Doris

Doris has been at CASA now for 6 years. She has made A LOT of progress.
Although as she is in her teen years and with all of the hormones and everything she is feeling she doesn't quite know how to express how that she is feeling. We think she is falling into depression. It is a constant struggle we have with her to get her up and going and motivated. Some days she doesn't want to eat, get out of bed or even be around anyone. Other days she just doesn't want to do her chores and she runs to her bed and never comes out so she doesn't have to do them.
Everything that is going on inside of her head is a lot for her. She doesn't have a way to talk to us or express all of what she is feeling. We do usually know if  she is happy, mad, tired etc. Although we have no clue why at times. We wish she would communicate with us better. It hurts my heart for me to see her sobbing or not get out of bed, and just plain out having to deal with this yuck she is feeling.
Say a prayer for Doris today and that God's hand could be upon her and bring her a peace that only HE can bring.

Olman and Josue

 Eating their morning snack tortillas with crema.

Hard to believe that they will be 18 months old this week. The have grown so much in the last year and half. Considering how little they were when they first got here to Casa. Josue still has a ways to go to catch up to where he needs to be. He is slowing building up strength and learning to do more and more things by himself all of the time. As for Olman he is finally starting to learn to be around other people beside the people in his house that take care of him. He is learning to play, laugh, and just let us love on him. Before he was so up tight, angry and serious. Now he is able to come outside to play without screaming his head off and he even plays with some of the other kids and toys.

Continue to pray for their progress.

Josue (below)

Olman (above)

 

Rosy

Continue to pray for Rosy as at times she still struggles to fit in with the rest of the kids. She has good and bad days. Some days she is all about teaching us sign language and other days she wants to be left alone. Some days it is a struggle to get her to do her homework from school or chores around the house. She is already very strong willed and then to top it off the communiate barrier we have with her. I pray for her heart and that she can feel loved, special and that she does fit in with the rest of the kids.

Teenagers

Our kids are growing up and facing many challenges and decisions. We our trying our hardest to give them advice but not hammer them and preach to them. Some of them are having a hard time in the middle school/high school. They are learning their choices have consequences. They are not making the best choices.
We covet your prayers as we go through these teenage years with the kids.
Right now we only have three of our kids in middle/high school. I can't even imagine in a few years when we have a handful or two there.
Oh lord give us the patience, wisdom, love and guidance to grow these children up in YOU!!!!

First grading period

The kids finished their tests for the first grading period. A few of the kids this week are still doing retakes due to a failing grade on the first test. Some of the kids did not get such great grades. Hoping with their retakes they can get  a better grade. In a few weeks we should be getting their report cards for the first grading period. I can only hope that their grades are good. Some of the kids do put in effort and other kids just don't care and won't study. So for the kids that don't care they will have consequences if their grades come back low but for those who try and study and maybe don't do so well, now that is a different story.

Olman

Olman has quite the little personality. He already thinks he is the boss. He hasn;t even made it to the terrible two's or three's yet, but at times it feels like we are already there. He throws a fit when he does not get his way. We are working with the ladies telling them when he crys to let him sit for a little while until he calms down. It is working. He is learning they are not always going to hold him when he is throwing a fit or that he is not always going to get his way. We still have a long way to go. He hates being around men and other people he doesn't know well. He has been going to church now for the last three weeks. The first week was horrible but the last two weeks he has done much better. I hope with time he continues to get use to being around other people and learning he is not always going to get his way by screaming and or throwing a fit.
Say a prayer today for Olman and that he can be filled with a peace that only God can provide.

Nohemy

Our kids are growing. Which means we are having to make some changes.

The main house is pretty full. The boys room has room for more but the girls room is full. We could probably put another bunk in there if we had to but the bunks would be right up against each other and there would be hardly no walking room. We had two of the younger girls in toddler beds. Well we got rid of one of the toddler beds and moved her to a big bed. Although we still had a problem. There was no more empty beds and we still had one the girls we needed to get into a big bed. We came to the decison that we were going to need to move one the girls from the main house to the house above. So after sitting and talking with the girls they all got excited at the thought of moving up above. We told them depending on their behavior and such we would choose someone one to move in the other house. After a couple of weeks we came to the decision that we would move Nohemy. She is excited right now about the move as she loves to play with younger kids and here in the main house it is only her brother that is younger than her. So in the house above are the babies, Any, Yair, Cris, and Lupe. She is older than all of the kids. She trys to be mother hen to all of the younger kids. Sometimes a bit much.

 

 Nohemy in her new bed.

Youth Group

For a few years now there is a special youth group who has came out to CASA from Teguc to play with the kids. The one thing that sets them apart from other groups that come here to CASA is that they are from Honduras. Most groups that come here are from the states. It is neat to see people from here care and want to make a difference here in their own country and invest in these kids. The CASA kids got so excited when they heard this special group was coming again for the afternoon to play with them.

They have several games planned out to play with the kids. Here is Katy participating in one of the games as she hops down the soccer field trying not to loose the balloon.

giant jump rope

After the fun and games it was snack time. Donuts....yummy!

Yair covered in his chocolate donut.

After snack time they sang worship songs

After their time of worship with the kids they passed out little goodies in bottles they had made for each child.

Thank you again for taking time to come and play and love on the kids!!!

The kids are already wanting to know when they are coming back again.

Jackson and Antonio participating with one the youth group members as they wobble down the soccer  field as they are tied together.

Bryan

Bryan broke his collar bone about 3 weeks ago. Well then a week ago he fell down three steps and landed on what looked like his shoulder and collar bone again. He was in pain. Although after that huge scare it looks like it did no further damage and he is on his way to healing. The Dr. said his collar bone is healed 75%. We just can't keep him still. He is so active and up and down. Playing soccer and running. Hopefully he will be all healed soon and can be back to his full active self soon.

Special Group

The very first time I came here to Honduras was in March/April 2005. It was always during Holy week.  It use to be the Belpre group. As there are very few that are from Belpre now that come with that group. Although there are familiar faces and it is always a joy to get to see this group. Well that group came here to CASA.

They brought us a lot of staple foods, school supplies, and worked on a slab on concrete by the pila. Although most importantly they played and loved on the kids and had a cookout with them. 

Here are the groups hard workers. Working away on mixing concrete and laying concrete. 

And I even got a few goodies the group brought to me! The littlest things make me happy. I love it when they bring me little goodies! Thanks again for everything! We were blessed by you guys!

happy birthday Katy!!!

We celebrate Katy's birthday April 9th. We had to make up a birth date for her as we had none. (read prior post) Well now that we got the birth certificate it says April 14th. So I guess we will get to celebrate with her again. We also thought she would be turning 10 but instead will just be turning 9 years old. She is a little disappointed in her age as she wants to be a big 10 year old to help with chores and not take a nap. Although another year will not hurt her to mature and grow up a little.

Happy happy birthday Katy!!!!!!!

FINALLY!!!!!

If you hear me screaming and yelling all the way over there don't be worried. It's just me screaming and yelling out of excitement that we FINALLY have paperwork we have been waiting on for a looooong time. It really seems like it has been a never ending task. Fernando, Katy and Reina came here to live in Oct. 2006 and later Doris in May 2008 without birth certificates. They came from a very poor family. Each child with different dads and a mother who is slightly mentally retarded. Their mother was no even sure of each child's complete name more less how old they were.  IHNFA (children's services) promised they would work on them and they would get them to us ASAP. I thought no big deal. 

Well before we knew it a years had passed by and still no birth certificates. When we started getting the kids registered for school we had to have their birth certificates. Well small problem we had none. We worked with the lawyer from IHNFA and she got us a letter stating that the birth certificates were in progress. The school began to doubt we were really working on them as we had to get a new letter every year stating they were working on the birth certificates. This year we were told the school system was now all computerized and each child had to have their ID number which is on their birth certificate. If we could not present their ID numbers then it was a lost year and they would have to repeat the grade until we got the ID numbers for them. 

There have been phone calls upon phone calls and visits to IHNFA, forsenic office exams, and long trips to the judges office in Danli. 

Although today April 10th, 2013 we finally have the kids birth certificates!!! I can't tell you how good to feels to finally have them. It seems to good to be true. 

A huge thanks to Dorian and our lawyer Oscar who went all the way to Danli to get them today!!! 

Babies

Olman up on the bike and has his legs indian style crossed.

 These two are the smallest here at CASA. They are our babies!! Although they are both growing up and doing wonderful. They came here so itty bitty to CASA who would have ever thought. Look at them now healthy and growing. They maybe aren't at their size where they need to be on the "charts" but they both are happy, healthy,and doing wonderful. They are 16 months old! Josue is still delayed a little but doctors seem to think he will eventually catch up to where he needs to be.

Josue with some from a group that was here last week from West Virgina/Indiana area.

Happy Birthday Reina!!!!

While I was gone I missed another birthday in March. Miss Reina. She has came leaps and bounds in the 6 1/2 years she has been here at CASA. She can write her name and write several other words and recognized some words when trying to read. There is a huge amount of people here in Honduras that can't even sign their name. So the fact that she has conquered that is huge. She is also turning into a beautiful teenage girl. Although along with that is coming a rebellion from her and a strong strong personality at times. Although I am proud that she is learning to stand up for herself.
Happy Happy Birthday Reina!!!!!!!!!!

Coloring Easter Eggs

Pamela writing on her egg.

Sunday evening the kids came to our apartment in groups of two to color eggs. Although we did not have coloring to color the eggs. So I had heard we could do it with Kool-aid and so I send the kids off to the pulperia to get some Kool-aid. I told them to get all of the colors there were. The eggs turned out well the only thing is we did not get a wide variety of colors. Mostly pinks, reds, oranges, and brownish colors. The kids still enjoyed coloring eggs. They got a crayons and colored on the eggs to and wrote their names. I am hope that when we go to eat the eggs they don't taste like grape, pineapple or orange Kool-aid. A side note the eggs were not hard boiled and with all of these kids only one was broken.

Cindy and Maryuri

Reina and Jose

Cindy

Lupe decorating her egg.

Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter!!!!!

(the 10 and under plus Doris)

Pamela and Cindy helped stuffed and hid a the eggs for the kids. It was only four eggs a piece but the kids didn't care they were happy to get the four eggs with goodies. First the little kids plus Doris came and got to look for their four eggs a piece. After the 10 and under were done hunting the big kids got to come out. Before the kids looked for their eggs I explained to them that there was one egg that was empty which represents the tomb that we celebrate that was empty. I told them not to be sad if they got the one egg that was empty. Reina found the egg and I quickly asked the kids, "Do you remember what the empty egg stands for?" Lupe quickly said it means that Jesus has risen and the tomb is empty. I told Reina for finding the empty egg she could choose anything she wanted from the casa store. She got herself a fresca. 

After finding their four eggs each of the kids got a peep too!!!

 Jackson and Fernando

 Rosy

 Daniela

 Reina

Ana and

New Pajamas

 Thank you Joyce Foreman for the kids new pj's. They love them. They were all so excited to get their new pj's. Every year for about 4 years or maybe even more Joyce has been diligent and made the kids pj's. So this year when we went to the states it wasn't any different grandma Joyce had the pj's ready for us to bring back to the kids. Although every year she is getting better at making them. This year they had each of their names embroidered on their shirts.

above ~ Bryan Maryuri, Jose, Ana, and Fernando

below ~ Antonio

Thank you grandma Joyce!!!!

5 year olds

While I was gone in the states Any and Josue turned 5 years old. There is just one day difference between the two of them. Any is one day older. They are both super small for a five year old. This year they both started kindergarten. Any is struggling and probably not going to be ready for first grade next year but Josue seems to be right on key and really loves going to kinder. He cries when he doesn't get to go to school. Josue is the youngest in the big house. So our baby is growing up on us fast. He has been here at Casa since he was 18 months old.

Happy Happy Belated Birthday Any and Josue! 

Holy week

This week all of the 21 kids we have in school our out school on break. This week is Holy week. Lots of families head to the beach. Well not us, a week at the beach with 23 kids would be CRAZY. Wednesday everything in town started to close down and there was little transportation. Thursday a few things were open and then Friday (Good Friday) hardly anything was open. Tomorrow is a holiday still but I think a lot of things will reopen and buses will be up and running again.
It has been a good week with the kids while they have been out of classes. Although next week its back to classes.
Here it is part of the Catholic tradition that they make sawdust art rugs on the streets on Good Friday, during Holy week. Today we took the kids to Ojojona to go see the rugs that they made. The kids all enjoyed seeing the rugs. This is a huge tradition here in Honduras and most of our kids said they have never even seen these rugs. Here are a few.....

 This one here was made with sawdust, salt and egg shells crushed up.

 Jesus

This one the boys from Dorian's soccer team made.

 Jesus on the cross

 Brayan and Jackson enjoying looking at the artwork

 They were still working on this one. We actually got to see them with the stencil down and painting the saw dust. 

 Here below are all of the 23 kids plus Korbin. 

Home

For those of you who do not know I have been in the states. It has been over a year since we had been in the states. We left mid February and got back last week. We were so happy to have got a break. It was wonderful visiting family and friends. Although we are glad to be back home here with the kids. 

They seem to do better every time we leave. They use to have such a mess or get themselves into all sorts of trouble while we were gone. Although they seem to be maturing and growing up. 

I will be sure to get some pictures and blogs up soon. Just wanted to let you all know that I am still alive.