Plans For the Future

Many thanks to our friends from Christ Church Plano for their visit to help us plan for the future. This year we have six kids that will move up to Sagrada Familia. They are: Maricruz,Waldir,Hermelinda,Xavier,Adda Margooth,and Miguel Angel. However, we are out of room in our cabanas! So, as a stop-gap measure, we are considering joining the two cabanas together. We can squeeze two bedrooms in and that will give us just enough space to get through till next year.

What's That Word??

Vicki works with Diego and Manuel on English.

Splish, Splash!!!

The girls at Sagrada Familia just bought new bathing suits for the school trips to the pool. Big smiles all around!

Women's Retreat

Maria Perez, our director of San Jose, attended the women's retreat. Maria also is a seminarian and has completed 18 of the 20 courses to be a licensed Lay Minister. Always one to be involved, she assists at the altar some Wednesdays.

Judge

María Perez, director of Casa Hogar San José, was asked to be one of the dance judges this year. (No small committment as the dances can last 4 hours or more!) She attends the parents meetings, picks up the report cards, and checks regularly with the teachers on our kids´ progress. We try to fulfill the role of parents as best we can. Of course with 24 Casas kids in San Lucas, we represent about 13% of the enrollment. All our educadoras help out, too.

More Outfits

Danzas

As one would expect, the Casas kids participated in the dances. Costumes are rented and sometime cost up to a day´s wages! This is an item in the budget we keep raising each year! Parents are really pleased here when there kids do well. And we´re not talking a 3 minute "do-see-do," either! Waldir in garb.

San Lucas Eucharist

First communions were planned for San Lucas this past week. Due to doctors' appointments, Nestor was not able to play for the event and Vicki stepped in to pinch hit for him. It went very well and the kids behaved, too! We have 23 kids attending San Lucas now with our two smallest ones attending the preschool across the street from San José and Edgar and Giovanna who are in the PRONOE program. Can you pick some of ours out? They are all growing so fast!

Spelling B

Vicki and Padre judged the San Lucas spelling Bee yesterday. The kids select a word, read it, and then spell it in English. The judges were tough, but fair. "Hmmm...., how did you pronounce "K"? Was that "e" sound Spanish, or English? Hmmmm....."

Our secondary winner was Margot. (no surprise there!) And our primary winner was our Waldir who tied with a student named María de los Ángeles. The winners´ picture didn´t turn out! :(

Olympiad 2008

In celebration of San Lucas Day our Casas kids participated in the field day events. We had a raising of the Olympic flag, a run bringing in the Olympic torch (no one got burned!)and then races and futbol competitions. Padre Ron was a "padrino" for the 4th grade. We have Victoria, Marta, Hermelinda, Xavier, Miguel Ángel,Lizbeth, and Katiuska in that class. TRANSLATION: Padre got to buy a new soccer ball for their games. It was great fun and the kids enjoyed the out of doors.

Corazón con Esperanza

San José kids had a visit recently from Corazón con Esperanza, a medical group from the US that checks hearts and teeth. A great group, they quickly checked everyone out telling us that we needed a couple of extractions but everything else was fine!

Peruvian Roof Dog Run

Knowing that over 400 of our friends participated in the US Roof Dog Run. We did our own "marathon" event. "Run, kids, run!" We had races and then just some good play time at the park. Everyone enjoyed our outing. The kids were amazed that Tio Bob in the US was able to walk a mile so soon after his back surgery. We love you, Tios and Tias!

Today

Today is the ROOF DOG RUN!!! Please pray that everyone has a great time, is blessed with good fellowship, and is free from any injury. We are so blessed by your love! Run, Dogs, Run!!

Arelis Bunged Up

Bless her heart, Arelis was playing the other day and smacked her mouth hard on the floor. One permant front tooth out and the second one split. She is worried that she will never have front teeth. Not so. We will have the dentist tell us options when her mouth has healed.

Remembering Our Friends

Yes, we had a great time!

Food Fest

Our kids participate in all school activities, thus they participated in the annual Arequipa Day celebration At school every class shared a traditional meal,so of course Lizet was in the middle of it all getting a kick out of her classmate explaining how the cuy (guinea pig) is prepared. As testers/judges, Padre and Vicki tasted EVERY DISH and, by God's Grace lived to tell about it!!

Restaurant

One of the nice things the teams usually do is go out to dinner and invite the leadership of the church involved. In this case Padre Juan Carlos and Deacon Maria. Hmm...What looks good to you??

Memories

As a remembrance of their visit, the Roof Dogs received a personal painting from Sagrada familia. San Jose gave them each an alpaca scarf.

Dances

Of course we had to end the park day with some exotic dances. Peruvians are really steeped in their cultural dances and do an awesome job. Our kids had worked hard on their presentations.

Pillow Case Race

This went pretty well after the kids figured out what they were supposed to do. We did, however, lose a Roof Dog or two along the way!

Presentation

After lunch the girls presented their puppet show about the good Samaritan. Here are some of the stars in the presentation.

Texas Shirts!!

We had special shirts for the park day. (Of course they ALSO helped us keep up with everyone!! It was a challenge! We had a great pavillion for shade at lunchtime. It was a sunny day.

Photogenic

Well, what can I say? Yes, some of us just are! The scarf helped us know which team we were on. Thank you all for helping have such a better life than we had before.

Painting

Simultaneously with the visit, we spruced up our walls at Sagrada Familia. The color had pretty well bleached out with our strong sun. We want our Casa to be an attractive place. Our resident artist, Christian, did the touch up for us! Thanks, Chris.

More Derby

Although the cars had to weigh the same amount, the contestants didn´t have to.

Loser!

Johnathan watches with glee as Tío Nozar gets "whupped" as we would say in Texas

Winner

I think he figured it out! Good job, José!

Hanging Out

On the park day we went to a special teachers´park. I think it is impossible to have too many adults when you have 28 kids in a park! Everyone was on watch to see no one got hurt!

THE DERBY

One event designed for the boys (although it certainly peaked interest on the girls part) was car race. Models would be build out of wooden blocks, weighted to the same standard, and then raced on the famous racetrack. It was great. Of course the little guys had to have a bit more help than the older ones. Not surprisingly, there were a "few" technical issues to overcome. One of which was making the track! Nestor is trying to explain the construction method to José. Hmm, not sure he gets it yet.

Puppets

Another activity was the confection of puppets for the teen girls. Later they put on a puppet show. Marta got a little fellowship with Diacona María during the project. Looks like Marta was pleased with her creation.

Fun!

Everyone was looking forward to a fun week and it was a great time!Tío Bob and Tía Susan were up for it! Some of the time the team split up to work with the 2 Casas individually. Other times we went all together in a big bus(almost big enough)to the park or the zoo. These kids just get to your heart SO fast. I guess we could call them Love sponges! The more you give, the more they absorb. Thank you, Roof Dogs

Casa Hogar Sagrada Familia

To balance off the new furniture at San José, Padre approved the repainting our our murals on our exterior stone walls. They had faded to the point of having only blue remaining. Christian Revilla, Padre Juan Carlos and Deacon María´s son, is both a graduate Art major and a seminarian. Thanks for touching your work up for us after a couple of year of sunlight! Cool! You´ll find Chris´s picture at http://ronandvickisministry.blogspot.com/

Transportation

Now think about it- planning transportation for either 16 Roof Dogs and/or 28 kids from two locations- a bit of a logistical challenge?? YOU BET! Getting everyone out and back home is no small matter. By using our 15 passanger van and a bus for 60,and some help from Padre Juan Carols, Tía Vicki got it arranged. Vicki does a fantatic job in helping the teams to maximize their time with the kids at this annual event. Her two cohorts are Susan(who is ALWAYS asking for proper sizes!) and Deacon María Andía who helps her tie up loose ends(María A. is ALWAYS asking for the right kind of receipts to satisfy the diocesan business office.) I know the team really appreciates the thoughtful arrangements.

New Diningroom Furniture

It was time to finally buy some tables and chairs for Casa San José. Late on the afternoon before the Tíos were to arrive, María Perez had this new furniture delivered. The kids were excited that they could now sit in chairs rather than on the low benches we used before. The funds for this purchase had been slowly accumulating from generous donations since last year. María Perez was as excited as the kids were!!!

Eucharist

Deacon Toni helped Padre Ron as we gave thanks to the Lord for His travel mercies for the team and the exciting opportunites the week would hold for everyone. It always is a bit of a shock for Padre to realize he is more comfortable with the Spanish Book of Common Prayer eucharist than the English one! Deacon Toni has such a heart to serve the Lord and here brothers and sisters in Christ!

Planning

A lot of planning goes into each visit. What games will they do? What teaching points about scripture or the Christian life? What activities or outings? How to pair up Roof Dogs and kids? What clothing items to buy and take? sizes?? SIZES??SIZES!!!! Our "Dogs" have certainly been thought their paces before they ever get on the plane.