Happy New Year! A lot has happened in the last few months of 2024. Here’s a wrap up!
We are so happy to announce the progress both Josue and Rodolfo have made at the UTP University. They have both completed the first stage of the degree process and graduated as technicians in December of 2024. Now onto the degree portion of the process which should take approximately 2 additional years.
Rodolfo came to the home at the age of 3 in 2006 and has worked hard in his studies to be able to attend the University. Rodolfo finished the technical portion of his degree in Automotive Systems and will be working towards achieving his BA degree in Engineering.
Josue arrived at the home with his 4 siblings at the age of 7 in 2006. Josue completed the technical portion of the degree process in December in Mechatronics and will be working towards achieving his BA degree in Engineering.
We thank God for both gentlemen and the donors who have helped to make their educational dreams come true.
In December we had a team from Fishersville, VA come and spend a week here at the home. We accomplished several projects. We made gingerbread houses, played games, had donkey races and much more. We even took the children to the movies and arcade. So much fun!!!
Fishersville UMC purchased 2 computers and presented them to Abbey & Manuel who will be attending college in the spring.
Finally, Christmas! What an amazing time celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ with food, fellowship and games!
In January we welcomed little Vanessa to our home.
Independence Day celebration was September 16th. Several children were able to participate in a parade and celebration with their school. A fun time was had by all!!!
The home received a huge donation of food from Aromatizantes BEEP. What a blessing this is! Thank you so much!
The children were given “hook-latch” pillows to make, and they enjoyed taking their time and creating these pillows that they can use to decorate their bedrooms. Thank you, Lighthouse, for these projects!
Two brothers have joined our home, they are Josias (8 yrs old) and Axel (5 yrs old) at the home and are so excited about welcoming them into our family.
Congratulations to Daniel (Juan & Silvia’s son) on his engagement to Eunice. They are planning to be married in July 2025.
Nanci from Lighthouse spent a few days in Colima with Juan Francisco and Silvia learning more about Grupo Amor and its policies and procedures for the orphanage. While there, Silvia and Juan visited with their children and took Nanci to several local restaurants. Nanci really enjoyed the “tuba”, a drink of fresh fruits and peanuts!!!!
Chef Luca!
Luca had a special day at school where the children dressed up as chef’s and created a fancy dish. Luca named his “a day at the beach”
The school year is over for the children of Casa Hogar La Familia, and everyone is looking forward to their summer vacation, which is only 4 weeks in the Mexican School System. Several of our children graduated this year, so we want let all of the friends of La Familia to know who they are:
Sandra graduated from Elementary School
Yivel graduated from Middle School
Suri and Abi graduated from High School
Abi will be attending the University in the Fall
For the graduation party, Silvia, Damaly and their helpers made grilled meat with beans, guacamole, grilled onions and cactus with a green sauce.
Juan Francisco’s and Silvia’s son, Aleksei and his family were able to spend several days visiting the casa. Aleksei made lemon water with mint and delicious Chia, and for dessert, they brought cake and made gelatin. Silvia and Juan were so excited to spend time with their newest grandbaby, Eliett.
The Lighthouse team arrived on August 1st to spend a week with the children. They worked on clearing the field in preparations for a soccer field being installed by a local vendor. Lighthouse hosted a one-day VBS for the children or the casa and church families. We were also able to spend the day at the local water park in Quechaoloc.
Sundays are always a special time for the teams to share in an amazing. Spiritual worship service. It was great seeing Aleksei, Abbey & Suri joining in with the praise team. Josue has been teaching Suri how to play the guitar! Juan does such a great job delivering the message each week.
The team ended the week with a day in Puebla doing a “5-hour culinary tour” and learning about the local foods in Puebla! It was such a fun day!
The next week, all of the children and adults enjoyed some time away from casa and they went to a Selva Azul for two days of fun. They enjoyed white water rafting, swimming and much more!
Silvia has been shopping for the children to prepare them for the new school year by getting them new shoes, socks and under garments thanks to a donation from Fishersville UMC, VA
I was the leader of our first mission team in the Spring of 2024. We had a mission team made up of nine missioners from Federated Church in Kingfisher, Okla. Patty Stoudemire was our liaison at Federated Church.
We had an absolutely perfect week in every respect, especially with respect to the weather. Not a drop of rain. It was also harvest time for the vegetable crop behind the casa. The workers were harvesting the Spinach crop during our visit.
Anyone who has traveled to La Familia over the past few years has observed that the two bodegas on the property were in bad need of organizing and cleaning. To accomplish this, the Federated Team with the help of Chuey and several of the older boys pulled every item in the bodega outside and stacked every item in a separate space.
Every possible item that may be needed for any purpose was returned to the bodega in a highly organized manner. I believe you will be impressed the next time you visit the casa.
Before photo of the bodegaFreshly organized bodega
One of our directors at Casa Hogar La Familia — Silvia Arias — loves growing plants more than anyone I have ever worked with in Mexico. The job of planting and growing is more difficult in the region where the Casa Hogar is located for two reasons: #1 is because we get a relatively small amount of rain in that part of Mexico and for things like washing dishes and watering plants, the casa relies heavily on water that is trucked in. Water is not plentiful.
When we first built the casa hogar, there was not even one blade of grass growing naturally, but Silvia was determined to have fruit trees and flowers in the area around the front of the casa. This photo is one of Silvia and me in the shade of several fruit trees outside the front side of the home. I hope you can see that Silvia was successful at getting her fruit trees and flowers to thrive.
Silvia and Bill Lee in the shade of Silvia’s fruit trees
Perhaps our greatest success story over the past 23 years that I have been associated with La Familia has to do with the five Urbina children who were reared at La Familia. I met them when the oldest child—Isabel—was just eight years of age. The youngest was Fernanda who was between one and two years of age.
The young woman in this photo is the second oldest child, Jazmin. Everyone associated with Casa Hogar La Familia is incredibly proud of these five children and the way their lives have blossomed because of the opportunity they found at La Familia. In just a few weeks, Jazmin who is already a Registered Nurse will become a Registered Nurse specializing in Intensive Care.
Jazmin Urbina and Bill Lee
On our last day of the mission trip, the mission team spent that day in the City of Puebla, one of the most beautiful and safe cities in Mexico. This photo is of seven members of the Federated Church mission team from Kingfisher, Okla. The photo was taken in front of a water fountain in front of the Principal Cathedral located on the Town Square of the City of Puebla.
Team in Town Square in the City of Puebla
On the mission team’s last day at the Casa Hogar it is becoming a tradition for the “Ladies of the local church” to surprise the team with a home-cooked lunch made up of local foods. Note the banner on the wall behind the food table with a big WELCOLME Oklahoma Team.
Children at La Familia who received new school uniforms for the new school year.Juan Francisco and Silvia with Lighthouse team members from Fort Worth.Friends for Life!Redrawing lines on the volleyball court.Group of La Familia children at the play table.Lighthouse team at lunch prepared for them by women of the church. The Fort Worth-based Lighthouse Fellowship mission team is made up of Jerry Mitrea, Rick Zarate, Reiana English, Debra Mehalko, April Schofield and team leader Nanci DanielsenThe Lighthouse team brought a gift of Bibles to all of the children of La Familia.