June Birthdays!

Paúl and José David were born on the same day, June 2, but a year apart!! José David is now 3 and Paúl is 4! Joy and I decided at the last minute to throw them a birthday party! We went to town and got several different kinds of cake and other goodies! It was a special time for them, and all the kids enjoyed it....even when Jhonatan kept feeding Jonah cake!!! Enjoy the pictures!

Our Happy Birthday banner...actually made for Bonnie, but we recycled it!

Paúl and Zuleyca with their goodies!!

José David eating his goodies....pausing for a moment with Tia Amy!

What a sweet birthday boy!

José David getting more cake with Tia Joy!

Zuleyca is finally NOT scared of the "cocodrilo"...crocodile!!

Bubbles!!!!!!!

Recent Volunteers.....sorry this is REALLY late!

Well, the month of June was filled with LOTS of volunteers! When I came back from home, I met up with Joel's brother, his family, and 2 neat guys at the airport. Then at the bus station the next day, we all met up with Travis and Bonnie, friends of Robyn and Joel's! So there were LOTS of gringos on the bus ride, and to top that all off, a missionary's wife who goes to our church was on the bus with her little one too! I haven't seen so many gringos on one bus, other than coming with Robyn's youth group!!! When I arrived, Joy was still there from England! YEAH!!! She was such a blessing to take over my class for me! A few days after getting there, Travis and Bonnie left for Cusco, and then Darrel came. A few days later, Bonnie came back after seeing Travis back off to the States. He had to get back to work. Then a few days after that......Joel, Robyn, Joel's brother and his family left to go to Cusco while Ben and Bryson went back home. Then while Joel and Robyn were gone, Darrel left, then Bonnie left the day after the Hansons got back!!! SOOOO this is just part of our volunteers! We now have 5 girls from Hillsdale College with us for a total of 5 weeks, and then we had Heather (a previous volunteer) for a little over a week. We have had a full house at the orphanage.....oh I can't forget another special person! Mr. Miller came to visit us for a couple weeks!!! It was great to see him again! He did do a little bit of work on the water project in Alto Salaverry while he was here. He left yesterday, to my knowledge! Here are pictures of our recent volunteers (I have pictures of everyone but a close-up of Heather and Mr. Miller.):

Joel's Family and friends....with Bonnie and Milagros (a step-in madre)
From left to right: Joel, Laurie, Micah, Milagros, Bryson, Jeff, Jonah, Ben, and Bonnie

I just have to say that these two boys look a lot a like!!
Tio Ben and José David

Micah and Jonah were great helpers with Kinder while they were here!!!
From left to right: Jonah, Edwin, Alisson, Paúl, José David Erika, Jhonatan, Micah, with Tia Amy and Zuleyca in the front!

Bonnie covering all the books that Laurie brought!!!

Tia Joy and José David! He LOVED going up the ladder to the slide and coming down with Joy!

The kids really enjoyed Joy being their "caballo", which is a horse!
Here she is with Dani and Paúl!

Here Darrel is fixing our screens and our doors! He even put a new handle on one of the doors! He was a great handyman for a couple weeks! I do have to say that Darrel and I had some great adventures into town on micros, taxis, and an interesting lunch!!!

Darrel was LOVED by all the kids! He fixed ALL the bikes! They were so excited to have them to ride again! He spent a lot of time in this workshop with Elias!

The 5 Amigas!
From left to right: Katie, Gretchen, Betsy, Kristina, and Emily

Back to the Kiddos!

While I was at home another volunteer took over my class! Her name is Joy and she is from England! She had a blast with them and did an WONDERFUL job with them. She painted with them a lot, which I don't tend to do a lot of because I am not an artistic person.....as Mom would LOVE to tell you about my childhood and art! They made guitars with string and paper, painted with their hands, created their faces, and I am sure much more! In the afternoons we have an art project of some sort with Joy or go to the sand dunes! They REALLY enjoy climbing the sand dunes, and it gives us exercise and releases A LOT of energy the kids have!! Zuleyca hasn't made it up to the sand dunes with us, but hopefully by the time Joy leaves in 3 weeks, she will have gone up part of the way! (Being that I am posting this REALLY late, Zuleyca has gone up the sand dunes with Joy and rarely wanted help! What a little trooper!!!) Here are some pictures of us going to the sand dunes:

Oh the trek!! Where Edwin is standing, is the hardest and steepest part of all the sand dunes! José David kept saying "owww" because it is kinda rocky. So I led the way and Joy helped him as I made soft sand for his cute little feet!!
From bottom to top: José David, Edwin, Heather, Erika, Paúl, and Alisson.

The view of the orphanage from the top of the sand dunes!

Tia Joy and Edwin

Tia Amy and Edwin at the top of the sand dunes!!!

The kids climbing the smaller sand dune.

José David and Amy

Kinder at the top of the sand dunes....except Zuleyca wasn't able to go:(
From left to right: Jhonatan, Amy, Paúl, Erika, Alisson, José David, and Edwin

Jerson's Last Day!!!

Jerson came to us the end of November. He was in the custody of his father and was handed over to us. After being with us for 7 months, he gets to go and live with his mother! We all pray this is a great situation for him! He is a crazy kid, but full of love!!! He will be missed a lot!!!

Jerson getting ready to go home to his mother!

Jerson and Tia Amy....I really love this picture of us!

Tia Betsy, Italo and Jerson....she is also known as Tia "Pepsi"!

Jerson and his mother!.....reunited again!

Adoptions!!!

Well there have been 3 adoptions since I got back! What an awesome event in these kids' lives!!!

CAROLINA...aka Carlito!!

"Father", Carolina, and "Mother"

"Father," Carolina, and "Mother"

Carolina was adopted before I got back, which was sad because I didn't get a chance to say "goodbye", but then we saw her with her new family in town a few days later! That was a lot of fun! Carolina is 10 years old and has such a great little chuckle. She is headed to Italy soon, and I believe she is an only child, which is different with LOTS of "brothers" and "sisters" here at the Albergue!

ISAIAS....a very cute boy!

"Father," "Mother," and Isaias

What a cute family!!

Isaias was adopted Friday, June 20! He is 5 years old and full of energy. I didn't even see this coming so fast. I knew when I was at home that Isaias was in the process of being adopted by a Peruvian family, but I didn't know when this would take place. The Kinder class, myself, Joy, and Kristina (another volunteer here for 5 weeks) were at the Ranch for a "paseo" (fieldtrip)!!! While we were baking oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, Isaias was being adopted. I found out the next day by the other volunteers. Normally we would have been told right away and given some time to say "bye" to him. That is ok though! He is with a new family living in Lima, and that is what we really want for these kids. To have parents who love them and will take care of them!

VANESSA....a smile you couldn't forget!

"Tia," Vanessa, and her "Sister"(I think!!)

Vanessa was adopted Saturday, June 28! Her aunt(tia) adopted her. I am not sure where she will be living, but she was SOOO excited! I pray that if she isn't living in a Christian home, that she will still continue to read the Bible and be Jesus to that family. I don't know if she made a decision to accept Christ as her Lord and Savior, but if she hasn't, I pray that she will someday! She is 10 years old and will need some speech therapy, but has so much love to give you! She has such a desire to learn English also! She did what she could to learn English all the time. She always asked questions, and if she will just put the passion she has for English towards Christ, I can't even imagine what impact she will have on her new family!

More Videos of Kinder!!

This is really special to me because Grandma and I used to hand out these little Bibles when I was a younger, and I still have some that she gave to me before she died. A lady came with a group of people and handed them to these little ones! They think they are the best thing ever and they "read" from them everyday. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do! They do know several verses in the Bible, and really enjoy saying them when you give them a chance....even at such a young age!!

Here are the kids singing the B-I-B-L-E in English.

Here are the kids quoting Hebrews 13:6 "The Lord is my Helper".....except in Spanish!
"El Señor es mi ayudador....Hebreros 13: 6"

Presentations!!!

Most of you knew that I was blessed to present what God has been doing through me at Hogar de Espernanza at 3 different churches! Even though I was a little nervous, it went well! On Sunday, May 18th, I went to Rayville Christian Union Church in the morning, and the evening I went to Mt. Calvary Baptist. I can't express how much it means to me that I got to speak at the churches who has supported me throughout the journeys God has led me on. Just to hear how Mt. Calvary started with Grandma being an answer to their prayer, and how she has been an example in my life......teaching me to go into all the world telling the good news of Jesus Christ! And then getting an opportunity to carry out her seed and tell the ones who was with the starting of Mt. Calvary....it was so exciting!! I really enjoyed sharing to RCUC, for they have been there every step of the way since 2004 when I went to India with YWAM! Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share what God has been doing through me over the past few months! Also my neighbor mentioned to the leaders of his church, First Christian Church of Kearney, MO, that I was coming home and what God has been doing through me over the past years, and asked if I could speak at their church. On May 25th, I shared at their 8AM service, which was a blessing! I knew a few of the people there because Kearney is my hometown. Thank you so much for those who gave to the kids by buying jewelry, and to the orphanage by buying cards! They were really blessed! I did give a short informal presentation to some of Mom's coworkers while I was home! They have been such a blessing to these kids here from providing clothes for the garage sale, to buying them Christmas presents, and then providing them an opportunity to learn to play piano by buying a keyboard.....and of course helping them by buying jewelry and cards! If anyone is interested in more jewelry or cards, please let me know because I can send some back with a group that is coming in July! Thanks again! May God bless you abundantly!!!! Here are a few pictures of the presentations:

Amy at Grandma's church,
Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Richmond, MO

Amy speaking at Grandma's church