Back to School

One of the neatest blessings we have at Casa de Amor is the constant flow of donated clothes, shoes, socks, hats, pajamas, etc. This means that means our donated funds are very rarely touched for these expenses. AND we have the best-dressed kids in Cochabamba because often the items are name-brand!

The only challenge we generally have is to properly clothe and shoe our children for school, as all schools in Bolivia have a uniform policy. This year we have 13 going to pre-kindergarten and up and the school year has just begun! (The Bolivian school year begins in February, takes a mid-year winter break, and resumes again until November.)

My ever-frugal office staff contacted Monaco, a shoe manufacturer here in Bolivia, and requested a discount for Casa de Amor. They agreed to sell us the two pairs of shoes each child needs at a 25% discount. Even so, the final amount is staggering: $500 for 30 pair of leather shoes for school!!

For the specific clothing needed and the "aprons" that go over the clothes to create the school uniforms, we've spent $185.

For school supplies, we will spend over $300 by the time we complete purchases of the school supply lists still coming in to us. (Several of our Casa de Amor II children are going to special schools for their special learning needs.)

Dividing these amounts by our 13 school age children, the extra expense per child is approximately $75.

There are many who tell us "please let me know of a need"...so here you go!! The higher expense than usual this year is putting a strain on our regular budget.

If all the sponsors of school age children could add a bit to their regular support this month, it would go a long way in offsetting this expense.

Please let me or Denise know if you have any questions! Thank you!!

Casa de Amor Christmas Catalog, Edition 2011

Presenting Casa de Amor's

2011 Holiday Giving Catalog!

This year, share the gift that makes a difference in the life of a child.

A beautiful card describing your gift choice will be sent to the gift recipient to let them know of your gift in their honor.

Click on the images below to see the Holiday Giving Catalog!

Make an online donation here or send your check made out to GOAL to the following address:

Global Orphan Assistance League (GOAL)
PO Box 357
Collierville, TN, 38027
USA

Casa de Amor Baby Home Christmas 2010

For more information, write us at gifts@casadeamor.org!

Ah-hem

Time for a couple of announcements, folks!

I hope that many of you in the US realize that it is National Adoption Awareness Month!

Did you know that while more than 30% of Americans say they have "thought about" adoption, only 2% have actually adopted? As someone who has experienced firsthand the pain of children around the world who have no family to call their own, no one to tuck them in at night, and experience continual injustice and heartbreak due to overburdened legal systems.....please hear me, it's not the thought that counts, it's what you do about it!

Please plan how to make a difference in the life of a hurting, needy, abused child TODAY.

It doesn't matter to me where you choose to invest your time, prayers, and resources, so long as you do it, but allow me to make a suggestion.... =)

(Okay so I'm sure you know where this is going, although I have been honored to present the ministries of others here on my blog on occasion. However, the responsibility of providing for the round-the-clock care and growth of our children does rest on my shoulders. Of course I recognize that it all comes from God but for some reason I feel like when coffers get low, I'm the one everyone looks to. Since I was 22!!)

So, as Casa de Amor Children's Homes provides a temporary family and healing, happy home environment until each child receives a forever family of his/her own, here are some current needs...

$50 to repair a bad part of the roof at the Baby Home so that all the important papers in the office are not wet when the rainy season arrives in full force

$100 will cover baby B's specialized hearing test, needed ASAP

$700 will cover a car payment for the Alseth family as they purchase a desperately needed small SUV from another missionary family

approximately $4000 is needed by year's end to be able to provide a house for Casa de Amor II for all of 2010

a donation of any amount such as $10 or 20 will go towards Christmas presents (one of our former baby's new Bolivian parents are offering to buy presents for 10 of our children, so that leaves 32 others)

And then continual, ongoing needs...

$25 will provide one month of speech therapy for a child (might seem frivolous, but have you ever experienced the aggression of a toddler who has not a single word in their vocabulary to be able to communicate instead of bite/scratch/hit/throw a temper tantrum? Or the autistic-like behaviors that come as a result? Y-e-a-h, not pleasant...)

$40 will feed a Casa de Amor child for one month

$400 will cover all water and electricity bills for all three houses

And then of course there is child sponsorship! (Consider it for a Christmas gift!) There are still a few children without a sponsor, including the newest twins.

It's easy to give by credit card via paypal (www.casadeamor.org/supporting.html) or sending a check to GOAL, PO Box 3201, McKinney, TX, 75070. If you'd like to specify towards one of these needs, please do so!


Well that was a long winded first announcement, oops.

Second announcement!

This Sunday, we're heading to Nashville for the "Orphan Sunday" event, yeah!! Check out details here and see if a church in your area is participating or hosting a live feed of the concert:

http://www.orphansunday.org/

Orphan Sunday from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

THE sponsorship packets!!!

I would never have thought holding a sponsorship packet in my hand for one of my kids....

Or actually ALL of my kids...



...would be THIS exciting!!!

But it is. =)

The staff and kids have also had a blast looking at the packets, and the joy and pride on the older kids' faces when I translated some parts of the packets was so memorable:

"She's a great help to the caregivers"

"He's a great big brother to the little boys"

"She's a wonderful student at school"

Of course the younger ones just wanted to check out their picture.

So, at long last, the Casa de Amor Child Sponsorship Program is fully up and running! And since we are printing the packets ourselves, that means they will have the pictures that we like the most, the most up-to-date information, and (my favorite part) be error free!

Doing the final edit and now printing out/folding of several sets has been quite the project. When I told my sister Heather that for this reason alone it seems I have too many kids!! she laughed and was like "FINALLY you admit it!" (Not REALLY, I was just sayin'.)

Approximately half of our 41 children await their first sponsor. You can write Denise and/or download the sponsorship form at right if you want to know more!

Casa de Amor programs

Those who work in the Christian children-at-risk community will recognize the name Phyllis Kilbourn, founder of Rainbows of Hope and author of the book "Children-At-Risk: A New Commitment", among others.

My Australian friend Janette Pepall, founder of Children with Hope, has resigned from her full time volunteer position of Director of Training and is now training, writing, advising, etc. Currently she is working on a training module for a Crisis Care Training manual that Phyllis Kilbourn is putting together, and she chose us as one of three groups to be presented in the "Successful Model of Care" section.

I asked volunteer/child sponsorship coordinator Denise to jump start me in the filling out of the form, then I finished it up. It turned out to be 4 1/2 pages at the end, plus a couple dozens photos.

For question #10, which asked us to list the "Programs in Organization", it was fun to see how many we really do have now:

1) Casa de Amor I (ages 0-3)

2) Casa de Amor II (ages 3-12; eventually to be turned into the foster family model)

3) Casa de Amor III (ages 0-6)

4) Family Strengthening Program
working closely with family members and child(ren) to facilitate a successful transition back to family life

5) New! Child Sponsorship Program
our goal is to have 3 sponsors per child, most committing to send $25 USD/month and prayer covering

And coming soon...

6) Foster Family Program
recruiting, training, and supervising Christian families to care for children in their home during duration of stay at Casa de Amor


I realize that number of "programs" is NOT the key to success or anything we want to have as a goal, per se, and thus I've never really paid attention to it until I was preparing this info for Janette.

One proof of that is in this blog. Our focus is great care of the kids and our staff, and it shows in the pictures, success stories, and busy days full of ministry!

Child History 10.0

Each child comes with their own unique story:
heart breaking, tragic, with conflicting details, many unknowns and doubts...or all of the above. Here's the story of another baby who came to us directly from a street canal.

I’ll never forget the night I first met Kevin. It was June 21, and I’d been to the canal where he lived with his teen mother and her friends. I got home and typed some cryptic notes through my grief:

What a sad experience going tonight with Skip [former CDA volunteer] and Dad. To see kids lives being ruined, and kids choosing to live that way (or being forced into it), it’s nothing short of heartbreaking. It hurts. A lot. When adults live like that it’s one thing, to ruin their lives, but these kids are no bigger than my sisters. It’s so bad. I can see why so many in the world feel called to work with them and do it with all of their hearts. It’s just unjust and heartbreaking and so awful to see. Sad. I’ve been to the Coronilla 4 times, but still. Not nice… They’ve brought me to my knees tonight. God, please lead us.

The visit was also memorable because I had a fleeting sinking feeling that I was going to be stuck there. I had jumped down into the canal with the kids (and don’t forget the mangy dogs), but getting out was another matter. I’m tall, but the sheer concrete sides were taller than me….but my Dad and Skip were taller. They lifted me out by my hands!

Skip had introduced me to Kevin’s mother, who was suspicious of who I was. I rarely talk to a mother on the street about letting her baby come to me, but from what Skip and Rehanna had told me, this situation was a little more urgent. While visiting, I could also see that Kevin was very sick and living on the street at wintertime wasn’t going to help anything. His mother consulted with her new boyfriend who said that she should let me take the baby. Since I don’t take babies that “directly”, we explained how she could turn over the baby to the home legally. It was hard to get Kevin and Gladis off my mind in following days (another little girl several people wanted us to take in).

On June 25, I started getting phone calls that Kevin’s mother had decided to voluntarily bring him in. We gratefully took him in and I carried him straight to the hospital. I thought he would be admitted but there the doctor said that his breathing was okay and that we could treat him from home, but isolated. Against my better judgment (what mother would insist that her baby be hospitalized?)…and we rarely use this hospital now!...I took him home. Back in those days we actually still had a room we could use for isolation. We set up extra precautions like putting on a hospital gown when tending to him. So you know what happened? Me and the nurse caregiver became extremely sick with what he had, passed it to the other kids, while two days after he arrived he was still hospitalized—for a CDA record of 14 days! Another complication was his refusal to accept our formula—milk not tainted with the toxins he had grown addicted to even at such a young age.

Kevin has suffered from environmental allergies (and thus rashes, lots of colds and ear infections, etc.), possibly due to his immune system getting a poor start as he was exposed to so many toxins and unhealthy living situations while on the street. However, he has a great appetite and expects to receive food on schedule!

One day we had quite the scare at the Baby Home when his mother's boyfriend had a fight with his mother and declared he would prove his devotion to her by bringing her son. Somehow he figured out where the Baby Home was and arrived high on glue, violent, and cussing us out, demanding to leave with Kevin. (Incidentally, I learned a couple bad words during that whole event!) Amazingly nothing worse than a beaten up gate happened, and the guards from the chicken factory next door "rescued" us women and children (the police arrived about an hour after the danger was over).

Kevin's grandfather was stabbed to death on the street last year, so we know of no other relatives besides his mother (who is on and off the street).

Now Kevin is a chubby 2 year old that is active but somewhat reserved. He really looks up to the older boys at CDA III, where he now lives, and will follow their lead on any made up game. His favorite things to do are ride on the toy cars, sword fight, and wrestle. We are working on teaching him speech skills (currently is in speech therapy), trying different types of food, what God is like, and how to use the potty. He loves to go for drives in the car and search for barnyard animals, then makes their noises at them out the window!

Kevin’s papers are in process in court for him to be provided with a loving and forever family.

*name changed

Pictures in post, top to bottom:

1) Skip bringing Kevin to the Baby Home, the day he arrived
2) really pale and sick, his first day in the Baby Home
3) Enjoying a gift, Christmas morning 2008

4) Happy 2nd Birthday! (Gotta love his dripping chin...we call him our St. Bernard!)

Help provide loving care for Kevin for $25/month through Casa de Amor's new child sponsorship program. Download THIS form to start!

Child History 9.0

Each child comes with their own unique story:
heart breaking, tragic, with conflicting details, many unknowns and doubts...or all of the above. Here's the story of my "birthday present" two years ago.

Josue’s story is long and winding. His mother gave birth to a stillborn baby before him, that his father didn’t claim as his. She hadn’t wanted the baby either. Then she got very sick and the doctors said that getting pregnant again would help, so they conceived another. But the mother didn’t want him either and refused to go to the hospital even while in labor. By force she was taken, but she never accepted the baby that was born: Josue.

Soon after she abandoned the family and Josue went to live with an aunt. The aunt mistreated him and this upset the father, so he again took Josue to live with him. Eventually he moved to another city in Bolivia and met another woman. When she passed away suddenly, Josue again lost a mother, and his father had the shock of learning what she had died from: AIDS. Testing revealed that he was now HIV+, as well as the son they had bore together (Josue’s stepbrother).

The boy stayed with his grandparents, while Josue and his devastated father moved back to Cochabamba to begin putting their lives back together. But Josue’s dad was now rejected by his family, and suffering a lot under the weight of all the life changes in such a short time. It was also not working out for Josue to follow his dad around to construction and repair jobs.

So on my birthday in 2007, volunteer Amber and I were running all over the city helping some people who live on the street. In the course of doing that, we spoke with the psychologist of the Catholic’s HIV/AIDS program. She told me about the dilemma of Josue and his dad, and asked if we could possibly help temporarily. I said I’d consult with my staff and get back with her. A couple hours later I was trying to rehearse with the church praise team (I say try because I got there late and my cell kept ringing) and she called back saying “He’s here and wants Josue to move in with you right now!! Can you come talk to him?” Yikes! I ended up leaving rehearsal early and going back to her office downtown.

After talking with the father, a priest, and our psychologist friend, we left for CDA II arriving right after dark. It was sweet to see Josue so excited about going to live with other children. We showed Josue and his father around the home, then joined in the birthday celebration they had planned for me. As if reading my mind that I get really tired of cake, cake, and more cake with our constant birthday parties, the staff and kids had prepared api morado and pasteles de queso with powdered sugar (mas o menos like the desert empanadas here)….yum! So that was Josue’s first “meal” in our home.

...And he is still with us because his father disappeared after 14 months of fairly consistent visits, and many ups and downs with his precarious health. We had the joy of seeing the father become a Christian during those months, and attend church regularly with the home. But then he stopped coming. Finally he's contacted us again and he says he will work with a lawyer to get Josue out, but so far he has not begun. If he never follows through, papers are already being processed to provide Josue with a permanent adoptive family.

Josue is a fun loving, very energetic little boy with a serious side. He is extremely smart, artistic, and shows real talent when working on craft or coloring projects. He also likes playing soccer and learning new words in English and recently started kindergarten. He’s a great student!

A few months ago, I was blessed to be part of Josue's dedication to the Lord at church.

Recently, as he's missed his dad more and more, Josue has changed a lot and has become challenging to the caregivers as they try to love and train him. Pray for God to make real HIS love to Josue, and give him the assurance that HE will never abandon him!


*Name changed


Pictures from top of post to bottom:
1) A thoughtful pose (picture by photographer Brad Collins)
2) Josue's new bed at CDA II
3) Riding a horse
4) Playing on a huge slide in a city park

Help provide loving care for Josue for $25/month through Casa de Amor's new child sponsorship program. Download THIS form to start!

Child History 8.0

Each child comes with their own unique story:
heart breaking, tragic, with conflicting details, many unknowns and doubts...or all of the above. Here's the story of two little girls who arrived with an uphill climb.

On November 9, 2007, I was standing in the kitchen meeting with the cook I think. The phone rang, and the social worker/administrator found me and said it was child welfare, asking for space for sisters ages 5 months and almost 2. We hadn’t taken in siblings all year so I felt drawn to take them in although we were starting to get overly full. We conversed just a minute and I gave the go ahead.

Within an hour the little girls arrived, and it was quickly obvious that we had our work cut out for us. But first we interviewed the two ladies bringing them, supposedly the (young) aunt and (elderly) grandmother. Both were obviously very poor, from a hard life far outside the city, and were more comfortable speaking Quechua. It was several months before the “aunt” confessed to the caregivers that she was indeed the mother, justifying her decision by saying that if she had told the truth no one would have helped her (possibly true, since she is young and healthy and can work hard to provide for her children).

We took the girls right to the doctor. Helen was almost two and yet didn't walk. She was in a precarious state of health, with bronchitis, multiple infections, oozing sores, diarrhea, and severe malnutrition. Although it was a Friday afternoon, they made an exception to admit her to the nutrition center. (I was relieved, wanting to protect the other babies in the home.)

But we soon learned that her emotional state was worse than anything. She seemed to have “shut down” inside and was very easily frightened, making us think she had been severely neglected and abused. After a month long stay in the hospital to begin recuperating nutritionally and to be healed of her many ills, Helen came home to us and began the very slow process of coming out of her shell.

Iris was also a sight to behold upon arrival, but in comparison to the struggles of her sister, she’s been a hardy and healthy baby. However once she began walking, we realized that her legs were much too outward curved, causing her to trip and stumble constantly. She is now in a long-term treatment plan with an orthopedic specialist. During waking hours she wears a custom brace and special orthopedic shoes to correct the curvature of her legs and flat feet. Helen is also in treatment with the orthopedist to correct very flat feet that cause her legs to curve from the knee.

As Helen took fully twice as long to pass normal developmental milestones, our neurologist diagnosed her with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) due to drug and alcohol use by her mother while pregnant. The brain damage from FAS is permanent and the only course of action is much stimulation, love, and nutrition. After one year of living in Casa de Amor, the neurologist gave us very positive feedback on the great progress Helen has made. She is a delight to be with, very sweet and quiet, and loves the games of little girls such as caring for her baby dolls.

Iris has always been one of our most easy-going babies, and now as a toddler hardly makes a peep (although she hates change, such as leaving the house for any reason or even suspecting she might have to leave the house). She plays contentedly alone or with the other toddlers.

Although we’ve presented papers that could lead to the girls’ adoption, at the same time we are starting to formulate a plan of action to get the girls back with their mother. It’s still a long road ahead, but we’ve come a long way!


*Names changed


Pictures from top of post to bottom:
1) The girls upon arrival, pre-baths
2) Holding Helen in the doorway as the kids and caregivers greet the newcomers
3) Iris recovering from chicken pox, January 2009
4) The sisters together last year after being at Casa de Amor one year

Help provide loving care for Helen & Iris for $50/month through Casa de Amor's new child sponsorship program. Download THIS form to start!

Child Sponsorships Are Here!!

Even though Casa de Amor has cared for children for 4 ½ years with over 80 passing through our doors, we've never had a vehicle for supporting a specific child...until now!

Thanks to the encouragement and support of First Baptist Church McKinney in December 2008, our first child sponsorship program is officially launched!

I am grateful for the hard work of my family, volunteer Denise Knee (pictured here with “her” baby), staff of First Baptist Church McKinney, and the resources I found online to draft the details of our sponsorship program. And the quiet hours I found here and there to sit and write out all the bios for the packets...

It’s been fun as we begin, to help people decide on a baby or child to sponsor—many of them former CDA volunteers who know the kids.

Doesn’t the impact just feel greater when we have a name and a face to go along with our donation? Knowing that you are helping "Sara" or “Juan” and getting pictures and updates on their progress seems so much more personal. That’s why we’re excited about the potential of this program!

And imagine the prayer covering......sponsors committed to praying for their child every time God brings him/her to mind.

I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. I Samuel 1:27

It’s just $25 a month, 82 cents a day.

For answers to the obvious questions and a sponsorship form, click here. For answers to hard questions, write our child sponsorship coordinator Denise at denise@casadeamor.org.

"You are the helper of the fatherless... Psalm 10:14"

my week so far...

Here’s a “live” post finally (versus scheduled)!

I don’t have enough brain cells these days to come up with a thoughtful post, so this one will just be a smattering of the many different things going on right now. I’m also pretty low physically. I have the Cochabamba killer cough and it’s wearing me out, plus to hear all the staff/volunteers/kids cough constantly! Tonight I’m totally tired. But it’s been a joy (of the kind James talks of!) to see God teach and humble me through this weakness.

And as for cute pictures of the kids, well—their noses are running so fast there’s not even time to take a picture in between the dripping, coughing, sneezing, and just miserable-ness. The poor tias are barely sleeping at night, running from crib to crib. And last night my car battery died right outside the gate getting home at almost midnight (after a volunteer fellowship), so I had to get their help in pushing it inside. I told them they deserved a prize, I’m just not sure what it is yet…!

Three days into this week we already had 3 requests to take in children: ages 5, 3, 1, and 28 days. We said no. I even personally said no to the sisters, and didn't call back about the newborn (which I've done on multiple occasions even when my staff said no ;-).

Yes it was hard. No I don’t regret it. That’s either a sign I’m really sick, or really serious about getting the numbers DOWN first!! Plus, the Baby Home is a hotbed for viruses currently, so it wouldn’t be the smartest move. But I do hate imagining them in the way more overcrowded Baby Home in town…….

Finally today child welfare services moved along the reports for our first potential foster family. YES!!!!!! Maybe just maybe we’ll have one baby in a better environment soon.

This week our new administrative assistant also takes on the load of accountant and is now with us full time. I’m really happy with this move because it will increase our efficiency, save us money, and free up my administrator/social worker to focus back on her area. If only every decision was so benefit loaded!

Construction continues on the new room at the Baby Home. It's looking good!!

Today a new blogging friend from England emailed me to say that the book she’s been working on, dedicated to “Casa de Amor Children’s Homes”, is now printed! That one deserves a whole blog post of it’s own, maybe tomorrow…

All week there’s been lots of back and forth between our new child sponsorship coordinator, me, and staff/members of a church about the sponsorship packets and many many details that go along with this…. (You just never realize all that goes into such a “simple” idea until you’re in the thick of it!) Thanks to all who are sponsoring!!!!!

I've had several meetings at CDA III this week (I’ve gone 3 times within the last 24 hours, as well as two times to CDA II), for such varied topics as: clarifying how HIV is transmitted and how it’s not, discipline methods, house cleaning schedule, the menu and nutrition, and the great news that M. will meet her new parents in just a few weeks! There’s another topic that brings up so many different layers. The appropriate way to share this news with M. (4 ½), weaning her from being so dependent emotionally on the “mother” of that home, how this will affect the other children, how to handle their new doubts about adoption since they’ve witnessed a “failed” one just two weeks ago, how to answer the questions, what to say to the (slightly older) “first time parents” as they take on a wonderful but challenging “favorite", remembering everything we can about M.'s past and time with us to pass onto to them (health, anecdotes, stories, changes we’ve seen, challenges overcome)….you get the idea!

And anyway, we lay our plans, but just as each child is a world unto him/herself, each adoption has it's own twists and turns and we can never guess how each moment will unfold.

Adoption is very multi-faceted, especially with an older child. I usually find that even to the neglect of everything and everyone else, I end up throwing my whole self into those in particular, spending many hours with the family and working till late at night to keep up with my other work. Very exhausting, very rewarding. Although this time I know the Alseths at CDA III will take the brunt of the work onto themselves. Note to self: arrange more volunteer help for them during that time…

I had another meeting today with a network my staff has been crucial in forming “Mi Derecho a Tener Una Familia” (My Right to Have a Family). I LOVE being on the cutting edge, especially when it's to help kids in need!! The group not only plans big things but has already done big things. Today we presented a letter to someone who hopefully has a lot of say in assigning a new judge (right now Coch is limping along with just one judge for all the children cases, whereas we really need three to make proper headway in the many, many pending adoption cases). Now we members will begin visiting other homes and seeing how we can fortify their social/legal efforts on behalf of the kids in their care (i.e., either making plans for child to return to family of origin or else adoption).

A missionary working in Santa Cruz will visit us this month to talk about plans to start a home for special needs babies. I am honored to get to help by sharing our experiences. Besides caring for babies (something not many will tackle), we've had our share of special needs and disabilities, so I'm sure we'll have some interesting conversations. In the next week or so we find out if two of our toddlers have hearing loss or not....I'm anxious to know.

Several of the current volunteers will leave by the end of the month but a couple more arrive. Without my family here, all the local coordination of that (such as buying domestic tickets and arranging host family details or where they'll live with us) falls to me. Tomorrow I've coordinated a hike to the highest peak in Cochabamba for 15 of them (our volunteers plus friends). As for me, I'll be holding down the fort back at the office. Already been there done that twice, thankyouverymuch.


Well that was longer than I thought and probably only the faithful few are still with me. =) Finally had a quiet hour and just wanted to reflect I guess, but now I'm wasting no further time in hitting the sack. Good night!

blogging trip

One of the most open, honest, raw, real, personal, passionate Christian mothers I have ever had the privilege of learning from, Angie at "Bring the Rain", is in India this week on a Compassion International blogging trip (how modern, no?).

Her posts have been nothing short of astounding. And for me, this is my world already--reaching children in need. In the midst of an extremely challenging week for me (more than anything, just trying to keep my head above water and not think WHAT have I gotten myself into!!!), her reflections during the inevitable ups and downs of the trip have been a great blessing and motivator for me. I haven't had the chance to read all the bloggers reports yet, but those that I have are also very impacting.

As I considered linking to their trip, it didn't seem to make much sense since we also seek sponsors of our children here in Bolivia. However, on second thought I decided that was incredibly selfish in the face of so much poverty and suffering in the world. In the end, it doesn't matter one bit to me which child is sponsored and touched by the Lord (and a new friend!).

And oh, I loved reading what Melissa Fitzpatrick (Beth Moore's daughter) said in her post today: yesterday was the highest day of child sponsorship EVER for a Compassion blogger trip!! Go, Compassion Team!!!

Child History 5.0

Each child comes with their own unique story:
heart breaking, tragic, with conflicting details, many unknowns and doubts...or all of the above. Here's the particularly difficult story of one.

Eliana had an unimaginably rough start to life. She was born several hours outside the city in a poor rural area. As with many or most of our babies, her mother was the victim of rape, but with the awful twist that her older brother was the perpetrator. She had to hide her pregnancy and then the birth of baby Eliana under threats of death or injury from the brother/father.

When Eliana was still a small baby, her mother was taking her out to drown her in the river when her father (Eliana’ grandfather) discovered her. At that point, authorities were notified, Eliana was hospitalized with severe malnutrition and other illnesses, and Eliana’ family was scattered: her mother went into hiding for her own protection, her father ran away and when caught was put in jail (although he has since escaped), the grandfather ran away to avoid receiving punished from the community for such a disgraceful family, and the grandmother was left to sort through the mess and get another son out of jail on drug charges (drugs supposedly planted in his car by Eliana's father as manipulation to keep the brother silent on what had happened...although who knows what the real story is).

Although Eliana arrived to us straight from the hospital, she was in a very poor state of health, weighing just 11 pounds. At times we even had her isolated because she had such bad infections. But how she has recovered nutritionally! At 18 months she weighed in at 24 pounds.

Despite her tragic past, even when a sickly baby Eliana has always been one of our brightest, sunniest babies…as well as noisiest! She loves to joke and play and is a busy, active toddler.

There's been some concern that she might have kidney issues because of repeated UTIs, but a sonogram showed all to be fine, at least externally. All year she's been very healthy and so we've elected to not do further [expensive and invasive] exams for now. (Unless you count in violent vomiting when she's in the car for too long!! She's our first who definitely gets car sick, and these roads are anything but smooth.)


At one point my family and I took a road trip to personally pick up an important report from the Child Defense that "rescued" Eliana. Long story short, I did not obtain that report. Still, after much effort and more delays than I'd care to recall, Eliana's papers are being processed in court so that she will someday have a loving adoptive family.

Pictures, top to bottom:

1) January 2009 (I love this dress on her!)
2) My sister Emma holding Eliana her first days with us (when we adopted Emma from Russia, she was in the same condition as Eliana: 11 pounds at 8 1/2 months)
3) Just TWO months after her arrival and already a new baby!
4) Always a drama queen!!


*name has been changed

Help provide loving care for Eliana for just $25/month through Casa de Amor's new child sponsorship program. Download THIS form to start!

Child History 3.0

Each child comes with their own unique story:
heart breaking, tragic, with conflicting details, many unknowns and doubts...or all of the above.
Here is the story of our tiniest baby to date.

Our Daniela is a survivor! She was born in a large hospital weighing just two pounds. Why? Was she preemie? Sadly, it seems like we will never know details surrounding her past, the pregnancy, or birth. After multiple trips to the hospital, all we came away with was the mother’s name and address, and that investigation came up dry (false data, most likely). They couldn’t even find the medical records on the mother or birth, if you can imagine that. I mean, how much more important could it be?! The mother gave birth in the middle of the night so we can only conclude that with few staff present, not much was recorded. Someone said that the baby was born at 30 weeks.

After seven weeks of incubator recuperation, Child Social Services called us and asked if we could take in a two week old baby. When Daniela arrived to our door weighing less than the multitude of blankets she was wrapped in (it was fun uncovering her enough to finally find a teeny tiny finger!), I started to read the reports and saw that she was actually almost two MONTHS old. Then I freaked out! She weighed only 3 ½ pounds. How could we have her in with so many other fragile children who always got sick?! I was afraid a slight cold might do her in! I told staff to prepare a bottle and if she didn’t drink it well, I was bundling her straight off to the nutrition center for further weight gain before I’d feel good about having her in the home. I mean we can do a lot, but a hospital we are not and there was no room to isolate her.

As we all hovered around to see the results, Daniela sucked very poorly. An hour later, almost the same amount of milk remained. I started canceling my afternoon meetings and my Dad offered to drive me up to the nutrition center/hospital (it’s at the top of a huge “hill” in the city). It was amazing on the ride there, observing how she looked like a tiny doll, so perfectly formed just so TINY. I still can’t believe how little she was. She was a long baby, but without a bit of meat on her fragile bones! They admitted her immediately. We ran lots of tests but nothing was uncovered and she remained perfectly healthy in the hospital. In hindsight, I think that I could have kept her here rather than leaving her in a hospital bed and working so hard to be able to visit her and cuddle her just once a week. But I remember the context, that we didn’t know at the time how hardy she was, and that we had also just received several new children with special needs, and one was just about to be released from the nutrition center.

She ended up living in the center for 7 weeks, until she tipped the scales at 6 pounds. My sister Emma loaned us some doll clothes to dress her in!

As Daniela grew and progressed very slowly, always very much a baby and with a small head, I became concerned. A meeting with our neurologist yielded the diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Although we know nothing of her mother, her desire to not be traced could very well point to the type of lifestyle of alcohol and/or drug usage. I also wonder how her low birth weight and subsequent incubation affected her. FAS is permanent brain damage, but good nutrition and a stimulating environment can do much towards a healthier development.

That’s the main reason we chose her to go live at Casa de Amor III with the Alseth family last year in May. (Interestingly, she was born on the exact same day they arrived to Cochabamba!) Daniela has done well there, brightening up socially and losing the “flat head” she always had as a younger baby due to all the time in the crib. She began sitting up around 11 months and walked by 17 months. She makes us laugh with her one main sound, an alien-like noise!!

Now Daniela is a happy-go-lucky little toddler, active and adventurous. She loves music and will dance, clap her hands, and swing her head from side-to-side when it is being played. Her favorite things to do are torment the older kids in the house, watch High 5, and pretend that she is a mountain climber by climbing into the toy boxes, up on shelves, and onto any other furniture in the house. The family is working on teaching her how to feed herself, first words, what "no" means, and not to bug the older kids in the house. She loves worshipping at church, and giving hugs and blowing kisses. She is always ready to give or receive more!

Pray with us for Daniela’s speedy adoption into a loving forever family who will be patient with her special delays and needs.

Pictures, top to bottom of post:

1) NZ volunteer Ruth gives her first bottle at CDA
2) Jen on a visit to the nutrition center
3) My sister Emma holding Daniela when she weighed the same as Emma at her birth in Russia (4 1/2 pounds)
4) Baby line-up, March 2008 (She's second from the left, with her nutrition center roommate, Baby B, on her left. The other two babies have both been adopted by Bolivian families!)
5) Christmas Day, 2008 (1 year and 4 months)

*name has been changed

Help provide loving care for Daniela for just $25/month through Casa de Amor's new child sponsorship program. Download THIS form to get started!

Child History 2.0

Each child comes with their own unique story:
heart breaking, tragic, with conflicting details, many unknowns and doubts...or all of the above.
Here is the story of two of our very first...

When baby Ben* was just 4 months old and Cora* almost 2, their mother passed away from leukemia. For the first month, their young widowed father tried his best to care for them. He told us how he would take both to a daycare on a bike. But due to his long hours as a construction worker, the daycare would close before he could get back for his children and he was not going to be able to leave them there anymore. We inquired about and interviewed other relatives, but all are from the countryside (far outside the city or VERY far outside the city) and had large families and long work hours of their own. Their mother also had a couple children from a previous relationship so her relatives were already caring for those children.

(Here a whole part of Bolivian culture could come in, about using the word “concubine” just as in Bible times, and how girls are encouraged to “get around” from a young age, and yet there’s the high risk they run with each new partner that their current children will not be accepted, and on and on…)

So after one month alone, their father went into child welfare offices and Casa de Amor was contacted. The children were just our second set of siblings ever, so we were thrilled with the adorable twosome.

Their father visited 1 or 2 Sundays a month (his one day off) for a couple of years. During that time he found out he has Chagas disease, an eventually terminal illness that some 60% of Bolivians are at risk of contracting from the bite of a bug that thrives in adobe structures and hay mattresses.

Then he disappeared. We tried to talk to him, calling him at his work, searching him out at home, questioning relatives. Finally we found out he had a new concubine…and she was pregnant. That explained his disappearance. It broke our hearts because we see the negative affects this has on his children, particularly Cora (he was never close to Ben, and Ben in fact has never brought him up) who always asks where her father is. Is he lost? Can he find me? Why doesn’t he come anymore? How do you answer a 4 or 5 year old who asks this?

One conversation particularly saddened me. I was just out and about with Cora and she announced, “Tia Jennifer, I know why my dad doesn’t come anymore. He is very busy working [our standard answer] because he is building a BIIIGGG house for me and Ben to go and live in.” Then she proceeded to describe how many rooms the house would have, where everyone would sleep, etc.

We have learned much from this case and use the story often with new parents whose kids enter our homes, or in conversations with child welfare or the court about following through with good parents. We always spoke very highly of Cora and Ben’s dad. The staff appreciated his willing help on Sundays, I always had a nice time chatting with him (even if his Spanish was a little funny because his first and main language was Quechua), and Cora looked forward with joy to his visits and cried when he left. But because we never pushed him to take steps to get his kids out, he ended up abandoning them. Granted, they were very young, and we wanted Cora to be safe, but we always wondered what we could have done better or differently. And now in any circumstance possible, where the parent is not an alcoholic or on the street, we do our best to avoid “losing” the mother and/or father.

We did have a meeting with their dad, his new concubine, and their chubby baby boy a few months ago. There the father promised that he would never deny his “flesh and blood” and that he is indeed still the father. I pointed out that being a father is much more than visiting your child…a couple of years ago. We carefully explained to them how they could stop the children from going to new adoptive parents, and they committed to go to the court with a lawyer the very next morning to halt adoption proceedings. I even half believed them, although we’ve been stood up time and time and time again with parents of the kids. They never went.

Now, enough about their sad past, and onto how the kids are! These two are perennial favorites with volunteers from any country, and more than one claims them as their children.

While living in the Baby Home, Cora loved on the babies constantly. We seriously didn’t want to transfer to CDA II because of the help we would lose with the babies! She was a first-rate cloth diaper folder from age 2 on! But we knew that she needed a different type of educational environment to continue to grow so at age 4 we passed her with 3 of her best friends from the Baby Home and she continued to thrive at CDA II. Now at age 5 1/2, Cora still loves playing “house” and mothering anyone younger than herself. She is very smart and a sharp observer of everything going on. During play time, Cora loves playing with dolls, coloring (which she is very good at), dancing with the other little girls, and games and educational toys. Now she is in kindergarten and is doing very well, often winning prizes from the teacher for good behavior.

A funny anecdote from Cora: One day in January I was making constant calls from both the house phone and my cell phone to coordinate things from their recent move into their new home. She started prancing around the room acting all girly, mimicking me talking on the phone. When I finished I told her she was completely silly and started to tickle her. She got a terrified look on her face and said “TIA!! You cannot tickle me!!” Of course I asked why not. She replied in all seriousness, as if her life depended on it, “Because, tía, when people tickle me I. can. not. breathe.” Oh. Ben, now 4, has a way of wrapping himself around the hearts of volunteers from around the world. Whereas his sister is the quieter, more mature one, he is a jabber box who keeps us in stitches with his antics, silly faces, funny phrases, and playful ways. His favorite things to do are play outside, swim, and learn phrases in new languages. I’ll never forget hearing him say his first words in the kitchen of the Baby Home, to a Scottish volunteer we had at the time.

Ben had to have a surgery just a couple weeks after Baby Alex (the last child I wrote on) and subsequent hormone injections. Now we are told he might need another surgery and he has a check up in a few weeks, but otherwise both have always been very hardy, healthy kids.

So that’s the [rather long] story of these two cuties, and I PRAY that their papers continue through the court system at a faster pace than they have been, and that they receive a wonderful loving family sooner rather than later. They will be a blessed addition to any family!

Pictures from top to bottom of post (oh there are SO VERY MANY of these two!! so I'm just picking the first few that jump out at me):

1) The two a couple days after their arrival
2)Ben taking his first steps
3) Cora trying to eat and sleep at the same time
4) Ben, January 2009 (picture by Brad Collins)
5) Cora, January 2009 (picture by Brad Collins)


*names have been changed

UPDATE: Help provide loving care for Cora & Ben for just $50/month through Casa de Amor's new child sponsorship program. Download THIS form to get started!

Child History 1.0

Each child comes with their own unique story:
heart breaking, tragic, with conflicting details, many unknowns and doubts...or all of the above.
Here is the story of one who arrived last year.

Baby Alex* weighed about 5 pounds at birth. He was likely born prematurely, but we have little way of knowing. His teenage mother, assumed by hospital personnel to be from the countryside, was deaf and couldn’t make clear any of her personal information. She couldn’t even tell them her name. She refused to nurse or even look at her baby, making her rejection obvious with gestures and grunts. Most likely the baby was conceived by rape, since disabled or mentally ill girls are more easily preyed upon.

Shortly after being released from the hospital the mother was sent to a shelter for girls since no one knew what to do with her. (Some friends of mine think she saw her during a visit to that girls home, and said she was crying in a corner, alone. Isn't that sad? But no one could communicate with her.)

After a few days, she made clear that she wanted to leave and since the center is under-staffed, they let her go alone. We wonder—did she try to go back to the hospital to see her baby? Did she get lost while out? Or did she just want to go back home, where ever home is? I had just read a book written by a girl with deaf parents. My parents and I wondered if she could be helped with treatment, surgery, hearing aids….but with absolutely no data, there was no way to find her.

Baby Alex stayed in the hospital a couple of weeks recovering from respiratory distress syndrome. The elderly, long-time social worker of the hospital chose his name, giving him the masculine version of her own name. Then he arrived to our doorstep by ambulance! (There are so few in our city, one would think they could use their ambulance for better things...?)

As the social worker proudly passed the baby from her own arms to mine, she said “Here’s your healthy baby boy”. I just smiled a knowing smile. One can never tell right away with a newborn what's ahead. During his first months with us, I personally took him to the doctor at least a dozen times and the lab many more times. Some of his health issues were due to the untreated STD of his mother: chronic eye infections and bronchitis, calcium deficiencies and other mineral imbalances, lack of appetite and thus slow growth.

Then there was the umbilical hernia that just grew and grew... and grew. After seeking the most economical and yet safe option, we had it surgically removed by an excellent pediatric surgeon who offered his services to us. I donated blood the morning of the surgery since we had short notice. After the surgery, he finally became a happier baby. Since we can't imagine that the hernia bothered him that much, maybe it was because he was no longer severely anemic??

Of course, his crankiness and all the trips to the doctors and labs meant that I HAD to hold him, and seeing as he weighed less than a full-term baby for the longest time (preemie clothes!) it was a dream… A couple times I had him in a sling and carried another baby (or the twin babies we had at that time, in a car seat) as well. I shocked more than one person when my “purse” wiggled or cried!!

The past few months, Alex has been much better. His cough comes back often so he’s a regular at our “cough doctor”, but overall he's a cheery little fellow. And chunky!! Everyone jokes he should go on a diet. Since after his surgery when he would calm himself by sucking hard on his fingers (long story—it was a weekend and took me a while to track down the stronger pain med), he’s stayed with the habit.

He has a shocking lack of hair for a Bolivian baby, but he's on supplements because it seems to be due to his struggles with vitamin/mineral deficiencies. His motor development is a bit delayed, so I’m hoping to see that catch up soon. But anyway, he is now adoptable and I have hopes that he’ll be with his new family in a few months!

*name changed

UPDATE: Help provide loving care for Baby Alex for just $25/month through Casa de Amor's new child sponsorship program. Download THIS form to get started!

Special visitors...and news!

Last week, we were very very blessed by the fourth visit from one of our first and always faithful supporters, Ben Whisenant. He was accompanied by Bryan Doyle, Missional Life Pastor at First Baptist Church McKinney, Texas.

They were a great encouragement to us and even better are creatively leading their church to play a bigger role in the ministry here in Bolivia.

So here's the news: soon we'll have a new addition in ways to support the homes: child sponsorship!! We've felt led to this for a while now, both due to popular request and the realization that a "connection" to one of the children is very powerful, but I haven't had the time or full motivation to just go for it. However, meeting with Pastor Bryan easily brought me to the tipping point. I mean, how could I resist when he spoke of their THREE WEEK mission conference to be held in April 2009, and how they will announce the need to their thousands of members, and the big display table Casa de Amor will have, and they would expect every HDA child to garner 4 to 5 monthly sponsors in that event alone?!

Pastor Bryan also spoke of sending a professional photographer next month from Texas, to spend a few days with us taking pictures of each child and filming a video to be shown at FBC McKinney during the missions month. Wow, how could we say no?! With all of this "jump start" support, we can easily take the sponsorship opportunity to our home church, other churches, our website, etc.

Here's something to think about: would any of you former volunteers be interested in helping me design the child sponsorship packets, and/or assist with the communication process between HDA and the sponsors? Please let me know as we begin to put the details of this in place! I'm excited about the possibilities as I begin the process of researching other existing programs, creating our guidelines, and writing up short histories/bios on our kids. I still need to be cautious of increasing my administrative load here in Bolivia, since that's already way heavy, but with more help "the sky's the limit". Fun!