Last Night with the Babies

 R. has been looking so much older lately… Tomorrow she's 4 months old!

Cheesy grin!

J. knows just what to do for the camera!

 Hey Benjo… Can you please learn how to move by the time I come back?

 I might just sneak you home in my suitcase!

Brother and sister being silly!

 Twins… or maybe just brothers!

 Some of the kids got shots this morning… D. has been crying over his hurt arm all afternoon. It's pathetic!

 He asked to take a picture and then posed like this!

 A rare moment sharing the bouncy horse!

 Going to miss your sweet little faces so much!

Snug as a bug in a rug…

 I found you!

And you too!

Going-Away Party with the Tías

This past week has been full of goodbyes. First, we had our "last" Horita Feliz, then our "last" time to go to church on Sunday. Yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon at the boys' and girls' houses for the "last" time, and today and yesterday have been full of goodbyes to the tías and kids.

Now, in case you're wondering… I'm not leaving Bolivia. I am going back to the States for a short visit before coming back to Cochabamba, but I won't be living at the baby house anymore (although I do plan to come back and visit them lots!). It's a bit surreal to think that after two years, my time here is done. It's gone by SO fast! 

During lunch today, Tía Silvia made one of my two favorite Bolivian meals- Sopa de Maní (yesterday she made my other favorite which is milanesas de pollo!). Rudi and Emily Booher came over to have lunch with us as well as Danyelle and her two friends who are visiting, Courtney and Elizabeth. It was a great time with some of my favorite people in all of Bolivia!

Danyelle brought over this yummy cake for us to share!

 I knew something would happen to me at some point during lunch, and I was right. Tía Lucy put eggs and flour in my hair…

…and in an effort to get her back, I chased her around the house so I could put it in her hair, too. We made a lap around the house and I managed to hold onto the cake the whole time!

 I was still on a mission to get revenge on her, but she saw me coming and ducked… and the egg fell on the ground. Danyelle, Courtney, Elizabeth and I finally got her back when they were leaving though. Danyelle gave her a hug goodbye and we all ran over and cracked eggs in her hair. It was hilarious and she was SHOCKED! 

 Tía Silvia has been planning for MONTHS what she can do to see me off. She keeps saying she wants it to be something that will make me remember her. Every idea always went back to the idea of spraying me with the water hose when I'm outside. I knew that even though she didn't participate in the whole eggs/flour event, she was still planning something. While Tía Lucy and I were cleaning up egg shells outside, she came out with two 2-liter pitchers of water to throw on us. While we were discussing how to get her back, she went upstairs on the balcony and managed to throw water on us again. Then she spent the rest of the afternoon hiding from us upstairs, knowing that we wouldn't throw water on her inside the house!

 Group picture after lunch!

Tía Silvia refusing to come down the stairs… She wrapped Tía Lucy's jacket around herself and put Tía Lucy's pants under her shirt and said it wouldn't make sense for us to get her wet because they wouldn't have enough time to dry before Tía Lucy went home tonight. She won the battle… but only for today. We're already planning on soaking her when I get back to Bolivia! 

Bienvenido, M.!

This afternoon, we were surprised with the arrival of 4 month old, M.! He's the little brother of A., who arrived this past January. Several months ago, right after M. was born, we were told that A.'s mother gave birth to a little girl and that she would be coming to the hogar. As both of A.'s parents are alcoholics, we felt like that was a good idea. I'm not sure what really happened, but the baby never came and we were told that the mother decided to parent the baby. Well, today we received a call saying that the mother was drunk at a bar and the Defensoría had just removed her baby (a boy it turns out). We do not expect family reinsertion to take place, so these two little boys will hopefully leave in adoption!

He doesn't look like A. at all in the pictures. Their skin coloring is pretty opposite, but when M.'s eyes are open, they definitely do share some facial features. Whereas A. was SUPER delayed developmentally, M. seems to be doing well. He has really strong legs and was doing a great job supporting his weight when I helped him stand up! We've been told that he is sickly, and he has an oddly shaped skull (it almost looks like he's fallen and it's caused a big bump on the back of his head, but it seems to just be the bone) so he'll be heading to the doctor in the morning. We don't think he's used to formula (he drank 5 oz. well but a second bottle didn't go over as well) as he puked up quite a bit of it earlier this evening but has been content since his arrival. 

Cristo Comunidad Belen

I've written about how much we love our church here in other posts, but today I was able to get a few pictures during the service. It was my last Sunday for a few weeks and Sarah won't be back in Cochabamba for another couple weeks either so our kids will have to miss church for about three weeks. The time will pass quickly though, and I know we'll all be happy to get back!

 They're getting better at all looking at the camera and smiling at the same time… I fear that a month of no group pictures will erase all that they've learned!

 Pastor Fernando and I with the 5 oldest from the Baby Home

 Los Israelitas during the children's worship time

 Time to sing and dance!

 We love the children's songs!

These two loved dancing together!

Pastor Fernando introducing his new grandson, David, to everyone

Horita Feliz

Every Saturday afternoon, the oldest kids from the Baby Home and I go to Horita Feliz (Happy Hour). The kids LOVE it and look forward to it every week. The tías try to use it as punishment ("Hannah won't take you to Horita Feliz if you keep acting like that!") on Saturday morning and the kids freak out if they think they might have to stay home. As I will be traveling home to the States this coming week, today's Horita Feliz was our last until I get back. Carla Booher leads the women's class and we have been reading in the Bible about Noah. She asked me to come up with a craft for this week (she knows I love them!), so we made our own Noah's Arks. As a treat, I also made rainbow cupcakes to remind us of God's promise made to Noah (to not destroy the Earth again like he did with the flood). It was a fun "last" Horita Feliz!

Dressed and ready to go! It's always hot when we leave the house, but cold outside by the time Horita Feliz is ending… I've forgotten to bring jackets for the kids for the last several weeks but remembered today… And wouldn't you know that it didn't get that cold!

Noah's Ark craft

All of the women (nearly all of them have children who are in their own classes at Horita Feliz) making their crafts

Rainbow cupcakes (before frosting them)

Tía Sarin and I

 A. got to come to Horita Feliz today and made friends with Yessica

 Olivia and I

 Women's Group

Nearly all of the following pictures were taken by 7 year old Belinda…!

Tía Sarin with R. and S.

 Brother and Sister!

Emily serving snacks

Modelando

 She kept saying "Beli, saca mi foto… foto para el face!" ("Belinda, take my picture… a picture for Facebook!")

 He loves snacktime after Horita Feliz!

Although you can't tell from the picture, he really wasn't so happy about having to eat that banana… He wanted his chocolate milk!

 She did so well this afternoon!

 We finished off our snacks at home and had a few babies join us!

Yesterday's pictures!

Thought I'd post some pictures I took yesterday...

Packing up… I'm attempting to get it all done this week so next week I'll have plenty of time to take care of all the other last-minute things.

 The kids are really curious about the mess in my room and wander in to see what I'm doing throughout the day. I found some of these leftover little books while cleaning and put them to work decorating their gingerbread houses!

The boys wanted their hair combed too!

That smile!

 Twins

14 months old and already learning how to ride his horse!