Mother's Day Seminar & Lunch

This year we "did" Mother's Day at Casa de Amor on May 30 with a half day of training and then a big lunch.

First, our blind little girl J's two teachers from FAPIZ shared with us about visual impairment, how they interact with J at school, and how we can support their work here at home.

After their presentation, I showed a youtube video of Christopher Duffley, a 10 year old blind and autistic boy with a singing ministry. Although it was in English, the song "Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord" is popular here in Spanish and the staff caught the significance.

Next, our speech therapist Mercy gave an overview of speech development for ages 0-2 and answered questions. We are so grateful for her loving dedication towards our children with speech delays!

Then a physical therapist shared developmental milestones and took questions. She is in charge of all the physical therapy students who visit our house most days of the week to work (and learn from) our babies!

To finish out the training, I showed another longer youtube video, this time of the testimony of abortion survivor Gianna Jessen. What a moving story!! I love it when she passionately declares the worth of those rejected and put down by society for being different, growing up without a family, or having a disability.

Meanwhile, Tio David had been slaving away in the kitchen....

As his gift to all the women he works with on a daily basis, he insisted on making the Mother's Day lunch while we were in the meetings, a very sweet gesture for a guy, and a Bolivian at that!

The lunch was paid for by a visitor to one of our houses a couple weeks prior. I don't even know the young man's name, but he pressed $50 into my hand as he said goodbye!

Volunteer "Kiwi Katrina" was asked to make a dessert for everyone and made THREE: brownies, lemon meringue pie, and fruit salad! Although Bolivians aren't nearly into desserts as we Westerners are, they sure lined up for Katrina's specialties and it was all gone in a flash!!

And there is no picture, but the entire day would not have been possible without the team of volunteers who cared for all 30+ children in three houses while the tias had this time away.

Our desire that it would be a refreshing, encouraging, educational time for all who participated seems to have been accomplished from the smiles on the faces and the positive comments on May's staff reports.

Thanks to all who participated! :)

Happy 4th Birthday!

On May 18, we celebrated our J's birthday!

What about this cake?! Thanks to volunteer "Kiwi Katrina" for making it!!

J is already four!! She has grown and changed so much since her September 1, 2010 arrival.

I admire all of the patient volunteers (Haley, Savannah, Iris...) and staff members who have poured their heart and soul into helping J come out of her shell. Through their hard work and dedication, they have taught J to love herself and life (she had many signs of Reactive Attachment Disorder those first months), to walk, to make her way around the house, to feed herself, to speak properly (she now has some real, very clear words)...the list goes on and on!

Feeling the heat of the candles...

Thanks to J's sponsor for sending extra this month and volunteer Iris' shopping, J had a special "necklace" for her party and a new toy that makes sounds.

Baby Home Caregiver Presentation, Part 3

For Part 1, click here.
For Part 2, click here.

The final part of the presentation included some dancing!


LOVE this picture of C! (Check out the tiny high heel sandals, borrowed from Tia Consuelo's granddaughter)

The charming couple!!! (Brother B & Sister C)

...and more snacks, of course!

(Didn't get a picture of the saltenas and breads... Oh, and the fresh juices!)

A special Bolivian number by the tias.

Taking a peek: it's a real baby!! (Baby G., who was very happy to be a part of the dancing.)

There was another very unique part of the program this day.

First, I can't resist just showing this picture of dear Tia Maria and asking WHAT you think is going on here...!

The tias who are in charge of J's special education thought it would be good for us as office staff (and apparently Tia Eli as our visitor) to do the same "exercise" as they once did at her special school for blind children. We were blindfolded - very elegantly, I might say! - outside the house and then were told to head to the dining room for breakfast.

Um, sure, yeah... I've lived in this house for over 6 years, so it wasn't too big of a deal to find the dining room. But once there, the furniture was rearranged due to the special presentation coming up (pictures above) and it was HORRIBLE to try to find anything or do anything...and forget about proper manners! I did the same as Tia Eli here at one point, licking fingers that I'd accidentally stuck in something (what??) as I searched the table for the breakfast items.

It was so simple: pour a cup of juice, slice the bread, choose butter, jam, or dulce de leche, put it on your plate, and sit down. I poured myself something but tasted it, and it was not the juice I had wanted. I realized I should have poured very little and tasted first. But at least I didn't fill it to overflowing and make a mess! I finally found the bread feeling around (which for some reason, made me feel dumb), but gave up on finding anything to put on it.

The best moment came when Tia Consuelo verbally guided me to the bench where we were supposed to sit. I didn't step on too many feet on the way! After the disconcerting experience at the breakfast table, I understood what a blessing (and necessity) a constant guide must be to the blind.

If the atmosphere hadn't been one of fun comaraderie, it would have been the most singularly frustrating and challenging task of my day. And inside my heart was breaking, imagining the round-the-clock difficulties of our little J. The tias asked afterwards how we felt, and I wanted to say that quite honestly, I felt like crying. It made me think of the times that Jesus healed blind people when He walked the earth, and what a hugely wonderful, glorious thing that was! And I wished for the 100th time that there was some hope for J to be able to see, this side of heaven.

(By the way, both of the above pictures were taken while I was still blindfolded, just to be able to see what we looked like afterwards!)

A couple more pictures of some adorable kiddos before closing...

Siblings B & C chatting (so proud of the sandals earlier, they started to hurt C's feet :))

Listening to the instructions of a tia

And which group of tias won the presentation? There was simply no way to choose. Tia Eli from CDA II agreed with us office staff: EVERYONE was a winner!! The prize is lunch out together.

And the house IS now decorated for Christmas... Our beautiful, beautiful Baby Home!

September 1 Arrival!

A few weeks ago at church, I was catching up with a fellow director friend just back from the US. He said something about taking in a 9 month old blind baby. A week later I mentioned this to my office staff and Rosa (our social worker) immediately said "Do you want her to come here?" I stuttered around because I had thought about it, but not seriously.

I told her to look into it and within an hour Maribel (our physical therapist) and I were meeting little J! After being hospitalized with severe malnutrition in January, she has spent the entire year in Cochabamba's pediatric nutrition center. Turns out she is 2 years and 3 months old. She does not walk yet. Her favorite toy is definitely a ball. For all practical purposes J has been abandoned by her parents. The other director had decided they could not take her into their home and the hospital was thrilled that we were considering the possibility.

Every year we've had new challenges, and more than once a child with severe hearing loss...why not this?

Visiting Casa de Amor last week

J's first moments in the Baby Home, feeling things out


I never cease to be touched by how welcoming and sweet the other children are with new arrivals! Three year old B brought J a stuffed animal and others started to follow suit - especially bringing balls!



Kids and tias gathered around. Literally within five minutes, two kids asked me "Tia, does she not see us?" I was so surprised they had already caught on! We hadn't said anything to the kids yet, maybe just because it was too sad to say "J is blind, she can't see you", but they realized and began to adjust.

Tia Maria and kids continuing to meet J, putting things right into her hands to feel


For 4 year old S, our oldest at the Baby Home with special needs herself, it was love at first sight! She picked J up and how she latched on! She started to tell everyone J was HER baby, and "mine!" while gently loving on her.


The kids came downstairs to eat and S stayed by J's side

S eating her dinner alongside J

Far from being our main worry right now, H's blindness is nothing compared to her aversion to eating! I don't even know what to say to all of her eating/digestion issues when she has been at a nutrition center for SEVEN MONTHS and now WE have to fix her eating problems! Giving in to what she wants, they spoon fed her milk at the center. And that's basically it. She won't eat anything else, nor will she drink from a bottle, and she throws up a lot - reflux? What are we going to do?? Please pray for special insight and for a breakthrough, or else J will quickly become malnourished again. She is also on other medications for being born with congential issues due to an untreated STD in the mother.

According to the nutrition hospital, J's eye condition is "staphyloma". My friend who was considering taking her in says that doctors say it's beyond repair and the damage is now permanent. If anyone can tell me more about staphyloma - and for that matter, how to help the development of blind children - we would really appreciate it!