The Adventures of Kaley LaPointe

A Belated Thanksgiving Post...

2014-01-22T12:08:00.004-08:00

I was happy to spend my second thanksgiving here in Cochabamba a few months back!

Some family pictures were taken of the Beaty's. (pre-boys!)

'E' was pretty happy to celebrate the Holiday with us!

Some of the guest getting some food!

It was a beautiful day and we opted to eat outside!

Always hard at work : )

The kids table : )

We were also wishing Tia Hannah a Happy Birthday!

The colors were in order to trick her into thinking it was a 'thanksgiving cake'!

It was lots of fun!

Christmas with the big kids!

2014-01-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

I got to spend Christmas day with the kids from Casa II and Casa III!

Tia Rosa and Tio David had some fun games to play with the kids!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so we spent a lot of time outside!

Emily Booher with the two new boys on their first day at Casa II.

The Casa II kittens got a little Christmas love as well....

The Boohers all came over to celebrate with us!

A local dance group sponsored our Christmas breakfast.

It was super fun and delicious!

It was a fun and special day and I was so glad to be able to spend it with these awesome kids!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas with the Babies!

2014-01-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

I was so glad to be in Cochabamba over Christmas for my second year in a row.

Christmas time is always very busy here at Casa de Amor!

First, on Christmas Eve, we celebrated at the baby home. Each of our kids has a local 'padrino' or Godparent who sends them a gift on Christmas and on their birthday. The babies dressed up for the occasion in red and green and of course, hats (Though none of them seemed to understand the purpose of the hat!) and then we opened up our presents!

All of the babies in their Christmas finery!

Eating cupcakes and playing with toys!

There were cookies, cupcakes, and hot chocolate. It was pretty great!

Playing with the Tias.

One of our new brothers 'E'. Trying out his new duplo set.

New little brother 'L.M.' and my baby 'Eli' trying out their new toys.

This particular truck had lights and a song that played over and over and over and over and.......

Jen and Jake stopped by the Baby Home after their official court meeting that allowed them to bring their boys home on Christmas Eve!

I was pretty happy for them! It was a Christmas miracle!

Brothers E and LM ended up celebrating Christmas twice since they moved over to Casa II, (the big boys home, the next morning for Christmas day!)

I was so glad to be a part of their celebration this year!

We would especially like to thank all of you who are so generous to us over the Christmas season (as well as throughout the year!). You are directly investing into the lives of each and everyone of our boys and girls!

Birthday!

2013-12-15T06:49:00.000-08:00

This post is a little late in coming, considering Sh's birthday was November 16th, but the pictures are too fun not to share!

The birthday girl was very excited. She requested a princess themed party and asked that the boys NOT be invited!

Greeting her party guests. All of the volunteers were able to make it!

Tia Hannah really delivered on the Princess theme with this fun Pink Castle Cake!

Getting ready to take a bit of the cake. I LOVE this picture of B and SH (Sisters). B's expression is trying to portray the fact that she ISN'T planning to push her older sisters head into the cake : )

A Bolivian tradition!

A few more party guests : )

'A' the oldest of the girls decided she was going to be the party 'payasa' or clown!

Everyone wanted to help out with the babies in attendance : )

It was a special day and I'm so glad that I got to share it with this special girl!

School Festivities Part 2

2013-11-19T07:26:00.000-08:00

The highlight of the day, was when our three youngest boys performed!

Here are 'J' and 'D' waiting to dance!

'B' did SOOOO well. I was very impressed!

So handsome and so well behaved!

Having TONS of fun!

I'm so glad that I could be there to see this fun event!

School Fesivities!

2013-11-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

The school year is coming to an end which means it's time for some fun!

Last week I was able to attend a presentation at the school that most of our 'grandes' attend.

'B' was looking lovely and very Bolivian for her classes song.

The kids lining up. How many CDA kids can you spot??

'M' was supposed to dance with his class, but somehow disappeared right before they were supposed to begin. Though if you know him, it's probably not a huge shock that he didn't want to dance in front of the whole school....I can't blame him.

'E' has got to be one of our most charming children. It's adorable to watch him flit around the school, chatting with anyone that he sees!

'J' and I waiting for her classes recorder song.

'J.K' on the far bottom left performing a percussion number.

.....to be continued

My Baby (...sort of) Part 2

2013-11-12T06:37:00.000-08:00

"E" is now 2 1/2 years old. From what I'm told he's a bit of a troublemaker at the Baby House. He's now the oldest of the 'babies' and his taking his role as the older brother pretty seriously!

He is unofficially being prepped to move up the the older boys house, probably sometime in the next few months. Considering he's the biggest at the baby home, he seems pretty small when the big boys are around.

He had some problems with his pants last Sunday during a visit to the boys house. Between his lack of pants, and his apparent adoration of this poor kitten, it was a pretty hilarious picture!

It's the socks! SOOO FUNNY!

It's so fun to watch the adorable baby turn into a fun and precocious child! I can't wait to see how he continues to grow and change!

Please pray for him! We don't know what the future looks like for sweet "E". If there is a family for him, please pray that they will come quickly, as to not miss this precious part of his life! Please also be in prayer for the staff and volunteers that work with him everyday. Give them (us) patience and wisdom!

THANKS!!

Kaley

My Baby (...sort of) Part 1

2013-11-08T06:21:00.000-08:00

It's been more than three years since my first trip down to Cochabamba and over that time I've gotten to know many wonderful kids.

Some of those kids have moved on to join families all over the world, some of them have been adopted by families in Coch or by staff members of CDA, and some kids are still here with us in one of our four 'hogares'.

During my second trip to Cochabamba, there was a Scabies outbreak at the baby home. If you don't know much about scabies, I'll just go ahead and tell you that it's miserable and very difficult to get rid of!

At this point I was living at Casa Dos, the big kids home and we were somehow saved from getting the plague!

One day, during the epidemic, Jennifer was telling the volunteers about a new baby that had arrived and how a family from our church had offered to foster the baby for a while so that she wasn't introduced to the scabies. It was a good temporary situation while the staff and volunteers were working to get rid of the contagious skin infection.

After hearing the story I told Jen that if anymore babies arrived and needed a place, I would be happy to foster one at the big kids house for a week or two. I figured it would be good for the older kids to have a baby around, and they could even help take care of him. (I also assumed it would be about a two week stay at the most!)

The next day, I got a call from Jennifer asking if I had been serious about my offer to foster a baby, because she had one for me. That afternoon, Three-month-old "E" arrived, and he stayed with us at Casa Dos for 6 weeks!

"E" went everywhere with me! Church, choir practice, Bible study, Spanish school, not to mention all of my CDA shifts!

There were a lot of bottles, a lot of diapers and a lot of sleepless nights. It was a completely new experience for me, to be entirely in charge of a tiny human being!

I had to take "E" to the baby home once the scabies were gone. I wanted to keep him with me, but there were several reasons why that wasn't best. For one, I wasn't going to be in Bolivia forever, and the longer I spent 'mothering' this baby, the harder it would be on both of us when I left. He was also (in a way) getting spoiled. He had my undivided attention at all times and the sad truth was that eventually he would move into the baby home, which is arguably the best baby home in the city, but still could never compare to the love and care of a parent.

Finally, it wouldn't have been fair to the older kids at Casa Dos for me to keep "E" any longer. I was living with the big kids and still working my shifts, but all of my extra time was going to this little one, which wasn't a bad thing, but I had made a commitment to work with the older kids and I wasn't able to do everything I wanted with them when the majority of my time was going to infant care!

I LOVED having "E" with me. When I left in 2011, "E" was set to be adopted but like so many cases, it fell through. "E", my baby is still with CDA and it's amazing to see how he's changed and grown over these three years.

....to be continued

Once Again....

2013-11-04T17:15:00.000-08:00

I'm back in Cochabamba! Again!

My long trek to Bolivia went very well. I had no trouble with flights or missing luggage or my entry visa. Thank you all for praying for a safe trip!

I feel like I've been able to fall right back into life here in Bolivia, and am really looking forward to the next few months!

A delicious welcome cake made by Volunteers Katrina and Ashley

The night I arrived a made a quick visit to the boys house to say hello. It was SOOO great to be there with them, even for a few minutes!

It was great to see how much everyone had grown during my 6 month absence!

The boys were pretty excited to catch me up on ALL of the latest news in their lives!

The biggest news was that the house cat had given birth to some kittens. CRAZY!

It felt so normal to be back at the boys house! I didn't want to leave!

I'm so excited that I get to spend more time with these precious boys!

Thank you for all of your prayers!

Kaley

Happy Birthday!

2013-03-12T07:10:00.000-07:00

Last week we were thrilled to be able to celebrate 'E's' 8th birthday.

Presenting the birthday boy!

Here I am!

He has been counting down the days 'til his birthday since I arrived in October! He was very excited.

Looking pretty grown up!

He really didn't want his face pushed in the cake, so instead he very politely bit into it.

I guess I only got pictures of the cake. But the day included presents, tacos, all the girls coming for lunch and visits from the volunteers.

All in all, it was a success!

First Day of School!

2013-03-08T06:54:00.000-08:00

Well, after a fun summer vacation, a few weeks ago it was time to head back to school. Here are a few pictures of the boys as they started getting ready!

B was a little sleepy, he wanted me to let him put the belt on his pants before he put his pants on. After a summer of sleeping in, he's not enjoying these early mornings!

Still working on the pants.

Almost ready, just missing the shoes!

Socks and Shoes

D, not so sure how he feels about this early morning photo op.

But the ever photogenic E will show him how it's done!

All ready!

And what better reward to being ready for school early? A few ipod games?!

School is now in full swing and we're getting better at the 5:30am wake up calls!

Please pray for the kids as they go to school. Pray that they will continue to do will and learn quickly!

Thanks!

Kaley

Mowing....

2013-03-05T06:21:00.000-08:00

This past saturday I was really missing the Sweetwater team as I looked out at my lawn and was met once again with a jungle!

Dan and Al working so hard in the yard! (above)

But thankfully I didn't have to tackle this project on my own. I had 8 more than willing helpers!

And with a little supervision we got the job done!

The Team!

2013-03-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Time has once again gotten away from me and my recent lack of blogposts is proof of that! Lots has happened since I last posted (in January!). One of the biggest things was the Sweetwater team!

It was so amazing for me to be able to share my life here in Cochabamba with members of the church family in such a hands on way!

So here are some highlights of the trip.

One of the biggest blessings that the team brought us was through the VBS that they put together for all of the big kids of CDA. Above shows the kids singing for the team before we began a day of VBS.

Everyday there was some fun snack (sometimes with cool food that was imported all the way for the USA) that had to do with that days Bible lesson. Foot shaped sandwiches over a sea of blue twizzlers depicting Jesus walking on the water, a treasure hunting trail mix, etc.

This was a favorite snack. Fish that each child had to 'catch' themselves and put into their little boat!

It was lots of fun! Even Tia Ana Maria wanted to join in!

Of course we also had Bible Story time where the kids learned about the theme for the day. (below)

And then came crafts. Boats, canons, treasure maps, super cool working light houses and so much more!

Once VBS was done, the team started on work projects. We painted, fixed various electrical and plumbing problems, painted, attached the jungle that was our backyard, painted and helped the tias around the house.

I somehow don't have any pictures of the painting project (there are some on Facebook) but I was so impressed and grateful for how hard the team was willing to work! THANKS GUYS!

They were able to sand, prime and paint all three boys bedrooms that really needed some help. We are all enjoying the pretty new rooms!

The rest of the time was filled hanging out with the House 2 and 3 kids. Spending some time at House 1 with the babies and seeing a little bit of Cochabamba.

The team was also able to help with the seasonal task of CDA newsletter stuffing and labeling. They were such fast workers!

Another really cool outcome of the trip is that two of the team members (Tia Gretchen and Tia Mary) decided to sponsor CDA kids!

Mary is now the proud sponsor of 5 year old 'D'

I think they were both pretty happy about that!

And Gretchen decided to sponsor precious 7 year old 'S'.

Child sponsorship is such a special thing and it's so neat to be able to personally know the child your are sponsoring! To learn more about our sponsorship program, you can get in touch with Denise at denise@casadeamor.org

It was an awesome trip. The goodbyes were hard on both Tios and Kids alike, but I'm so glad that everyone was able to have this time together. The kids are going to remember this group for a long time and I'm sure the team will not soon forget them!

Please continue to pray for the kids as they are growing and changing everyday. Pray that they will grow not only in stature but also in wisdom, so that when they are grown they will not turn from this foundation that we are building in them now.

THANK YOU! Thanks to the team for coming and working so hard and thank you church family for supporting them and enabling them to come!

Kaley

Who's Cooking?

2013-01-22T05:44:00.001-08:00

What's more fun than cooking with a brood of children? Now a days, anytime I step foot into the kitchen I have several volunteers who would love nothing more than to hep!

So last week, we decided to make empanadas!

It was fun to use fresh Basil from my garden!

Here is our houses #1 helper, whether you're cooking, cleaning, organizing or just having fun, this little boy has no desire other than to help!

And here he is enjoying the fruits of his labors!

I'll be blogging more frequently now that we've made it through the holidays.

I'm getting really excited and a little stressed for the team to arrive! One week from today!!! It's unbelievable, please pray for them as they make their final plans and get packing!

Also, in the next week a lot of changes are going to happen here at CDA 2 (more details to follow) so please pray for us as we make plans and prepare the kids for all the changes to come.

Thanks!

Kaley

Happy New Year!

2013-01-03T08:09:00.001-08:00

Well, we wanted to do something special to ring in the new year here at Casa 2, and what's more special than a bonfire complete with S'mores????

The smores were a BIG hit!

Although the Tia-Sanctioned Playing with fire was also quite appreciated!

Even Tia Luz got in on the Smores action!

This scalliwag kept coming back for more and more, and I kept asking him "Aren't you full yet? You really want more??"

What I didn't realize was that he was collecting smores in a bowl that he brought out when we all sat down to watch a movie, he had NINE smores! All of the other kids (who had eaten their smores outside while making them) we SOOO jealous!

Sadly, the precious child pictured about (J) is having some amoeba trouble and under doctors orders is not supposed to eat sweet things, so he was only given one marshmallow. But he really savored it!

These pictures really remind me of the campfire I had with some of these same kids almost a year ago!

Boys Night In: Campfire!

After smores, it was movie time! And so we of course had to make some popcorn.

As the Tia on duty, I figured I would let them watch movies until they fell asleep and then carry them off to their beds. BUT, All 13 of the kids were still WIDE AWAKE at midnight! I couldn't believe it! So we counted down the new year and went off to bed, listening to the eruption of fireworks across Cochabamba. We could even see some from the boys bedroom windows which was pretty special!

It was a fun night, and I'm so glad that I could be here with these kids!

In other news, time is passing SOOO quickly here! I can hardly believe that in less than a month the SCC team will be here! Please pray for them as they continue making plans and prepare to make this big trip!

Please continue to pray for these kids and for the Tias that care for them.

Happy New Year!

(Here's a little video of our smore making, I didn't realize until I already posted it that it's sideways, and considering how long it took to upload, I'm not doing it again!)

Kaley

Christmas Day!

2012-12-29T05:43:00.001-08:00

And for my final Christmas post, here's a run down of our day!

The morning started out with the wonderful Booher family bringing us a tray of fresh out of the oven cinnamon rolls, which was amazing!

Merry Christmas to me!

And next, presents! For the morning Christmas activities, the kids opened the gifts that they bought for each other in the Christmas Shop we went slowly one at a time which I felt made it more special. The kids were able to thank each other for the presents and really appreciate them.

But before presents could be opened, of course, dishes had to be done!

So much fun!

(The puppy was not a Christmas gift, though the kids wished it was! In actual fact it's Tia Elena's new little baby)

After cinnamon rolls, presents, flying kites it was time for lunch! And we had Tacos! Delicious!

After lunch there were Christmas naps, and then Jen, Jake the Boohers and Camilla came over to continue the Christmas festivities which included more presents and delicious treats!

All in all, it was an awesome Christmas and I think we all had a great time!

Kaley

Christmas Kites!

2012-12-28T09:16:00.000-08:00

One of the items in our little Christmas shop were these fun kites!

I would say that they were the favorite Christmas present of the year and for only 4bs (appx $0.60) there were a pretty good deal!

They were so excited that they had to pause opening presents in order to go and fly them!

M. Really had the hang of it!

Kites, kites everywhere!

Check out this little video!

What an awesome Christmas morning!

The Christmas Shop!

2012-12-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

So for the three days leading up the Christmas, Elena and I (Elena did almost all the work) put together a little Christmas VBS (for lack of a better description)

Each afternoon we played Christmas themed games, listened to the Christmas story, memorized Bible verses and did crafts.

During these activities the kids had the opportunity to earn money (fake money!) for memorizing verses, or answering questions about the Bible stories, or winning games or just for good behavior. Then, on Christmas Eve, we put together our Christmas shop!

The kids were able to come in one at a time and buy toys, clothes and stuffed animals for the other kids. It was so fun to have them pick things out for each other!

There were also gifts for the Tias!

Once they were purchased, the kids helped wrap up the presents. Here's the pile!

All sorted out!

More to come soon!

Stockings!

2012-12-26T07:41:00.002-08:00

In my mind, Something is missing from the Christmas experience if (besides the joy of the season and Jesus humbling himself and coming to earth) there is not a stocking with your name on it full of candy and small gifts!

So after a trip to La Cancha with Elena, we got started.

Actually, I had been under the impression that the sewing machine at House 2 was not working, but after the first half of the stockings I thought I should at least give it a try. After a bit of tinkering it worked like a dream, and me and some special little helpers finished them up in no time!

A stack of finished stockings.

All lined up and ready to be filled!

And here we are, Christmas morning, ready to open them up!

Merry Christmas!

Advent Calendar

2012-12-24T07:23:00.000-08:00

Something I really wanted to do with the kids this Christmas Season was some sort of advent calendar, to mark the days until Christmas as well as learn the story of Christmas a little bit better, so this is what we came up with!

And here it is up until the 22nd, it got pretty colorful but the kids loved being able to make their own versions of the characters in the Christmas story.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Time is Here!

2012-12-22T07:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! The days here in Cochabamba are FLYING by! And we are definitely in the Holiday spirits.

We had a great time decorating our Christmas trees:

Please pray for the kids over the Christmas season. It saddens me to think that these kids have never known a Christmas like one from my childhood. A Christmas full of family and tradition.

We're having fun with Christmas cookies, and carols and activities, but please pray that the importance of Christmas, the 'reason for the season' will be pressed onto their hearts in a meaningful way that will stick with them throughout their lives!

Merry Christmas!

A Lovely Afternoon Snack

2012-12-10T11:49:00.005-08:00

We have been enjoying some lovely weather here lately (Though the rain is on its way!).

A while back, we had a great snack of oranges and honey (it sounds weird, but it's delicious!).

Kaley

Orange Juice Assembly Line

2012-12-05T05:09:00.000-08:00

Well, school vacations have begun and we are trying to stay busy here at house 2! (Idle hands and all that!) So yesterday we decided to take advantage of some of the awesome fresh fruit we have at our disposal!

Such hard-working and mostly concentrated workers!

Somehow the above scoundrel managed to get out of helping but decided to stop by for a picture...

Great Face!

And the juice was delicious!

Please pray for us over the rest of the 'summer' vacation as we look for fun ways to keep the kids busy and happy!

Kaley

The Wedding (Casa 2 version!)

2012-12-02T06:26:00.000-08:00

Hello internet! We have been without the world wide web here at Casa 2 for a few weeks and it's soooo nice to have it back!

I'm excited to get the blogposts started up again, and this is a pretty big one.

This past Friday, Jennifer Thompson the directer/founder of Casa de Amor got married! So I thought I would share the house 2 perspective of the big day with you all!

All of the House 2 kids were participating in the wedding so we had a lot of work to do to get them ready!

Getting her hair done!

Letting the nail polish dry!

All of the clothes were organized meticulously so that the 'getting ready' time could go as smoothly as possible.

Clothes please!

The boys were on the ball! They got ready extremely quickly and were rewarded with a movie! (They thought it was a special treat, but really it was a tricky ploy to keep them from getting messy!)

Tia Ely doing some awesome hairstyles!

Everyone's ready!

Finishing Touches!

Pretty Cute!

And we made it! As soon as we arrived the first job was an as always difficult group picture together with the house 1 babies....

It came out pretty well!

And now waiting to walk down the isle.

And here we go! They all did really well! L.J. age 9, B. age 5

M. age 8, Jz. age 5

A. age 9, E age 7

J.K. age 7, D. age 5

And the girls!

Sisters, B. age 6 and Sh. age 7

A. age 9, J. age 9

And standing up.

The girls.

The Bride and her Father

We were dismissed after the first half of the ceremony so we sat at the back to watch the rest.

Tia Sarin with her family.

Sh. after throwing some confetti!

And time for the reception.

Some pretty great hamburgers.

Having fun!

Tia Ely with her husband.

Tia Sarin and Tian Ana Maria with there babies (and L.J)

Me with the Tias!

And my little Jz. He turned out to be quite a dancer! (I'm hoping to put up a video soon)

Re-united!

And the evening ended with fireworks. They were loud!

But pretty cool!

Well it was a beautiful wedding and the kids were all excited to be part of it!

Things are going really well and I want to thank you all for your continuous pray and support. Time is FLYING by! I can't believe that the SCC team will be here in just under 2 months! And I can't believe that I've been here for 2 months already!

More to come soon!

Kaley

Inconspicuous?

2012-11-20T12:17:00.000-08:00

I don't love standing out while I'm here in Bolivia, but somehow, when I was walking down the street with one blond American, a redheaded Danish girl, and a crazy tall blond Dutch girl, all of whom were toting small Bolivian children; there was no way to be inconspicuous!