Christmas Spirit

December is here, and most of us are in full-blown Christmas mode. As the weeks count down, the Dreamers are getting more excited. A few even decided to take initiative and start decorating.

A few days ago, most of the kids were downstairs hanging out when I noticed that Benancio and Jose Luis weren’t around. Curious, I went upstairs to look for them. I found them in their room hanging strings from one wall to the other. When I asked them what they were doing, Benancio simply replied, “Decorating.”

The decorations.

Benancio & Jose Luis, proud of their finished work.

I left them alone and patiently watched from the doorway as they continued to work. They then began to tape paper ornaments and such to the string they had hung. They worked for about an hour or so, before deciding it looked “perfect.”  I love it when they exercise their creativity!

Romon

Park Pictures and Prayer Points

A lovely Sunday afternoon at the park with the Dreamers…

Hello everybodyyyyyyyyyy!

Estefani and Jhoselyn playing 'futbol'

... that's soccer for the North Americans and football for most of the rest of the English speaking world

Tia Erika in a game of 'futbol' with the boys

Alicia on the swing

So thirsty after a romp in the park!

¡Agua, por favor! Water, please!

If you don’t mind, here are some prayer points:

• A group of 30 pastors will be meeting this week in Cochabamba to decide how they would like to become involved in helping the House of Dreams. Pray they decide to help big and follow through.
• Alicia’s waiting on her parents to come and finalize the adoption. Pray this happens sooner rather than later.
• Two of our boys are waiting on their families to regain guardianship. Please pray that this happens quickly. We are waiting on paperwork.
• Please pray that those who have made financial and donation commitments follow through.
• That the kids who are available for adoption are placed in godly, loving homes in a timely fashion.

Thanks so much!

- Angie

New Kid Pics!

Every so often we update the kids’ head shots on the Kid Pics and Sponsor page. When you get a chance you can scroll through them. Click one of the previous links then click on any of the faces to get a nice close up view. Such cuties!

And from the afternoon of photos some random pics:

(click for a larger view)

Goofballs! So fun!

- Angie

One Fun Day

Last week I received a call from a student at a local university.  Her and her friends had to do some community service for a class, so they asked if they could do it at the House of Dreams.

Tuesday afternoon they came to the HOD and spent about two hours hanging out with the kids.

They played charades…

They ate snacks…

And they played hide-and-go-seek.

It is always a pleasure when visitors come to the HOD and help out. The volunteers and the kids all had a great time.

Are you interested in coming and helping out at the House of Dreams? Check out the visit page.

Romon

Home Alone

Last school year, Joel, Fernando, Isaura, Juan Daniel, Bridgit, Vladamir and Alicia stayed home all day because they were too young to go to school. This year, Joel, Fernando, Isaura, and Juan Daniel all started kindergarten. Brigit was adopted last year, and Vladi was adopted about a week ago. That leaves Alicia.

Alicia is now the lone Dreamer in the house during the day. Don’t feel sorry for her though, she is absolutely loving all the attention. She plays, colors and helps the morning tia with laundry and cleaning the house. She’s having a blast.

Please pray with us as we are hoping that Alicia will be adopted sometime soon in the very near future.

Romon

Fashion Show

Next week is the last full week of vacation before the Dreamers head back to school, and it shows as these last few days have been filled with statements like, “I’m bored!” or, “There’s nothing to do!”.

I always say that boredom bring out the creativity in a person. In one case at least, I was right. The girls were in the house with “nothing to do” when they decided to put on a fashion show. They didn’t stop at just getting dressed in different outfits they had in their closets. They decided to make their own clothes and design their own outfits out of blankets and sheets. Check them out!

Isaura showing off her colorful design.

We also managed to get a video of Shirley walking the “runway”.

Such a creative idea, they were very proud of themselves.  Hopefully this creativity will carry over into the school year.

All of the models in their outfits.

Romon

2011 in Images

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

It was a good year. Please join us in this great project this year to change the lives of these Dreamers. You can make dreams come true. Become a Dream Maker today.

- Angie

A Family Thing

My oldest daughter was talking with her uncle, my brother, earlier this year. Somehow they got on the subject of picture taking. By the end of the conversation a camera was promised to my daughter.

My brother made it happen and now Raimy has a camera. She takes it with her when there are events at school. Since the Dreamers go to her same school she blogged about some of the pics she look.

You can check out her post here: “dreamers” by raimy o. washington

She has also began as a regular volunteer with the Pen Pal program we have here at the House of Dreams. I love it that my kids take an interest in the outreach we do. It’s a family thing.

- Angie

All dressed up for Independence Day!

Last Thursday, several of our dreamers dressed up in traditional outfits of various regions of Bolivia, along with their classmates, for their school’s Independence Day Expo.  (Click on a picture from the gallery to see the larger version. )

Jhoselin and Anne (in red) along with a classmate are representing Potosi.

Emelin, in her Santa Cruz outfit with one of our short term volunteers

Yamil and his classmate representing Tarija

Shirley and her kindergarten class, dancing in their Cochabamba outfits

Jose, dancing with his classmate

Bolivia’s Indepence Day is right before the end of the 2nd trimester of school.  Only one trimester to go!  If you’d like to help us get ahead start with shopping for school supplies for next year,  go to our school supplies link under the Projects page for more info.

-Marisol

Group Photos

Every couple of years, the House of Dreams takes a group picture. It’s one of the few times where all of the Dreamers and staff can be caught in one place long enough to take one picture.

With eighteen kids you can probably imagine that there were a few distractions which were cause for a retake. Here are a few of the “whoops” moments:

Not sure what was going on here.

Shirley inspecting Vladimir's hair. I guess they forgot we were taking pictures.

After a few tries, we got it right!

The finished product.

The Dreamers actually did extremely well taking these pictures, and we were all finished in about fifteen minutes! Not bad at all.

Please pray for the House of Dreams kids, workers, and volunteers.

Romon.