2nd Adoption of the Week!

2nd adoption of the week...this one is going to be no less exciting, I'm sure! Our firecracker 2 1/2 year old little girl is going to meet her parents tomorrow! Wahooo!

This week I've gotten to spend a little extra fun-time with her and two of her best little friends from the home. Before our recent addition of newborn triplets to CDA, these 3 were affectionately known as our "triplets" - not because they are related, but all 3 are the same age and arrived at our home together. Last February, there was a big street raid by Cochabamba police, during which a large number of children were taken from the streets and put into homes. Our director got a phone call asking to take in one baby boy, but when she arrived at Social Services...surprise! There were three 1-year-old girls who needed a home! 

Over the past year, they have grown very close...we laugh, because even when we have alllll of the kids from all 3 homes together at a big event, these 3 find each other fast! Although one of the three recently moved to House 2 (to be with her big brother,) I took the "triplets" out last night for a little tea-party/girl time. It is always fun to be with these 3...and I got asked several times if, indeed, they are triplets! :)

Here are the "triplets" when they arrived last February, sickly and worn out!  For a little history, you can read our director's blog entry: http://hogardeamor.blogspot.com/2009/02/day-2-ofadaptation.html

Our soon-to-be-adopted little girl upon arrival at CDA

1st night...exhausted!

....and here are the little girls today!

Lemonade, ice cream, and 3 sweethearts...perfection!

She is super excited to play with Mom & Dad tomorrow!

Playtime!

Co-captain :) Driving one of our girls back to House 2. We miss her in the Baby Home!

Andddd a little more hang out time before the big day! At the grocery

Saying chau to "Tia Joana..." a friend from church and one of my teacher's daughters - her family has invited several of our kids to eat lunch at their house after church MANY Sundays, and Joana absolutely adores this cutie. Joana is so sweet with all of our kids but really loves this girl!

 (I think LOTS of people can relate...including Mr. Alan Sielbeck!)

These 2 are going to miss each other for sure. Luckily, the adoptive family lives in Cochabamba! Yay!

We're excited for tomorrow!

Adoption Days!

This week is CRAZY exciting, because Casa de Amor has TWO adoptions going on! Our first family arrived at the house late Monday evening to meet their little boy...look who's got a mom, a dad, and a big brother!

This 1 1/2 year old little boy is incredibly precious to the CDA staff - he arrived at the home as a premature newborn, very sick, and very slow to put on weight. It's an ongoing joke here that he has more than made up for the weight over the past year and a half...this kid is a chunk! He is pretty talkative, loves swinging, and has been sleeping with a photo album of his new family. :)

(Before the family arrives, we generally give the baby or child pictures of everyone in their family to begin familiarizing them with who's coming to meet them.) This little guy knew exactly who "Mama" and "Papa" were when they arrived!

I will say that we were a bit concerned about the meeting of this baby with his family, as he has never been very good with strangers. There have been days when he has left the home to spend time with staff members, only to scream every time someone else tried to talk to him or even look him in the eye. Thus, we made sure to get him out and about as much as possible over the past week and a half, getting as many new people to touch him and hold him as possible. I won't say it was a week and a half of miracles, but I think some progress was made...plenty of smiles!

Church with his dress-alike twin, Tio Mateo

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Crashing during one of my classes at language school...all that socializing can wear you out!

This baby's family arrived all the way from Denmark. It is hard to imagine that he is going to soon live there! His parents are very patient and sweet, and he has a big brother, age 4 1/2, who was also adopted from Bolivia! It is really, really neat to see the brothers together, and honestly they are just a beautiful family. Happy to report that the first meeting went much better than expected! Our guy was very calm - he wouldn't come out of the corner of the playroom for a while but was content watching his parents and big brother and let them touch him. It did not take long at all for his parents to get him laughing with peek-a-boo! Since the initial meeting on Monday night, the family seems to have meshed really well - the baby is SO happy to be with them and cries when they leave at night. Saying that I'm so happy for this family doesn't come close to covering the emotions that come with this adoption! Here are some pics from the meeting on Monday night:

They found the way to this guy's heart...cookies! :)

So thankful for this family!

3rd Birthday

Feliz cumpleanos!

This little boy got to celebrate his 3rd with his little sister, who also lives with us, as well as with his sweet grandmother who visits regularly. We have very few parents or relatives who have permission or choose to visit their children here, but it is really special when they do get to visit. These 2 are very loved by their grandmother, although she is not able to care for them on her own.

If you're interested, you can check out some of the brother and sister's history on an old post from our director's blog: (Names are changed!)

http://hogardeamor.blogspot.com/2009/09/child-history-120.html


The Bolivian birthday tradition...biting the cake!

Chowing down on some birthday cake.

Little sis

Some of the party guests... :) This 1 1/2 year old is too funny - he LOVES our 8 month old and loves even more the attention he gets when he kisses her! (Don't be fooled though...the next minute, he was throwing things at her face.)

The kids had eaten so much that day that the tias wanted them to hold off on the chocolate milk (in a bag...yes...) The kids accepted the fact that the milk bags were nothing edible...just hats!

Ha!

We've got a bunch of May birthdays coming up. In other news, May is bringing a handfull of ADOPTIONS as well, so there will be updates coming up on that note soon!

Jello Sunday

Another church day!

Our church is doing a little bit of fundraising to improve the bathrooms...and by fundraising, I mean they find 8 of my kids after the service, give them all jello, and then let me know how much it costs. :) Since my group spends plenty of time in the bathrooms, I am happy to support the cause!

Girltalk

It's always fun to have the girls playing in our volunteer room...you never know what they'll get into. :)

Playing on the bed is always on the top of the list of things to do...!

...as is going through pictures...

...and playing super heroes? Or playing cholitas, probably, knowing this 4 year old!

They went through a big phone phase, too...kind of hilarious to hear them chatter to each other. Kind of not as hilarious when they call random people from my cell.

This one is especially entertaining when she gets ahold of a phone...she cracks me up having full-out, pretend conversations with her husband about how her children are behaving. (Usually they are misbehaving. And usually they are misbehaving the same ways that she has already misbehaved that day!!)

Here's a clip of her chatting with her husband...her kids "have been playing in the water again!" Tough life.