Happy Birthday x 2!

On May 23, the Baby Home celebrated TWO first birthdays!

First was baby F, who arrived at exactly 24 hours of life - on my birthday! :)

Beautiful cake for our sweet F...

First taste!

Then it was boy K's turn!

It's hard to remember that K is the same age as F, because he didn't arrive to Casa de Amor until he was 6 months old (December 2011).

Happy Birthday, K!!

Party in full swing!

That's a lot of cake, folks...

Little G getting after those cookies!

C was quite happy :)

Baby P hanging out during the party

It was also little girl B's 5th birthday on this day! She arrived with her sister when she was just a baby. So amazing to watch all of our babies grow up!

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 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. :)