Southern Living - in Cochabamba, Bolivia

Happy Days

2012-01-10T00:20:00.000-06:00

Pajama Party!

2012-01-09T22:55:00.000-06:00

Christmas presents for the big kids = pajamas :)

Siblings 4, 6, and 7

House 2 Heroes

Sisters - 4 and 6

Monkey See....

...Monkey Do!......

....

......

.......!

Look-alikes

LOVE this baby girl!

Sweet Dreams!

The "Big Babies" of Casa 1

2012-01-09T21:16:00.000-06:00

Moving Day

2012-01-09T15:14:00.000-06:00

Casa 2 is moving!

To help keep things calm around the house while beginning to pack, we thought it was best to tape some little mouths shut along with the boxes!

Baby Home Sunday

2012-01-09T14:55:00.000-06:00

Ready to head to church - in as organized a manner as possible!

Impossible to get a good picture of everyone...

...mostly because of kids flying through the air!

Haha

It's A Boy!

2012-01-09T14:05:00.000-06:00

Thankful to be at CDA for the arrival of our newest! A 2 week old baby boy with a unilateral cleft palate. He will undergo his first surgery when he weighs 5 kg, and until that time, we're thankful that his feeding tubes were able to be pulled. Using a prosthetic palate for now, he takes a bottle like a champ!

Awfully cute!

Smiling for the camera :)

At the Park

2012-01-09T12:51:00.001-06:00

Enjoying being outside the Casa 2 Park

Snacking on oranges

Sisters

Anyone who knows these two can hear this picture!

....& more sisters.

The Triplets

2012-01-09T12:12:00.001-06:00

Look who came to visit! Mama Felisa and her three almost-two-year-old girlies!!! The Famous CDA Triplets!

Nicol, Alison, and Nataly

The girls continue to live with their biological mother north of town. Thanks to the generosity of a local family, they are living in a beautiful estate where they are loved on by new "extended family," and even have college scholarships!
Absolutely overjoyed to be reunited with this family!

Look Who I Found!

2012-01-09T12:04:00.000-06:00

Who knew wandering through La Cancha (the huge outdoor market in Cochabamba,) could lead me to such treasures?!?!?!

THE ERIKO'S!!!!!!!!

Our wild former set of CDA twins, Erik & Erika, were adopted last Spring and are living with their new parents in Cochabamba. They spend the days playing with everyone in neighboring shops as their parents sell in the market. After a rocky start, happy to report that they are growing fast, talking our ears off, and their same spunky, silly selves!

Just another day in Chulla

2012-01-09T11:33:00.001-06:00

Maybe my favorite place in the entire world.....so green, right in the mountains, simple and glorious, but mostly, some of my very favorite people in the entire world live here.

The Anticucho Experta and her slave

Adorable Brittany

2 of the funniest sisters imaginable - and Yovana's camera-smile on the right there clearly shows that.

Too many kabobs!

One of the funniest kids on the planet -

....clearly related to this crazy. Will forever be thankful to Xavier for capturing Tia Skanky here in all her glory.

The new penalty for losing games. I lost a lot. You can't see very well, but in the first picture at the top of this post, almost everyone has beards, glasses, unibrows, etc etc etc.

Anddddd ending with a little dance party of course.

Life is good.

The Game That Never Gets Old

2012-01-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

...Wearing Diapers On Your Head!

Haha

....or jeans, whatever. This picture was taken as the boy was shouting, "LOOK I'M AN ELEPHANT! LOOK I'M AN ELEPHANT!!!"

Actually impossible to spend a day at House 1 without cracking up.

Little Chores

2012-01-09T07:58:00.000-06:00

This 2 year old punk has grown into such a big helper! He is always the first to clean up or help out, and he's also just a hilarious little guy on a daily basis. :)

Proud. :)

Not helpful.

Really not helpful.

Happy Babies

2012-01-09T07:14:00.000-06:00

....because you can never get enough pictures of those!

G-Baby

2012-01-09T06:12:00.001-06:00

Crawling his way....

.....out of his pants.

haaaa!

Chow Time

2012-01-08T23:57:00.000-06:00

Some of the baby home, ready for breakfast!

Snack time outside...watermelon! Loving all the Bolivian fruit!

Amazing that these four are the "big girls" at House 1 now!

Bedtime snack

After-church treat

Really?

Empanadas bigger than your face!

(and such a pretty face, might I add!)

Typical.

Sometimes with all the stress of the day, (read: playing all morning,) when it comes to lunch time, we have to sleep while we eat!

...will she wake up to finish?...

one bite down...andddddd we're out again.

But it gets better...we look away for three seconds, and this is what we find!

Yep....she's sound asleep!

More Girlies

2012-01-08T23:02:00.002-06:00

me & The Queen of the Baby Home (so she thinks!)

Flowers in her pigtails

Besties

So pretty

This sweet 3 year-old loves playing...

...and kisses!

Bath time!

...

wowzas

Wait no - that's a boy! haaaaa taming the hair of tia kristin's hijito

xoxoxo

The Boys

2012-01-08T06:48:00.000-06:00

Just some of the goofy CDA boys!

Officially obsessed with their motos!

Api Moustaches!

...and goatees!

We were both supposed to be making sad faces!

Snack time at the park

Gets the "Most Grown Up" award!

Love his big grin.

andddd that's it!

"My Girls"

2012-01-07T06:33:00.000-06:00

Remember these guys?

Over about an 8 month period, I was blessed with the chance to be assigned 24-7 newborn duty with two very special baby girls...Above is a picture from May 2011.

...and here they are today! The baby's getting bigger than her "babysitter!"

The older of the two - August, 2011

...and today!

Almost 17 months, and finally taking steps!! :) :) :)

.....andddddd throwing temper tantrums! haaa

Newborn #2, May 2011

May, 2011

January 2012! Turning into a chunk, and obviously loving that seat.

Another pic from last May:

Jan 2012

Just like the good ol' days

Not much better than arms full with these two!

2012

2012-01-06T23:21:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!

Got to spend New Year's Eve in Chulla - such fun memories with a handfull of favorite CDA staff and their families.

Everybody calm the freak down.

LOVE these precious, incredibly hardworking, sisters. These two love our House 1 babies so, so much.

Happy 2012!

Christmas in Cochabamba

2012-01-06T15:55:00.000-06:00

I arrived to the homes still beautifully decorated for Christmas, so we got to make the Christmas joy last a littttttle bit longer!

Oh! Papa Noel was here!

Couldn't leave him out. :)

Feliz Navidad!

Back with the Babies

2012-01-06T00:06:00.000-06:00

Thankful for each minute here

...with a couple of new faces...

...but a lot of oldies!!! my newborn - now 7 mos

literally the heaviest baby i've ever picked up

the original scabiebaby...sweet as ever!

Kristin's boy can teach us all a thing or two about the latest looks when it comes to hair.

The Big Boys of the Baby House

Sister Act

Sister Act II

Friends/Family

A Hundred Favorite Photos - Life at Casa de Amor

2011-08-31T22:26:00.000-05:00

The Baby Home

Mt. Tunari

Laguna Alalay - the view from inside of El Cristo

1st newborn arrival!

Pajama Party

Identical twin boys...identical names! Please meet Luis & Luis.

The monster truck

1st adoption - off to Italy!

Quadruplets?!

La Piani - free clinics

We love dishwashing duty!

Double Trouble - twins!

Birthday cake baking assistants

Camping weekend

Impacting lives. haha

The best friends

Christmas with the babies

Happy Turkey Day!

Halloween

Trimming the tree at House 2

Haaaaaa

Sibs

Our TRIPLETS

Such hard work to finish doll-sized bottles!

How they grow

Field Day Coaches

Navidad

twins. joy.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Real triplets & pretends ones!

School days

A Bolivian Junie B. Jones?!

WAHOOWA!

Kindergarten graduation ceremony

Our favorite pirate baby

Swimming lessons

Sweet Sisters

1st time bowling....could barely lift the bowling balls!

Valentines

the laundry basket thief didn't get far.

Hilarious sibs

Living the dream.

Dance party

One of my babysitters

Mother's Day

Learning to walk

Our isolation charges

Manhug Morning

Our big girls

xoxoxo

Just some of the best friends you could ask for.

2011-08-31T11:44:00.001-05:00

Could not imagine working with a more wonderful group of people.

Roxana

Kristin & Sarin

Techy

The Medrano's

Rosi...and her brother, ha

Look! We got to pose with the olympic team!

Kristin, Lucy, Eli, Lane, Rosi, and Rocky, who needs to get it together.

Am so thankful for each one.

Night Shift at House 2

2011-08-30T12:14:00.000-05:00

My last night shift at House 2 for a while! Movie nights are the best.

We don't call her Chubby for nothin!

Wild Thang. Bombombommmbom!

Wild Thang 40 seconds later.

We had a House 1 stow-away join us!

My favorite part of night shifts...bedtime stories. Emmie, wanted you to know that thanks to your donation, I think we've read Good Night, Moon literally every night shift that I've worked. The kids have it memorized and read along!

Going crazy. Everyone made pallets on the floor. Dreams coming true.

Lights out. :)

Old Friends

2011-08-28T21:55:00.000-05:00

In September of 2009, when I first began working at Casa 2, the brother and sister below helped make up the dozen Casa 2 children.

In December of that year, the siblings returned to live with their father and step-mother. However, the family circumstances recently resulted in Casa de Amor welcoming these two back into Casa 2. They've grown a lot and are just as precious as when we last saw them!

Thankful that God knows what's next for these two, and as for now, we are happy that they are adjusting well to life at Casa de Amor again.

Our Church

2011-08-27T14:37:00.000-05:00

Cristo Comunidad Belen

Our church in Cochabamba has loved me, but more importantly, has loved our children of Casa de Amor well.

Kids' Time during worship...these songs are sung CONSTANTLY around our house!

Pastor Fernando and his wife, Charro

So thankful that our kids are part of a church family.

Another 2nd Birthday!

2011-08-26T23:24:00.000-05:00

One of the funniest little punks imaginable turning TWO!

Do you think that the birthday boy actually got to blow out his candles?? Ha - doesn't look that way!

There were lots of cake fans in the house.

Stuffing his face...happiness.

A Tribute to the Funny Man

2011-08-25T11:39:00.000-05:00

Some of my favorite pictures of possibly the most hilarious boy in the world! Now 4 years old, he makes us laugh (or want to pull out our hair,) nonstop!

Looking like a baby - (2 1/2) September 2009

Knows how to cheese it!

Age 4

HA - lookin' scholarly. Somebodyyyyy found my glasses!

Applying his makeup????

The Chicken Dance, of course.

Just being sweet :)

Being a dweeb.

The CLASSIC face. Seen regularly as he gets in trouble for one thing or another, OR when he is not allowed to consume an entire pitcher of juice by himself. Life is so hard.

He's a stud.

Dressed as his favorite..."El Payaso Patachiiiiin"

With his little sis

"I'll only put my church clothes on if you can catch me!"

With his best buddy at Casa 1

"TIA! TIA! TIA! TIA! TIA! Soy muy, muyyyy, muy, muy guapo, no ves?"

Obsessed with the sprinkler

Wow.

Hopefully no foreshadowing in this picture?

Thanks for the laughs, punk!!

I hope that these videos actually work. If you want to check out some dance moves like you'll never believe...:

I'm On My Way...

2011-08-24T22:19:00.000-05:00

This girl is amazing.

Haaaa - the taxi came to pick us up for her classes...and we weren't exactly ready for school!

...but we made it!

Baby J here goes to classes a few times a week for one-on-one physical and occupational therapy. She loves her teachers and going to school, even if sometimes, once we actually arrive, she'd rather play than listen to instructions! Since coming to Casa de Amor in September, very much a wild child, she's learned to eat solid food, feed herself with a spoon, stand up by herself, find her way around the house, and finally...

she's walking on her own!!!

...and OH so proud of herself! She takes a step, claps for herself...takes a step, claps for herself.

It's glorious.

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!

2011-08-23T11:23:00.001-05:00

In September of last year, we welcomed a newborn baby girl into the Baby Home. She had been left on the doorsteps of a nearby church, as her birth mother thought that the church had a children's home inside. In reality, the church's home is for adults, and so a group of nuns who had cared for the baby for a few days dropped her off with us. The same week, we had welcomed in two other tiny infants...Jen took care of Santiago, the tias had Fabiola, and so lucky me got to take care of this sweet girl!

2 1/2 Wks

1 Month

Arrival Day at Casa de Amor

...and August of 2011! One year later

As precious as they come:

Her 1st birthday - August, 2011

Pictures after cutting the cake! :)

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS!

xoxo

I'm THREE!

2011-08-14T23:03:00.000-05:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to our 2nd-oldest girl at the Baby Home!

With her crazy big brother

She's the birthday girl, and she KNOWS it!

Make a wish!

Yeah, you go ahead and cut the cake yourself.

...orrrrr just start eating it!

She knows the routine!

Big bro refused to take the spoon out of his mouth until a photo was taken.

With her new friend, Dora.

Happy Birthday to the sweet, funny, tough, tattly, adorable princess of Casa 1!

Happy 7th Birthday!

2011-08-14T11:41:00.000-05:00

Can't believe this girl is SEVEN!

Celebrating with the House 2 gang

I love the birthday girl!

Inked.

2011-08-13T22:29:00.000-05:00

I feel like Tia Maria may not approve of this post, but the oldest at Casa 1 were pretty pumped to have some temporary tattoos on their bellies!

Quite the figure.

Playing Outside at Casa 2

2011-08-12T22:34:00.000-05:00

We love swinging!

Ribbon-dancers...only for those secure in their masculinity.

My nurse...she is not a very nice one!!

Love you...punks.

Babies Everywhere

2011-08-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

The Baby Home is overflowing with Under-1's these days!

Big babies...

...and liiiittle babies

Super-heroes,

and sweethearts.

Such a ham!

Is there anything better than arms full of these???

Happiness :)

2011-08-10T12:43:00.000-05:00

Two of my favorite things...the beauty of this city...

...and ice cream. :)

Make that 3 things...I'm a pretty big fan of some kids here, too. :)

Happy Reunions :)

2011-08-02T21:46:00.001-05:00

One of the most incredible parts of working with Casa de Amor is seeing our children go off with families. This past month, I've had the gift of getting to see some of our children come back and visit - words can't describe!

Our WILD twins upon arrival, 6 mos old and about 8 lbs each

...and the twins today! Almost 4 years old and living with their adopted parents in Cochabamba.

...and her twin bro, with keys just like old times.

...and then she took the CDA car for a spin? :)

This baby turned ONE on my first day in Bolivia - September, 2009. Here he is celebrating with his then Adopted-Mom-To-Be!

And today he's living with mom and his sweet sisters in Cochabamba, too. He turns 3 soon!

Another set of twins, when they arrived at CDA at about 1 year of age:

They're now living with their biological mom again and came back to visit us recently. They just turned 3 and are chatty as they can be!

Twin "P"

Twin "A"

And we'll never forget our trips!

16 months old and WALKING!

Alison, our Pirate Baby, had surgery right after these pictures were taken to correct her eyes. :)

We love these girls...their mama, too!

Thankful for how our kids are growing up. :)

What happened??!

2011-08-01T11:11:00.000-05:00

Although it looks like we've endured some sort of masacre, really all that happened is that 6 girls played nonstop on Sunday! We loaded up the car to head back to House 2, and before I was onto the main street, this is what we had in the backseat!

Hahaha

Sweet dreams!

This One's for the Girls

2011-07-30T04:11:00.000-05:00

The lovely ladies of House 2!

Just spent the weekend with my favorite girls. Ages 3-7, these six girls are each so much fun. From going on walks to watching movies, I love every minute I get to spend with them!

Our oldest Casa de Amor girlfriend:

Leader of the pack :)

Uh oh...

Just kidding! She's bad.

Miss Personality #1, and Miss Personality #2

Walking into church

A little post-church dancing

Can't forget our oldest girl at the Baby Home! (And although the pink rhinestone headband didn't exactly go with the rest of the outfit, she thought she looked SO good...I couldn't make her take it off.)

Coming out of Sunday School - this was a day for the records, as the boy in the frog shirt got his first smiley face in the history of his church-going days. Ha!

Showing off her Sunday School artwork

Empanadas!

Loving that see-saw!

Same-Namers on the see-saw

An afternoon walk

Sisters, 4 & 5

Sisters, 3 & 6

It's all fun and games until this punk turns on the water pump at the restaurant and sprays herself in the face.

Pippi Longstockings

Verrrry convincing Sleeping Beauties

Oh! They were actually still awake that whole time.

Good morning, sunshines!

Breakfast

Love these girls!

Best Buds

2011-07-29T11:20:00.000-05:00

These two 5-year-olds are best buddies - they're in the same kindergarten class, they love playing soccer...

...and they will both ignore you for an entire day if there's a cell phone within reach.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2011-07-28T11:20:00.001-05:00

When this precious boy arrived at the Baby Home in March, I never would have believed that he was just two months away from turning TWO.

He has endured malnutrition for quite some time over his first 2 year of life, leaving him very small and a bit developmentally behind for his age. That being said, he is also one of the sweetest and friendliest little boys you can imagine!

Two months after arriving - he's changed so much already.

Getting ready for his birthday bash, and lookin' good.

The birthday boy!

We had a BIG goal for this little guy on his 2nd birthday...we set that date as the date we wanted him to be able to WALK!

Progress???

Woah, nelly...can he do it??

Annnnd he's up! While he isn't entirely comfortable yet, he's taking steps on his own this week, which has been so exciting to watch.

Baby House celebration - with a Roly Poly theme, of course. :)

"Biting the cake"

...and it's good!

Taking off on his own.

Happy Birthday to our favorite Roly Poly!

The Baby of House 2

2011-07-27T12:38:00.000-05:00

Cookout in Chulla

2011-07-26T12:30:00.000-05:00

Hanging out in Chulla is one of my very favorite things to do when I'm not at the homes. (With HELEN!)

Celebrating precious Gabriel!

Clown games

Punks

Precious moments with Kristin and Fern. hahaah

First time making S'MORES!

Such a fun weekend, never-ending hospitality...we love our Chulla fam!

My Babysitters

2011-07-25T11:35:00.000-05:00

She's cute, alright, but when the tears start flowing, sometimes I need to call on my backup team...

the Babysitters.

One of my most trusted. Age 4.

Age 3

Age 6

Age 7

This girl's on the top of my list but almost impossible to get...she's got her own to deal with, I guess. :)

Age 7...

...and being a smart alleck!

Age 9

Age 9 mos! :)

Age 4

What the heck - he's doing such a great job, let's give him 4 more. :)

Couldn't do it without 'em!

We've got a fever.

2011-07-25T01:58:00.000-05:00

Ohhhh they've got it. Not exactly sure how it happened, but this fever's contagious and it's spread to everyone, from our oldest to our youngest like wildfire.

Bieber Fever.

Oh my word - these kids are obsessed. Above: starting the day off right with a little Justin Bieber video sing-along. The kids love him and sing his songs nonstop - to the point, if the staff hear "Baby, Baby, OOOOOH" one more time, I think we're going to be tempted to lock some kids outside.

Another Bieber fan, watching his videos just like this. Sexuality TBD. :)

I'm not sure if these videos are going to work, but I really hope that they do. Especially the 2nd one. Bieber, you're a worldwide sensation.

Growing like a weed!

2011-07-24T12:43:00.000-05:00

Getting bigger all the time!

Look-Alikes

2011-07-23T11:59:00.000-05:00

With all of the babies who have passed through the doors of Casa de Amor, it's not surprising that these days, almost each of the new babies that arrives reminds us of one of our older children. This Spring arrival is practically a mini-me of one of our 4-year-old veterans!

Our Favorite Quinceanera

2011-07-22T12:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, so she maaaay not really be a quinceanera, but when Sarin told all of the kids she was going to be turning 15 on her birthday this year, we decided to make it happen. So we present, the Casa 2 Quince Fiesta!

The gentlemen lined up to present their flowers

andddd the damas!

And there she is!

Obviously.

Everyone loves Sarin!

Mr. Sunshine

2011-07-21T23:09:00.000-05:00

I think anyone who works with House 2 would agree...this 5 year old is maybe the goofiest person we know!

He's original, hilarious, and proud of it.

And he's very loved. :)

Our favorite new invention

2011-07-20T11:44:00.000-05:00

"New invention" might not be the right word, but it's new to these guys. Check out our first time using a MICROWAVE!

Cannot get enough of the button-pushing!

...and the fruits of ~~our~~ the microwave's labors? Puppy chow! YUM!

Saturday at Simon Patino's

2011-07-19T11:02:00.000-05:00

A group of us spent a Saturday visiting Simon Patino's mansion and hanging out around beautiful Pairumani!

With our girl, Nicol!

The gardens around the house were beautiful.

Subtle tourists.

Josue, looking like a rockstar.

Such a fun volunteer-trio!

Avocado tree, we would not survive without you.

TECHY!

The master of the marbles.

Making new friends - she's no Marta, though.

Great weekend outing - love them!

FIELD DAY :)

2011-07-18T23:47:00.000-05:00

Game faces.

...and some smiles, too!

It was a pretty big day at the park by House 2...our very own Casa de Amor Field Day!

We had team uniforms, lots of relays, and some pretty fun prizes to recreate one of our, (the volunteers',) favorite childhood days!

The egg race - the kids quickly figured out that it was more fun to just drop their eggs and watch them smash than attempt to actually save the eggs.

Surprise! The youngest participant was the pro at this game!

A little waiter-waitress dress-up relay

...and the classic, a wheelbarrow race.

And the grand prize winners? Well, they got to throw pies at some tias.

Boom.

Yeahhhhh, Tia Lane!

Sweat, blood, and tears...
this one dropped his pie before he could actually throw it.

...and then so did she.

Would you listen to a serious lecture from Tia Kristin if she looked like that?

Cutie

Ending a great day outside with popsicles!

Elena's Wedding

2011-07-18T16:39:00.000-05:00

Some VERY overdue pictures from my first Casa de Amor wedding! Elena and Vico were married at Manatial earlier this Spring, and it was a very special day.

The centerpieces...just kidding!! I wish.

The actual table settings

Elena & her mom getting ready

The gorgeous bride!

She's getting MARRIED!

Vico & his mother

The Tia Table :)

stressful times for our friend, kristin

We had 12 special guests from House 2 attend the ceremony!

The dozen children danced, ate, and ran around until midnight...best night of their lives??? :)

THE Dancing Queen.

Following Shyrlen's lead:

2011-07-14T03:39:00.000-05:00

Just some killer pics of a stylish boy that I miss a lot:

Happy 1st Birthday!

2011-07-09T10:30:00.001-05:00

Even though I'm in Tennessee right now, I've got a bunch of pictures from the past couple of months to share just for fun!

September, 2010

This little package arrives at the Baby Home at 2 1/2 months of age and was still so tiny! Smaller than the newborn that arrived that same week.

It has been a joy to watch this one grow...

...as I think she's aged very well!

Happy Birthday to our 1 year old with such a pretty smile! She has grown into such a sweetheart!

However, we still remember fondly the days of the past, when this baby so closely resembled a favorite toy from the 90s...

...and earned the nickname, "Furbiola."

...hence, a theme cake! :)

Chau For Now...

2011-07-06T12:39:00.001-05:00

How I've felt for the past week:

I'm now back at home in TN for now with family...

...and friends...

...and missing Bolivia something terrible! I'm so thankful for the surprise going-away fiesta that the tias and volunteers put together for Lane and I last week. Some of my faves, right here:

It's become the classic Roxana pose in pics:

That night was also my last time putting House 2 kids in bed and explaining that it'd be a bit before I'd see them again. I was so annoyed, because literally I'd put a room of kids into their beds and three seconds later they'd all be out in the hall. I don't think I had ever had a night shift so frustrating at House 2...finally, after everyone was down, (so I thought,) I head back to House 1 to a surprise dinner. Ten minutes later, look who all waltz through the door!

No wonder nobody could stay in bed. :)

Missing you all mucho!

(In the meantime, I've got a lot of old pictures to put up on the website from the past few months just for fun.)

1 Month Old

2011-06-23T22:15:00.000-05:00

My little charge is a month old! Look how she's grown...

She came to us here at less than 24 hours old:

1 Week

2 Weeks

3 Weeks

1 Month! And smiling :)

It has been such a privilege to get to take care of this sweet girl. She came to us after her birth mother had arranged to give her up before her birth. (Her birth mother, age 15, was raped by her uncle.) To my knowledge, the birth mother hadn't wanted to see the baby, but since that time, family members have gone to social services to reclaim the baby. We are waiting on the paperwork to go through, and I'd ask for your prayers for her safety and future.

Just some cute pictures over the past month:

1st day at CDA

Ready for bed!

love this girl.

Bowling Birthday

2011-06-20T15:00:00.000-05:00

A lot of our kids don't really get the concept of birthdays. The youngest simply know that every so often, we wake them up telling them it's their birthday, and there's going to be CAKE! The older ones, especially at House 2, have a little better understanding of birthdays and know that they're special days. That being said, most of them still don't pay attention to the date. Not this guy. I don't know who let the cat out of the bag, but since about mid-April, this boy's been counting down until his June 12th birthday! Not wanting him to feel let down after all the anticipation, we had an all-house bowling birthday party. It was chaotic fun, for sure.

I'm SEVEN!

A bit of a tragic moment after that Tia Kaley pushed his face into the cake. She's the WORST. :)

Playing "Woly-Woly!" (Yes, somehow, that's how these kids hear the word "Bowling."

How many pins? How many pins?!??

We managed to have fun in between turns to bowl, too.

Rough life.

Big shout-out to the bowling alley employees, who had to have tons of patience as they collected stuck balls every 4 minutes. (Our kids apparently aren't the strongest.)

WE LOVE WOLY-WOLY!

Buen Dia!

2011-06-20T00:12:00.001-05:00

Rise & shine!

After a night shift in the Baby Home, this is how we start the morning. Bright and early!

A little morning man hug.

Pre-schoolers get ready for school

Babies get bathed...

...and dressed

Some babies are more natural morning people than others...

......haaaaaa - classic for this girl.

and ready to start the day!

Just a Normal Day

2011-06-19T23:57:00.000-05:00

Just a random selection of what we see at the Baby Home every day. :)

nice princess shirt.

Soccer Practice

2011-06-17T15:08:00.000-05:00

Something we've been working on over the past few months at House 2 is exercise! Something I love, but some of the kids...maybe not so much. We also realized that our House 2 kids, a majority of whom are in Elementary school, don't have a real concept of how to play organized sports. When I think about ballet lessons and soccer practices and whatever else my siblings and I got to participate in growing up, the thought of some of these guys missing out was just no good. So, Kristin & I started playing soccer with the kids three times a week, doing some little drills, scrimmaging, and there's always a fist fight or two thrown in for fun. Usually Brandon's involved, but I digress. Getting out of the house and walking a block to where we practice has become one of my favorite parts of the week, and the kids get really excited about playing now, too.

Getting ready to play

First things first. Mandatory warm-up activity? Freeze tag. Kids' request. And as part of this ritual, we obviously have to put our "feet in" to see who's going to be IT. The kids' have a pretty sweet Flinstones song to sing as we go around the foot circle, but they think Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Mo is hilarious. Doesn' take much to entertain this group.

Annnnnd PLAY.

Wonder which red-shirted player won that battle?

Soccer or dodgeball? Tempting.

Instead of playing soccer, she'd rather run suicides. She's not all there.

(Just kiddingggg!)

Love this team.

2 of my Favorites

2011-06-16T10:26:00.000-05:00

Since September, I've had the privilege of taking care of 2 newborns 24/7 for the first few weeks/months. The first is now 9 1/2 months old, (hard to believe,) and the second is 3 1/2 weeks! Here are some pics from last weekend of the two - just your dose of cuteness for the day!

breakfast time

So little!

Bath time! This one loves it...

This one, not so much.

Ready to play!

2 weeks old...and about the same size as this random puppy!

Wants to do it by herself.

My girls!

Look Who's Here!

2011-06-13T16:56:00.001-05:00

Lane and Lindsay!!!!

I was so excited about and blessed by the arrival of two of my very best friends from home last week. Lane and Lindz showed up in Cochabamba to spend some time working with us at Casa de Amor!

And let me tell you, what luck they had! They showed up on the day of Operation: Scabies!

That's right. Here at the Baby Home, we've been battling scabies for a while now. Whaaat? That's not just the name of some disease from the Oregon Trail days? People actually get Scabies?

Yes. Yes, they definitely do.

Every single kid and staff member at the Baby Home was blessed by the arrival of Mindy, one of our latest infant additions. Every single kid and staff member also welcomed with open arms, (and open pores,) about a million of Mindy's closest parasite friends. We knew that Mindy arrived with some major skin issues, but we were reassured by the hospital that she was not contagious. The scabies bumps were, in the hospital's defense, well-covered by other skin issues, but about two weeks later, as one by one, we alllll started itching, the diagnosis wasn't a difficult one. Hellooooo, Scabies! We'd appreciate your prayers as we're still working hard to completely rid the house...it's not easy, as the bugs can live in our clothes, sheets, carpets, toys, etc, etc, etc!

Right after picking up the girls at the airport, we came home to begin covering kids in cream and getting ready to evacuate the house for a weekend of fumigation and cleaning.

ScabieBabies

Rachel's family opened up their house to alllll of the Baby Home for an entire weekend away!

Getting settled in our Vacation Home :)

Still lovin' life - a little scabies won't get this guy down. :)

So as you can imagine, Lane and Lindsay got right to work. This dinosaur of a baby welcomed Lindsay with a special gift.

New friends

The boys took advantage of free time to brush up on finance.

Accounting. Not as easy to learn as he had thought.

Pajama Party!

We were surrounded by plenty of open space for the kids to run around annnnd learn how to play kickball!

We also took a big trip to Pairumani Park - one of my favorite places in Cochabamba!

Lookin' good as usual.

How did Brayon poop on the outside of his pants? We may never know. He's a man of mystery, that one.

We did manage to break the record of Most People In The AutoGrande...

29 people in the car!

So much fun! Love these girls!

Another Birthday!

2011-06-11T00:19:00.000-05:00

I turned 4 last week!

"What kind of cake do you want?"

"Ummm...."

..."KANGAROO."

Of course you do. Whaaaaaat?!

This princess's got sass.

Make a wish!

Playing with Jasmani's birthday hat: "So, if I give my presents to the other kids, with this hat I'll be just like Papa Noel, right?" Right.

Crashing

Love you, B!

Last Mother's Day Post...Surprise!

2011-06-10T11:59:00.000-05:00

3 year old "Luz" just had a Mother's Day she'll never forget. Although it may be difficult to believe, Kristin & I showing up at her Mother's Day lunch at school wasn't the highlight. :)

........

On Mother's Day 2011....

.....Luz met her mother!! And her dad, too! Our latest adoption!

In the many adoptions we've seen here, I've never seen a child adapt so well and so quickly. Luz has been on cloud nine working puzzles with her parents, reading books, and, earlier this week, heading home with them. Fortunately for us, they are living in Cochabamba! I love it when the kiddos stick around. :)

We miss this girl's crazy-loud-squealy-munchkin voice all the time, but we are so happy for the new family.

Check out Luz's background story here - pretty neat.

http://hogardeamor.blogspot.com/2009/04/child-history-50.html

And now, some favorite pictures from the past couple of years.

Baby!

With her beloved Tia T-T

Pajama party

Bike ride!

Park outing December 2009...Now, only one girl out of this foursome is still with Casa de Amor!

1st day of preschool

With her mini-me!

....!

Girlfriends

So silly!

The definition of Bathing Beauty:

...!

This week :)

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2009

Ok...this girl has a reputation for going commando at every major holiday so far!

Christmas

Easter...wait for it...

Boom. Censored with the Easter basket.

Valentine's Day...

Nothing like a good Valentine's Day streak downtown!

The county fair:

And finally, just playing at home.

We will miss your plummer ways!

A miracle! Something underneath the dress! (Although this picture was taken because on the way to church that morning, these two had switched their bloomers in the car!)

Hard to believe she was once little... this chunk loves her some cake.

Fashionable always.

Thankful.