Kid Count

I love studying my master “name list” of all the kids God has sent us.

Remembering the day they arrived…each one very special, even after 80 such “birth days” into our homes and lives

Remembering their time with us…challenges we encountered, hospitalizations, funny moments, the unique personality of each one

Remembering the day they left…44 have moved on to families

Remembering the adoptions, the “cherry with whipped cream topping” of our work….10 until now (9 international, 1 national)

The last day of last year I checked out the final tally for 2008. When some months it seems like all we do is receive in baby after baby after baby, for some reason “19” doesn’t seem all that many. Of course considering that a “normal” family has one maybe two kids per year, max, I guess it’s a lot. =)

Here are the years compared:

Four little boys entered in December 2004, our first month
17 kids came in 2005 (7 had serious medical needs and/or behavioral issues)
22 kids came in 2006 (7 with special needs)
18 kids came in 2007 (11 with special needs)
19 kids came in 2008 (9 with special needs)
?? in 2009, promised to be Bolivia's worst year economically in recent history

That special needs part is staggering. No wonder we stay worn out! Because really it's cumulative throughout the years, and in the end those babies/kids are with us longer if there is difficulty finding them an appropriate adoptive family (or the birth family completely rejects them because of their issues).

And there are plenty of minor issues or the illnesses that run through the homes (Baby Home currently: chicken pox, diarrhea, coughs/colds), especially since our babies have poor immune systems.

But back on track: this "list" with so many precious names and testimonies would never be possible without God's goodness to us in the form of so many amazing, generous supporters! A recent week of donations included checks from individuals ranging from $10 to $500.

Together it all adds up!

And we can provide a new life for each child in this crew of bright shining faces (picture from Children's Day, April 2008).

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them,
for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
Luke 18:16

“Rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious”
1 Peter 2:4b

A Bolivia sort of day...

Today our phones were down, both homes I and II, no idea on that one. We called the phone company from my cell and they promised to come quickly: today or tomorrow. Oh that's reassuring.

I needed to get an important message to Hogar II and the two staff there were not answering their cell phones, so I had no choice but to go....and someone needed to take a stool sample to the lab (the 1 year old twins have diarrhea, possibly passed on from the newest kid?). Second poop trip of the day for me, I might add.

Then I ran into a traffic jam because there is grand blockade right at the entrance to Hogar II. (Side note: If you haven't experienced the joys of Bolivia, a blockade is a common experience here. Any number of people gather and block the road, usually a main one and various side streets, with rocks, cars, big trucks, buses, people, protest signs, and so on, and police--sometimes in full riot gear--are present in case things get out of hand.)

And this week I'm without a car, so it's back to my modi operativi from my first four years here: by foot, bus, trufi, micro, taxi, however. My Japanese-manufactured car is in the shop messed up, because it has not been appreciating the joys of Bolivia such as continual speed bumps and bad roads that rip up the underside no matter how slow or fast I go. (Let's just say I've experimented. =)

So there I was, short on time (have a few tasks like planning out my entire year, folks!!), heading towards Hogar II choking on the continual dust/dirt cloud since traffic is going all over the place trying to get around the blockade. The good news is, I made it there and back, feeling like I needed a complete shower and change to continue work, but anyway....

My email has not been cooperating since getting back from our trip, either, and my website hoster has no clue as to why. That's always nice.

Other than that....it's been a fine day, with good news on not one but THREE kids regarding their adoptions! Now I'm heading straight from the office to Hogar III for a volunteer fellowship time!

Word-of-the-Year

Late last night as I tried to get caught up on posts from the past few days (some of you are QUITE prolific, shall I say), the "new year" challenge at Octamom's blog jumped out at me. Rather than writing a list of resolutions--who needs another list, anyway?--choose a word for the year, one to guide, focus, inspire!

Or more accurately, within a few seconds of reading it, the word I imagined I should choose jumped out at me.

So....

I went with it! I don't have much time for thought and reflection at the moment anyway, what with the "pay back" from taking a few days for travel and now with one of my right hands on her two week vacation.

Ready?





REST.

Yep. That's it. (I can just hear the people who know me well breathing a sigh of relief.)

My personality and pride would much rather go with a very productive sounding word, such as the one Octamom herself expounded on so eloquently: excellence. Something to describe action!
But that's it for this year folks. REST.

I'm trying to convince myself it's actually quite Biblical. Did you know that "rest" or some form of the word ("rested") is mentioned 540 times in the New King James Version? I didn't either till just now. And the first mention is GOD HIMSELF resting, in Genesis 2:2. It's also been pointed out to me that JESUS also rested. Hm....

And so in the order in which they come to me, in 2009 I want to:

Rest in believing that God knows what is best for me this year and at this time of my life.

Rest in the fact that He has it all under control. Without my help.

Rest and stay cool, calm, and collected, even when the day gets hairy.

Rest in moments I can find to be with Him....rather than forming a "to do" list. Multiple ones. On any scrap of paper I can find.

Rest in His love for me that can satisfy every fiber of my being...if I believe that and LET Him.

Rest and RELAX rather than get so tense and tied up in knots I am a massage therapist dream client (doesn't happen to me of course, I'm just sayin').

Rest, stay focused, balanced, and calm, throughout all the changes of 2009, some huge ones right around the corner....yippee (not!).

I am even doing what was once unthinkable and actually spinning around some plans to take a mini-furlough (2-3 months) around my 5 year anniversary point of living in Bolivia. Of course, it's much easier to plan all the ways to use that time in the US and for rest of course, rather than fathoming how in the world I can be gone from the childrens' homes that long (for one I'll terriblyyyy miss the babies)... But I trust that God will make a way if it's to happen.

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him. Psalm 37:7

Ummm, that was great. Wonder if it could be beneficial to have a word-of-the-month? A word-of-the-day?! Ah-hem. There I go overboard again. Rest, rest, rest....

Anyone else have a word to share?

My first blog award!!!!

What a way to start the new year!!

Debi at Who Says 8 Is Enough? was kind enough to think of me and pass on the "The Lemonade Award". Wow!

See what she has to say about the award here: http://bouffard11.blogspot.com/2009/01/debi-saysand-award.html.

What can I say? Thanks! (And you're an inspiration, too! As long as I can remember I've loved getting a glimpse into large family life and you give a fun "inside" look.)


And now, according to award guidelines, I bestow The Lemonade Award to some fellow bloggers, beginning with three former volunteers of the homes who even now help me make lemonade out of lemons!

1. Multiple-visitor HDA volunteer, our first volunteer coordinator, and my personal cheerleader, Amber Miller at Ramblings

2. Soon-to-be multiple-time HDA volunteer and one of our best advocates anywhere, Denise Knee at So it's probably best I just stay in Indiana... [Don't let the title fool you; she's planning a return trip.]

3. A (former) precious and hopefully HDA repeat volunteer, kiwi Katrina Symes having Joy-Full Days

And a few fellow missionaries here in Bolivia:

1. Denise Holman, The Holmans in Bolivia, busy nurturing her family of husband + 11 kids

2. Fun friend despite her very draining ministry, former HDA volunteer Rehanna Bernard is Helping Street Kids One At a Time

3. Co-director of another Christian Baby Home in Cochabamba, pastor's wife, missionary, mother, (etc.), Angie Washington of @ngie

If I missed anyone who should be included here, my apologies!

The "Ask Me (Almost) Anything" Post!

When this posts I'll be on a trip to La Paz with my family, a quick "escape" from the intense, wonderful work in the homes!

As I take a blogging break for a few days, it's YOUR turn. Here's your chance to ask those questions that have been burning inside of you!! About the babies/kiddos, Bolivia, my life, running the homes, whatever. And at some future date....when there are more than 1 or 2 questions....I'll respond in another post. ;-)

I've been so neglectful of the mountainous pile of emails lately, you former volunteers might have to repeat your questions here to get them answered...sorry. You are just so many now!! Which is wonderful, that is not a complaint. (And don't worry about using kids' names since the answer post will not necessarily include pictures.)

So, go ahead, ask away! And wish us well at the dizzying altitude of Lake Titicaca.

Happy New Year/Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of our friends, near and far!

May your light for Jesus shine brightly from wherever you are in 2009.

December 30, 2008
M., taking her role very seriously during a special song with candles at our end-of-the-year "thankfulness and praise" program for the three homes...it was a beautiful time!

Not to us O LORD,
not to us but to Your name be the glory,
because of Your love and faithfulness.
Psalm 115:1

While writing this I received word of last week's donation deposit.....and it is enough!! We are fine through the month of January, PTL! Thank you to everyone who gives so generously.

"I know that the Lord secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy." (Psalm 140:12)

Brother & Sister...

...together at last! (If you don't have a clue what that means, see http://hogardeamor.blogspot.com/2008/12/child-80-arrives.html.)

Here are some better pictures of both....

....when I could convince big brother that nothing would happen to him by standing for just one second by his baby sister.

See? He gets a terribly distressed look when we force ask him nicely to stop playing long enough to stand closer to his sister AND look at the camera (I know, I'm so demanding!! but I think that someday, they just might appreciate us taking the trouble).

Notice the chicken pox spots/sores on his face? Now Toddler J has it and possibly a few more...
(As for the spot on her face, that's from a pesky mosquito that got in under her netting the night before.)

"Ohh!! Another bad hair day!", says Baby C

(How she's changed since her arrival! http://hogardeamor.blogspot.com/2008/08/its-girl.html)

Cute Babies

Today I was mainly alone in the office and the phone only rang a couple times so I was able to get an impressive amount of computer work done for once. I also wrote over a dozen bios for sponsorship packets until 10pm tonight, so made a sizeable dent in that project. Good thing, as tomorrow includes lots of errands and medical stuff, ending with a special end-of-the-year prayer/worship/giving thanks event for the homes.

So, in the afternoon while it rained and a complete rainbow spread in between the mountains in our Cochabamba valley, I was able to sit around and play with and enjoy the babies with my Mom and the caregivers. Ahh, heaven...

A few of the pics I got in that time:

The Baby Hilton, haha. The caregivers had prepared such nice padded spots for our youngest four, now they just needed that staff to come around for the milk service!

What a cutie! I think this is the first smile I've captured from Twin (girl) G, in my all time favorite baby sweater (I think it's Baby Gap--thanks to whoever donated it!!)

This time of year (i.e., extremely rainy) there are constant rainbows--double, full, ones that end right at our house, the pot of gold of course. =) This one was completely full but how to fit it in?!

Taken from the third floor office balcony

And these from last week:

boy twin G hanging out in the sling

and girl twin G having her turn

Aren't they sweet?!

Today I also finally caught the new siblings, B & C, awake and happy and caught it on camera!! But I'll show those tomorrow. Gonna get some shut eye now as I have social services on my doorstep first thing tomorrow to talk about the paperwork on a set of sisters.

Christmas & Twins x 2

This was too much fun!! We started the photo session after all the gift-giving in the homes on Christmas Eve. The babies were quite cooperative, even though one had been woken from a snooze (boy G) and another was still under the weather (boy E). But my parents were game to help out and we just went for it, until I had filled up the memory card and internal space on my camera.

We've never had them in identical clothes, since they are boy/girl twins and we work with donated clothes, but I found the matching red onesies in the storage room a few minutes before (maybe from our friend's twin boys?) and my Mom had bought the baby twins something to match (quite the feat to find here in Bolivia where everything is one-of-a-kind), so why not document the moment!

At one point my sister Emma walked in from playing with the toddlers and was like WHAT in the world are y'all doing?! Guess we did look pretty silly, standing on the bed and chair and doing all sorts of antics and sounds to get them to look the right direction and not get bored.

But if it's not one thing, it's another. I was really disappointed with the quality when I looked at them later. It was getting dark outside but the pics taken after turning the light on are even worse. Oh, well, can't be too picky.

Just had to go with a slideshow, there are so many. =) Twins E & E are 13 months old today and Twins G & G are about 3 1/2 months.

Christmas in Hogar de Amor I

Continuing the daily Christmas picture posts, here's more from the wild scene that was the Baby Home on Christmas Eve!


Handing out gifts:

Babies, babies, everywhere...

Ha ha, it's mine! i found it first!

Two gorgeous girls



That naughty volunteer Elizabeth, feeding the baby twins cookies after I TOLD her not to!! (Just jokin' =)

There are always lots of pics of R, our Mr. Personality Plus!

Toddler R and Twins E & E trying out the new ride-ons, provided by our accountant's organization (thanks, VivaBolivia!).

Here you can really tell that poor (boy) Twin E still didn't feel well after his bout with laryngitus and subsequent isolation, not to mention teething. He's getting better, just at his own pace.


And I had planned on getting a "Our First Christmas" shot with the youngest set, but that proved impossible with everything else going on and by the next day the red clothes were in the dirty clothes pile and I didn't have time to figure something else out. So this is probably the closest we have, although of course Baby V from HDA III is missing (turned 6 months on Christmas Day).

Minus Twin E, sitting at far left, and Baby B, rolled over onto his stomach (no face visible), the other six babies are our "First Christmas" babies. (We're down to just seven babies total under 12 months. Shew! If the gov't had their way, we'd have twice that many, but we need a breather from constant newborns not to mention that we're completely out of hands, cribs, and occasionally--patience! And when including the disabled and delayed babies, there are about 5 more under 12 months, developmentally speaking.)

And finally, Baby E said "too much navidad!!!" and fell asleep...briefly.

Si, my niños do speak/understand Spanglish, if you're wondering. ;-)

Next Christmas picture post, tomorrow: adorable twin photo shoot!!

Christmas in Hogar de Amor II

Racing down the stairs, with the ever-intrepid E leading the way!

I was as amazed as the kids at all the goodies packed into each box!

Look at the size of that dragon!!

Proudly showing off stickers from "Tio Grant"

My parents helping J master his new plane shooter thingy...

My sister Emma admiring J's new jacket and purse! (A special miracle is that J LOVES them. She's been a bit hard-to-please in the clothing area the past year.)



A moment of rest and silence from the gift frenzy as the kids savored Mom's special Christmas cookies

Mmmm...

A great big howdy HOLA to all the friends and supporters who provided such a special Christmas for our kids!!!

Chicken Pox, ahhh!!!

Ah-hem. An interupption in the flow of merry Christmas posts, for a little explanation of the other side show going on since Christmas Eve, before I'm posting pictures of cute-but-speckled babies here....

Christmas morning, right after opening presents with my family and volunteer Elizabeth, and fielding a call from Italy (yes, from my Juanito, what a huge gift!!!), a caregiver from the Baby Home called my cell phone. The night before I had silently suspected chicken pox on our newest little boy, but was ignoring it and pretending it would go away and that I was guessing totally wrong. Still, I planned to call the Baby Home around noon and find out if he had more spots and where. Well, he did. So they called me first. We've never had chicken pox in the Baby Home, and on Christmas week?! Sigh. With babies already down with coughs and colds and right in the thick of staff vacations, of course. (December--February are always our rockiest months medically at the Baby Home, to the point of hospitalizations every year.)

But this will extend far beyond Christmas season, if Hogar II is any lesson. Last year it was a good full two months of spots and sick kids (it lowers your immunities) before it passed through the 15. All that time I wouldn't let the kids be in contact between homes, precisely for A. M.'s safety (and other weak babies).

Picture titled "epidemic" from Hogar II, October 2007

Our first concern was getting our A. M. any special care she would need and then separated out. The first was more complicated since her doctor is on vacation and traveling, and the best ER in town wouldn't answer their phone...or anyone else in that hospital either. Finally I reached the pediatrician (he called me back when he initially missed my call, God bless him!) and he orientated me on what to do for Ana to prevent complications with her. Obviously we were upset that she was even exposed, and of course she's already become a main friend of the new one, but another pediatrician has since told me it's better she just get it now rather than when she's potentially more immune comprimised later.

Amazingly I was easily able to find the med on Christmas Day.

The next task: a safe healthy place for A. M. It was out of the question in our already-crowded home to expect a healthy, overactive, highly sociable two year old to stay put in one room for weeks or months. We put our heads together and decided to call in the cook/housekeeper (aka, thinks she's A. M.'s mom) currently on vacation, to care for her until she's back (Jan. 8) and then we'll go from there. She was thrilled and very excitedly accepted, God bless her!!

So far, New Kid B is super spotty and itchy but no one else. I figure now's as good a time as any, since we do not have any small preemies or even newborns in the home. We hope delicate Twin G (girl) weathers it okay if she gets it. Otherwise, it would be nice if they looked okay by the time the professional photographer is here in a few weeks. And of course we have several babies/toddlers who should be leaving fairly soon (2 or 3 adoptions + 1 back to his dad). We'll be doing our share to pass this through the city..... {grin}

Baby Santas

Before posting these pics, I should point out that many of my kids are clueless as to who Santa Claus ("Papa Noel") is, particularly all those at the Baby Home. I know the concern of many parents is that their kids would be too focused on Santa and not the real meaning of Christmas. Now I don't know if I should rather be concerned that my sheltered inquisitive children asked if clowns brought the gifts and if these were clown hats? Hmm...

But anyway, we had a jolly good time messing around with the toddlers and babies with these hats on Christmas Eve.

merry santas (my hat has been swiped)

hungry santa

beautiful santa

not-so-merry santa

chubby santa (my fav!)

joking santa

twin santas

sleepy santa

A Merry Christmas in Hogares de Amor!

Every day for the next few days I'll post some of the pictures we took on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of all the babies and kids. There are tons of cute ones!!

Here I'll begin with the group pictures:

Hogar de Amor III & the Alseth Family

The Alseth Family and crew joined my family for Christmas dinner. They used this picture for their Christmas card--wonderful, isn't it?

Hogar de Amor II

Christmas was a real delight this year at HDA II. The kids were sweet, joyful, and beyond thrilled with their amazing gifts from the Alseth family and another very generous family that cares a lot for our kids. Marcelo (3 years) aptly summed it up when he declared his box a "pinata". It was THAT full of treats and surprises!

Hogar de Amor I
(otherwise known as the Baby Home, for obvious reasons...)

Spilling over with babies!! This picture was a terrible interesting challenge to make with 18 babies, 10 of whom don't sit and/or walk. We were just keeping up the tradition of former years, in making a "stair picture" (although last year I completely forgot it, oops! the silly thing being I didn't even realize until this year...hmm). We all survived to then continue into the dining room to open gifts (pics later).

A peek at former Christmases:

Baby Home Stair Picture, 2005

Baby Home Stair Picture, 2006

I recently read a Dallas Morning News article a friend from TX brought me, and the writer stated that when adoptions slow down or halt in a country, the flow of abandoned/orphaned babies magically slows. HA! Wish she could see these pictures, and the flood of babies we've had this year as adoptions slow but abandonments rise! Obviously when there are no adoptions (one judge, out of two, has not completed an adoption in months), it creates havoc in our child-to-staff ratios, and I can't imagine what position we'd be in if we had taken in all the abandoned/removed babies of the past couple months. But we've had to say no to anyone and everyone and now have a waiting list for the Baby Home.

More pics to come!