Christmases Past

Casa de Amor Baby Home Christmas Group Pictures, 2004-2011!

Christmas 2011

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2007


Christmas 2006


Christmas 2005

Christmas 2004

Merry Christmas...

...from the Casa de Amor Baby Home!

A Staff Merry Christmas

Our annual Casa de Amor Staff Christmas party!

All the Bolivian CDA I, II, & III staff, even our beloved speech therapist Mercy (oh, and me!)

Our administrator/social worker and accountant are missing, currently traveling to visit family...they were missed!!

Our current "gringas": Chelsey, Alexis, Katrina



Casa de Amor III staff: the Mitchell family, Tia Ana, and volunteer Katrina (aka Housemom when Mitchells traveled)

Buffet Lunch!

Sweet tias enjoy lunch while a slideshow of our nativity scene pictures and Christmas music play in the background


Even though we had to economize this year with our "canastones" - gift baskets (a Bolivian tradition) - I was pleased with how full (and heavy!) they turned out

Handing out the gift baskets with office staff Maria & Carmen

It's a special joy to get to bless these beautiful women (and Tio T.J.) who work so hard night and day giving their all to our children! Merry Christmas and many blessings!!

our two "May babies"

I noticed that I have two cute pictures of babies C & F so thought I would post them.

These two are always linked in my mind. Both were born in May and both arrived to us the very next day around 24 hours "old".


Baby C, born May 11, not recognizable at all from her newborn pictures, now affectionally known as "la gorda" (she's a chunker!!)


Baby F, born May 23, arrived the morning of my birthday :) ...still as tiny and cute as she was newborn. In fact, Baby boy G who is a month younger has now passed her up in size.

The Boat...

We currently have a grand handmade boat in our office....

A couple of my street friends in one of the jails have spent the past few weeks putting it together, as I've had time to bring them the craft sticks and glue and string... It was fun watching it take shape!

I love all the little details. It's just here with us until my friends (or I) find a buyer....at which point I'll recuperate my investment. :)

It's gotten a lot of admiration, from the coronel of the jail as I took it out, to definitely our kids here.

Ohhhh!!!

Our little gal O is 21 months old and the boat is larger than her. :)

(Is she not the cutest thing EVER?!)

new baby boy

Last week on Thursday, I had a busy day out doing all sorts of errands including Christmas stuff, and came home to a surprise!

There was a new baby in our playroom...



Baby K is supposedly 6 months old.



I say "supposedly" because we suspect he might be a bit older, for his development and because he eats food so well.


Some of the babies...

Baby K hanging out by Baby G (having just finished playing Baby Jesus for our annual nativity scene)!

Baby K's mom is just 18 and has an unstable relationship with the father. When she found out she was pregnant, she pressed charges for rape, but then changed her mind, withdrawing charges and asking for child support instead. Last week the father pressed charges on the mother, asking for the baby to be taken away because she wasn't properly caring for him....never having given a cent of child support!

Anyway, we will soon start our investigations to see what the future might hold for this content, chubby baby.

Update: we just got his immunization card and Baby K (spelled with a C there, hmm...) IS almost 7 months old. His birthday is the day before mine and thus the same day as our little girl B AND baby F - May 23!

Hogar de Amor Annual Nativity Scene

Manger scenes are one of the most beautiful things about Christmas. Does it get any better than a LIVE manger?!

Casa de Amor Manger Scenes throughout the years...

December 2008

December 2009



December 2010




December 16, 2011



And our sweet, sweet "Baby Jesus'"....

Baby Gabriel (a twin), 3 months, now adopted by Tia Luz




Baby Fabiana (yes, a girl!), 3 months, now adopted by a Bolivian family


Baby Santiago, 5 months, now adopted by a Bolivian family

Baby G, 5 months, still living with us in the Baby Home

Many more pictures to come! Just couldn't wait to give a sneak peek of this year's nativity... :)

Happy Birthday to my (not so little) sister!!

Happy 13th Birthday, Emma!!!

I miss you sooooo much and wish I could be there at least today to share with you!

Sister Heather sent me this picture, of their special birthday breakfast together

You've grown so much the past few years!

May 2007, right after moving to Bolivia (age 8)


Also in May 2007, feeding her favorite baby (now a big boy who goes to school)

TE QUIERO MUCHO!!!!!!!!

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!