Baby Victoria & Psalm 18

I am so appreciative to two-time Hogar de Amor volunteer Elizabeth Lynch for taking the time to send this to me. As I replied to her:

"How fitting for this time! Or really for us who “live” this “work”. All the injustice can threaten to overwhelm us at any point. We can only survive—and thrive—by clinging to these very truths. Thank you for your poignant reminder. I really appreciate it. You put into words many of my feelings and thoughts, but more richly due to your background."

With her permission, I am posting the email in it's entirety (bold additions mine). If it blesses you half as much as me...!


From: elizabeth lynch
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2009 8:43 PM
To: Jennifer Thompson
Subject: Victoria

Hi Jen,

I was just reading your post on your blog about Victoria. Obviously I already knew the story, having been there while the tests and things were going on, but there was one paragraph in your post that jumped out at me - the one where you said you left the doctor's room fuming, but not knowing how to explain it because you weren't judging the mother (or whoever did this). It's just that it made me think of something I wrote which was a sort of meditation around Psalm 18. It was written in the context of my PhD study, but looking through it, I think Psalm 18 has a lot to say about Victoria's situation.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.
The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

I just love how God responds to distress and injustice in this psalm:

The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.
Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,
burning coals blazed out of it.
He parted the heavens and came down;
dark clouds were under his feet.
He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.
He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.
Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.
The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.
He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies ,
great bolts of lightning and routed them.
The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

Sometimes I get really angry about some of the kids' situations - but sort of in the same way that you said, without really directing that towards particular people, because we don't know how difficult their situations were at the time. But here's God saying, hey I'm angry too - that's part of the way he cares. And God fumes and burns with anger at the injustice that has happened. Victoria was hurt, and shouldn't have been, and it matters. And why shouldn't we be angry? God’s anger produced smoke and fire, and it made the earth and the mountains quake! But after this angry outburst at the causes of injustice, God seems to turn to the Victorias of the world with a very different look on his face:

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.
He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.

So, again, God says, yes I care. But here he says it to the Victorias, very gently. In God, there doesn't seem to be a conflict between showing fury at the causes of a situation, and then a very gentle love towards the people hurt by that injustice. And I think that's your job too, as God's hands to Victoria and the others. Actually, I think it's everyone's job in whatever context they're in, but I think you're doing that job pretty well from what I can see! God is fuming against all the injustices that created Victoria's situation, and he also rescued Victoria and loves and delights in her. So can we fume, and also love and delight in Victoria? (I can't think of much else to when in a room with Victoria, as delight does seem the most obvious reaction!)

Sorry this was a bit long-winded. I'm an academic....!

Elizabeth.x


Even while jet-lagging this week, Elizabeth is already looking into how her church in Scotland can receive donations on our behalf. That will be an amazing way to broaden our support base with new friends from the UK. Thanks for everything, Elizabeth! And the kids miss you, too.

Baby V....news

At Hogar de Amor I, II, and III, every day brings triumph and tragedy, large or small.

For better or for worse, we've joined the roller coaster ride that is the life of these kids.

What follows is the long-but-short-version health saga of one of our cherished babies. (For the very beginning: "Praise the Lord for ornery chickens". )

We've prayed so hard since V's bittersweet arrival, the same evening as a staff party, that she would have no lasting effects from her rough beginnings. Arriving at 2 days of age and weighing 5 ½ pounds, she was the youngest and has stayed the youngest (translation: much-loved princess of the house!). I knew that absolutely anything conquerable would be because V has the privilege of living in Hogar de Amor III, our family model home. She receives our absolute best as far as stimulation, love, attention, outings, activities, and staff-to-child ratio. (Side note: I would love to have multiple "small" homes like this but lack of dedicated families/couples for the job holds us into the “shift model” for the other homes.)

When V was three months, she was being evaluated by our psychologist and physical therapist. They came to the office and whispered to me that V had no response whatsoever to visual or auditory stimuli. For a few minutes I brushed their concerns away. I was remembering how with my baby B, many specialists became alarmed, and how I got the conclusion from two doctors when he was about 4 months old that he was blind and probably deaf. Within a couple of months, the blind diagnosis was proven completely wrong as he finally began to respond to and recognize us. From that devastating (wrong) news, and due to other “diagnoses” I became more hardened to believing the test results (which are often inconclusive with young babies).

Finally I agreed to see what they were seeing. Sure enough, she didn’t even blink at a flashlight, respond to loud claps—nothing. We even used other babies around her age as models to compare responses. The others were startled, blinked, sought out our faces, etc. But to our alarm, V remained distant and unaffected.

I made an appointment with our pediatric ophthalmologist. In upcoming weeks she also had appointments with our pediatric neurologist, as well as two different orthopedic specialists for her curved legs/tightness/odd neck position. Multiple tests, x-rays, and sonograms were ordered.

The eye exam went fine. Maybe the stimuli was not reaching her brain as it should, or she was just delayed.

The orthopedic doctor, the best in town, speculated that the blow to her head at birth was causing her left side rigidness, wandering left eye, cocked neck, and poor range of motion. He ordered daily hydro-therapy and said that with excellent care and stimulation, she would most likely be fine by 1 year.

Within a matter of weeks after turning 3 months, V had completely turned the corner and was much more responsive. We were so relieved! The Alseth family and staff at Hogar III began concentrating much more on her development, responses, and therapy.

Again I let my mind rest. There was much going on, always more babies arriving with new issues, and I stopped observing her as closely.

Then came Thanksgiving Day and enjoying the feast that my family and the Alseths had prepared to share with our families and the 7 Bolivian kids at HDA III. I couldn’t help noticing how curled up V’s hands/arms were, and her tightly clinched fists. Time had flown—she had just turned 5 months old. That position didn’t seem right at all. Maybe for a newborn, but not for her. She’s a very cute, petite baby, but still….it concerned me. I talked to our physical therapist about it and she said the exercises already being done would help, but I still didn’t ask her to check her out.

A couple weeks later while talking to the Alseth family, we decided her continual digestive issues warranted yet another consultation. Something was going off in my head: digestive issues, the intestines are muscles, she appears to have spastic muscles, cranial trauma at birth……all was fitting together, and I didn’t like the thought of the results. A Bolivian baby at our church who was with us a couple of months had recently been diagnosed with a mild case of cerebral palsy, and of course I live with B (CP) and have walked through each medical and developmental concern with him since he was an infant.

I decided to see a different pediatrician this time, one who is highly recommended and that all of our “foreigner” friends use. I went a few days before Christmas, when she would turn 6 months old, a developmental milestone. The doctor was extremely thorough in reading through her entire (very thick) file, asking me lots of questions (I called the Alseths for the answers I didn’t have), and examining her. After 50 minutes of intense concentration on V, the doctor put down his pen and leaned back in his chair. He suspects cerebral palsy, mild to moderate. Cause? Near suffocation at some point while thrown out in the plastic bag.

I left fuming for the 1000th time at whoever threw her out in that way. It’s hard to explain…I don’t judge the mother or whoever was behind it all. Circumstances can be extreme and excruciating and people are forced to make decisions they would never make otherwise, decisions they had never dreamed of making. But what remains is that that person(s) does not know what consequences this beautiful baby lives with, perhaps all her life, due to that choice, or series of decisions that ended poorly for this baby. Of course she survived and is now in a wonderful, loving home, and Lord willing will have a forever family one day, so her story will end much better than many. Our heart is broken again and again for these kids.

We weren't telling many people at first because we were waiting to do a CAT scan. The results came out normal, but with possibly overly-large ventricles that we hope become more proportionate as she grows. As I researched more what they should look like, it's obvious on her scan that the right side ventricles are bigger, which would explain her weaker left side??

A few days ago, the court called and needed updated psychological, social, and medical reports on V as they process her paperwork (“no existing family”). I asked the same pediatrician to write up her medical report, and he mainly spoke of her having the signs of cerebral palsy, but a mild case at this point. It has a tone of urgency to it, stating that she needs many resources to have the opportunity for a normal life, so hopefully her case will not just be tossed into some dark corner of the court and forgotten.

I couldn’t help but be saddened at how that narrows down her possibilities of a family. Without even a picture or video to go on (Bolivian law), potential adoptive families do not even have the benefit of falling in love with that CUTENESS (curly hair, huge brown eyes, chubby cheeks!) before being hit with the diagnosis.

We trust that our Heavenly Father has the perfect family chosen for V, and indeed all of our special needs babies! He has provided in the past and we know He will in the future. We cannot wait to see how He works in V’s life, to improve her quality of life through the hands of those who love her, and to set her in a family (Psalm 68:6).

Thank you for lifting our 36 babies and young children up to our Father!

Volunteer Fellowships...and hearing God

Since June 2007, we've enjoyed regular times of fellowship with our international volunteer staff. It's great to get together and just focus on them and how they are doing, sing together, listen to prayer requests, and pray over the children, staff, and overall work of the homes.

Certain times in our history have been particularly stimulating, such as when we have 4 or 5 volunteers representing several countries. (Ever had a conversation about what the song/dance "Hokey Pokey" is called in other places? How about "Hokey Cokey" in the UK? We laughed and "argued" so much that night.....it was nuts. Totally out of control. Falling off our chairs we were laughing so hard.)

Then besides laughing so hard and eating entirely too many US-style snacks, we do have a serious time of sharing or a testimony, usually led by my parents. But they readily recognize that the work is very tiring and challenging most days. (I know, I know, I should use the word "ministry" but when you're changing your 10th diaper in a row with 10 toddlers running around you in all their glorious energy, it seems to be WORK with a capital W.) So, often my Mom brings in something more lighthearted.

Anyway, all of that as a long preamble to pass on what my Mom shared at our last fellowship time. We had a good chuckle or two while reading through the list (I wondered how many of us had used at least a dozen of the phrases on that list that very day, although in Spanish) but it was impactful as well as entertaining. Here's the list:

Talking to your kids
...And hearing God at the same time

1. “I remember the day you were born”
2. “Do you know where you’re going?”
3. “Slow down”
4. “It’s time to get up”
5. “That is not how we treat our brothers and sisters”
6. “Look at me”
7. “You gave your word”
8. “How many times do I have to tell you?”
9. “Come here!”
10.“We don’t act like that”
11. “I love you”
12. “Where is your brother?”
13. “Hold my hand”
14. “Be careful”
15. “You will always be my child”
16. “Please stop that”
17. “Follow the directions”
18. “Now is not the time”
19. “Share”
20. “Let’s go for a walk”
21. “Turn down the music!”
22. “Life isn’t fair”
23. “I know how you feel”
24. “Do you know what time it is?”
25. “Answer me when I call you”
26. “It doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing”
27. “You make me smile”
28. “No”
29. “This is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you”
30. “Are you ready for inspection?”
31. “Be still”
32. “Where does it hurt?”
33. “I’m the parent, that’s why”
34. “Stop whining”
35. “That’s not your job”
36. “[your name here]”
37. “Use your time wisely”
38. “I love to hear you sing”
39. “Don’t lie to me”
40. “Pay attention”
41. “Call home”
42. “Let me know when you get some self control”
43. “Be quiet”
44. “Together we can do it”
45. “Please just trust and obey me”
46. “Listen to me”
47. “Wash up before dinner”
48. “It’s your choice”
49. “Don’t panic”
50. “Take out the trash”
51. “Are you ready yet?”
52. “Get busy”

We went around the room of "volunteers" ranging from age 10 to 50s, and encouraged each to share one or two that stuck out to them and apply it to how God speaks to us. I found #28 interesting, "no". Why is it so cruel when God uses no with us, and yet we, in total confidence with our answer, use it so frequently with our children, for their good.

What is God telling you these days?

My, how fast they change! (Post 2)

So the first picture was...

Date: June 4, 2008

Featuring: Benito, Erick, & Juan Carlos

Picture by: Volunteers Jen & Andrew (thanks for sharing!)


And now...

January 13, 2009

Or this one:

DENISE WINS!!

Last year's volunteer Denise says this was wayyy too easy. WELL when I came across this picture in my files recently, I was dumbstruck for a few seconds on WHO in the world Erick was, which is practically unheard of. I think I know why! That was the size you (Denise) left him, before the twins went through their major growth spurt, but I keep forgetting how puny they were upon arrival.

Now all three of those babies must be twice as big!

And DEFINITELY more active!! Two seconds after calling it quits (you would've thought we were torturing them, as we did everything but stand on our heads to get them to lie on their backs for just one minute):

Ahh, busy babies. It's good to watch them develop though. (Yes those are chicken pox covering poor JC.)

My, how fast they change!

Former volunteers, take a good look at this picture:

A prize for whoever can guess who these baby boys are!! Okay so not really--the prize will be the answers and a newly posed picture. =)

Hint: picture taken in 2008. Big clue, huh? ;-)

Baby Picture Sunday: Black & White

Joining in "Baby Picture Sunday" at "Who Says Eight is Enough?"!

Twins G & G when they were almost 2 months


Twins E & E on an outing to pick up my sister from horse-back riding


Snack time! Emma and the twins (13 months)

Three newborns during the "baby flood" of August 2008


With my baby E a few weeks after he arrived, September 2008


My baby J, sacked out on my lap while I work.
I love it when they are small enough to fit there....although I'm tall enough and they are small enough (genetics!) that they usually fit there for quite a while. :-)

New Territory for Hogar de Amor II

I am so pleased to announce that after over a year of searching and searching and searching some more, HDA II finally has new stomping ground!! Very exciting! And good timing since my chief searchers (my parents) are making plans to head back to the states.

This morning was definitely exciting. We turned what would normally be a slightly dull contract signing meeting into a whole special excursion. Twenty-five + babies, toddlers, and young children will do that! It wasn't supposed to be quite that way, but what can I say--everyone we invited showed up to come and more!

Let's see....

Alseth family of HDA III (6 people)
Long-time volunteer David
repeat volunteer Elizabeth
me and my Dad
3 caregivers
administrator and family (3 people)
25 HDA kids

And...4 vehicles!




And here it is!! Our new house to rent!

(Note: these pictures were taken more to capture the kids' first moments there rather than to show off the house, besides that I was slightly distracted by all the activity and by meeting the original owner's son who is the current owner and talking about the contract and other details, so I suppose there will be lots more pictures later as we start cleaning it up and moving in.)

Toddlers from the Baby Home inspecting the large beautiful kitchen:


The (dry) pool was a big hit:

They certainly wasted no time getting in!

If it was this much fun without water....


The girls checking out their curtains:


Some of the girls peering out from their balcony (they'll have the whole top floor, a suite):

A picture off the balcony towards the back (we need to fix up the little house--newly accepted volunteer Sarah, that's your room!!):


Merely by the proportion of pictures taken outside versus inside, you can tell that the beauty of this place for us is it's spacious outdoors and "country feel" (which is the biggest improvement over their current house). I'd bet that we have more cows and chickens for neighbors than people, which the kids love, as you can see by the following conversation:

Overheard between caregivers and children while chatting on the upstairs balcony

"Tias, we want a dog! Please, please, we want a dog!!"

"Hm....dogs are a lot of work, do you want that?"

"Okay we want a cat, please, a cat!"

"No, cats bring sicknesses"

(children thinking) "Okay, then an elephant!" (and this in all seriousness)

Tias: laughter

(children thinking again) "I know! I know! We could have HORSES!"

At that point I give my two cents by suggesting we go back to the dog idea. =)

We'd appreciate prayer as we move forward from here. We'll need abundant wisdom and creativity for all of the organizing, changes, and decisions ahead! A big one looming is obviously when we will move out/move in. We have our current place till January 31, a visiting photographer to plan around January 23-26, but for security reasons someone needs to be living in the house starting Monday when we get the keys.

So I had hoped to move them over starting January 27 but it might need to be sooner, depending on when we can fence in the pool and make some other safety improvements. We've never moved HDA II so this is going to be interesting....

Well that's it for now. I'm really tired. Within 24 hours I was part of not one but THREE mega-outings with kids: the one described here, a trip to an ice cream place with 6 toddlers and a baby, and taking 9 toddlers/babies to the 1st birthday of one of our former babies. That wouldn't normally be so exhausting but there was loads of other work too (more since two of my main helpers are on vacation), and outings with single babies who eventually get heavy after several hours of dashing around the city. And helping a tia for an hour with 10 babies, although I love all of that. So, hasta mañana!

Random Picture Challenge 1.0

The 21st picture in my May 2008 folder was actually not of the babies. =) It was Christian's very warm farewell from Hogar de Amor II before leaving for Santa Cruz where he now lives reunited with his mother and sister. Yeah for Christian!! (He was 4 1/2 at the time of the picture.)


There's nothing like a group hug!

My Little Dancer

A couple nights ago I brought Baby B, 15 months old now, up to the office to be with me and for extra stimulation. He was fine and happily entertained himself for about an hour, but then, when I turned on Brooke Fraser, LOUD, he went nuts!! Before I had tried to get his attention by calling his name and talking to him loudly, but he didn't pay any special attention to me. But he came alive with the music! I've heard the caregivers say that but hadn't seen it myself since his hearing aids. Finally, my first proof that they are helping!!

(That's our medical assistant Katrina at the filing cabinet, putting away various lab results in kid files.)

And then the last thing that happened before I left the office yesterday for church rehearsal:

Childcare superviser Tia (aunt) Adelaida sulks into the office. "Tia Jenny? I have some really bad news. Some really really bad news."

I notice she's nearly shaking and obviously nervous about continuing. This is my best tia here, so I can't imagine what's gone so wrong.

"Well......uh......it's really NOT good news." (I have the point by now.)

"One of B's hearing aids is... Broken."

I dropped the pen I was writing with, picked my jaw off the floor, and tried to not scream. Those are worth around $1000 each, although of course ours cost us much less from Starkey Foundation, that's even more pressure to me (how could we request a replacement?). I begged my eyes to see that it was just the mold and not the expensive part. IT'S JUST THE MOLD!! YEAH!!

But then I have to break the news to the audiologist at Audiocien, who made those for us for free.

"Buenas tardes, Don Miguel? Um......this is Jennifer from Hogar de Amor. Do you remember me? Of course you remember me. Well, uh, we have a little problem here."

(Why is it odd he doesn't seem surprised?)

"Well, uh, it's that......... ourbabyBsomehowgothishearingaidoutandanother(teething)babyBITitandnowthemoldisin,well,twopieces."

He didn't yell at me. Just said we'd have to take a look at it the next day since it was already late. SHEW.

Ironically this happens on the same day I probably spent a good hour total on organizing B's care better, particularly in regard to the usage and safety of both hearing aids. (Lately there have been problems losing them although there's a central place to put them, him ripping them out, the tape we use hurting his skin, sores in his ears maybe from putting them in wrong, the volume getting changed accidentally, tias forgetting to put them back in after his naps, etc., etc. At least I'm completely in charge of checking the batteries and changing them out every couple of weeks.)

So the administrator said "It really doesn't work to use hearing aids with a baby, does it". Nooo, it should work!! At least I don't think it should be so complicated. It's just our situation. Sigh. The challenges are more compounded raising so many at once, with 8 different "mothers" + volunteers and me.

And teething babies who think a soft plastic mold is nice for chewing practice.

As now I'm sure you are all very concerned about what craziness will happen next in the hearing aid saga, please join us in praying for God to work in providing B with a permanent loving family! He is a beautiful, sweet baby who loves attention and joking around. He has a slight to moderate case of cerebral palsy, severe hearing loss in one ear, moderate hearing loss in the other (the degree depends on who you talk to), and--what seems to be the main issue behind his delays--brain damage/mental retardation. Our current volunteer didn't seem to believe me when I described how he was as a baby, so cranky and hard to please and decidedly ANTI-social. He has turned around so much from that stage.

We KNOW that there is a family who will love and embrace him from one of the countries Bolivia works with (mainly European). I can't say much more here in public, but we have high hopes that he will be matched to someone soon, although he could still easily be with us another year. And I will miss him terribly when he goes.

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.