Celebrating 10 Years at the Group Home in the DR

Hogares Luteranos el Buen Pastor

10 Year Anniversary Edition
2021

Family!
Our heavenly Father is faithful and has certainly protected and provided for his six children that he has placed in our care. January 3, 2021 marked the 10th anniversary of our kids moving out of the government orphanage and into the loving home we had prepared for them. The Lord has heard your prayers on their behalf and has provided through all of you over the past 10 years too, so that His love in Christ Jesus might be known to them. This year in our newsletters we will be highlighting some of the foundational steps and events to show how the Lord has helped us to get to where we are today!

A bit of history
Danelle first visited two government orphanages in 2007.
That same year, church members started visiting the kids on a weekly basis to hold the kids, sing to them, share with them that Jesus loves them, and of course, play with them.
Over time, a relationship was built not only with the kids, but also with the government. We were able to create a relationship of trust.
We all looked forward to the visits to the orphanage.

Our church members, who were new Christians, were putting their faith in action. At the time, some of our members still did not have running water in their homes, yet they understood that a greater poverty existed in the orphanages. They joyfully gave of their time, things, and offerings to help provide things for the kids that the orphanage did not. Yet, it was never enough. Time and again our members lamented, “They do not have a family.” Over time, visiting on a weekly basis also wasn’t enough. Next month we will share with you what we did about this!

Pics
Top left: Danelle visits Estefani circa 2008
Others: Church members visit kids
Can you find Junior in the picture on the top-right?
Hint: He is on the left side.

Special Visitors
In January Danelle’s sisters-in-law, Andrea and Gabriela Schumann, visited from Argentina and helped out in the group home. Both women are trained teachers and Andrea has spent 9 years working with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Since all the kids’ regular activities outside of the group home were cancelled because of COVID and we are not sure when things are going to start back up again, the dynamic duo came to help us get organized with a calendar for home and church events as well as birthdays and national holidays. They also made an individual daily activity board for the kids to schedule on-line school classes, in-home therapy, and other daily life activities.

Birthday Gift
On January 5, Estefani turned 22 years old! She is no longer a “kid” by a long shot. To help her with her independence goals Andrea and Gabriela also turned an office/storage room into her own bedroom. Getting her own room has been a huge encouragement for her and helped motivate her during this difficult time of the pandemic. Randy happily stepped in to help her paint her new room!

Prayers

Join us in thanking God for having the kids with us for
10 years.

Please pray to help us implement new in-home educational, recreational, and therapeutic activities for the kids.

We will also remember you in our prayers as the Lord provides for us through you! Thank you so much!

Love: Estefani, Francis, Junior, Moises, Ramona, Randy

If you would like to help us purchase things we need for the group home and the kids, we have made a wish list on Amazon. There are items we need to start new in-home therapy activities, recreational and educational activities, basic clothing, and some things we need to implement our home calendar and individual daily activity boards. Jus click the “Wish List” button below. Items will be sent to Danelle’s courier service in Florida and then down to the DR.

Group Home Wishlist

Give Now!

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Hogares Luteranos el Buen Pastor

calle E #12 Cerro Alto

Santiago

Dominican Republic

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