Agusto, a special needs child here at New Hope Children’s Home, has the ability to brighten up anyone’s day. Just like everyone, he has things which make Agusto, Agusto. One thing I have learned about Agusto is he loves his sandals to death (literally, his old ones were falling apart and worn through. Then they bought him new ones for Christmas, but he still prefers to wear his well loved sandals). I believe Agusto’s sandals could be his trademark. Agusto prefers to wear his sandals on the wrong feet, and he also loves them so much that he wears them to bed. Sleeping with them on can make things interesting, because when you have to wake Agusto up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and he has lost one of his sandals amongst the covers, he won’t use the bathroom until both sandals are safe on his feet. In addition to searching through mixed up blankets, we also have to sort silently in the dark since there are five other boys asleep in the room. Once we locate the sandals, we can continue on to the bathroom and then back to sleep. Agusto’s sandals are only one of many interesting Agusto things which make Agusto, Agusto.
If you would like to know more about how you can be involved with Agusto and other children at New Hope, please click here. Have a great day!
Makiver, photographed here, sharing his testimony on how he arrived at New Hope and how New Hope has helped turn his life around for the better. After Makiver’s mother and father passed away, he didn’t have anyone to look after him. Makiver now has the loving people here at New Hope to expand his family. The sign behind him “Quiero Alabarte” says, “I want to give you praise,” meaning towards God.
Many of the kids here at New Hope have stories to tell. Their stories make you cringe with anger and wonder how anyone could treat a child in such a way that it makes it difficult to wrap your brain around. Each child’s situation is different, but in the end they are the same when they come to New Hope. When a Child arrives, they find a permanent home where they are loved, treated as an important individual in this large loving family, and shown how to forgive through the power of the Gospel.
If you feel led to help the children at New Hope and would like to sponsor any of the children, please click here.
I posted a while back about how I really like the coats of black dogs and the way they shine. Here are some more black and white photos of Davy the Great Dane/Black Lab mix here at New Hope. If you would like to the previous shots, you can find them here.
Here are some photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas day. A lot was packed into those two days, but these are the photos I came back with.
First we started by getting ready to go to the combi (bus). We took the bus to head into the center to the Plaza de Armas where just about everybody is hanging out taking in the holiday. We spent the time in the Plaza just hanging out and seeing the sights, getting some ice cream, and then the Gringos decided to do some on the spot caroling. We gathered a small crowd, and a very intense guy with a video camera who came back a second time when he heard we weren’t finished. Some of the kids took Brad’s hat as a joke and began asking for money. To our surprise, some people actually gave us some centimos (change). It was enough for one or two people to ride the bus back that night.
After we returned from the Plaza, it was time to eat our midnight dinner. Lydia, Julia, and myself had dinner with the girls and Alex, the math tutor. We’re still not sure why I had dinner with the girls since I always help out with the older boys. Our dinner was delicious and consisted of a piece of chicken, some veggies, some potatoes, and awesome chocolate cake shaped as a Christmas tree for desert.
After dinner, it was time to celebrate Jesus as the Peruvians do… with Fire works! Everyone and their mother were setting off fireworks in the streets, it seemed. The pinnacle for the fireworks was at 12 midnight, and it got pretty loud. After the fireworks, it was time to see what Santa brought. Brad and I headed up to the boys room where they were already in the middle of ripping the thin wrapping tissue from their gifts and scattering it around the room. Abel, their Tutor and house parent, was keeping the sanity by being the person tossing presents to each kid. The kids pretty much received items that they really need, such as: new sneakers, dress shoes for school and church, dress shirts, etc.
On Christmas day, all the kids were out in full force with their new gifts, dressed in their new duds and kicks, and having a grand ole time. Early in the day, Sybill from the States, who has been to the home many times over the years, put on an awesome event for the kids. Sybill and her Church raise money every year as a love offering to help give the kids items they need, such as: backpacks, socks, shampoo, lotion, other toiletries, and some sweet treats. It was great to see the kids so excited about it. The kids sang songs and had some Peruvian treats and soda, and then it was time to get down to the fun! We let each child pick out their new backpack to fill with all the items Sybill and her church got for them. Then later on, another group stopped by with a van filled to the top with donations. They had a ton of food, which apparently only really lasts a week here. They had toys, tons of clothes, and a few bikes to raffle. Pictured in the slide show, winning the bikes, are Luis and Yenny. So all in all, it was a great Christmas, and, without further delay, here are the photos.
P.S. There is also a really cute dog fight between two basset hound puppies (Bruno and Timo) who happen to be brothers.
Lets just say this… I grew up in a small town in central Pennsylvania called Hanover. Hanover, PA is named after the city, Hannover, in Germany, except here in the states they dropped the second “n”. Hanover is very well known for one of a few things they do well: pretzels.
Growing up as a kid, my friends worked in pretzel factories, boxing pretzels, rolling pretzels, and all sorts of other jobs to do with pretzels. Pretzel companies are a big part of Hanover and my childhood. Even after graduating high school and moving to Philadelphia ,the Pretzel title followed you everywhere. When I would tell people I’m from Hanover, PA, they would have this lost look in there eyes until they realized that Hanover equaled Snyder’s pretzels, or I’d prompt them, “have you ever heard of Snyder’s Pretzels?” and they would say, “oh yeah! Those are my favorite!”
Well, growing up in Hanover, I didn’t know how blessed I was to be living so close to such amazing and well known pretzels until I left. And I have to be honest; I’m not a huge pretzel fan. I’m more of a Chocolate Chip cookie fan (or monster is more like it.) But there is something comforting about seeing a familiar face when you’re far away from home.
I remember about a year and a half ago when I was in a really, really small gas station in Soldotna Alaska, and on the snack shelf there sat in all its dusty glory a bag of Snyder’s Pretzels all the way from Hanover PA. I was so happy to see it that I had to tell the guy I was with about how amazing it is to see a bag of Snyder’s Pretzels on this tiny gas station’s snack shelf. Did I mention I had only know the guy for about 3 hours? I think my excited tone over a bag of pretzels made him think I was a bit nuts. I mean, I’m close to the top of the world, and there sits a bag of pretzels from my tiny little home town of town Hanover, PA. This guy had no idea that pure gold was sitting only a few feet away.
Well, the other week, when we were shopping at the local “Walmart of Peru” called Plaza Vea, there I spotted on the way top shelf, set apart from all the local normal Peruvian treats, some bags of Snyder’s Pretzels!!!!!!!!! I’m not even sure if any other pretzel companies can be found anywhere in this city. I just know that I was floored to see a bag of Snyder’s here in Arequipa. I’m in Peru people, and that’s many miles or kilometers from the dinky blue collar town of Hanover, PA. Hanover’s only other claims to fame are the Hanover Shoe company who used to make awesome shoes way back in the day. People would travel pretty far distances to get a pair of these snazzy shoes. I’ve heard personal stories to prove it. The other thing that puts Hanover on the Map is the famous snack food company, Utz, which makes potato chips. They’re good, but they don’t have a reputation like Snyder’s.
This is different, and maybe I’m blowing this way out of proportion. I’m in Arequipa, Peru, South America. Who the heck was responsible at the Snyder Food company for getting these things down here? Whoever it was, they deserve a bonus. Because I, for one, was only too happy to shell out the 12.00 soles or 4.00 USD for a modest bag of salted pretzel sticks. What can I say but There’s no place like home
Recently, one of the younger boys, Luis who is 5, had an end of the year performance at school. The performance was a Russian dance done by about 12 boys and girls all about the age of 5. It was pretty great to witness and be there to support Luis.
I remember when I was growing up and if I had a school performance or a sporting event I was doing, the only thing besides winning that mattered was having a parent in the crowd to see me perform, whatever it was I was doing. As I grew older, it was me doing flips on my rollerblades over ramps at the skate park, which normally caused my Mom or Dad to close their eyes in fear that I might break something (which I almost did a lot). No matter what it was I did growing up, I remember I wanted my parents to be there and be proud of what I was doing. I can remember waiting to make sure they were watching or waiting anxiously hoping to spot them so they could see me do my thing. Those moments meant a lot.
At first I didn’t really want to get out of bed to go and take pictures of 5 year olds doing some dance for an end of the year performance. But my attitude changed after I saw Luis in his outfit. He was ridiculously cute! He is normally cute when he isn’t all dressed up, so in his outfit he was over the top. The school is not that far away: it’s only about 3 minute walk down the road. When we arrived at the school, everyone was anxiously waiting with big grins in anticipation of all the cute kids dressed up for their scheduled performance. Luis and his class performed a Russian dance. I’m not sure why. Maybe they drew the short straw when it came to selecting performances, and the nativity story was already taken. It’s anyone’s guess as to why they did the Russian Dance.
None the less, they came out first, the boys in their furry black hats with red vests and red pants, the girls in beautiful red dresses, and performed a Russian dance like only 5 year olds can. The teacher stood to the side of the crowd and acted out the motions, and the kids kept their eyes glued to her and managed to pull off a fairly coordinated dance. Some kids trailed off and lost track of what they were doing, but it only made you laugh more.
In the end, it was perfect, and I felt overwhelmed with joy for Luis. I was happy to attend his performance whether it was a big deal for him or not. Although I’m not Luis’ real parent, I was happy to be there to support him and be the proud person with the camera. Enjoy the photos from Luis’ performance.
My computer is currently down and in need of some repair. Hopefully it will be back up and running by December 10th. No photos for a while.
Update: Brad, Lydia, and I started our spanish lessons as of Monday. We have a tutor we go to every day for about 2 hours. The first day was really frustrating, and it was very difficult to get back into the feeling of studying, something I haven’t done since College. However, things are coming along fine and hearing myself try to pronounce words in a new language brings me back to preschool where we learned our ABC’s and numbers. It’s really funny, actually. However, more photos to come in the future.
