Election Day Trip to the Park

This Sunday is election day in Bolivia. It is a day with no transportation (since last night actually), and all adults are required to vote. No meetings may take place today either so that means no church. Rather than staying inside all day, the oldest five from the baby home and I went to the park! We stopped at the store to buy ice cream first and then headed down the street to the park. When we first arrived, no one was there yet so we had the whole park to ourselves. It was great! With such warm weather, it wasn't long before others came over to play too. 

I think you can see from their faces that we all had a fun time! We got lots of stares, smiles, and questions in the street, some probably due to the fact that they were walking in a line saying "Chugga chugga choo choo!" They behaved really well and have already asked when we get to go back… Hopefully soon!

Fabiana's Farewell Party

You might remember a few weeks ago when I posted about Fabiana leaving with her adoptive family. This morning, they all returned to Cochabamba for their court hearing, and when it was finished, they came over to the baby house to throw Fabiana's going-away party! It was great to see them again even if Fabi wasn't super excited about seeing us again. They're such a wonderful family, and we're so happy for them! 

#MarParaBolivia (Sea for Bolivia) Parade

For many years, Bolivia and Chile have disputed Bolivia's access to the ocean. It started when both countries gained independence and and continued during the War of the Pacific. During the war, Bolivia lost its coast to Chile and became land-locked. There have been negotiations throughout the years to give Bolivia access to the coast, but as of right now, they still do not have access. 

This morning, many schools got together for parades in Cochabamba. All of the celebrations were in support of Bolivia being given back their coast. At the school where our big kids attend, only the pre-school and kindergarten classes were participating in the parade. I was told about the parade a bit too late, and by the time L. and I finally arrived, the parade was over! We managed to find Tía Anita, S. (L.'s sister), and K. We bought the kids a snack and then let them play on the ride-on cars at the pharmacy down the street. I hated that we missed the actual parade, but L. was happy just to see his sister so it didn't matter to him at all!

*Update 3/27: Tía Rosa (CDA's Administrator/Social Worker) was at the parade to watch her own little girl and was able to take a few pictures of our CDA kids! She sent me the following two pictures:

Bienvenida, A.!

I've been dying to receive some more little girls at the Baby House, and it seems that my wishes are finally coming true! Right as the kids were going to bed, the Defensoría knocked on the door with this three year old. It seems that she might be temporary (family reinsertion), and the lady who brought her said that there's a debate over what abuse or neglect was committed (or not committed). Even if she's only with us a short time, we're excited to get to know her! She cried a bit upon arrival but has been chatty and happy ever since. Depending on how she does night and tomorrow morning, she might get her first outing to Horita Feliz tomorrow afternoon!

I realized after taking her picture that it looks like her left foot is deformed/missing toes, but that's just how her foot was bent. Other than being filthy, her foot is just fine!

Feliz Día del Padre!

March 19th is Father's Day in Bolivia. Schools always have activities for the students and their fathers, so it can be a hard day for some of our kids. Several of us got together at the school to take part in the activities with our big kids. I got to go to pre-school with S. and K.! 

Last year, many classes danced and recited poems and other things. This year, a few kids recited poems and only three or four groups danced. The pre-school class asked the kids to dress up like their fathers (how cute do they look in their blazer and ties?! they also have on large shoes but you can't tell in the picture!) and they did a little dance and sang a song. Our two didn't seem to know the dance well but it was still cute. After they finished, we returned to their classroom and they sang a couple more songs and were much more into it then! 

We also had a very yummy chicken lunch! The plates are already overflowing with salad, potatoes, sweet potatoes, a fried banana, corn, and chicken and I was given two plates to each, one for each child. We barely made a dent in one plate (K. and S. are VERY slow eaters!) so luckily Ana Maria came in and helped us after she finished lunch in her class. 

I seem to be having bad luck with my camera this week (remember how the battery died right before celebrating Gabriel's birthday?) because I brought it along but realized that I left the memory card at home before the Father's Day celebration began. These pictures were all taken with my cell phone… Not bad pictures but not the best either!

New Baby Girl!

A couple days ago, we were told that we would be getting a newborn baby girl. She didn't come that afternoon, or the next day as we assumed she would. However, this afternoon she showed up! She's a month old and was living with her aunt. All we were told about her parents is that they could not care for her. She's a tiny, cute little baby which hopefully helps us overlook how much she's cried this afternoon! ;) We're hoping she'll have a better day tomorrow!

We're all very excited to finally have another girl at the Baby Home! Right now we're at 13 kids with only 4 of those kids being girls… It was about time another girl arrived!

Feliz Cumple, G.!

Today is G.'s first birthday! His "mother," Tía Silvia, is the cook at the Baby Home, so she had grand plans for the celebration. We both made the cake (it was SUCH a disaster!), and she cooked us a feast for lunch! G. refused to eat the hamburgers and mashed potatoes and made the funniest faces with the few bites that actually made it into his mouth. He was much happier to eat his usual soup. He did like the cake, however! Tía Silvia pushed Carmin's face into her cake at her birthday, so as she always tells me "revenge is sweet," and I did the same to G.! As you can tell he didn't mind one bit! 

I didn't realize my camera battery was so low and it died after just a few pictures. I charged it for about 5 minutes while we sang "Happy Birthday!" and had to use my phone camera. It charged just enough to let me get the last picture of his face covered in frosting!