Nativity

Thanks to Directora Jackie we have a great Nativity at Sagrada Familia. All the kids were excited and we blessed the figure of the infant Jesus just before Edgar's party. We have a lively assembly of chickens, horses, traditional wisemen, and assorted other farm animals eagerly awaiting the Christ Child. May he be born again in our hearts this year. Feliz Navidad to you each of the twelve days of Christmas!!

Party

The kids recently had a blast at Padre Ron's and Tía Vicki´s. First the Sagrada Familia crew came over and made cookies and played before feasting on hamburgers. Then the San José kids came over for a meal. Both groups enjoyed the giant soap bubble makers provided by Brian and Kimi Shorter of Corinth. Of course Padre Juan Carlos was down in the dirt playing cars with the other little boys and girls! They loved it!

Best Two out of Three....

Here they are! Yasmin and Liz, two new girls for Casa Hogar "San José" just in time for Christmas. We´re thrilled to have these 2 new eight year olds join us. The third one, a boy of 3 yrs., should have come in today. Welcome, kids! That should bring us up to our limit for 2007 with 17 at San José and 9 at Sagrada Familia. Vicki, Martha, Manuel, and Diego will move over to S.F. in February when the Roofdogs arrive from Texas. Yeeehaaaaw!

What´s Next for Edgar...?

That has been the challenging question this last month. A recently discovered birth certificate for Edgar puts him at 17 yrs. old as of Dec. 29, 2006. Legally he can only stay at Casa Hogar for one more year. (We´re investigating options.) We have decided to place Edgar in a "Pronoe" education system where he will attend classes on Sat. only and will have weekdays to apprentice at a trade he is interested in. Right now we are investigating auto mechanics which he and José both like. Maybe a little trial time over the holidays to see if it is truly something Edgar wants to pursue. Padre has assured him that if he isn´t interested, we´ll try something else! Keep Edgar in your prayers, please!

Updating......

Wow! How time flies. Let's see what I can remember. First, we did Simba's shots. He's up to date now until next year. Next, we had the kids over to make cookies, eat, and play at the Robertson's (see http://ronandvickisministry.blogspot.com/) and then we had the BIG EVENT. That was Edgar's "promoción" from Sixth Grade. Quite a blowout. Ron and Vicki went with Edgar and the directora, Jackie, to the evening bash. Music (loud), food (plentiful), and dancing(at first shy) were the order of the event which lasted from 3:30 Sunday afternoon until 9 p.m. Tía Jackie gets the prize for getting the REAL dancing started. Edgar, a bit bashful at first, had a great time.
Also, you´ll notice Estrella in the bright pink dress. She used to one of our kids at Casa Hogar San José. Hasn´t she grown???

Christian Arrives

A new boy arrived today. He will turn 11 in January. Christan has lost both parents and has only an older grandmother who isn't able to care for him. We're glad to have him. As he is a bright boy, we are checking to see if Arelis' teacher who comes to the orphanage can work with him as well.

Maria Perez and Ron discussed some repairs needed and possibly re-upholstering the living room furniture. We'll pray about that. Maria was really excited about that possibility as she wants everything "spiffy" when the Roof Dogs come in Feb.

We'll put a picture of Christian on the blog as soon as we take one!

Simba

Simba at 4 months is the youngest resident at Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia. Coming from a church family yesterday, Simba seems to be adjusting well to his new surroundings. He is nearly full size now. Susana seems the most enchanted with him and even Margot (who doesn't like dogs) was all smiles. Of course, he has made friends with the cook Ana Rosa. Smart dog! Padre took him for shots this morning and will take him back in two weeks for boosters. Welcome to the family, Simba!

Wedding Announcement

Diana, one of the "educadoras" for Casa Hogar San José, got married on the 28th of October. There was much excitement and the wedding was beautiful. One glitch, however, was that the rings didn't arrive so they had to borrow some at the last minute. This week the couple came to church Sunday and Father Ron blessed the rings when he arrived for the service. Full of smiles and excitement, the young couple was fun to watch. Congratulations, Diana and Henry!

Ana Margoth- 8 yrs. old

Daniela- 5 yrs old

Miguel Angel- 9 yrs. old

Julio César- 3 yrs. old

The Family is Expanding

Yes, we are growing. In the last couple of weeks we have added 4 more kids. Each one with a smile to melt your heart! Their backgrounds are sad. We have a couple who, because of the extreme poverty of the mother and her inability to feed them, care for them, or send them to school, have been declared abandoned and labelled "orphans". A couple of others were removed from a mother involved in gangs. She was severly injured in a knife fight and has not taken much interest in the feeding or fate of her kids. Thus, the court declared her an unfit mother. It is sad that there are so many cases of children left to fend for themselves. Finding food becomes the entire focus of their little lives. Often, even at the incredibly young age of 4,5,or 6, they end up as "domestic help"somewhere (i.e. virtually slaves.)

While the directors and I were meeting today, we had a call from a judge trying to place 4 brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, one was too old for us to accept. At the end of our meeting we prayed for God to provide a loving place for those 4. Saying "no," even when one feels led by the Spirit to set perameters, is very hard to do.

Update

We continue to move forward with our Casas. As you know, we are planning to add 10 children to our homes for next year. We have already begun to add them. First, we added Arelis, an 8 yr. old girl. She is a very warm and loving child with a bright smile. Then we added Miguel Angel, a 9 yr. old boy with a worried, hungry look. His need for love is so apparent. Next, we aded Daniela, a 6 yr. old sister of Miguel Angel. Both Daniela and Miguel Angel have obviously not be well treated in the past. Now we have added another brother/sister combination: Julio Cesar (3) and Ana Margot (8yrs.) Apparently their mother is involved in gangs and was severly injured in a knife incident. The court has deemed her unfit. One of the kids' fathers is dead. The other split some time ago and has not been heard from again. I took gifts from the St. Phillip's team to the kids this afternoon. What fun! I got to sort them out for each kid, label them, and give them to the children. Just me, all by myself! What a blast I had and how excited the kids were at both Casas. The teens discreetly looking to see what I was carrying, but playing it cool. The little ones excitedly looking out the window and Miguel hollering at the top of his lungs to open the door, Tio Ron was waiting! The stuffed animals, soccer balls, hair thingies, games, hats, baseballs, and puzzles were a hit. Daniela wanted to know if I came every day as everyone was so excited. Then Victoria and one of the house mothers were trying to explain to Julio Cesar(3 yrs.) that it was okay to let the other children see what he got. They weren't going to take it away from him. I hope I can get pictures of the new kids on Sunday when I am at Cristo Redentor. Many thanks, St. Phillip's! I've put in a picture of a couple of the team members with our volcano, Misti, in the background. Chao, Padre Ron

"Jesus love me" Blankets

Many thanks to Barbara Gooding and Church of the Ascension, Westminster, MD, for sending these love blankets made by their VBS kids. We have distributed these to kids at San Jose, Sagrada Familia, prision babies, and Abrigo Andino. Some extras will go to the mission post "Santiago Apostol" in a very poor part of town where they will be treasured by the moms for their little ones.

New "Pup" for the Roof Dogs

Yes, we are beginning to add new kids. This is Areli who has been with us about 2 weeks now. Her story is quite sad. Her mom was in a very abusive relationship and was driven to suicide. Areli has no father figure. A caring neighbor took her to the judge as no one stepped forward to care for her. Then we were asked to take her in. She was attending a catholic school and the Mother Superior has decided to send her teacher over once a week to "home school" Areli so she can finish her school year with the same teacher. (Of couse our school year ends in December.) A child with a warm and ready smile for everyone, she was obviously very loved by her mom.

In addition, today we have been asked to received 3 children- an 11 yr. old girl, an 8 yr. old boy, and a 5 yr. old girl. They are brother and sisters being permanently removed from chronic alcoholic parents. It appears that they haven't been attending school with any regularity either. Keep Juliana, Edgar, and Maribel in your prayers. too.

Ana Rosa

Ana Rosa is our cook at Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia. Previously she cooked for us at Casa Hogar San Jose. She is a member of San Lucas Mission and is a fluent Quechua speaker so she has been a great help with evangelism teams traveling to Cabanaconde in the Colca Canyon. We’re planting herbs for her to use in her cooking.

Cooking here can be a challenge. Sometimes the water or electricity is unexpectedly cut off, or the gas runs out during meal preposition. Add to that the occasional appearance of a guest for lunch and you have a recipe for surprises! The kids enjoy her cooking, but, as typical teens anywhere, they have their likes and dislikes. The universal dislike is washing up afterwards. Sound like your home?

Thanks to our supporters we offer 3 glasses of milk a day to all the children EXCEPT Giovanna who DOESN’T like it! ( We sneak it in in desserts, though.) Milk is bought by the pail and delivered to the door. Ana Rosa then brings it to a boil before cooling it down for the fridge. A typical “glass of milk” here is a bit different. It is flavored with cinnamon and cloves. (Arguments among cooks occur over the proper amount of each ingredient!)

We will try out Ana Rosa’s guinea pig recipes when we get the piggies going. We haven’t prepared their area yet, but soon will. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen the two roosters that had, at least until recently, outrun the cooking pot! The kids look happy, though.......

Cute as a bug-in-a-rug

Little Tamara was chosen out of her class, too. This pic has GOT to steal your heart!

Spring Festival

Notice this handsome couple! Yesterday at San Lucas we celebrated outstanding scholars by choosing queens and pages (humph! Discrimination! Why is SHE a queen and HE a page??) Anyway. Here is the 6th grade couple. You'll recognize our handsome dude-Edgar, but I bet you'll be surprised to know that the outstanding girl in his class is Estrellita who used to be with us at Casa Hogar San Jose. I think she is taller than I am now!

AMA's Bring AMOR

We are thrilled to have the Christ Church ladies down to do a women's (AMA) retreat. They provided a big "parilliada"(barbeque) for the kids from the Casas. Tons of food, hugs, games, and gifts helped the kids feel really "loved on" and our kids were excited to see so many faces they remembered from previos visits. We did this at Sagrada Familia on our new grills. Of course we "let" team, houseparents, and clergy "help" us by planting grass. Doesn't it look great??

Love

Love one another as I have loved you.....

Workshop (cont.)

Yes, we're all connected and have vulnerable hearts!

WORKSHOP

Sagrada Familia kids had workshop on "Love" this week. They had a visualization of how hurtful words tear the heart. Then the saw how those wounds could be healed by God's love expressed through us. A good lesson for adolescents.

Bishop Godfrey

Deacon David, Bishop Godfrey, Padre Juan Carlos

Visitors

We were please to have a visit from our Bishop, William Godfrey this past Monday. He was here to visit the churches and dropped by the Casas to chat with us all. Of course, as it was Father Ron's birthday, we sang "Feliz Cumpleaños to him. We think the bishop liked the painted walls. There is no doubt now who we are!

Susana's Letter

Hola tías y especialmente Sherry, Susan, y Kym
Como estan ahora espero que bien, yo estoy bien en el colegio me va bien con mis amigos del colegio me siento muy feliz con mis amigos y muy contenta y ustedes tías Susan,Sherry y kym como les va cuéntame.
En mi casa me va muy bien pero hace mucho frío y para levantarme tengo mucha flojera y también me divierto mucho con mis amigas de cuarto espero que no tengas ningún problema
También estaba de vacaciones y la pase bien hemos pintado la pared de la casa hemos ido a la iglesia a jugar básquet pero yo no e jugado porque no me gusta y fui al cine a ver una película que se llama “vecinos invasores” estuvo muy divertido y chistoso.
Ahora me despido y les agradezco por haberme escuchado voy a seguir orando por ustedes para que sigan estando bien de salud y que no tengan ningún problema en su hogar y que regresen pronto y volvamos a pasarla bien. Le mando mis saludos para ustedes y su familia ahora me despido con un fuerte abraso bye.
Susana

Hi Auntsand especially Aunts Sherry, Susan, and Kim,
How are you all? I hope well. I´m fine in school. All is well with my friends from school. I am happy with my friends and very content and you all? How are things with you? Tell me how it´s going.
All is fine in my home but it is very cold and I am really lazy and don´t want to get up in the mornings. I have a lot of fun with my roommates and I hope we don´t have a falling out over anything.
We have had a bit of vacation and we enjoyed helping paint the wall. We went to church and went with some to play basketball. I didn´t actually play as I don´t like it. We went to a movie to see the “Neighborhood Invaders” which was very interesting and funny.
Now I´m going to say goodbye and I thank you for having listened to me. I am going to pray for you all that you have no problems in your homes and good health and that you come back soon and we can enjoy the time together. I send greeting to you and your families and close with a big hug for you. Bye, Susana

Giovana's Letter

Para tías Cindisu y toni.
Hola tías como estan yo estoy bien gracias por todo y estoy mas o menos en el colegio.
Pero también hemos pintado la casa sagrada familia y hemos marchado en el colegio y hemos que dado en Tercer puesto y después hemos marchado en sama cola y hemos que dado en primer puesto y los tíos .
Son buenos y después hemos ido al cine hemos mirado vecinos invasores bastado bonito y ustedes estan.
Bien y me a gustado jugar con ustedes cuando vinieron hablar cantar reír y un montón de cosas y mucho mas .
Cuando nos sacamos una foto con usted y me gusto todo lo que hicimos bastado de maravilla gracias por
Jugar y hacerme reír, Dios siempre nos cuidara y nos porte jera y nos esta mirando siempre y nos esta .mirando por todas partes y cuidan dadnos y mirándonos que estemos haciendo gracias por todo y si entre mere corda re de todos y no les olvidaren jamás y gracias por todo chau.

Para tías Cindisu y toni.

For Aunts Cindy Sue and Toni.
Hi, Tias. How are you? I´m fine. Thanks for all you do for us. I´m so-so in school. But we have also painted Holy Family and have marched in a parade and we were given third place and then we marched in Zamacola and we got FIRST place and the tios (houseparents) are good and we went to the move to see Invading Neighbors. It was nice. I hope you all are well and I enjoyed playing with you all when you came to talk, sing, laugh, and a bunch of other things. I remember all we did when we get out the pictures for which I am very grateful. Thanks because you all made me laugh and play. God is always watching over us and guarding us (?) wherever we go and looking to see if we are giving thanks for everything and his blessing are on us. Never forget us and thanks for everything. Bye, (Giovana)

Edgar's Letter

Arequipa, 01 de agosto del 2006

HOLA tios estadounidenses y especialmente tios Ed, Ron, y Nozar

Estoy escribiendo de nuevo otro mensaje para ustedes, espero que se encuentre en buen estado y sus familias también. Yo siempre estoy orando toda las noches para que Dios siempre este bendiciéndolos todo los dias, yo le cuento como estamos en el Peru: nosotros estamos muy felices porque pudimos desfilar por el dia de la patria
En el distrito de cerro colorado y logramos ser el tercer puesto yo me sentí tan feliz cuando nos enseñaron un premio que era el gallardete
Y la casa hogar estamos pitando para que sea mas bonito, están usando muchos colores y hay dibujos muy bonitos, en la casa hogar estamos con José, jugamos mucho y también estudiamos, no estamos en el mismo salón, José es como mi hermano y los tíos que nos cuidan son muy buenos, mi padrino es muy buena persona.
Cuando estoy en problemas porque en el colegio las niñas me molestan, lo que hago es orar y me acuerdo de usted y de la vez que estaban aquí entonces sé que todo está bien.
Estamos criando pollitos que están creciendo, me gusta cuidarles con José les damos agua y comida.
Espero que pronto vuelvan, le escribiré pronto.
Edgar.

Hi American Tios and especially Tios Ed, Ron, and Nozar
I am writing another message for you all. I hope that it finds you all well and your families, too. I am always praying for you all at night that god will bless you all all your days. I want to tell you how we are here in Peru. We are very please that we could march in a parade on Peru Day. It was in the neighborhood of Cerro Colorado and we won third place and I was happy when they showed us our prize of streamers and cookies. We are painting some walls at Casa Hogar and all the colors and designs look great. I am in the dorm with Jose. We play a lot and study together. We aren´t in the same class at school, but he is like my brother. The tutors (houseparents) here take good care of us and my Godfather is a good person, too. I have some problems at school as the girls are always bothering me (Edgar is a handsome boy!) When that happens, I pray and remember when you all were here and I realize it will be okay. We are growing chicks and Jose and I like to give them food and water. I hope you all return soon and I´ll write again soon.
Edgar

Jose's letter

Arequipa, 01 de agosto de 2006

Hola Tíos del “ Perros del Techo” y especialmente tío David

Gracias por las cosas que nos regalaron estamos muy agradecidos. Les mandamos muchos saludos a todos los demás tíos. ¿Cómo le fue en sus vacaciones?, también le mando saludos a su familia. A mí me fue bien en mis vacaciones porque hemos pintado, jugado. Hemos visto películas y me gusta estar mucho en el colegio, se viene el día de Arequipa y vamos a preparar comidas típicas, habrán bailes, poesías y concurso de cometas.
Está de visita un tío que se llama Joel, jugamos mucho básquet y he crecido mucho, practicamos inglés y al tío Joel le enseñamos español y es muy buena su traducción de español.
Otro día fuimos a un lugar llamado “Villa Ecológica” a recoger piedras gigantes, estamos muy felices porque al otro año van ha venir.
En el colegio mi peor curso es “lógico-matemático” ya que no me va bien; pero mi mejor curso es “ciencia y ambiente” y “personal social”.
Hasta luego tío David. (El Super Arquero Oliver Kahn)

José Choque Choque

Hi Roof Dog Tíos and especially Tío David
Thank you for all you all do for us. We really appreciate it.
We send greetings to you all. How was your vacation? Also, I send greeting to your family. I enjoyed my recent vacation as we painted and played. We also saw movies and I really like school. Arequipa Day is coming and we are going to prepare typical Arequipan dishes. There will be dances, poetry readings, and kite contests.
A tío is visiting who is called Joel. We play a lot of basketball and I am growing a lot. We practice English and we teach Tio Joel Spanish and his translations are really good. The other day we went to a place called “Villa Ecológica” to move huge rocks. We are happy that you all are coming back. In school my worst subject is “math-logic” and it isn´t going very well, but my best class is earth science and (social studies???). Bye for now, Uncle David.
José Choque Choque (Note the picture of the super futbol star)

Arequipa, 30 de julio del 2006

Hola “Tíos del Techo” y la Tía Kerry:
Hello “Roof Uncles ” and Aunt Kerry:

Cómo está, yo estoy bien aquí en “Sagrada Familia”, en el Colegio también. Hemos
How are you all? I´m fine here in ¨Sagrada Familia and in school as well. We
desfilado por el aniversario de Sama cola, el pueblo donde queda mi colegio, hemos
We recently marched in a parade for the the anniversary of Samacola, the
salido de vacaciones por tres días, en esos días hemos ido al cine, también hemos neighborhood of my school. We had three days of vacation and we went to the show.
pintado la casa hogar Sagrada Familia por la parte de afuera, el hijo del Reverendo Juan
We have been helping paint the outside wall of Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia with
Carlos ha dibujado figuras en la pared de afuera, también ha puesto el nombre de la
the son of Padre Juan Carlos. He has drawn figures on the wall and he has put our
casa, nosotros hemos ayudado a pintar.
name on the outside.
Ojala nos volvamos a ver pronto.
Hope to see you soon.
Margot

Virginia Team

The Virginia team that was here came out to visit and see the home. Thanks for bringing them, Vicki. They really worked hard setting up a play fort, swings, and teaching VBS. Of course we're always glad to have visitors! We'll go through some adjustments now that both Joel and James have returned to their homes. One of them was coming out every day. We'll miss our BIG playmates!

Is this the way ya hold it??

Okay, I'm ready! Pitch me one! I bet I can hit it THIS time!