Saturday, May 21, 2016

#holymatrimorony of #franyelle

Today was the long-awaited wedding day of Franco and Danyelle! We've all been counting the days and the kids were so excited to be a part of their special day. As we knew she would be, Danyelle was a beautiful bride and the whole ceremony and reception was a lot of fun! The ceremony was done in both English and Spanish, and we were so impressed with how well the two cultures were combined. We joked about taking note of how it was done in case any of us would need it in the future... Unfortunately, it would appear that it won't be necessary any time soon so we'll just have to live vicariously through Danyelle and Franco! 

We stayed almost until the end of the reception and the kids would have been happy to stay longer! They loved getting to spend time with several former tías and their families, and they were just so happy to be there. As many marriages of our Bolivian friends aren't so great, we really want them to see what a Godly, healthy relationship looks like and Danyelle and Franco will be a great example to them!

I know many of you in the States are dying to see pictures, so here are a few!

Preparations for us actually began last night. Sarah ironed all the kids clothes so they'd be ready for today... Look at her being so domestic!

Getting everyone's clothes/shoes/hair accessories together before getting them changed.

Sarah, Lindsey, Chelsea, me and Susanne

She'll always be one of my very favorites in all of Bolivia :)

With Tía Marcela waiting on the wedding to begin!

 Flower girls doing their job!

Here comes the bride...

 The ceremony began with both Danyelle's and Franco's parents joining them at the front of the church.

I think it was around this point that one of the kids sitting next to me turned and asked "When is the wedding?" Obviously we didn't explain it well enough to them...

 Primer beso!

 #franyelle... Tía Daniela officially #becameamoron

Mr. and Mrs. Morón

Some of our favorites at the reception... Tía Techy, Tía Sarin, Tía Silvia, me, Tía Marcela, Sarah and Emily

Getting ready to head out for the night!

Sunday, May 8, 2016

Just some updates!

I haven't blogged in what feels like forever, but there are a few reasons for that...

-Casa de Amor has been going through a bit of a rough patch for the last several months. I won't go into too many details but the most recent event involved several days of inspections into the hogar. It's been a trying time for us all... We love the kids and want the best for them but sometimes it's hard to determine how to best move forward.

-Last week we received a notice from SEDEGES telling us we can no longer post any pictures of the kids due to some new privacy laws. As for now, my blog posts won't have any pictures. Disappointing, I know! 

-A couple weeks ago, G. left with his adoptive family! They adopted a little girl from another orphanage at the same time, so G. officially has a big sister! 

-We've had several birthdays during the past couple of months but due to school, I haven't been able to be there for the celebrations, hence no pictures!

-Baby M. was admitted to the hospital this past Friday for bronchopneumonia. We each took a shift with him this weekend (I spent yesterday morning with him). He's in a hospital a little bit outside of the city, and the population of patients there is a bit different than that at the city hospitals... Lots of Quechua was being spoken and I was asked multiple times if the "wawa" was really my son! The other mothers kept me entertained... speaking Quechua amongst themselves, looking at me and then one would translate what they had been discussing to find out if what they were discussing was correct! At one point they asked if I spoke Quechua and I answered "ari" ("yes"... although let's be honest, I only know the bad things Tía Silvia taught me!). They thought it was hilarious... Only in Bolivia, y'all.

-School is keeping me far too busy (we have a list a mile long of things to complete before the year ends) and I've really only been able to see the babies briefly on the weekends... They love their church outings and we've even taken them out to lunch the past several Sundays! I look forward to Sunday mornings!

-Speaking of school, we only have 18 more days with the kids as kinder graduation is June 3! We're already practicing for the graduation. They have to learn the American anthem, and whenever I turn on the music, a few of them say "Ms. Hannah, it's your song!" The Bolivian anthem (which I'm learning) is "their song." We're competing to see if they can learn the American anthem before I learn the Bolivian anthem... They've got the first two lines down but after that it's a lot of mumbling! I think I'm winning ;)

-In some ways being at school is a whole different experience from being at the hogar but in other ways I think it may have been the best preparation for teaching. I've definitely become a more patient person which helps with some of my most "behaviorally challenged" students!

That's really all the news for now! Not sure how much I'll be updating this next month, but I'm planning on coming to the States for a few weeks this summer so I may just get to update a few of you in person!