Our land has been called The Miracle Farm since the 1950’s

Excitement is building as we see God pulling the pieces together for the dream we’ve had for the children at La Casa.  Since the beginning, our vision has been to provide a place for the children to live in a family setting.  In 2005, we purchased a beautiful 28 acre farm full of fruit trees, coconuts, coffee, tropical birds and animals to be their home.  We are close to seeing that dream a reality.  Here is where we are currently:

Beautiful view from our offices

 The plans for the construction of our homes have long been finished and the sites have been graded in anticipation of the actual building.  We have entered into an agreement with Third Lens (http://www.third-lens.org/) to help us coordinate and oversee the process of construction.  The Mayor has everything in place to cement the road leading up to our land, including curbs along the sides. This new road should begin at the end of October.  And, after months of various studies, we are now waiting for the approval from the Environmental Ministry to begin breaking ground.

House plans, click for a closer view

Our plans are to start by building two homes that will house the 27 children at La Casa and their house parents.  Our desire is to model a family in its most natural setting. Currently our house parents aren’t able to live in with our children, as space does not allow. Moving our house parents and children into the homes together will help us to finish this process.  The homes have been specifically designed by experts to offer adequate space, contemplating the functional needs and supervision it will require.  Ideally, it would be better to have additional homes, but we have decided to move ahead even if it is a bit crowded at first.

Our offices with a beautiful view of Lake Ilopango

We could not make the move without having space for our offices and housing for the tios and tias.  This summer, we started remodeling the house that overlooks the lake to serve this purpose. During the construction process, the home will serve to house people from Third Lens and small specialized teams that will help with laying in the utility lines and other infrastructure items.  Our mission teams this year have provided the funds and have assisted in the remodeling of this building. Our last two teams this year should finish this project by Thanksgiving.

As you can see, we are close to being able to seeing it all come to fruition.  We are grateful and appreciative to all of you that have supported us along the way and excited to know that this is just the beginning.  Thank you for joining us in this journey with your prayers, financial support and presence.

 “God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them.”   Hebrews 6:10 NIV

By Gary Powell, Executive Director