Growing gardens

As promised! Pictures from the garden.

This is Nino and Cinthia doing some late night planting. We finally found some basil, oregano and tomatoes we could buy close to the Hogar and jumped on it.

This is Connie, Denise and Javiera. The sunflower have been the biggest hit in the garden. The seeds were a gift from a friend from Vilches and one of the girls ended up planting them all for me. The other girls got so jealous once they started growing so wild, and wanted to take some ownership too, so we finally 'gave' each girl a sunflower to take 'special care of' and watch grow. In Spanish sunflowers are called Maravillas, or 'wonderous' which seems perfect to me.

My favorite story recently from the garden is when the kids suggested they should pull the weeds growing up under the sunflowers. Cinthia, who has been helping us water and plant, was so torn, wanting to keep the garden up and help in every aspect, but also wanting to take care of every plant, including all our weeds. Finally the sentimental side won over and she defended the poor defenseless weeds, and besides, they looked so nice and pretty.

We've got some twine for a little fence in our garden to keep little feet from trampling the plants. The bicycles have added an extra challenge to it's stability, but when ever it falls down or gets pushed around the girls fix it right away and make sure everything is in it's place.

December & swinging into 2010

I have been meaning to write about our Chrismas season for a while. The well intended Christmas letter never got to the drawing board, and neither did the New Years letter. Now it is the end of January and we are already starting to work on our transition of leaving the Hogar. Our official last day will be February 15th and I try not to think about how that is in 3 short weeks.

So we'll stay in denial a little longer and share some Christmas stories! Our Christmas started early with the visit of my parents and sister Emily. We decided to celebrate Christmas on the beach and take advantage of the summer time. It was beautiful.

Here we are on Cerro San Cristobal. It's a large hill in the middle of Santiago with an open air chapel with a beautiful statue of the Virgin above. When you sit to have Mass here, there are flower beds between each row of benches. It is truly an amazing place.

Here is Cinthia with our Christmas Tree! I was nervous we wouldn't have one, but about a week before Christmas Sister pulled it out of the cellar. You've got to love the crooked star. I personally think it gave the tree a lot more character.

I couldn't imagine Christmas with out Christmas cookies. No snow and 90 degree weather... that was a stretch, but definately couldn't do without the cookies. It's not a big tradition here so I had to search out the little packets of spices and make some substitutes for gingerbread cookies. The girls had a blast and loved them!


New Years Eve we had the wonderful pleasure of being invited to our good friend Veronica's house. The party started about 7pm and we kept going strong until 5am. I tell you, they know how to party here in Chile. Then on New Years day we kept celebrating and eating more amazing food. It was so relaxing and felt just like home.
A new picture for 2010 of the girls in our house. Some faces have changed as they've been trying to mix the age groups more so that it feels more like a real family structure with older girls helping out the younger ones. They've been enjoying the summer months and vacation so much as have we. More time to relax with the girls and enjoy the little moments.

The dressers have Arrived!

The sisters were recently able to purchase 3 dressers/amours with the donation money that you all have helped to raise. They are beautiful, made of quality wood, and have deep drawers and shelves. The space was very much needed and we have filled them right up. They have made it easier for the houses to organize the girl's clothes as before the clothes were overflowing the store room, hard to get to, and the shelves were awkward and disorderly. Here's a picture of the new addition.When my family came to visit, my mom brought down some of letters that you all wrote in response to our fundraising letter. I was able to sit down and read them the other day. They were all so special and full of love and support. It touched my heart when I read that many of you were so happy for the opportunity to be a part of something so special. THANK YOU for your prayers, your generosity, and for wanting to be a special part of our little home.

Each time we talk with Sister Leonore about the donations she says, 'please tell everyone how thankful we are.' She also said, 'I would like to tell them directly but my English needs a lot of help.'

So thank you, thank you, thank you all, from the bottom of all our hearts!

A meeting of hearts

We had such an amazing time with with my folks and sister here for their visit. It was so much more than I had hoped for! They were able to meet so many of our amazing friends and family here in Chile. The sisters liked all of our ideas for spending time with the girls, and we were able to spend 3 amazing afternoons at the home. They loved each little activity from exploring the peas in the garden with Tio David (Kurt was a bit complicated of a name for most of the girls), to playing jacks, jumping rope, a rousing card game and especially TAKING PICTURES!!

Cinthia and Yenny came with us for the afternoon on the 2nd day and it was their first time eating in a restaurant for both of them. Then we went and rented go-carts in the plaza and turned it into a bumper car game! So much fun. The third day was towards the end of their trip, but we got a wonderful surprise. Joce was dancing at the kindergarden graduation so we all went with her to cheer her on. They did a Rock and Roll song and she cut a pretty mean rug for a 4 year old!

How amazing and special to be able to witness the meeting of hearts - over continents and hemispheres - between the family that inspired me to reach out and love, and these beautiful girls that fill our hearts with sweet kisses each day. Truly the best Christmas gift ever.

Check out more pictures here.

Chilean Carino

I was walking Tania home from School yesterday when I realized how many of the little idiosyncrasies of Chilean life have become so familiar to us, and give me a little tinge of peacefulness and happiness. We went to cross the crosswalk of a major thoroughfare that comes through Maipu. Two other people, one crossing to the West, and the other to the East, recognized each other excitedly. There was an energy in the air of happiness connecting them as they walked towards each other. Instead of waving or doing the head 'hey what's up' thing, they met right in the middle of the street, gave each other a kiss on the cheek and then went on their way to school or work, or grocery shopping. Sometimes I feel so blessed by the little moments that God lets us witness and enjoy with those around us, even with complete strangers.

Fun times and great plans ahead

Wow, we sure have had a crazy last couple of weeks. 2 Saturdays ago we got locked out of the main gate and secretly snuck in over the reja! I thought for sure we'd get caught, and the skirt and flip flops weren't helping matters much.

Last weekend we went down to the beach to check things out for my parent's and Emily's visit. We stayed at a beautiful old colonial home where the matron rented rooms for 10 dollars a person. We were quite excited about our great find until we realized that the owner was certifiably crazy in no uncertain terms. She wanted to spend all our time we were visiting the town there with US! She gave us a tour of her garden, tightly grasping my hand as she explained that she was evangelical, but that was ok, because we were still all brothers, even though some of us did worship idols... The best part was when she busted out her own rendition of an old hymn in her front parlor. Never a dull moment in Chile!

We're working with the sisters right now on figuring out when our last day at the home will be, and are hoping to be able to stay working with the kids through February. Then it's off to do some traveling in the South of Chile, and after that some Spanish classes to beef up the grammar side of things now that we've got lots of conversation time under our belts.

Making French Fries

Matt finally got a few of the girls in on the cooking action. The house we work in used to be exclusively the little girls, but they have decided to mix the age groups more to better reflect a true family. Cinthia and Abigail are our first 'older girls' that have moved over. They loved helping peel and cut the french fries. Looks like we've got some assistant Chefs! by the way, yes, Cinthia does have newspaper in her hair, they are her ingenious curlers for ringlets tomorrow.

VIDEO to come SOON!

Check out the new pictures too. I got some pictures of our pea garden (haven't had time to plant more yet!) Millaray's birthday, Our trip up into the mountains, some traditional Chilean bits (just for you Hughy), and some fun shots of the girls. Enjoy!