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Casa Timoteo

Orphanage in Sonora, Mexico

Harvey, Tikya, Frederick, Sharon, Chris, Stan, Norma, Ellen

We had a small group visit us Monday and Tuesday. Chris and Harvey were here in February to put the roof on the activity center. They brought their wives this time, Chris’ niece and nephew, and also some friends from Prescott AZ. We sure enjoyed their company!

Here Chris and Stan are building locker boxes for the boys. The boys were so excited that they wanted to claim their box before it was even done.

Here Harvey is cutting hair. The men also poured some cement. The ladies spent most of the day cleaning all the windows.

Our friends Dave and Lori from Tucson also visited Friday and Saturday. Dave helped me get caught up on some maintenance items while Lori made some wonderful meals. They also brought a used gas grill that was donated. Wow! Those hamburgers tasted great!

We took Mike to the Dr today for x-rays and checkup. The doc said so far so good, and that it was time to start therapy. So Mike will be doing exercises to try to get movement back. At first he could hardly bend his knee, but now he can almost get it to 90 degrees. The muscles are still really weak, so he has plenty of work to do.

Mike is doing well. We made another trip to Hermosillo yesterday for a checkup and to get a new leg brace. He was able to get up and walk with crutches, but it made him dizzy. Today he seemed less dizzy and a bit stronger while walking.

It has been fun to see how much attention Mike gets. I rarely find him alone. He seems to enjoy the company, whether it be the other children, or friends from the community. He is popular!

Construction progresses on the school addition in spite of record heat and humidity. The 20×28 foot space will be divided into two small school rooms, but could also be used someday as one big classroom.

This is how the second floor is now. We need to put up porch railings, install windows and doors and paint yet. Otherwise the second floor shell is done. Thank you for your help with this project! We plan to finish the inside later, not sure just when yet.

Mike plays a game with his brother Fernando and Chloe.

We brought Mike home from the hospital in Hermosillo yesterday. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive from here. We arrived 10:30 at night, but all the children were waiting with a big welcome home sign. They all wanted to see him before going to bed. They really have missed him!

It was an adventure getting him home. The nurses put a new splint on, but it doesn’t seem to fit very well. They had Mike stand for the first time to put it on. He almost fainted because it was the first time he tried to stand up in a month. They said to stand on his good leg, but Mike couldn’t because the broken leg was longer. It certainly looks like it is longer too, so we will have to have that checked out. He has another appointment on Monday.

We made a room for Mike in the school room. The children made the welcome sign on the wall.

Unfortunately the results don’t look that great so far, but we are waiting to see what can be done. Time will tell. For the moment we are just happy to have Mike back!

Thank you for praying for Mike and his recovery.

Julio bottle feeds a puppy that was abandoned by its mother

For some reason the mother dog didn’t want this little one. It came very small and so we bought a bottle to give it milk. The children take turns caring for it. Precious! (Yes that is strawberry flavored DIF milk!)

Mike has not been released yet as was planned. He is anemic and has a little bit of infection. Today is the 32nd day that he has been laid up. Please pray that he can come home soon and start his recovery.

Please pray that the bone will heal. I did some research and it is truly a miracle how bones heal. It is a miraculous 3 step process. The first step starts within minutes after the break. The last phase is finished within 4 weeks. That means that Mike’s bone was almost completely healed before they did surgery. So we are just going to have faith that God will somehow help him to walk again. It will take a miracle!

Also, it was a spiral break, caused by twisting the bone. This is rare and was caused by the awkward way Mike fell and the force applied by the boy that fell on top of him while his leg was in the twisted position.

We just got back from Hermosillo, so here’s a quick update on Mike. They finally did the surgery yesterday. It took 5 hours and was fairly traumatic for Mike. He was in a lot of pain afterward for both the incision and the catheter. He was crying and screaming. Today when I was with him he was crying and in obvious pain. We asked for more medication and it worked wonders. He calmed down and we were able to have a nice visit. We are so thankful that they were able to get the pain under control!

I looked at the x-ray and it looked pretty good to me. The bone appears to be in the right place. They put in a large plate and about 7 screws. The main concern now is that the bone will heal well after being apart for so long.

Thank you for your prayers for Mike. He is such a good boy and has fought a good fight this past month. We hope to bring him home in one week. He will still be confined to the bed and then a wheelchair and then crutches.

I’m sorry to report that Mike still hasn’t had his surgery yet. We continue to try to do everything we can, but it is just a very slow process. They said last Thursday that they had scheduled the surgery for Monday, but then wanted to take him Friday morning, but when they found out he had eaten breakfast, they said they would have to do it in the afternoon. But then they didn’t come in the afternoon. They said it would be Monday, today. They did take him today, but said his platelets were too low again, which is what they said the last time he made it that far. So we are still going in circles, and it is now almost 4 weeks. So the surgery is scheduled for tomorrow…please pray that it goes well.

Summer School

The following are some pictures of our summer learning program. The children are learning math, English, Spanish and Bible verses. We spend about 2 hours every morning.

The older boys are learning English and studying the Bible

These boys are memorizing scripture with Ivan

These boys are doing math with Gera

Not pictured is Joy teaching the younger boys to read.

First Friday for Christ

Ever since we finished the activity center we have wanted to invite other youth in to enjoy it and hear the Word of God. So this last Friday was the first time we celebrated “First Friday for Christ.” The plan is to invite teenagers the first Friday of every month. There is a rotation of 3 local Mexican churches that we have asked to be in charge of the activities and message.

There were about 50 in attendance and all seemed to enjoy the games, songs and message about Adam and Eve. So we pray that the Lord blesses this effort to reach out to local teens for Christ.