Archive for Guatemalan adoption
Friday Morning Hike in the Mountains
Posted by: | CommentsFriday morning we left for a two hour hike, up the mountain near our home, with 14 kids, five dogs and six adults. This was the first hike on this trail which is steep going up and not much easier going down. Our youngest hikers were three years old and the oldest was me (but you won’t get my age). What a gorgeous morning. We have had some rain, so everything was green. There were lots of little buggies out, which made the kids very happy. On the entire two hour walk, no matter how steep it was, not one child whined about being tired, thirsty or wanted to go home. In fact they wanted to keep climbing. The kids have lots of space to run at the children’s home but our Friday afternoon hikes take them out from behind our big wall and into the countryside. It is isolated and rarely do we see anyone on the hikes. And the best part, it is free.
The kids filled my pockets with treasures, as you will see in the photos. Our gardener, Juan José, identified all the seeds and plants the kids brought back. The children are going to plant some of the seeds to watch their treasurers grow.
Our hikes give the children an opportunity to “talk while we walk”. Most of the kids have a zillion questions about the world around them. This time gives us the opportunity to spend quality time with our oldest kids and is invaluable to them. We can never replace a family for these children but we can try and get as close as possible to being their family until they are able to have their own. Enough love, attention, food and education is costly but the investment is well worth it.
It is always nice that we can find things to do for free, since running our children’s home is expensive. We continue to need your support in every way. If you would like to make a financial donation to our children’s home please click HERE.
Have a wonderful week, from all of us at Semillas de Amor!
Monday and Two Red Wagons
Posted by: | CommentsMonday morning greeted the kids with two new red wagons! It just seemed liked the kids were missing wagons. Every Friday we take long walks into the surrounding countryside so the wagons are perfect to pick up worn out stragglers. Maybe, if we are lucky, we can get some harnesses and have the dogs pull the kids. The wagons were a huge hit with the kids. Maybe not so much with the adults since they were pulling the kids around. We had lots of kids pushing, but they were actually hanging on a bit more than pushing. The wagons will give the kids a good chance to learn about waiting patiently in line for their turn. Something the kids really need to learn. The wagons are lots of fun and perfect for the kids (sturdy, unbreakable).
Despite the lack of rain our garden continues to thrive. Our tomatoes are growing fast and we are keeping our fingers crossed they don’t acquire the nasty black fungus that killed our last crop. Lots of broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, swiss chard, herbs and a crop of pumpkins. Our sunflowers are ready to harvest and soon we will have roasted and salted sunflower seeds to munch on.
Getting the electricity continues to be a huge problem. Some days it seems we are close and other days it seems like it will never happen. Not having electricity has put a huge stress on us but we function with our generator six hours a day. Soon we will have our solar perimeter lights (more on that when they arrive).
We continue to move forward with our preschool for the little ones in the children’s home and as funds become more solid we will invite some children from the surrounding community. We still depend on and count on your generosity to keep us moving forward and the kids thriving. Please click HERE if you would like to help the kids.
Have a wonderful week from all of us at Semillas de Amor!
Happy Independence Day Guatemala!
Posted by: | CommentsMonday we celebrated Guatemala’s Independence Day. The celebration was extra special since it was our very first celebration since moving into the children’s home in February. And what a day we had. There was music, dance, presentations, typica food, cake and we ended the day with the kids carrying the torch from the park in Parramos all the way back to the children’s home. The joy on the faces of the children was priceless as we honored their country. It has been a very rough 20+ months for us at Semillas. Financial hardships, harassment by the Guatemalan government, facing an uncertain future. However, the independence day celebration brought us all together. Those of us, “still left standing”, are the ones committed to the kids and the work.
Without the support of all of you out there we would have closed our children’s home months ago. To keep us going, to keep the kids thriving, if you so desire, you can make a tax deductible donation HERE
The video is dedicated to all of you, “out there” who believe in our work and care about our kids and their futures. Thank you from all of us.
Dia de la independencia Guatemala, Semillas de Amor from Nancy Bailey on Vimeo.