Christmas in Bolivia

Time sure does fly!  I can't believe we've just celebrated our second Christmas in Bolivia.  This year brought lots of new and exciting firsts for our family.  We realized that none of our kids (except Madison) had ever experienced Christmas quite like this.  It was so much fun teaching the children the true meaning of Christmas, watching the magic of Christmas on their faces and seeing them just be kids. 

Christmas morning reading the story of the Savior's birth.

We have been talking for weeks about what Christmas is.  We reiterated it with reading the Christmas story first thing Christmas morning.  Pray for the seeds that have been planted over the past few weeks.

After reading about the birth, we opened gifts.  What a sight!  It didn't take long for everyone to catch on.  The excitement in the room was incredible.  Check out some of the photos:

Kat working on gift #1

That look is priceless!

JK excited about his new cars

Ali wasn't sure what to think...

And a very excited Candi with her Barbi

And of course, princess Madison had a blast opening her gifts as well:

A few other shots:

We also enjoyed a great feast for lunch that we got to share with several other missionary friends here in Cochabamba.

A few other holiday highlights:

We participated in a luncheon honoring all of the hard working Tias of Casa de Amor 



Christmas celebration for all CDA kids provided by a local Bolivian family.

Madison welcomed her new cat, Bella, to the family.

And I must give proper credit for the team of semi-professionals who were responsible for decorating the tree. 

Our Christmas was truely a life-changing one.  Thank you for your support of our ministry.

Welcome Home!

After almost 24 hours of traveling, we made it back to Cochabamba safe and sound (and with all of our luggage)! The older kids made this fantastic welcome banner as well as some Christmas decorations for the inside of the house.

I'm not sure I've ever received such a warm welcome.  The kids were so excited to see us!

The kids were in very good hands while we were gone.  We are extremely grateful to Katrina and her service here at our home in our absence.  Check out her blog for some awesome stories and pictures of the kids.

A look back...

A few pictures of the past several months...

Birthdays and more Birthdays

With celebrating 3 birthdays in August and 1 in September, there has been lots of partying going on around here.  We started with Candi followed by Tammy and Madison in August and Jhon Kevin in September.

 

                         

La Canchita

The preschool that Madison and Jasmani attend does a great job teaching the children in fun and innovative ways.  In September, they converted the school into a replica of La Cancha, the world famous outdoor market located right here in Cochabamba.  Each class had their own section of "La Cancha" that they were responsible for and each child had the responsibility of selling his/her products.  The event did a great job teaching the kids the principles of buying and selling.  Each child also dressed up in traditional Cholito/a clothes.

A Trip To The Campo

On August 20th a group of about 35 people traveled 3 hours outside of Cochabamba to a small Quechua village for a 1 day mission trip.  The project included a small dental clinic, sharing of the gospel though making salvation bracelets, a time of sharing the Word and playing soccer with the kids. 

This woman lives in the village and is 100 years old.

A stop on the way up Mount Tunari

Some of the village houses

Some of the village ladies hearing the story of salvation while making salvation bracelets

This pit was used for cooking.  

They would put the food into pots with some of the hot rocks from the fire pit.

The pots then went back into the fire pit.

They covered the pit completely and an hour later we had lunch...

A few of us hiked to the top of a nearby mountain to check out an altar.  This is where they would offer sacrifices to  Pachamama, or Mother Earth the fertility god who presides over planting and harvesting.

The kids playing soccer

Toro Toro

I recently got to spend 2 days in Toro Toro National Park.  Toro Toro is about 150 kms from Cochabamba and home to some of the most beautiful scenery I've ever seen.  Although it was the most intense hiking I've ever done, it was an awesome time of renewal.  It was great to be able to be away and relax.  The pictures below don't even begin to show the beauty of the mountains.

Yes, we had to climb up a broken tree branch to get to where we were going.  What you can't see is that the ledge I'm standing on is very, very small and on the other side was nothing...You fall, you die!  Yikes!

Very narrow passage way

Dinosaur foot prints...they are scattered throughout Toro Toro

Found a great swimming spot at the bottom of the canyon...

Amazing waterfalls

Yep, we had to climb through that to get down...

Amazing!