Brayan

Growing up on us fast!!! He has recently asked to be active in the youth group here in Santa Ana. He will be turning 12yrs old this year! He is doing better more and more all of the time with his anger and learning to control it. I am just praying that God gives me a huge over abundance of wisdom as they got through their teenage years!!!

Anita

Miss Anita is continuing to adapt!

Rotten to the core

Katty is getting cuter all of the time but also getting ornerier. She came home from kinder yesterday barefooted. She had decided to take off her shoes in class. Well the teacher said this is the first time she has done this. The only thing she did it two times in the day and then the second time when she did the teacher hide her shoes to she if she would learn. She came shortly after asking where her shoes were. The teacher told her she did not know maybe the dog that hangs around the kinder ran off with them.
Katty comes home to tell me she has to find this dog because it has her shoes and she can not go to kinder until she finds the dog and gets her shoes back. So she is still adamantly looking for her shoes. The secret is we have them, the teacher gave them to us but Katty does not have a clue!!!

kiddos

Yovani, Brayan, Antonio, and Renia!!!

Didasko

Maryuri

Reina

When the Belpre group was here they were kind enough to invite the Casa kiddos to join in on the fun at Didasko on Easter Sunday. It was a full day for the kiddos but they loved it. It was a day of worship, easter egg hunt, a really good lunch, and relay races!

Exams

This week is full of exams for the kids, it is huge overwhelming task just to get homework done more less study with them on top of that. I am done for the day and just came over to the apt although Dorian is still over there with someone of them studying.
So keep them all in your prayers as they have exams this week.
It has been quite challengeing trying to figure out how to study and prepare with Rosy but we are making it!

Jackson

refreshed

I have had the privilege to serve beside some of the best people around these past 10 days! The Belpre group was here and it was a HUGE blessing to get to spend time with them and serve with them in this country that has stolen all of our hearts. It was just refreshing to be around them! They just have that special presence about them!
So thank you for letting us share with you and letting us work along aside with you!
Although now it is back to the kiddos! :)

House Building

Saul

the house and working on putting the floor down

Antonio even tried to help out. He was bound and determined he was going to nail. So Dorian nailed this into the elec pole for him to he would have something to hammer on. His little espressions were priceless as he grunted, groaned, and sighed as he worked and worked trying to get this nail in. Although he was quick to reassure everyone he did not need help.

This is a house that some of the group helped build on Thurday here in Santa Ana. It is so good to have familiar faces here that I love and who lift me up and encourage me!
Today we build two more houses.......more pics to follow

Continue to pray for the team as they are here and that God will lead them and show them what His plans are for them.

Katty bday!

Miss Katty

The bug...

So here at Casa all of the kids seem to be passing around a bug. It started last Thursday night and continues. Lets hope it soon works its way out of the house. I am just hoping thur all of this that I do not catch it too. The kiddos are weak, tired, and have lost their appetites. So please be praying that is passes soon. The poor kids are either throwing up, diarrhea, sharp stomach pains, and fever. So please be praying for all of here at Casa and that this bug moves its way out.

Jose

Jose is still adjusting to life here at Casa. It took a month or longer to just catch on and understand the concept of putting your head down at the table when we come to eat, but he has finally got it down.
He is very ornery! The past two and half years he has lived with a bunch or boys and it shows. He at times just does the most random boy things or says the most random things that I believe he has learned from being around those older boys. He is slowly learning the rules here even though he gets a little hot tempered and refuses to listen at times but ends up learning the hard way that that does not get him any where.

It is HOT.......

Renia, sleeping in a the strangest postion

Katty, Rosy, and Daniela

It has become to time for us to take naps on the floor again! It has gotten sooo HOT within the last week. So the kids to sort of cool off sleep on the hard cold tile floor.

Magic

Rosy being the assistant, she was unsure of what she was getting herself into and a little uneasy, but she needed up liking it and walking away proud!

They loved it!

Fitto

Reina (Monica) being silly! She laughed and giggled all thru it, she loved it!!!

Jackson

So a group from Atlanta, GA came to Santa Ana to church this AM and then after wards played with the kids and brought the kids fried chicken for lunch! Although the best part of all of that was the kids got to see magic tricks that Ken did for them. The expressions on the kids faces were priceless!

March update 2009

March 2009

We started out the month of March with Dorian and me celebrating our one year anniversary. We were able to get away for a weekend at the beach and we are both looking forward to the ways God will continue to grow us and use us in the years to come.
I spend most afternoons with the children doing homework. It is quite a task each day to help each of them complete their homework but we are making it. They seem to be doing better at the new school this year. We hope and pray that this will pay off for them in the future.
Of course with school back in session, we once again had to deal with lice with our children. It is always something that we continue to screen daily for but when multiple children come home with hit instead of just a few odd ones, it is all out war again. Living here, lice is an ongoing issue that never completely disappears.
Rosy continues to have her issues at school but we here at Casa and Happy Hands School for deaf continue to attempt to hold her accountable for her actions. She is one bright girl who will go far once her energies are focused for God. Jose and Anita, our newest children continue to adapt to life here at Casa with no major issues, just the ones you would expect with them moving from a home they have been at for a couple years.
We continue to work with Teleton (special education school) with Doris, Reina (formerly known as Monica), Sisi, and Maryuri and their special needs they have. We are just now evolving into a set schedule as to when they will go every week.Transportation of these children to Teleton & Happy Hands and even local schools is huge daily undertaking.
The end of the month we took a long awaited trip to the beach! The church here at Santa Ana, rented a couple buses and the congregation goes to the beach for a day. The kids loved it! It was a very loooong day but worth it to see the laughter and excitement with each and everyone of the kiddos as had a chance to play in the surf.
Dorian continues his duties as minister here at Santa Ana, plus continues his education and helps when he can here with homework and transportation issues with the children. Please continue to lift Dorian and myself before our Father's throne that we will have all the energy and love needed to minister to those around us here at Santa Ana.

Blessing~
Dorian & Karen Guido

Katty!!

Katty the little"princess"

smiles!

Katty, me, and Fitto

sunburnt

These are the after effects of going to the beach with the kiddos and not putting sunscreen on my legs!
My legs are swollen, burning, and reddish purplish!
Today they are much better then what they were Monday!

more beach pics 09

Jose

Playing in the water/sand Jose, Sisi, Renia, Maryuri, and Katty

Fernando "Mr. Cool"

Beach 2009

Doris is covering Sisi up in the sand!

The three boys I was in charge of for the day. They were pretty easy to keep track of! Especially Jose and Fernando with those bright orange/yellow floaties!! :) Jose although seemed to want to dive every little bit into the big waves and let them take the air out of him. He was relentless, again and again he would go under and thru the waves!

Fernando, in stance ready for the big waves to come and him stand his ground!

Jackson, laying in the sand

Maryuri, she was quite the charc. She would not get in the water hardly. Would get her feet or legs wet and she would see a wave and off she would run. She spent most of her time in the sand! Her swinsuit was full, I mean FULL of sand!!!

Daniela, in her cute little swimsuit David and Debby picked out!!! :)

the girls!!

Here are all of the girls!

Doris, Anita, Cindy, Pamela, Sisi
Rosy, Renia, Daniela
Maryuri, and Katty

Can you all be sure to say a special prayer tomorrow. We are going to the beach for the day with the church. Pray all goes smoothly!

hugs

Cindy (in Marc's glasses), Katty and Rosy

Rosy

Rosy is having some problems in school. She is stealing some and seeming to be trading items and not too sure what else with other kids in school. Every day practically we are having to talk with the school because she has new items in her bookbag that are not hers or she has some of her items missing from her bookbag. She tells us one story and the school another story. So we and the school are now both checking her bookbag in a joint attempt to stop her from stealing and letting her know that we are both aware of what she is doing and that it is not ok. So please take Rosy up in prayer and that the urges to steal will be broken!

5 boys

The men of the house.............;)

Jose, Fitto, Brayan, Jackson
Fernando

Jackson letting out his frustrations or something!!

Eskimo Kisses!!

Katty and me, rubbing our little noses together for some eskimo kisses!

anita

Anita has been here at Casa now for about three weeks. She is still adapting and learning to share and that she is not the only little girl who exists! It has been hard for her but I believe very good for her. She has quickly taken on everyone as her mom and dad and continues to adjust daily here at Casa.

Cindy

Cindy with icing all over her face!

Happy Birthday Renita (Monica)

Her giggling over us singing to her..............

She turned 8 today!!!
Monica came to us about 2 half years ago. She was given a name that IHNFA had given her, because her mother was not too sure of her children's names. Well we are coming to find out with the judges office trying to get their birth cert. done that they are putting Monica as Renia Isabel. That is her mother's name also. So she has to go by Renia now. So it is becoming very very hard for us to change from calling her Monica. Although she loves Renia Isabel, especially since it is her mom's name too.
So here is little miss Renita! We celebrated that she turned 8 today! Really we are unsure on her age but hopefully we will have their birth cert. soon to know how old approx. she is!

lice....S

The lice are back, not too sure if it is because the kids are back in school or because Anita brought them with her when she came to live here. Well anyways we are working hard at getting their little heads picked cleaned. Yesterday I kept Anita home from school and it took two hours to get her poor little head clean. Right now we are treating all of them with the good old listerne with the bag over their hair. So be praying we are lice free soon!!!

Teleton

So today was another day spent at Teleton with Doris, Monica, Sisi, and Maryuri. It was an early morning of getting them up and ready to go. It was quite the battle to get Doris ready. Doris already does not want to get out of bed at 6:15am more less at 5:30am this morning. The rest of them were anxiously waiting the day ahead of them and were up and getting ready the minute I woke them up.
Terri shortly after was there to get them and head to pick up Sandra and on the way to Teleton they went. They each had a an appointment for with a different person who evaluated them.
After being evaualted they were each told what the next step would be with them.
Maryuri is working on a 2 1/2 year old level and they will work with her to get her up to speed and and try to get her caught up with where she needs to be. She is going to be 5 years old in June.
Sisi didn't seem to know a lot for the level she is on and answered few of the questions correctly. So they will be working with her also to get her up to speed and where she needs to be.
Doris and Monica they classed as emergency cases. They tired to work them in today for classesd but they were too full to fit them in. They said they were both going to need a of help and classes to help them thru their disablities.
Monica will probably be taking one class a week. Doris they are going to try to work in three classes and she will be going probably a few times a week. They said it is very important that Doris be around children her own age. Teleton is coming out in two weeks to visit the school and talk to the teachers here in Santa Ana. They are going to talk to the school and see about getting Doris enrolled in the school for her to be around other children who are her own age. She will not beable to do the school work but to listen and just interact with others who are her age.
So there is a lot of changes ahead with all of this. Terri is going to be our bus driver and getting them to and from Teleton. Sandra is going to be our reprensative from Casa and always communicate with the people from Teleton.
So be praying as we have more to fit into our schedule and that this will be something that betters the children.

1 year

So we have come to celebrate one year of being married. We have grown A LOT in this first year of marriage. As we continue to rely on God, I am sure HE will continue to show us how to love, respect, and honor one another more and more each and every day.
I knew that Dorian had made plans for us this weekend but did not know where we were going. It really didn't matter to me I just wanted a break away from everything to to be with Dorian. He took me about two hours from here to Amapala. It is a small island with beaches.

The beach

Amapala Island

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.