Celia and her family came over to our house today for a Christmas party. We’ve been able to visit them at their house through out the year, and we felt that it was time to bring them over to our house. Some fellow workers from Casa Shalom also came to see how the kids were doing, and it was so much fun to have everyone together!

One lady who came to see Celia and her family is Beatriz. She is one of the sweetest ladies that I know! She has children and grandchildren in the United States, and could easily be there with them. But instead she works as a house mother at Casa Shalom and cares for the children. She was Celia’s house mom for years, and so she was excited to come over to see how she’s doing.

Beatriz is also the one who found out about and enrolled Elias in his high school. And she’s working with Benjamin trying to look for employment once he finishes his final high school class. So she was excited to visit us and see how they were doing. Finally, she’s a great friend for my wife, and we’ve been very blessed to have her in our lives!

Elias moved out of Casa Shalom to now live with us! Already almost two weeks have passed, but we’ve been really busy getting him moved in and adjusting to the changes. So I’m finally writing about it. We’re so excited to have him here with us, but even though he’s an adult it feels like a big responsibility.

His Brother Benjamin is also staying with us for the Christmas holiday. All the kids at Casa Shalom leave to stay with different families for Christmas in order to give the workers a chance to visit their own families. So Benjamin is staying with us, and it’s a lot of fun to have him here with his brother!