, Jocelyn & Paulette. Jonathon is a good kid and always wants to work for cookies. He has been helping paint a little bit. Jocelyn and Paulette seem like they have put up walls and don't show much affection but little by little I am making them laugh and I have gotten a couple of hugs out of them...they'll come around really soon.
We said goodbye to 2 kids. Cristian & Lupita are brother and sister and have been with us for 2 years. This was very difficult for me because I loved these kids so much. Cristian couldn't enter school for the first year he was with us because he didn't have his papers so he would be with me in the construction everyday. Lupita was such a sweet girl and I thought of her like she was my own daughter. They will be greatly missed and I wish them the best!
We celebrated Mexico's Independence Day. We had a big party at the Casa Hogar and everybody got dressed up. There were different stations with food & drinks and lots of dancing. It was a good time for everybody. VIVA MEXICO!!!
"Wera," which means white girl, has come back to serve on staff. She grew up in Dulce Refugio and spent many years here as a child. Now she will be staying in the boys' dorm and helping out around the orphanage. It is her and her baby boy Elias. It's nice to have more help around here.
We have some new faces at the Casa Hogar and they aren't children. We got a new puppy and 2 goats. The puppy is a Belgian Shepard named Merida and the goats are our new gardeners. The rain season has ended and left us with a ton of grass and weeds. This is an easy way to get rid of it without having to do anything.
And speaking of animals, they are delicious! I'm sorry, I know that a lot of people aren't going to like this post but it is what happened here this month. We ate rabbit for the first time. We have been raising rabbits and it came time to free up space in the cage. Everything turned out really well and we had a big BBQ. It was a fun night...for the humans.
My friend, Tayde, who owns a butcher shop down the street prepared everything because nobody at the orphanage wanted to do the dirty work. Tayde also found us the goats in the post above.
The church I attend sent over their youth group to help with a project. We buried the water line that I installed the previous month. It took a lot of wheelbarrows to fill in the trench. This project would've taken me 2 full days to finish by myself but with their help it took us 1 1/2 hours. Praise God! It really goes to show what the church can do when we are united and work together. Thank you CFC (Centro de la Familia Cristiana) for blessing Dulce Refugio.
"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." -Galatians 6:10
Philip and Jennifer Ardrey came down and stayed with us for a couple of weeks. They are in the process of adopting one of our girls...and it is a loooong process. They fulfilled their requirements with DIF (the government agency that works with children) and signed papers turning things over to the courts. This is the final step in the adoption process. We all thought that it would be 1 court date and done but we learned that there are multiple court dates and it will take another 5-6 months...that's government for ya.
In the meantime we are keeping Fernanda (the girl being adopted) occupied since she did not enroll in school this year. Chevon, a fellow missionary from my home church, Horizon, is teaching her English and I have a new gym partner because Fernanda told me she wanted to start working out.
Please pray for Fernanda and her new family-to-be because this process has already dragged on for 2 1/2 years. Fernanda was 13 when things started and she is now 16. We want her to have a nice home and lots of new opportunities in the USA as soon as possible.
