Gift of Dignity/Casa Hogar Elim Orphanage 2018 and 2019

God is doing a great work at Casa Hogar Elim and we are so grateful to be a part of it with you. You have stepped into the gap and helped us follow His call! We could not do it without you.

We have shared many stories of successes and setbacks, opportunities and lessons learned in past updates.  What we feel most compelled to do right now is to thank you.  And there are so many things to thank you for.

Thanks to you, the children of Casa Hogar have unprecedented access to daily support with homework and basic math and reading lessons. There is a much clearer understanding of how each child is performing and how they can best be helped.  

Thanks to you, the children are being challenged to build tactile and cognitive skills, problem solve, learn patience,flexibility, how to use computers, and slowly, slowly, how to enjoy reading.  And this coming year we are incorporating music to open up a whole new part of their brain.  Just wait till you see what comes out of that!

Thanks to you, the children are eating fresh eggs and receive daily snacks of fresh fruits, vegetables or yogurt.  This year we will kick start the aquaponics gardens with the intention of having an awesome fish harvest in November and even more amazing fruits and vegetables throughout the year.  

Thanks to you, we are able to spend personal time with the children, kissing boo boos, holding them when they are sad, celebrating successes and reminding them every day that God created amazing people when He created them!

We thank you for your prayers – we need every single one of them desperately. We are flawed human beings living in a culture different than what we have known with pressures that shine light into our brokenness.  We love our life – and we struggle with it at times.  We need your continued prayers for discernment, patience, and humility. And for us to learn to speak Spanish from the heart so that we can dive deeper into discipleship.

We thank you for your financial support.  What we accomplished in 2018 was truly astonishing and 2019 is ramping up to be another crazy good year.  We are being pressed into better and better stewardship of God’s money and we are grateful for the growth in that area because 2019 includes the aquaponics and the revamp of the garden to accommodate the aquaponics, as well as, the building of the carpentry workshop.  Big projects with big outcomes expected!

Thank you for your sweat (and sometimes blood 😊) as you worked side by side with us building our home, preparing the learning center, chicken pens and the garden.   We loved having you literally with us on the journey and we look forward to doing it again this year.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!  We hope our updates help you feel encouraged to continue your valuable ministry of supporting Gift of Dignity and Casa Hogar Elim, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  We are all part of the body of Christ, every part perfectly placed to do the most good for His purposes.  What an amazing and beautiful body it is!

Our prayer is for God to richly bless you and we thank you for being on this journey with us,

Anita and Thad