Homework time.....

Monica working on writing her mom's name, Reina Isabel
Monica is doing much better and things are sinking in and she is remembering things. So she is making progress and continues to write better and understand things better.

Sisi working on big and small, math homework
The process that Sisi has made since last year is a miracle. She is a different person and works so hard now and actually wants to learn. So thank you Lord for the progress that we see in here. I hope that is just continue to get better!

Pamela working on reading (what better book to read than the Bible)

Jose working on math, with the differences between big and small!

Fitto working on his cursive letters

Homework time can be quite the task. Between getting everyones bookbag checked and seeing what homework they do have. You sure can not go on the child's word. Otherwise for the most part they would say they never have homework! Getting some of them motivated to do homework is a task in it's self. Homework time is usually from 3-5pm and then sometimes some of them continue to work after supper til bedtime.
So far the kinder has not had any homework. We have 6 first graders and they always have some sort of task to accomplish. Then we have our two second graders who are working on reading and writing sentences and dictating.
Then on to our older kids. Thank you Lord we hired a young lady to be here in the afternoons 4 days a week to help work with Fitto, Pamela, and Brayan. Their homework at times I do not understand and it time consuming and leaves no other time to work with the other kids. So she works with the kids, studys with them and pushes them to be better students.

Continue to pray for this school year and that it will be a year that they grow and learn.

Feb. Newsletter

February 2009

February started off with getting uniforms, bookbags, and supplies ready for school. The children started back to school February 13th. They are going to a different school this year which is a little further up the road. The move was made as this is hopefully a better school. We have stayed busy with all of the activities surrounding the beginning of the school year. Just getting the children up and ready for school on time is a major undertaking most days. Add homework and parent/teacher conferences and the days become very challenging here at Casa.
Dorian is continuing college and spends a lot of time studying and struggling through some of his classes. He is doing very well and he teases me when he shows me some of his tests about putting them on the fridge. So on the fridge they are!!! I am very proud of him.
We are also working hard at stocking the Casa store, getting it ready for all the visitors this summer. We are trying to be ready when the groups start coming and hope to have some items available on a blog that can be ordered and mailed to purchasers. We have found a lot of very new awesome items to place in the Casa store.
Rosita has begun school at Manos Felizes. The school is in Tegucigalpa so it is a daily challenge to get her to school and picked back up. So far we are managing but it makes for a long day for her.
On school days, Doris is the only child left at Casa during the day. Doris came to live with us last May and has made tremendous progress but continues to learn. We have a meeting on March 9th at Teleton (special needs school) to have Doris evaluated and enrolled. This school will be able to work on the areas that Doris needs most. So we are hoping that she will be able to begin classes this month.
This month has also brought us two more children to our home. Anita and Jose came to us from another children's home where they had been for over two years. The problem with them being at the other home was it was an all boys home. Anita somehow ended up there with her brother Jose. She was kept separate from the boys and stayed in a room with staff. Anita and Jose are missing their friends but are transitioning as best they can. Hopefully soon they will feel the love we feel for them here.

Blessings on you and yours.

Dorian and Karen Guido

Rosita

Today was Rosita's first full day of school. The adaptation period is now over. Now it is on to uniforms every day for her and longer school days. She will be getting home about 3:15pm every afternoon. It will take her awhile to adapt to this new schedule. I am sure she will be more than sleepy. As she has been getting up every morning at 5:15am. And now with her getting home at 3:15 she is not getting a nap in any more.

campfire feb 09

Maryuri and her blue marsh mellow mouth

Maryuri blocking the heat from her face, Fernando and Daniela
Jose

Jackson has his nice and burnt

Rosy, three on a stick

Doris licking her fingers

Monica

Cindy

These are some pics from a campfire the kids had Friday evening!

Anita and Jose Antonio

Jose Antonio

Anita

Anita with some of her new Casa family!

Anita and Jose Antonio made their arrival here at Casa this afternoon. Jose didn't seem as if anything phased him and he seems pretty happy. Anita is having a hard time leaving her other family, Jovenes n Camino. She was the on the only girl there for 2 1/2 years. So she is making a big change.
Some of our kiddos acted out today as the new ones arrived. This is not only a change for the new ones but also for the ones living here and for those of us working here.
Pray for all of us as we learn to adapt!

casa update

The kids are in there second week of school. It is good to have them back in school but oh how I forgot how much work it is to get them up and ready and off to school, homework, and just keeping up with all of the meetings and payments and such in the school. It is enough to make your head hurt for sure. Thankfully there is always someone here to help with homework. That is my weakness. Half of the time I don't even understand their homework more less in spanish.
Rosy is on here second week in Manos Felizes. She is doing well. She loves getting to go and such but still is having a hard time following rules and listening. Next week she will start on her normal school schedule. Which means she will have longer days. She leaves here in the morning with Dorian at 5:45am and then catches the bus at 6:30am. The first two weeks of school she has been getting out at 11:30 which means she gets back here to the house about 1pm. Well next week she will get out of school at 1:30pm and Terri will pick her up at 2:30ish and then here to the house about 4pm. So it is going to be a long day for her. Maybe it will be a long enough day to wear her out that she will not have energy to find trouble!!! :)
Pamela is still on her crutches. She has almost gotten all of the stitches out. Until yesterday we noticed she had skin that was eatten away and looked to be infected. So Marc took her on in to the Dr. and the flap of skin had came undone and is was just raw skin showing. So there in the office the Dr. numbed her foot and stiched it back up. So now it is back to the healing process.
Lets hope it heals well and soon. She is having a hard time going to school with her crutches and such. It is a new school and she is just at that age where everything matters. She is dealing with it better but I am sure she is ready to be back to herself and run and play.
We have been working on taking a little 7 yr old girl who is at an all boys childrens home. She got placed in a home of about 80 boys. She luckly sleeps in the Tias room and the tia has taken her in but it is just not a healthly enviroment for her. So Marc has been working since Dec. with the Dir. of Jovenes n Camino to take this little girl. She also has a brother that is 6yr old so he will be coming to. Marc got a call today and it looks as if they are going to come tom to live at Casa. That is if all goes as planned. Pray for the process of them switching and coming into our family.

Panic!!!

Today brought about quite about a lot of panic to a classroom full of mothers.

Today in the school there was a 1st grade parent meeting. So all of the first graders went outside to play as all of the adults gathered in the classroom for the meeting. We were maybe an half an hour into the meeting when a child came knocking of the door and said one of the first graders had fallen into a well down over the hill.
Abrubtly all of the mothers jumped to their feet scurring to find their child(ren). I stopped in my steps for a minute and thought God give me the strenght to deal with what I am about to see. I quickly found two of my first graders, Fernando and Daniela. Although I could not find Monica and Sisi. Panic set in!!! I told the other children to help me look and they just looked at me dumb founded. I was afraid to even begin to head down over the hill to the well. I was scared to death that I was not going to be able to deal with what I was going to have to see.
Then I hear one of the parents say it is a little girl in the well. Then the heart starting beating faster and faster. I hurried down over the hill shoeing the other kids back to the school and not to follow me.
Quickly to find the director of the school in the well with this little girl trying to get her out. There in all of the comotion I quickly came to find Monica and Sisi. In those 5 to 10mins that I could not find them it seemed like an hour to me. I hugged them and started to cry in relief that they were ok. I told them had to be by my side and not to move.
Those around the well threw a rope down and the director helped them pull her out. She seemed to be ok just wet and shaken up. Then came the director out and he was covered in mud and gunk.
So many mothers were in franic. I think it took me at least til 3 this afternoon to calm down from it and for my heart beat finally to get back on beat.
Today I am thankful that this little girl is safe!!!
The school said there was a cover on the well but someone had taken it off. I will be going tom. to make sure that they have put a lock on the cover!!!

thanks BJ's buddies

Maryuri

Katty

Jackson

Brayan

Daniela

Thanks for sending the kids valentines, they loved them. There was even enough I gave them to the staff. Everyone enjoyed them. THANKS!!!!!

rosita starts school

After anxiously waiting and seeing all of the other kids get geared up for school last week now Rosy gets to start tom. She is soo excited and has asked me for the last week when Monday would be here. She starts school tom. in Teguc. at a deaf and mute christian school, Manos Felizes (Happy Hands). She went there for two years awhile back. So it is lots of familiar faces. We visited there on Tuesday to get her registered and get details worked out and she was so thrilled to be back there and when it was time to go she was not ready at all.
It will be so good for her to be interacting with others just like her and become more fluent in sign. She is going to be turning 10 this year but is way behind. She will be starting in 1st grade this year. She is a very smart child but also very strong willed. So please be praying for her to learn and soak everything in and be obedient. I am very worried about her behavior. Although I hope with her starting back to school and the structure and all that is provided will help her improve with listening.
She will be taking a bus and getting transfered to school. The bus will meet us about 20mins from here. So it will save us a lot of time and crazy morning traffic. Although the bus is not running on the first day of school. So Terri is taking her to school tom.

1st day of school

Pamela 4th grade
So the kids started the new school year today. We all went Thrus for a meet your teacher sort of deal and a in general session. Well they informed us school was to start on Friday. So after spending til afternoon at the school we rushed home to get bookbags out and basic supplies out and uniforms ironed and ready to go.
We thought school was suppose to start on Monday but little to our surprise it started today. Most of them have already come home with homework. Thankfully we have three days to get it all done. They do not go back to school till Tues.

Brayan 4th grade

Fitto 3rd grade

Cindy 2nd grade

Jackson 2nd grade

Sisi 1st grade

Monica 1st grade

Fernando 1st grade

Daniela 1st grade

1st day of kinder.........

Maryuri and Katty
Today was the BIG first day of kinder for Katty and Maryuri. This is our second round with Katty. We tired last year and the teacher just said it was not going to work out because she wasn't so much wanting to listen. Well this year we are a little worried about Maryuri. So please pray for these two as they have started school. That they can adjust and make new friends, have fun, and learn.

Maryuri

Katty

pamela

Pamela continues to improve. She is on crutches still. At first she refused to use these crutches and she thought they were the most awful thing ever, well now she has gotten the hang of it and is getting around quite well now.
She is to go to the Dr. on Monday and get the stitches out. She still has it wrapped and it gets changed every two days. As to when she can walk on it and put pressure on it that I am not too sure of. Hopefully the Dr. will tell her on Monday.

school

It's back to school we go! The kids are getting ready to start a new school year. They kinder starts next week and the school agers start back Feb. 16th. So we are trying to get uniforms and supplies and everything together and ready to go!
This year they are going to a different school. It is suppose to be better education wise for the kids. It is only a little bit up the road from the house. So be praying as the kids adapt to a different school and make new friends.
They are all pretty excited about starting school. Although I have a feeling it will only last a week or so and then they will be ready to sleep in again and be in break! :)

visit from ohio

Me, Mom, Sharon (freezing to death), and Dorian at the cross here in Santa Ana

Doris giving one of her power hugs it is enough to knock the wind out of ya

Me and mom

Sharon with Maryuri and Brayan
It has been good for me to have my mom and Sharon be here for two weeks. Although their two weeks are quickly coming to an end! It was good to have a little bit of home here with me.

kisses

Sisi and her kisses!!!Anytime she thinks anyone might be mad, sad, frustrated, or just plain having a bad day there she is with a kiss to try to make it all better! :)

Jackson

Jackson giving a thumbs up

rosita

This is the normal little face I get from Rosita when she is having a little fit! Althouhgh here she was just playing and posing for the camera! :)

disease

Our spiritual communities are as susceptible to disease as our physical bodies. But it is easier to detect whatever is wrong in our stomachs and lungs than in our worship and witness. When our physical bodies are sick or damaged, the pain calls our attention to it, and we do something quick. But a dangerous, even deadly virus in our spiritual communities can go undetected for a long time. As much as we need physicians for our bodies, we have even greater need for diagnosticians and healers of the spirit.

~the message~

jan 09 newsletter

Jan. 2009

The new year started off with all of us staying up to see the new year in. All of the children were able to stay up until midnight on New Year's Eve and we made a celebration out of it. January has been a good month with Pamela's surgery on her foot finally taking place. She is now healing and walking on crutches. We are praying that this will be an improvement for her. She is of the age of being very self conscious of her looks and being different, so hope it heals well.
The children have all been working hard on writing their names and getting back into the mindset of school. Registration is Monday and classes begins middle of February. We pulled out all of last years uniforms and it looks as if we only need to purchase a few uniforms to begin the new school year. We are continuing to work on obtaining special schooling for Doris, Monica and Rosita and testing on Maryuri and Sisi to test for development delays. Speaking of school, Dorian has begun college and spends most of his mornings in class and then usually visits in the afternoons and has services at church on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. He is doing well but keeping very busy.
Our house parents; Fernando and Brenda have taken a new job and are no longer with Casa de Esperanza. So we will be looking for someone else to fill the new cottage so we can take more children. Please pray that the right people will come to Casa to help us care for children.
My Mom and Sharon McClead are here visiting and it is always a refreshing to have visitors from home. We believe we have our water troubles solved as a neighbor across the road has allowed us to hook up to her well for when we are out of water.
Dorian and I are continually blessed by so many of you with your support, encouragement and prayers!!!
Thank you for the blessing you are to us with our work in Honduras!

Blessings~
Dorian and Karen Guido

Doris learning

Fernando helping out his sister Doris with a puzzle

Doris is has been working hard on puzzles and trying to get them put together. They are puzzles for 4 to 5 yr olds I believe. She is around 12 yrs old but developmentally delayed. She works hard and long at it till she turns the piece just right to fit just right. It is helping her out with problem solving! :)
One step at a time she is making progress!!!

Maryuri

Maryuri and her creepy crawlies

Monica!

pics

This is how they kept her foot elevated while in the hospital!! :)

Here is Pamela waiting anxious for the Doctors word that she could go home.

Pamela

So we made it home from the hospital this afternoon. Pamela's surgery went well and she is going well. She is going to have to take it easy for the next two weeks which will be hard on her. She goes back to the Dr. Tues evening and from there we will find out what else we need to do and what the next step is that we need to take.Thank you for all of your prayers!

Pamela

So we have finally got the surgery scheduled for Pamela's foot. This week she will be having surgery on Friday. It is just to reconstruct her foot where she is having pain. She had been hit by a car when younger and had plastic surgery done then. Well it seems as if it was not done right the 1st time. So she goes this Friday to a plastis surgeon to get it done again and hopefully she will be able to walk, run, and just enjoy life better. This year has been tough on her with the pain she often feels in her foot.
So all of your prayers would be greatly appreciated on her behalf!