Building a Forever Home

Blog post written by Julianne Matthews
Huntington Beach, California

"By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all the precious and pleasant riches." - Proverbs 24:3-4

Today we had the blessing of serving the Hernandez Family, and were they happy to see us! Their family is so full of life and they are some of the most grateful and genuine people I've come to know.  The His Hands His Feet Village Church Irvine team began construction on the home last month.  This week we have the privilege of completing and dedicating the home.  

Once we arrived at the home we exchanged introductions.  The family expressed their gratitude to our team for building them a permanent, sturdy "forever home" that will provide them with dignity. We learned that the storms last year blew the roof off their current home, a shanty made of sheet metal walls.  We were blessed to pray over them before working on the new house. After praying together, the team got right to work shoveling gravel and sand into the mixer to make concrete for the floors. Our team shoveled like crazy and soon after lunch we were able to start painting the house.  

Katy, the oldest daughter of the Hernandez family, lives in the Sus Hijos transition home for girls. She asked Sus Hijos to build a house for her family after learning about their house building ministry.  Katy was able to pick the color of the home,  a beautiful light blue. We all agreed that the color was perfect and it was a great compliment to the bright personalities of the Hernandez family:) Painting the house was a lot of work but it went by quickly and looked great! Some of us liked the color so much that we thought wearing it was even better! 

Leaving the house was difficult because we had made so many new friends and had such a wonderful time serving God's people.  The Lord has clearly used our team to bless the Hernandez family, but the family has touched us in unexplainable ways.  They will not be forgotten. We look forward to continuing our friendship with the Hernandez family and hearing about God's hand on their lives. Thank you to everyone who made Katy and her family's dreams of a forever home possible!