Adapting to new dreams
A minimalistic lifestyle has its advantages. From efficiency to organization, living with necessity helps you focus on what’s important.
The home Alexa Guerrero and her family received through Buckner Healthy Housing meets all of those needs. Everything has its place.
The kitchen drawers contain only a few utensils, and the tables and counters are clear of unnecessary objects except for some fruit and flowers. There’s an open living room where the children can play freely or relax and watch TV.
Although Alexa and her husband, Jose Ramirez, may be living out their dreams in a new home with their three children, the dreams didn’t exactly look like this in the beginning.
Alexa and Jose married in 2015. Both are from Mexico and lived right across the Texas border. A year into their marriage, they had their first daughter.
While 2016 brought so much joy, it also marks a year of terror. That year, Jose escaped an attempted abduction.
“We knew we had to leave the country soon,” Alexa said. “We didn’t want our daughter growing up in this type of setting.”
In 2017, they both left their careers, families, friends and their home, so their daughter could have a better life. They first moved into a mobile home in the Rio Grande Valley. After the birth of their second child, they acquired the land they currently live on.
“We came here and started living a new reality,” Alexa recounted. “We lived in a one-bedroom mobile home, with two children, and another one on the way. So, we had to adapt a lot.”
But a few weeks before COVID-19 shifted everything, Alexa found out about the Buckner Family Hope Center® in Peñitas, Texas. Her husband would leave every morning to go to work, meanwhile she stayed home to care for their three children. But there was a feeling within her aching for more.
“I knew I could do more, that I needed to keep working to improve everything,” Alexa said. “After hearing they offered classes at Buckner, I decided to make time for those. Every class I’ve taken has brought significant changes to our lives.”
Alexa now holds certifications from several classes she has completed through the Family Hope Center. She is so proud to share about how far she’s come and how much she has learned.
And now, her passion for self-improvement inspires the students of the classes she teaches. With her extensive background in graphic design, Alexa teaches classes featuring skills in photo editing and creating business cards.
“It’s a tremendous joy to give students a certificate of completion when they finish one of the classes I’ve taught,” she remarked. “I myself have experienced how these classes can change the way we see our lives and how we can live them.”
Through the Family Hope Center, Alexa and her husband connected with Buckner Healthy Housing and were able to successfully complete the program to receive their new home.
Over the course of seven years, Alexa and her family escaped a tumultuous environment, uprooted their lives and rebuilt both their confidence and their life.
“I’ve learned this does take time, but the benefit is for ourselves and our families,” Alexa remarked. “That is why I tell others to not get discouraged when hardships come. We can always learn from those experiences, adapt and move forward.”
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