This past Saturday, Equipo Brothers played their first game out of two for the semi-finals in their soccer league. The whole orphanage went to cheer them on! It was a very special time to be together to cheer for OUR team. It sure helps build up the morel of the children and especial those on the team. It is a huge blessing to have this team.

We just scored!! Marce was happy!

A time of pray and thanksgiving after the game.

How many kids can you fit in a van? As many as it takes to get all the kids to the game!

 April 30 is the day that Mexico celebrates the day of the child. Many companys and schools came to Dulce Refugio to spoil the kids with games, gifts and food. One company called Donaldson, paid for the orphanage to go to a fun park for a number of hours. Everyone had a great time and were very thankful to Donaldson for heling the orphanage in this way.

This past Sunday was a extra special day since two people at the orphanage were baptised. Jorge and Omar were baptised. It is very special to see people making this such important commitment to follow their Lord and Saviour and to do it in front of their large "family" at Dulce Refugio.

Jorge getting baptised

And Omar

After this event we had a barbeque to celebrate.

This same day, Sunday, the orphanage organised an outreach event in relation to the Day of the Children celebrations. Over 300 tickets were handed out to the local children in the neigbourhood. Groups of 25 children were allowed to enter the property at the time. They listened to a bible story first, then sang a Christian song, played a game, had a snack and then received a gift and a goodie bag. About 300 kids came to the event. It was the 10th year that this outreach had be organised. It is the way that Marce gives back to the community from all the blessings Dulce Refugio receives from the Lord for the needs of the home. All the older kids had to participate in this event as well so they learn to give and not to just receive all the time.  

Getting prepared.... making 300 buns!

the event...

It was Jorge's birthday on April 30th so we had a little party for him.

here is some pictures of the progress on the construction project....

our welder working hard

Our tiler working hard tiling the bathrooms......yours truly

Pouring some support beams...

What do you do when you have over 50 kids on site and not all of them behave perfectly all the time...? Give them a time out.

Here are some more pictures of the last team from Ontario that just finished visiting us.

The team spoiled the kids by bringing them to a local water park called Mundo A. Everyone enjoyed the water since April and May are the hottest months in Mexico, and the weather has been heating up lately.

The handsome team!!.......I think you know what follows next!!

A goodbye dinner at Sirloin Stockade. Thanks everyone for your hard work!

 Here are some pictures of the boys' dorm with 99% of the walls finished thanks to the team.

Here is a project that our welder, Martin, is working on. A covered parking area between the boys' and girls' dorm. He has since painted it and we will buy the tin to cover it later when more funding arrives for the construction project.  

  On April 4th the Syrup team from Ontario arrived. The team of 4 is here for two weeks. Two of the team members have been here before. One of the team members is a brick layer so the team is focusing on laying the remaining bricks for the third floor of the boys' dorm.

 The team also grouted another dorm room floor in the boys' dorm. We know have two dorm floors finished. I am working on the bathroom walls in these bathroom now as well.

The bathroom getting tiled....a big job!!

The team took the kids for a hike to a local "mountain" called el cerro del muerto, the famous dead mans mountain here in Aguascalientes. It was the first time for me to climb this hill in the 5 years I have been in Aguascalientes. It was a fun little hike.

Happy Easter to you all! I hope you all had a very special time celebrating all what our Saviour has done for us on the cross. At Dulce Refugio the foreign volunteers organised an Easter dinner together and shared a time of fellowship together.

The team also had a bonfire with the older kids sharing some roasted smoors with them and having a good time around the fire.

We have a new worker helping in the construction. Martin is a welder and we hired him for a month or so, depending on how far funding goes to do some much needed welding jobs around the property. Here he is installing the door frames in the boys' dorm.

Here the team is sharing praise and worship time at the orphanage. This time is was outside with a bonfire!

A few other jobs the team has been doing is installing window protections and painting.

Until next time!!

 On Friday, March 16 the Ohio State University Team arrived. The team of 11 is here till March 25th. There is alot planned in the week or so that they will be here.

On Saturday, March 17, the team took the kids to a water park. This one was different from the normal one we go to. We wanted to try another park out since we have gone so often to Mundo A. A couple big difference with this water park were the open grassy areas, the warm water from a local hot spring, and the size of the park it self was double then Mundo A. Some of the team members even went on the zipline. Unfortunately it was over-casted so it didn't get as warm as we hoped. But judging from the smiles on everyone's faces at the end of the day, it was worth the while.  

After the water park on Saturday, the team watched the Dulce Refugio soccer team, Equipo Brothers play a match. Everyone got into the game!!

On Sunday, a local paster came to Dulce Refugio to share a bible message with the kids. He even got some of the adults involved in the message!

After the Sunday worship service, the team took the kids to a local park. Each team member had to take care of two children for the time while at the park.

On Monday the team started working on the boys' dorm as well as other jobs around the site. A couple of hundred bricks were brough up to the third floor in preparation for the brick layer who   will be coming in a few weeks. The team cut, bent and tied rebar, as well as they were involved in pouring 60 feet worth of beams with concrete. So things are progressing!! Here are some pictures.

Some forming going on....

Some tiling work going on in the bathroom of the boys' dorm as well as grouting a dorm floor!!!

Bringing up some bricks!

Tieing some rebar...

Pouring some beams...(do you notice we are now at the same height as the girls' dorm?)

Some work on Marce's stairs to her roof

Here the team is sharing in the Thursday night praise and worship.

We are proud to present to you a number of vehicles we just bought this week from funds from Children of Hope. The funds to buy these vehicles were raised over a year or so.

Here is the new van that is specifically reserved for groups to use. It is a 1998 Ford econoline 15 passenger van with DVD player, leather seats and air conditioning that actually works. It has 115,000 miles. It is originally from Houston, Texas and we bought it from a guy in Celeya, Guanajuato. We have to do some maintenance work to it but it is in very good shape and we hope to keep it that way for a long time.  

Since the green ford van has some major electrical problems we decided to buy the children a more reliable van. This van is the same as the other, Ford econoline, with 108,000 miles. This van was bought in Guadalajara and is originally from Ohio, USA. It needs a little more work then the new group van but nothing that we can't fix (or Mexican's can fix). We are working on the paper work to transfer them into Aguascalientes vehicles.

Marce finally got a more reliable work vehicle for her to travel around in for all the errands, meetings, and the like that she does every week for the orphanage. It is a 2002 Dodge Stratus. If you have noticed the newest vehicle we have at Dulce Refugio is this one and it is 12 years old! Here in Mexico everyone fixes their cars until they literally fall apart! We are no exception. No brand new cars for us......yet. We have been truly blessed this week by being able to get these vehicles. God is good!

 To top it all off, after a year in the shop getting the transmission and motor fixed for almost for free, we got the white toyota pickup back (that is why it took so long since the mechanic was doing the work for almost nothing). This is one of the original vehicles donated to Dulce Refugio when it first started in 2001!

That is all for now. Thanks for praying for Dulce Refugio.  

This past Friday we had to say goodbye to the Langley team after a two week stay at Dulce Refugio. It was a very productive time, with the team completing many different projects at the orphanage, and bonding with the children.

The team participating at a local church

The team completing the stairs to the roof of Marce's house.

Since all the floor tile arrived for the new boys' dorm I started on tiling one of the two dorm rooms.

Laying the very first tile in the boys' dorm....what a milestone!! There are about 300 tiles per dorm room and there are only 7 more dorm rooms to go, and not to mention all of the third floor too!

The ladys were keep busy moving bricks and tieing rebar. They were troopers!!!

The railing by the office building getting installed.

The Thursday night praise and worship time....

After church the team organised some games and craft activities with the kids.

The team took the children 10 years and older out bowling. It is always a very fun time.

As a special treat for the kids, the team hosted a hotdog lunch, but not with ordinary hotdogs. These ones had cheese inside and some were a foot long too!!

The older girls thanked the team through a dance they put on for them.

Marce having fun again.....

Here are some random pictures of the team interacting with the kids....

The kids checking out Grace's Ipad....what a hit!

Bep with a few of the girls, the babies, connecting with back home and Marce receiving a few donations from the team. 

This past week Dulce Refugio welcome two new additions to its family. Two brothers, one 2 months old or so(we don't know his exact age) and the other 3 years of age came to live at Dulce Refugio. The older boy tried to escape numerous times and even went #2 on the lawn! They have lots to learn but they are the reason why we do what we do. I can't imagine abandoning my two month old son, can you?

On February 27, Brian and Betty Heppner and Claire Palsky came to visit Dulce Refugio. I haven't seen Claire for over 6 years, ever since July 2005 when he visited Pan de Vida with a team. Claire has extensive mission experience working for different humanitarian aid organisations around the world. He also happens to be one of the grandparents of the family that my wife, Ana, stayed with when she was sponsored to finish her highschool in Fort MacMurrey, Alberta. So it was cool to see him again, since this was his first time to see the Dulce Refugio orphanage as well.

Also Tia Elena from Pan de Vida came for a day with her brother Israel, Justo and his family, and a missionary family from Tijuana to show them the orphanage. It was cool to reconnect with them as well.