Squeaky Clean

As I sit here at the table trying to relay our afternoon in my head, my thoughts are continually interrupted by the neighbor's serenading tunes. This is not unusual. We hear a lot of loud music, loud dogs, and loud people on loudspeakers selling fruit! The fruit man sounds something like this, "Mangoooooooo, Papayaaaaaaaaa, Naranjaaaaaaaa" in a scary robotic tone and he circles our block ALL day long... just ask my dad about it :)

So we live in town and although we wouldn't have it any other way (we love being able to walk most anywhere) life in the country sounds awfully tempting!

On that side note, we had a busy afternoon of baby washing. I think we may have had more kids than we've had so far. We had money donated to purchase another tent which was a huge relief. There is one tent for washing the babies, but we desperately needed another tent to put all the clothes in and to change the babies in. In the weeks past, we have been bombarded by aggressive mothers demanding that we put certain clothes on their kids. It's a bit nerve wracking to say the least. I can't express how thankful I am to finally have a tent to hide all the clothes in. Today, was a piece of cake dressing the kids and we made great time!

Some of the older kids waiting to get their hair washed.

Inside of the clothing tent.

View from clothing tent of the baby washing tent.

And yes, that's a baby in the blanket on that lady's back!

Clean and as cute as can be!

Well back to my lovely serenade! I am trying so hard not to laugh- this man is not the least bit talented in the music department but he is trying so I gotta give him a little credit ;) I love living in a foreign country... life is never dull! Did I mention a drunk man sat on me last week?

Victoria Triplet #2

Please pray for Victoria (triplet #2) as she's been rushed to a pediatric hospital with an extremely high fever. She may have some kind of infection and with her premature size this is quite serious.

Baby Victoria

Far left (she's always in yellow).

Baby Victoria with her grandmother

Sending a little love your way...

...from the babies at SK.

Yesterday, there was only one other *tia* working, but somehow we managed to change all 23 diapers, get bottles to the babies, and spend a little time loving on them as well.

If you're thinking of adopting don't hesitate just GO FOR IT! There are SO many orphans worldwide who need a family, who need YOU!

*tia- auntie

Answers to: Give it your best shot!

Good guesses and here are the answers:

1. Choclo (Bolivian corn) & Avocados

2. Tumbo fruit (makes a delicious juice!)

3. Chocolate covered fruit kabobs

The Joys of Toddlerhood

Olivia turned 14 months last week and is such a bubble of sweetness and energy. She understands both a little Spanish and English and her favorite new word to say is "hola". She's walking like crazy now and is into everything!! She loves to imitate Chris and I and we often see her walking around the house holding one of her toys up to ear saying "holaaaaaaaaaaa" and that's about all of the conversation we understand.

A fun new place to play!

So happy that daddy is home from work!

Yep, we already have her trained...

Our sweet friend Noelia

Sharing a milkshake

I've recently found my deodorant in the toilet and the tv remote in the diaper bag... oh the joys of toddlerhood!

Give it your best shot!

I completely forgot to take pictures of the used clothing market yesterday and only remembered while we were on a "micro" heading back home. So I snapped a few pictures of different parts of "la cancha" instead. I promise that next time I go looking for clothes for the kids I'll take a few pictures because really it's quite an interesting place! I've NEVER seen SO many mountains of clothes before in my life!!

Just for fun let's see if you can figure out what these people are selling- leave a comment below with your answers:

*micro- city bus that looks like a vibrantly colored school bus- cost to ride it 1.5bs (equivalent to $.21)

*la cancha- HUGE open air market that's easy to get lost in and has just about everything you could ever want or need- that is if you can find it ;)

Happy St. Pat's Day from the Triplets!

The 3 newest at Casa de Amor- triplet girls!

Valentina, Victoria, & Nataly

These sweet babies were abandoned at the hospital shortly after their young mother delivered them. They have become quite famous here in Bolivia and are staying at Casa de Amor until relatives are more prepared to care for them. They are tiny, weighing only about 4lbs. each and yet they are doing great! All but one is off the feeding tube now and with feedings every 2 hours they are steadily increasing in weight. Please pray for these little girls that they will continue to stay healthy!

*photos were taken and edited by our friend Elena who volunteers at CDA.

Go Carachi Go!

Chris is coaching the girl's basketball team this semester and is having a blast! Their first game was last Saturday and they completely blew the opposing team out of the water! It was actually kind of a hard game to watch. I felt bad for the other team and started cheering for them half way through the game. The score in the end was 39 - 4 need I say more?

Today's game was even more difficult to watch. Our girl's won 70 - 11 and although we are happy they have been doing so well we are hoping tomorrow's game will be a little more competitive.

Olivia loves watching the games too. Or should I say she loves going to the games. She doesn't exactly watch them as she's too busy playing with her new friends (there are TONS of toddlers her age- mostly because lots of families are adopting right now), climbing the bleachers, and sharing her snacks with every person in sight- young or old!

This precious little one is the youngest of 11 kids!

Baby washing

Today, Chris and I had the opportunity to help with baby washing in the main plaza in town. Every Saturday, a Christian family organizes the washing of babies and kids mostly newborns to six year olds. They set up a tent with two baby bathtubs, a bucket of water, shampoo, and a stack of towels.

My friend Kelly and I washed the babies while Chris helped the older kids wash their hair. Some of the little ones were extremely calm and tranquil making our job super easy while others we could barely hold on to their slippery bodies or get the soap rinsed out of their hair as they put on quite the show kicking and screaming.

After the little ones are bathed they get a pair of clean clothes, a piece of bread, and some milk.

Thanks to my friend Jennifer we were able to purchase three BIG bags of clothes to bring for the kids today. Most if not all of the kids came in torn, dirty clothing so it is a real treat for them to get a "new" outfit.

I wish I could have taken pictures of the kids too but I didn't feel it was right since it was our first time going. I'll ask and see if it's okay to next time.

Chris and I fell in love with one sweet family, a mom and three little kids. The daughter who is about five loved Chris and wanted him to hold her the entire time and the son (2 yrs.) fell asleep in my arms today. So precious!

We're looking forward to going next weekend- such a great ministry and neat opportunity to not help the poor and share Christ's love as well.

Let's help!

I know a lot of you are probably tired of hearing about Haiti (and now with the earthquake in Chile as well) but really... imagine if that was you right now? Imagine if those were your children suffering?

Haiti is a difficult place. I've been there. I've seen the extreme poverty. I've NEVER seen poverty like that before. Bolivia doesn't even compare to the despair and poverty in Haiti. But now... the country has been completely turned upside down. Is it possible to go below rock bottom?

My heart breaks for the children, the people, the country and I pray that this might be a time of revival. A time of great awakening in the lives of these hurting people.

I will never forget the summer of 03'. I had just graduated from high school and I so desperately wanted to help in an orphanage overseas. Somehow I chose Haiti or God chose Haiti for me and wow were my eyes opened. Terrified at times? Yes. There was so much spiritual warfare I felt like I could barely gasp for air.

I stood out like a marshmallow in a cup of hot chocolate.

However, when I arrived at the orphanage I felt at home. Not because it was comfy... quite the contrary, cockroaches plagued the house and we were only fed one meal a day, but because I knew God had called me there for a reason. He wanted to work on my heart. He wanted me to love as He loves. He wanted me to trust Him fully and to be willing to risk everything for Him.

Loving on the babies was right up my alley and I didn't mind all the spit up and head lice. But the thing that tore me apart the most was knowing that each of those kids and babies went to bed every night without a kiss from their mommy or daddy, without the reassurance that someone was watching over them, and without the joy of knowing that someone would always be there to love them.

Wow, just look at those beautiful children. How can we not help? How can we act like everything is okay when really it's not. Let's open our arms, our hearts, and our homes to children in need!

Day 2 of road blockades...

There are still blockades up all over the city and school has been cancelled yet again. At most of the busy intersections in town there are large groups of riot police. They usually line up making a wall and you can see truckloads of them all around town. I don't know if you've ever seen an officer outfitted in riot gear before but it's pretty intimidating not to mention when there's a group of 20 or more!

Yesterday, I said the reason for the transportation strike was because drivers were mad that the long distance drivers were allowed to drive drunk. After asking lots of people around town what the real reason behind all of this is and after receiving an email this morning from our mission, I realize that I had the facts completely backwards.

The real issue is that the bus drivers are mad because they are being punished for driving drunk. If a driver is found drunk while on the job his license is being taken away and the whole bus line is being punished as well. I'm sorry if they don't like rules but I would like to have the security of knowing I'm going to make it to my destination when traveling to other cities.

Please pray that things get resolved today. It is very difficult to get around town because there is NO public transportation and walking during this strike can be scary and dangerous!

Roads are blocked today- no school!

Since we don't have "snow days" due to a lack of cold weather and snow, school is cancelled when there is a paro or a bloqueo. Today there is a paro and boy was Chris happy! A paro is a local transportation strike where all the trufi drivers (city bus drivers) refuse to drive to make a point.

Today, they are striking because many of the flota drivers (the long distance bus drivers) continue to drink and drive on the job and are rarely penalized for doing so. The windy, narrow roads are dangerous enough- add in a drunk driver and things get lethal.

One of the world's most dangerous roads- Bolivia

All across town buses are parked blocking off all of the major streets. There is no public transportation so all the schools are closed and most businesses too. It's so peaceful and quiet and has been so fun for Olivia and I to have Chris home for the day. We even walked to get some of favorite Bolivian food- salteñas :)