Sewing Classes continue

The girls started sewing classes back in March. They are slowly learning more and more. Donna has been very patient with these girls and is slowly showing them how to do more. She has the girls divided into two groups. The younger girls worked on braiding fabric and making bracelets and headbands. They even made some to sell in the CASA store. 

The older girls learned to to make an outfit. A simple skirt and shirt. They were very proud of their hard work. 

At the end of the week Donna had the girls put on a fashion show. Some of them had a hoot with it and pranced and blew kisses while others were quite embarrassed.

Then they all celebrated their hard work and Donna invited them to a coke and M&M's.

Ana

Ana and Cindy

Cindy thought it was pretty funny when it was her turn to walk down the "runway".

All five of the girls and their new outfits.

Donna is suppose to be back in Jan and the girls will continue with their sewing classes.

Another teenager

Happy Birthday Sisi!!! 

We have another teenager in the house. She turned 13 today. 

Families

Jackson has been here at CASA since summer of 2008. His mom is faithful to always come and visit him. Sometimes she gets here late and is only able to spend 20 minutes with Jackson but the important part is that she always comes to see him. She sometimes comes with Jackson's brother, sister or grandma. But Friday she came with Jackson's dad. Jackson had a huge grin on his face when he saw his dad. He has not seen his dad since he has been here living. It was my first time of meeting his dad. 

I have so many mixed emotions on these kids and their parents. They just show up when the want to. I don't get it. Meanwhile the kids suffer and wonder where their family are at times and do they even really care of love them. Although at the same time when their parents to show up the kids almost always are joyful and thrilled that their parents came. It is just knowing that someone cares. 

These kids need prayers as it is such a hard thing coming and seeing their parents. Some not sure when they will see them again and others wondering why their parents didn't come. 

Sisi and Rosy were going to be up for adoption because their parents had not come to see them. Although when their picture was published by IHNFA last summer in the paper their parents showed up. Their dad now comes every couple of months to see the girls. He is working hard to try to get the girls out of here. We are torn and heartbroken as we don't want the girls to go. Sisi was in tears after the visitation on Friday as she says she doesn't want to go. And Rosy shrugged her shoulders and said she was ready to go. Now it is just a waiting game. The way things work here I don't like it at all. If and when their dad is granted permission he will just show up one day at the gate with a letter form the judge stating we are to give them back. I hate that. I worry about their future and what lies ahead for them.

Also Antonio and Daniela have never had anyone visit them. Their mom has never showed up. They also are up for the abandonment process and adoption. Well last week I got a call from their mom. She has went to the judges office and they had given her my number. At first I thought it was a joke. They have been here since 2007 and nothing and then all of the sudden she shows up. She is working on getting rights to see her kids. Crazy!!! I am not even sure at this point how Antonio feels about his mom but Daniela asks me often if I can get ahold of their mom. Their mom is working on paper work with the judge.  

Then there is Yair and Any. Their mom is a young woman. She has two other little ones under the age of 2. She has only made it twice all year to see her kids. Yair always says when it comes visitation day that his mom is going to come and then ends up angry because she didn't show up. 

Please be in prayer for all of these kids and their hearts. As all of this stuff is rough on their hearts.

Jackson and his parents

Visitation

Cindy and Maryuri were in for a surprise last month at visitation. Their mom had called me and told me she was going to do a birthday party for the girls. The girls birthdays are in June and July but due to financial situation their mom was unable to do a birthday party like she usually does. Like they say it is better late than never. The girls were super excited when they got to visitation on Friday to find out that their mom had bought a pinata, cake, and pop. 

 Maryuri and Cindy with their mom

 Cindy

 Maryuri

 Maryuri

 Cindy

All of the kids at visitation were excited for the birthday party. As that meant they also got cake, pop, and candy. As the candy went flying out from the pinata the parents even were scrambling to get candy.

Happy belated birthday girls!!!!!

Beans and Corn

The kids have been out of school this week a few days due to Independence Day. So we have been taking advantage of the kids days off and put them to work on cleaning corn and beans. The kids wanted corn tamales so most of them were busy picking, scraping, and cutting the corn off of the cob. And boy did we have a mess. 

Then we have beans that need cleaned. The kids have been picking out all of the rocks and dirt. And they had beans flying every which direction. 

I don't think the kids realized how much work it was to clean the corn off the cob or clean the beans. I think it will help make them be a little more grateful for what they are eating the hard work that was put into cleaning and preparing them.

 Any and Cindy cleaning the beans 

 Jose 

 Maryuri and Reina

 Cleaning the corn

Rosy, Any, Maryuri, and Ana

Christina leading up the kitchen crew

Independence parade

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Every year it is a huge task to get all of our kids ready for the BIG parade. I am not just talking about the day of the parade but the whole month leading up to it. We have a handful of kids who participate. Making sure each kids have each and every detail of their uniform/costume. 

Katy's outfit this year was the most time consuming. She was to go in a recycled costume. Katy worked collecting water bags and Elvia worked at sewing them together. Then the teacher, Elvia, and me working on decorating her outfit. The rest of the kids were cheerleaders, soldiers, animals, flowers, and ribbons twirlers. It can quite costly to get all of the kids outfits. Although over the years we have bought and saved them and have been able to reuse most of them.

 Daniela and Sisi both wanted to be cheerleaders this year and I told them that we did not have that kind of money to send on each child for the parade. So they both had their own money and they paid for their outfits. It made it all the more special for them as they knew they had to buy them themselves and all of the hard work put in to it.

Katy in her recycled water bag dress

Josue, Nohemy, Maryuri, Katy, Sisi, Fernando, and Ana

Ana leading the soldiers

Sisi 

Jose

Daniela and Sisi after the parade. It was a hot morning and the kids were tired, thirsty,sore, and hungry by the time the parade ended. I couldn't even get Daniela to smile.

Katy and Fernando

Josue, Lupe, Any, and Cris

twirlers

Maryuri, Cindy, and Nohemy

Happy happy birthday

Daniela turned 12 yesterday. Happy Happy Birthday Daniela!!!!

Happy Birthday

What are the chances that two of our kids have the same birthday. Well Nohemy and Rosy share the same birthday, August 8th. Although there is a 5 year age difference between them. 

 Rosy turned the big 15. Here in Central America being a girl and turning 15 is a big deal. Rosy's school wanted to put on a special celebration for her. And boy oh boy did they make her feel like a princess. It is going to be a special day she remembers forever.

Nohemy turned 10. Since Rosy came home from her big party at school she had lots of gifts and she wanted to share them with Nohemy. Rosy took me by the hand and lead me inside and one by one pulled all of her gifts out and several things she put aside to give to Nohemy.

Happy Birthday girls!!!!!

Brayan

Most of you by now I am sure have heard about Brayan and the miracle we have before us. He is blessed to be alive. He had a near fatal drowning. Although with all he went through from being under water without oxygen and to being unresponsive. God has worked a miracle. He has had no side effects that we have seen. He is back to himself. It was just two weeks ago on Friday since it had happened. It all was such an nightmare. 

The terror that raced through my heart and mind when I came to find out he had drown and they were not sure he was going to make it. It was horrible. 

 After a few days of being in the hospital we got him up and walking.

His mother was also with us the whole time we were in the hospital. I called her when we were in the ambulance on the way to hospital. I wasn't sure if he was going to make it or what lied ahead. She showed up at the hospital and stayed until he was discharged. 

His smile that all melts out hearts. He is back to himself.

Offically a teenager

Happy Birthday Cindy!!! She turned the big 13 on Tuesday.

Garden

  Ana has been doing a good job of daily watering the plants and pulling weeds. Jose is usually the one in the garden checking to see how big things have grown and how many vegetables are ready to pick. He picked our first batch of squash the other day. The ladies were all excited about the squash and the next day both houses had squash for lunch.

Brayan and Jose picking squash

happy birthday

Happy 7th Birthday Cris!!!!!!

Ears pierced

Only a handful of the girls have their ears pierced. Last week they all decided they wanted their ears pierced. So one of the staff members opened the girls ears. I told the girls they couldn't change their earrings til August 30th. Some of the girls have already switched earrings and/or lost an earring. Trying to teach them how to keep them clean. Will be lucky if a few of them still have their earrings by August 30th.
Olman decided he needed in the photo too. Although don't worry we didn't pierce his ears. :)

Sisi, Nohemy, Maryuri, and Daniela (back)

Any, Katy, and Olman  (front)

Happy Happy Birthday

Miss Maryuri turned 10 last Monday. Happy happy birthday Maryuri!!!!!

Face painting, poliaroids, and pizza

A group from WV/OH came last week and played with the kids for the afternoon. Although what they brought to share with the kids was something the kids are not use to having or seeing. 

First of all they took Polaroids of the kids. The kids had never seen anything like that before. They all wanted their picture taken with everyone they knew so they could get as many polaroids as possible. The all anxiously waved their photo waiting for it to expose. 

On top of the polaroids the kids also got their faces painted. They got to pick out their design that they wanted and then someone from the group painted it on their faces. Then to end the evening they brought homemade pizza. They had worked during the day to help make the kids homemade pizzas. The kids love pizza but even better homemade pizza for supper.

 Even the big kids wanted to paint their faces. Brayan getting his face painted.

Nohemy getting her face painted as Any waits her turn.

Snow

The kids got a little taste of what snow is like. Lanetta brought a science experiment for the kids to do. It was making instant snow. The kids absolutely loved it. They felt it, played in it, threw it, made snow men, and squished it in their hands.  Pamela absolutely loved playing in it, which sort of surprised me. They all really enjoyed their instant snow. I just wish they could all experience real snow. They would love it!!!

 Jackson's snow man

Lanetta showing the kids her fun experiment.

Sewing classes

A few months ago Donna came here for a weekend to teach the girls sewing classes. She has got all of the girls their own sewing kits. This weekend they got to use their sewing kits. 

Well she is going to try to come every few months. This last weekend she came for the second round of classes. She was wanting to buy an manual sewing machine to teach the girls. Although right across the street Mi Esperanza has their sewing classroom. So they let her use it with the girls through the weekend. Thanks Lori and Janet. Hopefully it will be a facility she can continue to use as she teaches the girls.

Ana

 The girls got to make their own headbands/ hair clips. They have worn their stuff they made I think every day. They love them. The best part if they made them.

 Guadalupe

 Rosy

The older girls got to make a pattern and sew a simple shirt. Donna teaching Daniela to sew her shirt.
Thank you Donna for coming and teaching the girls. It looks like she will be back in October to teach the girls some more.

Happy Birthday Pamela

 Pamela turned 17 last week. She is the oldest of all of the kids. She has been here at CASA now for 7 years. We have seen her grow up into a beautiful young lady.

Happy happy happy Birthday Pamela!!!!

Playground

The kids are all SUPER excited as they have a new playground. After a few weeks of teams working on our Pinterest playground it is finished. Thanks to all of you who help with the funding, the building, and painting. A team was here today and put the final coat of stain on the playground. So it should be all dry and the kids can play on it tomorrow.