Casa Vida y Esperanza

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Life with the girls

Our girls are growing up. It is impossible to deny that they are daily changing into young women. With this transition comes many joys, struggles, and EMOTIONS! Life as a 13 year old is, well....life as a 13 year old. We are so thankful to see the girls maturing (at times) and overwhelmed by the task of being a support to them in these formative years of thier lives.

Jaqui and Michelle hanging out in the cancha before dinner. They are fun girls who can be such great examples to the younger kids here at CVE. They both have had joys and struggles recently, as they sort through their thoughts about their situation, spiritual things and everyday life.

Alexa (Daughter of Lili's sister Hilda), Kaleigh and Gloria. All within 2 months with each other. Are an other exterme of the girls here in Magdalena. They provide different challenges, and great times of laughter and joy.

Lili turned 14 in February. She is the oldest girl here and also plays a huge role in leading the kids. Especially the girls who live with us. Please keep these girls in your prayers, that God might show Himself to them and that they would be wise in seeking His will for their lives.

Karla and Kaleigh. Karla loves to take care of Kaleigh and make her laugh. She likes to come find Emily and I and spend time one on one. Even if it is just to look through pictures in our bedroom, or "paint" on the computer.

There are many temptations and trials these girls face everyday, and we continue to trust God to work in their hearts. Pray that we could be strengthened in HIS might and that in our weakness, He WILL be strong.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Dia de Amor y Amistad

It's been said that if a girl feels the security and love of her father growing up, she will less likely seek the attention and love of guys around her. These girls have had very few, if any, positive male roles in their life. So Keith decided to make our Valentine's dinner extra special... The girls each got a rose and a special gift.

GAME TIME!!!

The girls had to write a poem about Valentine's Day using words like love, friendship, etc. Some of them were pretty creative... some of them just really silly.

Happy Valentine's Day from Karla and Jaqui!!!

1 John 4:7, "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him."

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Weekend Fun

Saturday we made pancakes in the house. The girls are great helpers. Lately they have had a lot of fun making different things... anywhere from quesadillas to some type of marshmellow/chocolate/nut creation by Karla.

Keith's parents visted for the weekend, and they took us out for ice cream (or chips) in the plaza. It makes no sense to me that the girls ALWAYS choose chips with chamoy and salsa over ice cream!

It was a great weekend!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Kaleigh LOVES her life!!!

As a 10 month old, what more could you ask for? Kaleigh has kids to watch ALL the time, she has animals to look at year-round, she has 10 girls to keep her occupied 24/7, and she even has 10 hair-stylists. An example of their handiwork is above.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Fun in the House

The girls all got sleeping bags for Christmas, and they were SO excited!!! They reminded us a few times before Christmas that they wanted a "sleeping." Karla was writing in her diary about Christmas and wrote about the "sleepings" they had all gotten.

Lili and Michelle (as well as Karla) are in middle school. You remember that time in your life... It's a time of lots of decisions that affect the futures. We are praying the girls make good choices, especially at school. Both of them are doing really well in school, and Michelle was even second in her class this past quarter.

Thanks to the Indy group for all the new things for the house! The girls favorite game so far is Life. They love it. It will be fun to see them play twister someday...

Here's Blanca playing Operation. Magda and Blanca are going to be adopted by their uncle and aunt probably sometime this summer. We are really excited for them, but also pray that God will bless their last few months here as living with their new family will bring lots of changes for them.

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Vacation/Back to School

After two weeks of Christmas break, the girls are back to school. They started this past Monday. We are thankful to be back in the school schedule, but are glad that the vacation went well.

We took a day trip to the zoo in Hermosillo, which is becoming a tradition as they went the past Christmas break. It was a good day and the kids seemed to enjoy it, even though some complained about going.

There were many small animals in glass cases. The kids had fun looking at the lizards, snakes, fish etc., and trying to scare them.

There were a few coyotes that some of the kids started to bark and yell at, they started howling and yelping very loud. It made for a good laugh.
Some of the bigger animals were really fun to watch. Here Karla and Tania are walking through the Safari zone.

Kaleigh enjoyed the day. She would laugh and wave at the animals. Here she Emily, and Poncho enjoy the small pond and waterfall.

After the long afternoon at the zoo...The Golden Arches....McDonald's!!!

They had fun in the playplace, and waited paitently as the McDonald's employee's gave all the adults thier food first, then distributed the 40-some Happy Meals. The toy that came with the meal was very fitting. ANIMALS!!! Hippos, Monkeys, Zebras, Lions...