Covid 19 UPDATE — When it comes to the Coronavirus, La Familia has dodged the preverbal bullet. With 33 children quarantined in the main building on the property, we feel extremely blessed to have not had even one case of the bug that is raging around the globe. The directors are implementing all of the preventive measures just as fast as they are published.

Several weeks ago, we learned that two family members who are also members of the church Juan Francisco pastors — a father and his adult son — had contracted the Coronavirus and both had died from complications they suffered from the sickness. In an attempt to avoid future exposure to the virus, Juan Francisco decided to discontinue worship services until they could review their protocols and feel comfortable that they were providing a safe healthy space or the church to meet.

Plans are in the works to reopen the church in the next couple of weeks with a set of protocols in place as recommended by the Mexican authorities. Please keep both the children of La Familia as well as the members of the church that meets on the second floor — the name of the church is Grupo Amor — in your prayers.

The local Schools — All of the children in school have been asked to stay at home and study at home. This means, of course, that our directors, Silvia and Juan Francisco, and the members of the La Familia Staff must be flexible enough and knowledgeable enough to tutor and assist each age group: Kinder, Primary, Secondary and Baccalaureate. This is no easy task. I have encouraged Silvia to do her best to try and find some educated moms to assist the La Familia staff. Thus far, they have not found any qualified staff who are available. We have also begun outfitting the casa with its own Internet System.

Love Offering — Since the pandemic struck we have had only one team visit La Familia over the past year, so there have been no Love Offerings for the directors and staff. Since Love Offerings make up the majority of the directors and volunteers salaries, this has severely reduced their income. This shortfall comes at a time when the directors and staff are working practically a 24/7 day when you throw in 33 children in home school from 8:30 to 6:30 PM. We are asking anyone who wishes to send a check marked “Love Offering” to Embrace the Dream Foundation, PO Box 5558, Greenville, SC 29606. We plan to present this Love Offering to the directors and staff as an early Christmas Gift.

 
News from Colima — We have three college students attending the university in Colima: Daniel, Jazmin and Isabel.

Colima is approximately a 12-hour trip by bus via an all-night bus ride. Isabel’s husband, Gabriel, graduated this past June with a degree in Accounting, but until the Covid 19 problem lessens, jobs are difficult to come by, so Gabriel continues to work with his wife, Isabel, as volunteers in one of the Casa Hogars in Colima.

Located in a tropical part of Mexico, Colima is prone to flash flooding. Two weeks ago a flash flood roared through the property where they work and the staff had to spend over a week digging out the mud and other forms of debris.

Jazmin, Isabel’s sister, is still in nursing school and is still scheduled to graduate this coming June.

Also living in Colima:
Juan Carlos is currently living in a casa hogar in Colima that specializes in working with young adults. His health is good and his attitude is excellent. Please keep Juan Carlos in your prayers.

 
EMT Training for “Big Josué

Back in the days when Isabel’s son “Little Josué” was at La Familia, we had another very bright boy we called “Big Josué.” Big Josué played the keyboard in the praise band at church and has aspirations to attend a university in either the US or Germany.

Since visas are extremely difficult to come by while the pandemic is raging around the world, Big Josué is unable to access a foreign university. In the meantime, a local physician has taken Josue under his wing and offered to train him as an EMT. While he may never actually perform the job of an EMT, this is excellent training for Josue to use in emergency situations.

Current University Students

Daniel (son of Juan Francisco and Silvia) — International Business in Colima
Isabel Urbina — Studying Accounting in Colima
Jazmin Urbina — Last year of nursing school in Colima

 
by Bill Lee, President
Embrace the Dream Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 5558
Greenville, SC 29606

Although La Familia is located in Palmarito, Puebla, Mexico, an extremely small town that is approximately a 40-hour drive (over 2,100 miles) from where I live in South Carolina, the people, businesses and schools there are not immune from the coronavirus. While none of our children have been infected with the virus, they have certainly been affected.

Among the local residents who attend of the church that meets on the second floor of the casa hogar, we have had only two members who have been diagnosed with the virus. It was a father and his son and neither of the men survived. As a precaution, the church has discontinued holding worship services until the pastor is convinced that it is safe to attend.

We just received word late last week that we had to outfit the casa with Internet capability so the children will be able to attend school via Internet transmission. All of the children will be having their school classes at hone from 7:30 A.M. Monday morning to 6:00 PM. At the present time, the Mexican government is not allowing face to face classes.

Silvia, Juan Francisco and the other members of the La Familia staff have been working 24/7 to get the equipment installed in time for the first day of school. There are a significant number of you who want to be kept informed about the school situation, so through this newsletter we will share what we know with you on a timely basis.

New Child at La Familia — Kriscia Nikté Moreno Lopez

Kriscia’s birthday is February 1, 2010, so she turned ten years of age this past February 1. She arrived at La Familia in the month of August 2020. Her father asked us for support for his daughter at La Familia due to multiple family issues. Kriscia’s mother left home leaving Kriscia’s father at home alone with his daughter. Her dad has many financial issues to deal with and cannot take care of his daughter because of the demands of his job.

Kriscia is adapting quickly to her new life at La Familia. All the children have welcomed her, and now she is listening to the word of God and is trying to understand his great love for her. The directors feel confident that she will soon feel comfortable at La Familia and be able to trust God with her concerns.

Another piece of good news is that they have finally been successful at placing Kriscia in the public school system, and now she is working at home with all of the children in her classes. God is good and Silvia and Juan Francisco know that He has great plans for Kriscia.

A new boy has also arrived — Kevin Regente Buendia

Kevin arrived at Casa Hogar on September 9 of this year, the director of DIF in the town of Sochitlan contacted the directors to ask that they offer their support by agreeing to receive Kevin.

(DIF stands for Desarrollo Integral de la Familia. In English, DIF translates as “Necessary to the development of the family.”) In Mexico, DIF is a government agency that makes sure the children in the country who are in need of care are provided for.

Kevin is 9 years old, he is the youngest of 5 siblings, his mother left home and his father is an alcoholic, DIF intervened in the difficult family situation Kevin was in. They sought the support of Kevin’s family, but the family did not want to support the children. DIF was able to rescue only little Kevin. After 8 months of being housed in a DIF facility, they looked to La Familia to ask the directors if they would accept him at the Casa Hogar.

Today, Kevin is in the safety of La Familia. He is a friendly and calm child, and despite the fact that he has only attended two devotional meetings with the other children, he is very participative and he really likes singing and praising God. He is grateful for having food to eat and very soon he will start with his school classes with the other children in the casa hogar.

The directors are confident that God has a great future planned for Kevin; they pray daily for Kevin and for the remainder of his family.

Luis Gabriel Cortes Castillo

Anyone who has been on a mission trip to La Familia has most likely met Isabel Urbina and her four siblings. We are proud of all of them. Jazmin is in her last year of nursing school. Juan Carlos is working for a casa hogar in Colima. Elise recently gave birth to a little girl in Quecholac. And Mary Fernanda recently graduated from high school in Quecholac.

Gabriel is Isabel’s husband. Gabriel and Isabel, along with Isabel’s 13-year-old son, Josue, and their newborn baby, Baby William, are working as full time volunteers at one of the casa hogars in Colima, where they also attend the University of Colima Business School. Gabriel graduated this spring with a degree in Accounting and Isabel is still attending classes with a goal to also earn her degree in Accounting.

Embrace the Dream has been blessed with sufficient funding to be able to provide the children from La Familia with the financial support to attend the University of Colima if they can meet the academic requirements to gain entrance, and if they can maintain a C grade average.

There is a non profit organization operating out of South Carolina by the name of Education = Hope. I have followed Education = Hope for several years and I have become convinced that with education comes not only a richer life, but an understanding of the essentials necessary to achieve financial independence. One of the goals of Embrace the Dream Foundation is to provide a better future to the children the Lord has given us to rear at La Familia.

Embrace the Dream Foundation wishes to thank all of our donors for continuing to support Casa Hogar La Familia during this extremely difficult time in the life of the home. We are blessed with the best volunteers and directors imaginable. Please pray for all of them that they are able to maintain the stamina to fulfill their responsibilities in the Casa Hogar with the children unable to attend school.

If any of you ever have questions about anything you don’t understand at La Familia, please feel free to call me anytime. My name is Bill Lee at 864-303-8366. My email address is LeeResourcesInc@Gmail.com.

Over all, everything is going very nicely at Casa Hogar La Familia. At the present time, we have 31 children, two directors and three volunteers.

Like the rest of the world, the directors are spending much of their time dealing with safety protocols in an attempt to protect the children and staff from the coronavirus pandemic. Silvia says that no private hospitals are taking any coronavirus cases, so all government hospitals are bulging at the seams with cases related to the pandemic.

The church that meets on the second floor has discontinued holding Sunday and Thursday evening worship services, choosing to meet in individual small groups for prayer and worship.

Two of the long time members of the church Juan Francisco pastors have passed away as a result of complications from the coronavirus. A father and his son both died last week.

As is to be expected, all mission teams have canceled their visits to La Familia for the remainder of the year. They miss the mission teams and the mission teams miss their time with the children, but we are all trying to make the safest decisions we can.

Almost 20 years ago, the mission team leader at Signal Crest United Methodist Church in Signal Mountain, TN, Charlie Spencer, was out for his morning run in Ciudad Serdan when he stumbled across a fellow gringo getting in his morning run. The two men introduced themselves and Charlie explained his church’s ministry at Casa Hogar La Familia. The fellow gringo’s name was Dr. Pearse Lyons, a native of Ireland who had brought his family to the US with a dream to use his expertise as a bio chemist to have a positive impact on animals, consumers and the environment. Dr. Lyons visited La Familia and soon became a good friend and over the years supported the casa hogar in many ways.

Unrelated to the coronavirus, Dr. Lyons, owner of Alltec, a high-tech company that had a location in the town where La Familia was founded, passed away several months ago. After his death, his wife made a special trip to visit La Familia and explained to the directors what a large spot in the owner’s heart La Familia occupied. She also told the directors that the owner left instructions for her to determine what capital expenditures were needed on the property La Familia occupies and make that money available.

As a result of the owner’s generosity, the perimeter wall has been extended to the end of the property and large gates installed. Railings were installed on the balconies just off the upstairs bedrooms that faced the front of the main building.

Terra cotta colored pavers now cover the parking and laundry area to the left of the main building as you face the building from the front. Plans are also underway to install artificial turf on the soccer field to the right of the main building as you face the building from the front. These gifts have been a real blessing to La Familia.

Our hat is off to Dr. Lyons who built locations in over 100 countries around the world. He was widely regarded as an inspirational leader and communicator. He lived his life with passion and purpose — rising before dawn to begin communicating with colleagues around the world. He built Alltech into the fastest growing company in the global animal health and nutrition industry through innovative technology and strong branding.

I believe most of you who have traveled to Mexico will remember Isabel Urbina, the oldest of five Urbina children who grew up at La Familia. Isabel is the oldest, followed by Jazmin, Juan Carlos, Alicia, and the youngest is Maria Fernanda. Isabel is now married to Gabriel Cortes Castillo who graduated this year with a degree in accounting. She and Gabriel were hired as volunteers at a casa hogan in Colima to give them a place to live while they were at the university. Isabel is now 28 years of age and has some great news. On July 4 of 2020, Isabel gave birth to a baby boy, and on the same day, July 4th, Isabel’s first son, Josué, celebrated his13th birthday, as well.

Please keep the children and staff in your prayers. With the pandemic heating up in Mexico, we are all in uncharted waters.

Written by Bill Lee of Embrace the Dream Foundation, Inc.,
PO Box 5558, Greenville, SC 29606.
864-303-836

Embrace the Dream Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 5558
Greenville, SC 29606

On March 3, I returned from an eight-day trip to Casa Hogar La Familia. I traveled to La Familia with a mission team from the Federated Church in Kingfisher, OK. We had a terrific trip, and I don’t believe I have ever found everything at the home with the children and staff to be so absolutely outstanding.

Our team worked hard this trip. We arrived in Teka on Tuesday night, February 25, and our first day at the children’s home was on Wednesday morning following a terrific breakfast at Sandy’s in Quecholac.

When we arrived at La Familia, we were blown away by the installation of beautiful terra cotta colored pavers on the entire area where we park the La Familia vehicles. From the front gate to the back wall and from the basketball court wall to the exterior wall was 100% covered with the pavers. The clotheslines are now made of iron posts and cemented in place.

La Familia now has 31 children, which brings the home to near full capacity if not at full capacity. Currently, we only have three volunteers, Chuy, Damaly and Karen, so we could certainly use another volunteer if anyone has a Spanish-speaking young adult in their church who might be interested in serving in this capacity.

Among the activities we enjoyed with the children were continuous games of four-square, soccer, and volleyball outside and inside, we played a lot of board games. We also hosted all of the children at the waterpark and enjoyed a picnic made up of rotisserie chicken, beans, tortillas and a homemade beverage.

The Federated team worked along side Chuy and several of the boys from the home to repair and put all of the toilets in working order, replace all of the shower curtains in the boy’s and girl’s bathrooms, and finally to install LED lighting in the kitchen, dormitories and dining room. We are using fewer lights, so we should save some money on our electricity bill while substantially increasing the brightness of the home.

My personal objective for the visit was to take individual photographs of each child and staff person along with a photograph of each family present in the home. We accomplished this objective thanks to a lot of help from the Federated team. Be sure to look at the photographs on the www.embracethedream.com website.

Many of you will remember Josue and Rodolfo, both of whom have been a part of La Familia for most of their lives. Both boys are outstanding students and have firm plans to further their education by entering a university this fall. Both boys hope to qualify for visas to allow them to attend college in either the US or Germany.

The most popular child at La Familia is without a doubt “Luca,” the new little boy belonging to Damaly and Chuy. Be sure to take a look at the photograph of this “muy guapo” young man.

Our thanks go out to James Schreiber of Sacramento, CA, for organizing the photographs and for doing such a terrific job each month of publishing the La Familia newsletter. We could never pull this off with James’ assistance.

I have some terrific news from three ladies who grew up at La Familia.

1. Damaly gave birth to a little boy this month. She and Chuy named him Luca. Damaly and Chuy are working as volunteers at La Familia.

2. Alicia (sister of Isabel, Jazmin, Juan Carlos and Mafer (Fernanda) also had a little girl this month. They named her Ainhera (pronounced Ah e ner ah). Alicia and her husband live on a farm near La Familia. Alicia attends church on most Sundays at La Familia.

3. And today, I received a message from Isabel that she is 3-1/2-months pregnant with a little girl. Isabel is attending the university in Colima. She and her husband, Gabriel, are both working as volunteers at Casa Matrix, a casa hogar in Colima.

I will be visiting La Familia in February with a team from Kingfisher, OK. I will be sure to come home with a lot of photographs of the many new additions to the casa.

Bill Lee
President
Embrace the Dream Foundation, Inc.
PO Box 5558
Greenville, SC 29606