Group Picture Day!

Twice a year we have a big, fun afternoon of taking pictures with the whole crew! We often combine these days with birthdays. (This gives us the chance to eat cake, you see!)

A huge thanks to Elena and Katrina for all their hard work planning the afternoon. Other than a late arrival by the Baby Home due to the arrival of this cutie, it went off without a hitch!


Assembling the gang...


It's always cute to watch little kids do their best to hold up big babies. :)

The very first picture I snapped! Baby M at the far left was the only screamer in the bunch....

....but a lollypop from a prepared tia took care of that!


One of the best shots...

...and another! What smiles!

Then it was birthday time!

Little girls D and AM of Casa de Amor II (turning 4 and 5, respectively, during this week)

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Aren't little girls in pretty dresses the cutest?! MN and the newest, L.

All together!

coming up roses...

Our volunteer coordinator Elena suggested that my friends in jail make hair accessories with roses. The next day I was in jail wearing a rose clip that I'd bought at Claire's while in the US. Before I could say anything, the girls asked me if they could make some!

Here's the result...






LOVE love love this color!!

I love going in and seeing what pretty things they are going to send me out with. :)

New arrival: sweet little girl!

Literally a few minutes before we were supposed to leave for Casa de Amor II for picture day, this little girl arrived to the Baby Home!

Since the arrival of Baby Boy G a few months ago we've turned down all requests to send us babies, but a two year old is a little more independent.



Very first picture!

Eating a snack before a bath and heading out to CDA II.

The tias started to come downstairs to meet their newest!



At the end of the photo session with new big sister J.

I'm pretty sure she thought she'd arrived to a crazy house watching all the crazy things the adults did to get good pictures of the crew. :)

What little we know about this one is that she was left in a chicharia (place to drink chicha...an alcoholic brew) all day until the owner contacted police and declared her abandoned. Something tells me the mother or parents or someone will go looking for her, so we have some investigation to do in this case. Police estimated her at 1 to 2 years of age and someone gave her a made-up name which begins with the letter L... And it's not a name we've ever had before, good going! (This is about all we look for now, LOL!)

Pray for little girl L to adjust to the Baby Home. I've gotten reports that she's a little aggressive with the other toddlers but otherwise is precious. :)

The whole crew!

The whole crew,

even the newest...

...who can spot her?!

Casa de Amor I, II, & III
October, 25, 2011

Happy Birthday, B!

Somebody turned FOUR this week...




...and couldn't be more pleased!

The rest of the crew doesn't mind another birthday, either!

And this special guy had not one but TWO days of birthday fun...

...and cake!

On B's birthday I was reading September staff reports and one of the tias mentioned that he's the smartest one in her group of toddlers. Wow, I thought. Seriously?! This is the child waiting three years to be assigned a family not put off by his medical and development reports.

Then that very evening before hitting the streets, I was hanging out with some kids supposed to be winding down for bed, and 4 1/2 year old B says "Tia, what color is your hair?" I told him to tell me. He thought about it and said "Hmm...PINK!" Brand-new-four-year-old B immediately corrected him "No...YELLOW!!"

Way to go, B! You've come so far and we pray that God has an adoptive family specially picked for YOU.