Pretty

Little girls the world wide love to make things pretty. I was sitting on the steps of the back patio goo-gooing at a baby when I felt a tiny hand on mine. In the sweetest voice the owner of the hand said with a smile, “You need make-up on. I am going to paint your fingernails.” Who could resist such a offer? I extended my hand and she began to apply the pearly pink liquid from the plastic heart shaped bottle held between her little thumb and forefinger. She had been given a tiny make-up set by a volunteer and she wanted to share it with me. When she was done she gasped and told me how pretty I was. I hugged her and looked in her eyes to tell her thank you. She giggled and walked off to look for more unpainted fingernails.

~ Angie

Mayra painting my nails

Now is the Time – The House of Dreams video

We took our camera last week to the House of Dreams Orphanage here in Cochabamba, Bolivia and took some shots and grabbed some video footage of the kids playing. Here is a video we made from that visit.

- DaRonn

Preparing for the new school.

This week our teachers for our new school are receiving training and preparing for the first day of class this February 2nd. Here are some pictures that I took.

- DaRonn

The teachers all this week will be receiving orientational training.

The teachers all this week will be receiving orientational training.

Each class will have no more that 15 students.

Here is a picture of some of the desk for have purchased for the students.

Here are the students books.

Bianca will be teaching the prekindergarten and Kindergarten students.

Marisol will be teaching the 4th, 5th and 6th grade students.

Marcela is the director of the school. She has been working on the project for more than a year.

Special School Project House of Dreams Orphanage

Some of the children in our orphanage are school aged now. They have been attending public school. The challenge, due to the unstable background of the children, is they were falling behind and their educational needs were not getting met. Three of our kids are kindergarten age. The others are in preschool. We are required to have them enrolled in school from age four. We observed that their progress was minimal and we saw that they needed personal attention to have their unique needs met.
So with the best interest of our children in The House of Dreams Orphanage we decided that in 2009 we would start our own school to offer the personal attention that our children need in their education.

Shortly after we began the program an organization approached us to commit to pay the expenses for our eight students to attend the school. They committed to pay for the monthly tuition, books, materials and transportation for the orphanage students this year. Unfortunately last week we receive the bad report that the organization changed its mind and has decided to not pay for our students to attend school this year.

As you can imagine less than a month away from the first day of school we find ourselves in a position where we are in need of sponsors to help pay for the expenses for our eight children from The House of Dreams Orphanage to attend school this year. That is why I am contacting you.

We are in need of sponsors that will commit to pay for the monthly school expenses of our eight children for ten months.
The total cost to sponsor the child’s education is $94 each per month. This includes their books, tuition, transportation, insurance and uniforms.

If this need has touched your heart and you are willing to sponsor the education of one of our children please respond to us as soon as possible so that we can celebrate that God has supplied our need. Also, we have attached the giving information instructing you about how to give your monthly commitment.

We appreciate your willingness to be a blessing to our children in The House of Dreams Orphanage,

DaRonn Washington
Christnationministries@juno.com
(816) 396 8434

Click here to start sponsoring a child: http://www.christnationministries.org/forms/use/generalinformationform/form1.html

Carolina is entering kindergarten.

Jose Luis is entering kindergarten.

Emeline is entering kindergarten.

Joselin is entering second grade.

Gabriel is entering 1st grade.

Mayra is entering kindergarten.

Roberto is entering kindergarten.

Joselin is entering 1st grade.

Looking toward 2009 in The House of Dreams Orphanage.

If you have not been checking the webpage or the House of Dreams Blog site you have missed some of the exciting news. Last year was a tough year for the orphanage but it was a good year of foundation. We celebrated our two year anniversary. Also we moved into a new orphanage facility that is absolutely beautiful. Those were some of the highest points of 2008 but what I am the most excited about it what has already happened here towards the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009.

We have begun to start hiring twice as many staff members in the orphanage. Because of the size of our new facility we have found that we need twice as many staff members to take care of the children. During the month of December we were able to hire 6 new workers. These new workers do not only provide more care for the children but now with the new staff we are able to start accepting children again. Currently we have 24. We have not accepted more children in the last 9 months because of lack of sponsors. Now we have felt the release to start opening our doors again to accept orphan children.

Christ Nation School. A few months ago I discovered the alarming fact that the children in our orphanage that were attending school were not receiving the attention that they needed in their studies. Because they often times come from broken homes they many times are behind in the level they should be in reading and writing. From investigating the situation we felt that the best option would be to start our own Christian school in order to give our children the special attention they needed. We have already hired the teachers and we are preparing the school facility these first couple of weeks in January. The first week of February will be the official start of school. If you are interested in sponsoring one of our 8 children that will be attending school this year we are looking for sponsors. Please let us know.

Since we first started the orphanage my dream has been that the children in the home have the same opportunities that my own children have. It seems like that dream is starting to come true. I would like to invite you to dream with me and become a monthly sponsor of one of our children in 2009.

If you would like more information about the orphanage or would like to sponsor a child you can visit our website at: www.houseofdreamsorphanage.org

Click here to see the facebook picture gallery

Blessings and thanks again for helping us make dreams come true,

DaRonn
Email: christnationministries@juno.com

Jimena celebrating Christmas.

Raimy with Sara.

Emeline eating Christmas cookies.

Edgar playing the backyard during the Christmas play.

Patty with her balloon.

Edgar and Daniel eating their Christmas dinner.

Bernacion and Yamil openning Christmas presents.

Openning presents patiently.

Patty with her green teeth and her new doll.

Choco with his new car.

Jimena with her Christmas presents.

Daniel with his new car.

Mayra openning her new toy.

The House of Dreams Orphanage branches out into the UK.

A young couple from our church here in Bolivia recently moved to England and have started looking for sponsors for the House of Dream Orphanage. Peter and Wendy had attended our church for a several months. Peter is from England and Wendy is from Bolivia. I even had the blessing to marry them a few months back. While they were in Bolivia they helped with contacting sponsors in the U.S. and also helped as volunteers in the orphanage.

A few weeks after the moved back to England they contacted us asking if they could help us find sponsors in England. Now the House of Dreams has the potential of partnering with people from England as well as the United States.

We have already started to receive financial support in this short amount of time. Thanks Peter and Wendy for helping dreams come true for the House of Dreams Orphanage.

Please pray that more doors open in other countries for child sponsorship. We are praying that God will open the door in the countries of Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Canada just as He has in England.

- DaRonn

This is Peter and Wendy with Angie and I. They are the couple that is helping us find partners for HOD in England.

Here is the front page of the sponsorship form for the U.K.

Here is the inside of the sponsorship form for the U.K. Peter designed it.

More Christmas gifts

Like Angie shared before in another post our kids in the orphanage really get blessed around Christmas time. Not only does our Bolivian church bless them but many others come and bless them with toys and presents. A few days before Christmas a couple from the US did just that. They had volunteered in the orphanage for a few weeks until they had to leave because of political challenges in the nation of Bolivia. When the political situation cleared up they returned for a few weeks they came back but not empty handed. They had contacted a number of their friends and raised a significant amount of money for the orphanage. Once they arrived in Bolivia again they spent a few days buying presents for the kids and gave them to them a few days before Christmas. You can imagine how excited the kids were to get the gifts!!! Thanks again David and Lisa for being such a blessing to our kids.

- DaRonn

Emelin with one of the trikes donated to the orphanage.

Picture of Lisa with the kids a few months ago.