First day of school 2014

 The first day of school was suppose to be on Tuesday. Well we got a call in the afternoon on Friday saying that the minister of education was suppose to be going to the schools in Santa Ana and surrounding area on Saturday. Most of the kids had their stuff ready for school but they had their minds prepared for Tuesday. So there was lots of scrambling and excitement in the air Friday night as they got all of their stuff ready for Saturday morning.
The minister of education didn't even show up and the kids got to go to school for just a few short hours. It was a joke. Hoping that is no indication as to how the school year will go this year.

Josue and Fernando (above)

 Daniela, Ana, and Cindy (6th graders)

I know it is hard to believe but this little one is in 5th grade now. Katy is still awfully tiny but still full of plenty of energy and a smart little girl. Just if the teacher can get her to sit still for any period of time to actually learn and do her homework. She usually is all over the place.

Back to school

The kids "summer break" is over and it's back to school. The last few weeks we have worked on getting all of the kids registered for school. Everyone but the twins Olman and Josue are going to school this year.
Elvia has been hard at work measuring, altering, and repairing all of the kids school uniforms. There were very few things we had to buy uniform wise for the kids. Some uniforms get used over and over and over again. As long as they are in good condition we continue to use them. We took all of the kids shoes and had them repaired and even the new ones we had sewed to make them last longer. Dilma, Kathy, and Doris have been busy getting the kids pencils, erasers, notebooks, etc ready for the first day of classes. Once we get their school list that is always a task making sure we get all of their materials.
The kids are all excited as classes are getting ready to start. I'm sure after the first week or so of classes they will be ready to be on their "summer break" again.
As for now I am praying for a smooth year for all for all of the kids.

Woods

 Every Tuesday while the kids are on their summer break we go down to the woods to play. The kids imaginations are huge. They all are running, climbing, hiding, and collecting sticks and rocks. Last week they all made little houses out of the limbs, branches, pine needles, and leaves.

Bryan and Fernando with the three little boys (Josue, Olman, and Korbin).

Art class

 Cindy

Daniela and Rosy

 The girls and boys both have had a few weeks of art classes. Many of them enjoy painting, drawing and just be creative. The boys are much better at being creative and free with their art than the girls. Many of the things they make will be available in the casa store. The kids get excited about people buying their art work. They get a small profit and the rest goes to Casa de Esperanza.

Pamela with their art teacher, Rut.

Pizza

 So proud of these girls! They are in a cooking/baking class. This afternoon the girls went to learn how to make pizza from scratch. When they got home from class they were very excited and came showing me the pizza they had made. They had the pizza all cut up. A piece for everyone. They gave me and Dorian a me piece.
Dorian liked the pizza and said he wanted them to make him a pizza. So this was going to be the true test. Dorian went to the pulperia with the list the girls gave him to get the ingredients. The girls were soon hard a work. Dorian tried to get in the middle of it to learn how to make the dough. Although the girls shortly after were kicking him out of the kitchen. One worked on making the crust while the other got the sauce and ingredients ready. The sauce and dough they made from scratch. I was sort of worried if they actually knew what they were doing and if they could do this. Well I should have never doubted. They did an excellent job!! The pizza was delicious. Hopefully they won't forget how to make pizza and this won't be the last time they bake pizza for us.

Cindy and Ana with the pizza from class they made today.

Happy Birthday Jackson!!!

 Jackson had his birthday this past weekend. He got to spend the night at Nicole's with Jose and Fernando for his birthday. He is certainly growing up. He likes to push his limits. The teenage years are going to be rough around here with so many teenagers. Praying God continues to give us wisdom as we nuture and love on them. I know there is great things in store for Jackson!!!

Happy Happy Birthday Jackson!!!!!!

Forts

The kids are on their summer break. Well sometimes it is harder than other days to keep them all busy and entertained. Today was one of those days. It was a wet, windy, cold day. So all of the kids have been inside all day. There is no heat in the houses here so when it it cold outside its cold inside too. Most of the kids were bundled up in sweatshirts, and hats and a few had on scarves. And when I say cold only 60's, but it feels a lot colder. I know a lot of you back home have a lot colder temps. So probably not getting any sympathy from anyone.
Even a few of the boys went to ride their bikes but that only lasted maybe 10 minutes. I guess it was too cold for them. All of the kids got to watch a movie this morning. Although when the movie was over they were all trying to decide what they could do. They finally decided on forts. So the girls went to their bedroom and pushed the beds together and put sheets up so no one could see in. The boys pulled the beds a part and used towels, sheets, covers, and shoes to build their fort. The girls ended up fighting and the boys played hide and seek in the dark. So at lunch time the girls had to clean theirs up since they were fighting and the boys got to keep theirs til this evening. This afternoon when it was their quite/chore time the boys had a pow wow and had an afternoon snack together in their fort.
Hoping tomorrow there is some sunshine.

Ana Mabel

Happy Birthday!!!!!

We have officially entered into the teenage years with Ana. She has acted like a teenager the last couple of years. Although this year is the big 13 and is finally a teenager.

She is sweet, funny, bubbly, outgoing, but she sure does have some sass to her. Hoping the teenage years are easy on us. 

Happy Birthday Ana Mabel!!!!

Tonight she is spending the evening in our house playing the ipad, playing with Korbin, watching TV, and eating snacks. I let the kids that want to sleep in our house one night for their birthday. She is pretty excited about it.

Happy New Year

We spent New Year's Eve Day traveling. We are back home!! It was great to be home and visit and see everyone. We got to be there for Korbin's 2nd birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. It was Dorian's and Korbin's first Thanksgiving state side. I was really looking forward to Thanksgiving. It had been since 2004 that I had celebrated Thanksgiving with my family in the states.
All in all it was a great trip. Always hard to say good bye. It never gets easy. Although it was great to be greeted by all of the kids when we got home. It was a long day traveling especially with a a little one. He was so hyper active and was all over the place. Trying to get him to sit still on the plane was a challenge.
I rung in the new year in bed asleep. The kids had a fun filled evening with Terri and Nicole. They both slept in each house. As all of the staff had the night off. The kids went outside between 9 and 10 and I went out for a little while with Korbin. We came back in at 10 and I decided we were going to bed. By 10:30 we were both sound asleep. I remember my phone ringing at 11:00 thinking what in the world is going on. I was out of it. It was my mom calling to tell me happy new year. She said I picked up and was awful grumpy and hung up the phone on her. Sorry mom. Anyways shortly after the firewroks started going off nonstop. I vaguely remember the fireworks. I just remember hearing Olman screaming outside as the kids and Marc blew up the old man and set off fireworks. He gets scared pretty easy plus it was late and I think he was tired. The kids loved the fireworks, cookout with hot dogs, pizza, movies, Wii, and staying up late.

 Katy and Yair

 Ana

All of the kids were excited to get to show off their new bikes.

 Cindy

 And then there was a surprise. Antonio had been asked if he wanted to come home and celebrate the New Year's with his family. He of course said, "Yes." He had been really good and they had not had any problems with him so they let leave the campus for the night. He returned early the next morning. All of the kids were soooo happy to get to see Antonio. He came and helped me unpack and just wanted to sit and talk. I miss that boy!!

 Sisi

Katy and Any

Happy New Year! May 2014 be one of the best yet. Excited for all that is in store this year for CASA. 

Happy 4th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Yair!!

Look at that face!!! He continues to learn and receive speech therapy. Making progress and talking more all of the time. Trying to get him ready for Kinder next February. The teacher will have her hands full with him. He is nonstop and gets into everything.  

 

Happy birthday José!

 



Happy Happy Birthday Jose! He is changing so much and and maturing. He use to get so angry about everything. I have seen a huge change in him over the past year. He is slow to react and much kinder and has a sweet gentle spirit that is coming out. I am so proud of how he is controlling his anger.
He is one happy boy because he got to spend his special day with Christina. She is his other half. He adores her and I think it goes both ways.  She came a few days on her Christmas break and it just happens to be on his birthday.

Kindergarten graduation

Any and Josue graduated from kinder this weekend.
Josue loves school. I mean loves school. When class is canceled or something goes wrong he is usually very sad and cries that he doesn't have kinder. He is proud of his accomplishment but I am sure he will miss his kinder class. Although now it is on to bigger and better things. He will be so happy when he gets to start school with the other kids next year at the "big school". Although he big house will be awfully quite in the mornings. He is the only kid who stays home in the morning. Kinder is in the afternoon and the other kids go to school in the morning. So now we will have an empty house in the mornings.
As for Any she will probably have to repeat kinder next year. She passed kinder but Nicole works with her one and one sometimes and doesn't think she is prepared to go to first grade. So we will need to make the choice whether she is going on to first grade or repeating kinder.
She is a smart little girl. Just slow at doing things. If we do pass her to first grade she probably will do first grade twice. So it is the choice whether we let her do kinder twice or 1st grade.

Congrats Any and Josue!!!!!

Happy Birthday

Felicidades!!!

Happy happy birthday to Doris and Guadalupe.

Hard to believe but Doris turns 16 while Guadalupe turns 9 I believe.

Sometimes with so many kids I get the dates and and ages confused. It's hard keeping up with all 23 of them.

Out of school

The kids are on their "summer break." Keeping them occupied while one break is always a task. The more free time they have some times leads to trouble.
A few years ago we paid a friend to do some art, pottery, and cooking classes with the kids.
Well this year we decided to do them again. They started their classes back up the beginning of December. I am excited to see the new things they will learn and make. Many of the kids are already excited about getting to sell their product in the store. They make about $1 profit of whatever we sell that they make. The rest goes to CASA for running expenses.
This year we split the girls up to receive classes two days a week and then the boys also go two days a week. Mostly it is just the older kids that are participating.
Excited to see some of their art work when I get back home.

Jackson

I am here stateside. The kids are always trying to do things they normally don't do and wouldn't do while I am not there. Some of them jump for joy as I leave to come to the states and a few are sad when I leave. They love the  freedom and the small to big things that they get to do that sometimes I don't allow.
For example I would probably let my child climb a tree but with 23 kids I just make the rule no tree climbing. I make exceptions when they get fruit down but I don't let them play in trees. Boys want to be boys and they love playing in trees. Sometimes it depends with each staff member the rules we have for the kids. We try to generally all do the same rules but there a few things we do differently. Tree climbing is one of those.
Well from what I can gather Jackson and Bryan made a zip line and it didn't end too well. Jackson broke a bone and had to have surgery. I know it is super hard for Jackson to sit still. He is go go go all of the time. So him being down I am sure won't keep him down for long.
I know for Jackson it was a lesson learned the hard way. Although I bet it won't stop him from trying to climb more trees.
Let's hope for less eventful things with the kids while I am gone for the sake of those watching the kids. They might all be ready to pass the kids off to me and run far away by the time I get back. Thanks Terri for taking care of the kids while I'm gone. It's sounds like you will have a few more gray hairs by the time I get back.

Happy 2nd birthday!!

The twins are two! hooooray! It has been a long two years with both of them. Their Tia Mirian has done a great job taking care of them the best way she knows how. She has had many sleepless nights and stressful days with them but I don't think she would change a thing.
Olman is thriving and growing and doing wonderful. Now it's on to potty training for him.
Josue is still struggling but has come long way. Continued prayers for him and his health.
Happy happy happy birthday Josue and Olman!

Little Josue

Little Josue has had quite the journey. Just about a month ago he started walking. We were not even sure he would ever walk. Just in time before his second birthday. We were overjoyed with this as it was a huge joy to see him finally walk.
Although he always seems to be sick. It's always some thing. Between Terri and me we try to keep up with his medicines and Nicole keeps up with all of his Dr. visits.
Well last Saturday he had a fever all day and was just not feeling well.  We knew he had just been diagnosed with an eye infection and urinary infection but we couldn't put our finger on exactly what was causing the high fever because he has been on meds several days for the infections.
Well things didn't get better and Thursday he was admitted for pneumonia. Wednesday he found out he has an immune disorder. Which really is no surprise, but now just finding out the next step.
Hoping he is better soon and is out of the hospital before Monday for his birthday.
Keep little Josue in your prayers.

Doris

Doris is still a little girl at heart. She has grown into a young lady but she still has that child like attitude. She has her days when she doesn't want anyone to bother her and she just stays in bed hiding under the covers. Other days she is the first out of bed and up and at'em early. Then other days she just refuses to even get up and come to devotional. Although she sure does love to go to school. The 1st grade teacher has taken Doris under her wing. She loves and adores Doris. So Doris knows once all of the girls go back to the bedroom after devotional and breakfast that it is almost time to leave for school. Lots of times she shoots out of bed with excited and quickly tries to get ready and out the door in time to go see her teacher.
The other day her job was to get clothes in off the line. She was so proud of herself that she climbed up the fence to get a curtain that got tangled up in the fence. She yelled my name and wanted me to take a picture. She really does bring much joy to our home.
Please lift her in prayer as she struggles with depression. It really is hard for her to communicate with us at times. She tells us her basic needs. Although if there is something deep going on in her we usually have no clue as to what is really bothering her.

Tree house

 I was away last weekend at a missionary retreat. Well when I got home some of the boys had put together a tree house. It actually is a pretty sturdy and durable house. I even managed to climb up in there. Jackson, Bryan, and Fernando did a great job building the tree house. I love to see the boys do constructive things and to use their imaginations.

Christmas decorating

We usually have the tree up the first of November. The kids have been asking me since October when the Christmas tree was going up. 

Well yesterday was the day. Since there are so many kids they worked in groups decorating. One group got the tree put together, another one hung the stockings, and another strung the lights. Then the kids lined up and they all got to put 6 ornaments on the tree.

So now that the Christmas decorations are all up the kids can hardly stand to wait for Christmas. This morning at breakfast Jose was giving the kids a countdown as to how many more days til Christmas.