Happy Birthday, Baby C!

We celebrated another May birthday party with our C, who arrived last year as a tiny newborn. Not so much anymore...!

What a cake!!!

Getting a boost from Tia Roxana for the candle!

Master chef Katrina cutting and serving up her cake!

Aw, that look!!!

AMAZING chocolate!!! Put a smile on everyone's face...

...even C's, a usually serious baby!

Of course, attention from Tia Katrina is pretty aweesome, too.

Post-party with her May-birthday-month pal, F! (Pics of her birthday coming up...)

families, families, and more families!

In true Katrina style, our "Kiwi Katrina" left all of these surprises on and around my desk before leaving for her plane...

She finished a project that has been in the works for literally YEARS as no one ever seemed to have time to finish it, and it was just floating around the volunteer room for the past year or two. I've always wanted to have a wall with pictures of the new families created by Casa de Amor adoptions.

Katrina actually brought more frames from New Zealand to add to the frames my family left (from Pottery Barn, USA!) to be able to complete the project.

So many beautiful families! It's such an encouragement to us to see the sheer number of them, and to remember each child and adoption.

View up from the 2nd floor...

...and looking down, from the office!

It's been rather funny - I'll be trotting up or down the stairs and nearly run into someone, a tia or volunteer or visitor is standing on the landing, mesmerized by all the pictures. Several tias have gotten stuck studying all the pictures, only to come to when they realize they're supposed to be doing something else, somewhere else! We've had a wonderful time reminiscing.

Thank you so much, Katrina, for carrying this project to completion for us!! :)

CDA Internship

I am so excited to announce the new Casa de Amor Internship!

Volunteer coordinator Elena has pulled together all her creative ideas to develop this new program and I am sure it is going to be AMAZING both for the participants and our children and staff!

Some aspects of the program include keeping an active blog, studying Spanish, and developing a project.

Some objectives of the internship are the following:

To have interns from diverse backgrounds use their passion and talents to the maximum potential serving alongside other volunteers and Bolivian staff while respecting the cultural differences that may arise in the process

To train interns to go above and beyond by completing assigned tasks and shifts, taking initiative with project development, and setting personal goals

To train interns to become an ambassador to their home community on behalf of the children of Casa de Amor by regular communication using social media, blogs, email, etc. for the purpose of informing, recruiting sponsors for kids, and fundraising

To provide interns with a clear expectation of what is required of them and the guidance to fulfill that expectation

To provide our Bolivian staff with servant-hearted, hardworking partners in the daily care and raising of our 30+ kids

To provide our kids with Godly, loving mentors that will encourage them to be the best they can be in school, in the homes, and into the future!

For more information or to apply for the CDA Internship Program, send an email to Elena Alvarez at volunteer@casadeamor.org! Hurry - applications need to be returned by July 1!

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.

Annual April Group Picture!

So it's about time, right?! I am finally able to upload pictures again. A gal wrote me and suggested changing back to the old version of blogger, which I did, but still had problems uploading two or three pictures at once. By uploading just one at a time, I'm now in business again!!

Be on the look-out for many new blog posts. :)

Some years, everyone cooperates, is looking intently at the 10 adults behind camera, and it's fairly easy to get a good picture.

(A little peek-behind-the-scenes!)

This year was, um, not one of those...!

...

One year olds falling over like dominoes, babies screaming, distracted toddlers, champion crawlers...

Oh well, we got what we got! :)

Being all together like this...doesn't it look like a LOT?! Kind of scared me...

Our whole Saturday morning picture group - kids, staff members, and volunteers!

I thought it was super cool that the Mitchell family of Casa de Amor III filmed themselves doing announcements for their church. In Texas. To be re-played the next day during the services. Fun!

Filming time!

Then it was time to go inside and partake of cake.

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby E!!!

Trying out his two huge cakes

Ticklish baby A...

Got milk?

The floor was good for a hosing-down after THIS party!

Little girl S., always smiling!

Another big smiler, our little B.

Thanks to all of our supporters for allowing us to have beautiful moments such as these with all of our babies and children. :)

picture upload problems...

There are SO many things going on around here this month, and I am trying to keep everyone informed and feeling a part.... But blogpost simply is not cooperating! Does anyone else have trouble getting more than one or two pictures uploaded to their post? I don't know what I can do differently, but the normal way is not working for me ever since blogpost changed format.

I've tried several more things today and it's still not working, but whenever I can figure it out, there will be many, many pictures of birthdays and group pictures and adoptions and cute babies...!

Thanks for your prayers meanwhile, particularly for our current adoption of S, A, and D (ages 7, 6, 4) to an Italian couple. :)  

Off to church!

Yesterday, those of us who live in the Baby Home went to church well-accompanied!

Katrina with M. (4 months), Jennifer with G. (14 months), Hannah with K. (11 months) 

...and baby M with his Dutch Tia, Iris :)

Just have to brag on our babies: we didn't move from our seats the entire service. Not a one of our three cried, not even a peep! They drank their bottles and slept through the sermon and were content being cuddled. We didn't miss a single word of the fascinating sermon on Esther by Pastor Joe Holman.

We still have a couple weeks till Mother's Day here in Bolivia, but to all those who celebrated yesterday, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! Never underestimate the value of your work and the impact you have on your children. Don't get hung up on the details - just being there and being a consistent presence in their young lives does more than you can imagine.

New look, part II!

We love staring at the face of M, so beautifully repaired!

I've already posted some pre and post-op pictures, but here are some after the stitches were removed last week:

Getting home from the doctor

Being his cute, happy self!

He's so pleased with all the extra attention!


It's been a rough past month with lots of sickness in the Baby Home, but before-and-after stories like these are wonderful markers in the history of our family at Casa de Amor.

visit!

Remember when this beautiful baby went with his new adoptive family?

Today they stopped by for a visit, and he is HUGE, and only 1 year and 2 months old!

Look at all the hair now compared to the last pictures of five months ago.

The happy family was on their way to court to present a report and updated family pictures.

I hope the court sees it the same as we do - such a JOY to see how he has blossomed with the invidual love and doting care only a permanent family can properly provide.

"A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.

God sets the lonely in families..."

Psalms 68:5-6a

Sneak Peek...

On the morning of Saturday, April 28, all three of our "Casas de Amor" gathered to take our annual April group picture of all of our beautiful children.

Pictures coming soon!!

Smile!

Our little boy D is one endearing little guy. I don't have many good pictures of him yet as he one of our newer ones and lives at Casa de Amor II, so this day I took advantage of having my camera to request a session as long as his energy would allow for it.

He was only too thrilled to oblige, as you can see by the poses (only the best re-posted here)...

D's mother has passed away since he came to us, but he still talks frequently of her. As he and Casa de Amor come to your mind, please pray for his peace of heart and that his future will still be full of rich experiences in his time with us, and someday, a new family full of unconditional love for this bright child.