Want to Send Us Something?

A few of you have asked how you can send us stuff via snail mail...as it truly is here (about 3 weeks). We would love to recieve letters or whatever you want to send. You can send letters to:
The Lyons
Casilla 2302
Cochabamba, CBBA
Bolivia
South America

If you want to send packages (Must be under 2 kilos or about 3 1/2lbs or otherwise they have to go through customs...long process), please send them to the same address, but in the name of Carl Thompson. You can write our name somewhere else on the package so that Carl knows who to give it to:
Carl Thompson
Casilla 2302
Cochabamba, CBBA
Bolivia
South America

Tutoring time

And work with beautiful girls like this...doing homework, reading, drawing, playing games, and telling stories...these kids try to get out of doing homework just like kids in the states! But they love reading books! (This photo was taken by a 9 year old, can you tell?)

Baker House en el campo

Here is a couple other pictures of the house we are working at in the country...night and day difference in our journey to get to each place. We get off the bus and walk along a few roads like this...visiting the cows along the way until we come to this oasis...

Snack time

Fresh oranges here are amazing...25 for $1 (yum!) The kids love them and so do we!

Oh, and I just found out we have an address to receive flat, mail...like cards in envelopes only. I'll post that as soon as I remember to bring the paper to the internet cafe. Then I'm going to start hounding you to send flat paperback Spanish kids' books...these kids need more and they absolutely LOVE to read and be read to.

A trip to the park

Here is a picture taken from inside the taxi on the way to the park. We managed to fit 5 adults and 14 kids into one Toyota stationwagon taxi - very impressive! Can you see Jen in the background?

A picture of one of the kids in a play train at the park.

Where We Live - Part 2

This is a picture of Cochabamba north of the previous picture. Not the best picture because of the clouds, but it shows how the city is in a valley. The city itself is at about 8,200 ft. and the highest peak Mt. Tunari in the surrounding hills/mountains is around 16,500 ft. (I forget the actual elevation....I will let you know when I get a chance to climb it).
This is a photo inside the buses we ride everyday, and a photo with our teachers from language school that we take everyday. Also a shot down in the city square where people are protesting something (they protest something different each week it seems!).

Where We Live

Here is a picture of downtown Cochabamba. We live near the light blue building at the center of the picture. It is a great location with easy access to stores, bus routes, internet, etc. Although it doesn´t feel that big, it is indeed a city (pop. 600,000)...this picture probably shows about 1/6 of the actual city.

News updates and video

P.S. for more detailed stories, please click on the link below (to the left) on Casa de Amor´s website and then click on ¨Newsroom" for the most up to date newsletter...it provides great info about kids and staff. Also watch this awesome video about Casa on YouTube that was just put together and posted the end of 2007...we work with many of the kiddos you see in the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LV3WoHmaZ0
Remember, adoptions will likely begin between the US and Bolivia in 2009!

Surviving the weekend!

For those of you praying, we did survive the weekend...14 hours on Saturday and 13 hours on Sunday. Jen only cried once each day...bedtime was a bit rough on Saturday, as we ALL were exhausted from playing at the park and at home, and Sunday afternoon was rough, as a couple kids had to be disciplined beyond what Jen could handle ( a Bolivian tia had to discipline 2 four year olds and things are just done a bit different than Jen would have liked...imagine that). Overall, we had a great time and even had a better night last night putting kids to bed. They are learning our personalities and what we expect and respond amazingly to positive feedback. Jen is feeling more and more like a teacher (and a mom) when she works at House II. New news at House I is that a 2 week old baby was left on a church bench Feb. 29 and Jennifer said, "yes," when asked to take him in 3 days later...he is an adorable, 7 1/2 lb. sweetpea who still had his ambilical cord attached when found...now he´s cleaned up and doing well. So pray for babies and quick adoption paperwork processes, medical tests, etc--so that these little ones can be adopted as quickly as possible. They now have 5 under age 1 in House I. Also new news is that we have about 4 kiddos at House II that will be up for adoption in the next 2-3 months--please pray that these go well, that perfect parents are found for these kids, and that there will be many more adoptions in the future...it really is a blessing, as more kids are adopted, we can take in and love more who are in need (on the street, in abusive situations, abandoned, etc). We have been amazed and blessed with how much we´ve learned about the adoption system in Bolivia in the last 2 weeks. Thankfully, Bolivia has a functioning Child Protective Services agency and actively works to care for kids.