Welcome Home
Summer 2008
“What is a tree without its roots held deeply in the soil? What is a cup without its saucer? What are letters if they aren’t put into words and sentences? What is a child’s life like if there is no home and no family to belong to?” — SUSAN SCHAEFFER MACAULAY
“If you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.... You will be like a wellwatered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” — I S A I A H 5 8 Growing in Faith: Casa Viva Milestones March 2004
February 2005
Viva International, LeaderTreks and Aspegrens brainstorm the Casa Viva idea
Casa Viva hires first staff and initiates pilot project
May 2005
October 2005
Formal agreement with the Costa Rican government
First child placed in a Casa Viva home
February 2008
April 2008
Casa Viva receives 25th child in care
Casa Viva incorporates as a Not-for-Profit organization
July 2008
Casa Viva’s first Board Meeting in Chicago
Building Momentum by Jill Aspegren
I clearly remember the day our dear gardener and friend stripped our garden bare with his machete. I was so shocked I could hardly speak. What happened to my trees? my flowers? Where did everything go? My sweet gardener assured me that all was well, that I needed only have patience. It will all grow again, he assured me; just wait. Our gardener had complete confidence that new life would come from the sticks and stumps scattered around our yard. In many ways, the growth of Casa Viva has mirrored that experience. The life within Casa Viva is God designed. Time and time again God has orchestrated the details, all with complete confidence that life would appear. The churches and families of Latin America are ready to take on the challenge of caring for their
children. They are opening their doors and welcoming children in the name of Christ. Today we share with you a big moment in the life of Casa Viva. We’re moving from the shelter of the greenhouse to the great outdoors. Casa Viva is officially stepping out on its own by forming a board of directors and becoming a 501(c)(3) organization. Casa Viva began with a dream of an idea and the ingredients for growth—the support of the local church and families willing to become the solution for children in need of Please care. We grew the Celebrate idea by creating a With Us The team that would Growth Of handle all the details of government Casa Viva! relations, legal decisions, relationships with the biological families—all the details that limited a church’s ability to respond. We are clearing pathways for lifegiving families to connect with children who desperately need them. And it’s working. The garden of families is growing, with bright splashes of color scattered across the city. Poco a poco the idea is taking root, children are being cared for, and growth is happening.
Casa Viva P.O. Box 120 Wheaton, IL 60187