Good News.

With the start of school we have all been busy getting back into the routine. I think the kids miss summer break. I miss summer break. :)

So I haven't been as good at taking pictures. They aren't as cute when they are doing math homework or mopping the floors. Ah, who am I kidding, they are always cute! But I just don't think to take pictures of them at that time.

We have good news to share. We have started construction on the transition home! We received a grant to finish building the top of the girls home so we could use it for our teens. We have 3 boys right now who are 18 and 19 years old. We are going to be teaching them independence and responsibility so they will be better equipped to live independently.

Before we started construction. I will try to take random pictures of the progress.

The teens are all pitching in to help with the construction. It is exciting for them, and for us, to see such progress every day. We also have some men from the rehab centre who have the chance to come over and help out and learn new things about construction.

Other good news. Willie and Don are coming to visit us for a week. Willie comes every year to visit our kids and Don has been here several times as well. The kids are very excited to have them visit us. Willie's wife, Connie, comes often as well but is unable to this time. She usually makes chili for the kids. Yesterday at lunch one of the kids told me that Willie was coming and we were going to have Chili Willie. :) Although this year Chici will be the one making the chili.

I know they will be very busy helping out with the construction as well.

Willie and Don will be here for 10 days and then we will have another small group coming for 10 days. Three ladies will be coming from a church that Chici and Victor spoke at while in the U.S. last time. We are excited to have visitors. The kids love it.

So February will be a busy but a fun month for us. I will be sure to take lots of pictures to share with you all.

God bless!

Happy Birthday to Victor!

Sorry I am running a little late on this post. Victor's birthday was on December 29. That morning Guadelupes family took Victor and Chici out for breakfast at Hotel Antigua.

Guadelupe, Otto, Annabella, Marisol, Camilla, Victor, Chici and Ernesto.

Happy birthday Victor! Cake for breakfast is always good. :)

That night the kids had a party for Victor.

Receiving a present from the girls.

And the boys all gave him cards.

We are blessed to have celebrated another birthday with him. We wish you many more Victor!

Happy Birthday to me!

I will make this one short. But it was finally my turn to have cake! My birthday was on Tuesday. I made a lasagna lunch for the kids and it was amazing! Victor helped me make the sauce and told me what to do with the cheeses and all the layers. It was perfect! And Chici made some really good garlic bread. One of our staff members told me that was his first time eating lasagna and now he loves it! He wanted the recipe.

Then Pat made me my cake. Yum!

There was no way I was going to blow this candle out!

They made me a card and everyone signed it. Edgar drew the whole thing.

They all know my love of Disney so they found some mickey head shaped ice cube trays. The little boys are coming over tomorrow for dinner and they want to be the first to use them.

That night my friend came over and brought dinner and an amazing German Chocolate Cake. So even though I missed my family and friends, I had a great birthday!

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was a nice day to relax (for those of us not cooking) and play with new toys. Everyone was able to sleep in and then just hang out after breakfast. I arrived about 12 with my friend Krista and the food preparation began:

Engler was helping me make a French Silk Pie. He loves to help in the kitchen.

Krista helping to melt the chocolate.

Phyllis, a friend from church, cutting the bread. It was good bread too!

Chici. Beautiful isn't she? She was the director of the food as well as a helper.

Pat and Bill making a mountain of mashed potatoes.

I helped with the food too. I promise! :) It was also a time to visit and play:

Anabella and her mom, Guadelupe.

Luis and his new remote control car.

Debora, Camila and Marisol.

Maria and Karla and their new dolls. Thanks to my mom for those!

Katerin is babysitting the rest of the dolls.

Antoni and his prized new Tonka!

Wesler and his new semi-truck with lights!

Denis.

Soccer. Of course.

And a little basketball.

Fernanda.

Patsy and Dessie. Patsy teaches our kids sewing and Dessie attends our church.

Playing with all the new remote control cars and trucks.

Otto, Adrian and Luis watching all the remote control action.

And then it was time to eat! I didn't get many pictures of that unfortunately. I was too busy eating! :)

"Patiently" waiting for lunch.

Visiting with Conchita. She is always a popular guest!

I very rarely am allowed to take pictures of the teens so I was impressed to be able to take this one of Miguel. The Christmas spirit must have been strong still at that point! :)

So that is the last of our Christmas pictures. We ate a fantastic meal and were blessed to have a lot of food and desserts. Pat made a couple of banana cream pies that they talked about for a couple of days. And my french silk pie was really good too!

Now that our kids are back in school it feels like this was all so long ago. But I wanted to share with you all how we celebrated our Christmas. God bless!

January Newsletter from Victor and Chici

Greetings to all friends and family,

Our holiday time went very well in the children’s home and in the rehab centers. There were presents, lots of good food and lots of time in good fellowship. We would like to thank all of you for all of your help in making this possible.

Chici and I were in the states from Nov. 26^th to Dec.9^th and we would like to give a special thank you to all of our friends and family that helped to make this time easy and special. When we go to the states we don’t have a place of our own or a car and there are friends and family that help us in these areas and we are grateful for everything that everyone has done for us. We are also thankful to all of the churches and supporters that give consistently to us and for your special gifts around the holiday time.

We have been awarded a grant of $30,000.00 to build a 2^nd story on the building where we have the girls home as a transition home for our 18 and older boys. This will have a separate entrance and will be a special program for our older boys. I hope to start the work in Jan. of 2011.

One thing that we do need special help with now is schooling for one of our older boys Miguel. Miguel has a sad past and we don’t know who his father is and his mother is around on the streets here in Guatemala but never comes to see him or his younger brother. Miguel has been with us for app. 8 years and is now 18 years old. You may remember he came to us with his older brother Martin who died a short while after being with us of a brain tumor. What has happened with Miguel is since he has been with us and his life has been stable, schooling, youth group, good food, medical (Miguel has a rare skin and joint disorder) home and love. We found out that Miguel excelled in his studies at school. So much that he won contests at a science fair and at a School Olympics Math contest between some of the major schools here in our area. The director of his school took an interest in him as he became an honor student at his graduation and won a small scholarship to continue his studies. Miguel said he wanted to study to become an digital electrician and the director of his school has paid Q3000.00 on the cost of app. Q9000.00. This means that his school costs are app. $1125.00 for the year and we have app. $400.00 of that money. Miguel does have a sponsor that helps out monthly but we still will have a debt of app. $500.00. If any one sees to help with Miguel’s schooling please send your check in and memo it Miguel’s schooling, thank you.

May God Bless you and your family abundantly, Victor and Chici Barbella

Miguel

Christmas Eve Part 3- Fireworks!

One of the traditions here in Guatemala is to set off firecrackers and fireworks at midnight on Christmas Eve. Of course, we could never ignore that! Victor went and bought a nice stash of firecrackers and fireworks and the kids (and Victor!) were eager to go outside and set them off.

The kids were able to let off these fire things that just shot intermittent sparks from the end of a tube.

Lesly

Wesler and my friend Krista who spent the holidays with us.

Chici and I.

Off to set off more fireworks.

Soon after the firecrackers ran out, the kids ran back inside to play with their new toys again.

Antoni.

Geovani with his new spiderman game.

I didn't make it much past 1 a.m. and went home to sleep. After a bit more playing, the kids went to bed too so they could be ready to eat the next day!

Christmas Eve Part 2

Christmas Eve afternoon we just spent time relaxing (me) and playing hard (the kids). We went to the church service that night and it was cold! I could see the backs of some of the kids sitting in their chairs and judging by their posture, there were several kids that were sleeping. After the service we had tamales (traditional food) and ponche (traditional drink) made by the church ladies.

Victor, Chici, my friend Krista and I left pretty soon afterward as we had to get the Home ready for Christmas! It was a lot of fun to pull out the bags and presents for each kid and arrange them in the living room. We cleared out the furniture so the kids could have lots of room to rip into their presents. :) The kids got home and we let them peek into their bags but not open them yet. We were waiting for Rodolfo to bring the big surprise that had been hidden at the men's ministry.

Fireworks just waiting to be blown up! We did let off a few while we were waiting for Rodolfo but the rest were being saved for midnight.

Chici gave them treat bags with chocolate and candy to tide them over for a bit. :)

Time to open presents:

Edgar and Angel.

Engler with his new Transformer. Brian and his team (from October) had brought down a Transformer for each of the younger boys.

Edgar.

Geovani.

Denis.

Noe and Miguel.

The big surprise! The teens had been wanting some weights to work out with. They were very happy with it. I have found them using it many times since Christmas.

The girls came out to have a peek.

More presents:

Luis.

A very happy Antoni with the Tonka he picked out on our trip to the City.

Wesler.

Geovani.

Katerine.

Lesly.

Wesler.

Jose.

Chici handing out presents and giving a kiss to Felipe. He doesn't allow this very often. A Christmas miracle! :)

Maria and her new doll. When my mom was here we found these Disney princess dolls and she bought one for each of the girls.

Fernanda and her doll.

The girls got a Wii!!! They were very excited. It was a nice and girly red color. :)

The boys received new games and more controls.

The teens have been asking for Need for Speed for quite a while.

It was a fun night. And it still wasn't over! Next we spent time shooting off firecrackers and fireworks at midnight. I will write about that in the next post.