Uncle Ben and Cousin Ericka Visit Bolivia!

About a month ago now Rudi's younger brother, Ben and our niece (also manager of our coffee shop), Ericka, came to visit us and Bolivia. My boys decided before Uncle Ben came down that they should build a boat with him. Ben is a great carpenter and so was a willing target for the project! The boys spent every spare minute building the boat. We all were super proud of how it turned out!

Uncle Ben and Myles, "Starting to Assemble the Boat"

They had to use some VERY stinky stuff and fiberglass to seal the boat from any leaks. They would move it to the porch and the smell would permeate the house. My favorite spot for them to apply the stuff was out in the yard AWAY from the house!

Clancy, Uncle Ben, and Myles

We took the boat out to Lago Angostura to see if it would float! Not only did it float, but in the three days we were at the lake it logged more than 24 hours of service! We all got a chance to ride in it...

Shoving off for the Maiden Voyage!

And She floats....

 We were able to spend a lot of quality time together playing games and putting together a puzzle out at the lake house.

Rudi, Ericka, and Emily playing Settlers of Catan

Trying out Emily's new game she brought home, Dominion...

The last piece of the puzzle FOUND

Uncle Ben and Paula

 One of the Saturdays they were here all of us Boohers, along with Tia Techy and her family, hiked up to K'aspicancha. (Emily did a blog about the first time they hiked to this pueblo.) It is about a three hour hike and you go up about 2 or 3 thousand feet. Not for the faint hearted, but well worth the effort. It was my first time to this village.

Rudi was concerned about the fact that the river, that is usually very low, would have risen making it difficult to cross. He was right. We ended up wading across with the guys standing in the water to make sure we weren't swept down stream. I don't know how they stood in the water helping us. My feet were frozen and I was barely in the water compared to them.

Fording the Stream

The village at the end of the hike is like stepping back in time. Some of the ladies in the village had made us potatoes with a super yummy onion, cucumber, tomato salad on top. We had to eat with our hands and the food tasted incredible after the appetite we had worked up!

Enjoying lunch WAY above Cochabamba!

The thatch roofed hut in the picture above is where they do all their cooking. It has years of black smoke and spider webs above your head inside...cozy!!! The woman of the house makes beautiful blankets out of wool that is "grown" right there in K'aspicancha. She is hopefully going to make me one to bring home.

Emily and Ericka enjoying their well earned lunch!

And just to prove that we all made it we took this family picture in front of the hut. Rudi carried Paula a lot and was sore for quite a few days after the hike. I carried nothing but myself and was sore for even longer!! We want to go as a family again before we come home to the States.

The Rudi Booher Family "On Top of the World"

Uncle Ben helping with the babies...

 And, of course, there was much time spent with the Casa de Amor babies. What a blessing it was to have all the extra helping hands. I miss Ericka's help, especially with our baby girl F. She was going through a fussy stage and it seemed that Ericka was always available to hold or feed her. Thanks, Ericka!

Ericka helping out with F. and A.

Morning Bible Reading with the Whole Crowd!

Our family tradition is to read the Bible and sing together every morning before school. Usually we do this in Spanish, but while our visitors were here we read and mostly sang in English! Tia or I usually comb the girls hair during this time!

While Ben was here he celebrated his birthday with us. Along with E. S. and Clara. We did a big February birthday party with them all together. I do not know where the pictures went. I have waited on doing this blog to find them. If and when I find them I will do a special birthday blog with them altogether. I didn't want to wait any longer to do this blog as it is late enough already!

All too soon it was time for them to head back home. We are so thankful they could come down and spend this time with us! Hurry back... Bolivia les espera!!!

Ben, Rudi, Clancy, and Myles

Welcome Home, Emily!

About two weeks ago now we all got to go the airport to welcome home Emily to Cochabamba, along with Rudi's brother, Benjamin, and our niece and manager of our coffee shop back home, Ericka! (I am so far behind on blogs I decided to just keep plugging away in chronological order anyway!!) We took all our CDA babies along with Tia Techy. It was such a happy moment to see our Emily after what felt like a looong time and Ben and Ericka after over a year!

Waiting on the balcony for the plane to touch down!

 Clara kept some of the younger kids busy on the toys in the waiting area!

Clara and S. getting some driving in!

 Emily had earned a ukelele with all of her hard work learning Spanish. It was custom made for her this past year. It was only fitting that she would dress to match the case! She looked amazing even after spending two FULL days traveling home!

First sighting of Emily with her new Mya Moe Ukelele!

 We asked the baggage helper guy to take this group picture for us. I don't think he has taken many pictures. I am glad that he left the majority of Rudi's head in the picture! E. just made it to the left on Myles shoulder!

L.to R., E. Myles, Uncle Ben, Ericka, F., Clancy, Me, Rudi, Paula, Clara, Emily, S., Ruth, Tia Techy, and baby A.

Coming next our adventures with Uncle Ben and Ericka...

Vacation at Lago Angostura

 This month our family, minus Emily :(Explanation later), was able to get away together for a three day vacation to Lago Angostura, a lake about an hour out of Cochabamba. We rented a small cabin that a missionary group owns. The cabin was small, cozy and very well equipped with both kitchen stuff and things like soccer and volleyballs. We had fun playing games, reading, playing music, taking a nice long hike one day, collecting firewood for our fireplace, as well as eating good food and taking in the beautiful scenery by the lake. We came away from our time much refreshed and our "country souls" were filled to the brim!
The reason Emily wasn't with us was because she was visiting family in the U.S. for three weeks. It wasn't the same without her for sure! I am hoping she will eventually do a blog for you all about her time in the States. The way time flies it may be awhile before she gets around to it!

Our Cozy Cabin

Rudi and Myles enjoying some time "jamming" together!

 We actually headed out to the lake the day of Clara's birthday. Clancy and Myles had made her a balloon powered boat for their birthday gift. The children had hours of fun floating it on the lake.

Clancy and the girls "sailing" the balloon boat!

Snuggle time!

 One of the highlights of the cabin for all of us was the wood burning fireplace. We all enjoyed waking up to the crackling fire that Rudi had started for us. We also ended each day with an evening fire!

Everyone back from a firewood foraging trip!

Clancy and Clara getting the fire going!

Toasting food (anything that was toastable!) on the fire! Yumm!

Ruth and Paula "Tea Party Time"

 Clara knows how to make herself comfortable. She and the other children loved this cozy nook by the fireplace.

Clara drawing pictures with her new birthday art supplies!

 And as much as I hate posting my picture on this blog... I wanted to show that I was there too! Not my finest picture moment, but hey we were relaxing!

Carla, doing what moms do best....dishes!

 I had done a lot of cooking ahead and froze a few casseroles and such, so cooking was easy and relaxed and we ate like kings!!

Chow time!

 Clara wasn't able to have her cake the day of her birthday, because she was running a fever and had a stomach ache. We celebrated the day after with her cake. This is still not the time she face planted...promise that blog is coming...

Nine Candles for the Birthday Girl

Daddy and Paulita "Cake Time" (Man, that guys a hunk!)

One day we all came out for a drive around the lake and the tire was flat. Myles is sure getting good at changing tires. He actually seems to enjoy it!

Tire changing guru, Myles!

We had a variety of weather from sunshine to showers out on the lake. It was so relaxing to watch all that nature before our eyes. Rudi snapped this beautiful sunset shot the last night we were there.

Sunset over Lago Angostura

We are looking forward to a soon return to the cabin at Lago Angostura!

Happy Birthday, Clara

 Wow, February has really gotten away from me without many posts on this blog. I hope to remedy that in the near future...
Towards the beginning of February was Clara's 9th birthday. We celebrated in the morning with a birthday breakfast and gifts. The cake face plant came later...about two weeks later, but I will do a blog about that in the future.

Clara the birthday girl.... NINE years old

 One of the favorite gifts was an umbrella, used rain or shine, here in Cochabamba!

Paula, Clara, and Ruth "Getting out of the Rain"

 I really like this picture of Rudi with A.

Rudi with A. "Birthday Guests"

Clara putting on her new watch!

Clara's favorite gift was a watch I got her from La Concha. She kept reminding me that she wanted a watch in the weeks leading up to her birthday. She didn't know that it was already bought and waiting for her in my room. It is handy for her to have a watch, so I can ask her what time it is when we are out on the town!
We are so blessed by our fourth child and second daughter, Clara Grace. She is always ready to lend a helping hand with anything. She also misses the babies the most when we happen to be away from them. We are excited to see what the year holds for our sweet "9" year old! Happy birthday, Clara!

School Days...

The Capilla

We have been super blessed that our landlords have allowed us to use the chapel next door to our house for our schoolhouse. The Scoggins use the chapel for Horita Feliz every Saturday afternoon and special occasions, so that leaves weekdays free for us to use it. It has made all the difference being able to get out of the busy house and have a place to concentrate.

Clancy and Myles "At School"

Rudi and I both work with the children most mornings. I focus on Ruth and Paula mostly and Rudi works with the older kids. We sometimes will fill in for each other if one of us has to be gone in the morning.

Ruth is learning to read!

Ruth is up and reading quite well now. Paula expressed an interest in reading as well. She is only four, but is coming right along! School is one of my most favorite parts of the day. I love seeing stuff come alive for my kids!

Myself with Ruth and Paula

We are super thankful for our "school building". We try to leave it nice for the weekends by taking all of our books and junk back home. Rudi also helps out by washing the windows before special weekends!

Strike a pose, Paula!

Thank you, Scoggins, for allowing us to use your beautiful building!

And Baby Girl "F." Makes Four!

Sweet baby girl "F."

Introducing our new baby "F." As you can see she is a complete doll baby! Rudi and I picked up this sweet five month old baby girl last Thursday from Casa Uno. She had been with CDA since the beginning of December. Jennifer asked us to take her, as she felt that she could use the extra one on one attention our family is able to give. So far she hasn't lacked for attention!

Ruth enjoying the new arrival

Baby F.'s "story" is that her mother took her to the local child protection services and begged them to take F. She told them that she was a single mom that did not have any support in raising her daughter and also that she herself was very ill. She appeared to be genuinely grieved to have to leave F. I appreciate that she gave her baby a chance at life and was responsible in the way she went about giving her up, so many are abandoned in horrible places. At least her mom cared enough about her to give her to a safe place. When F. arrived at Casa de Amor in early December, 2013 she could not hold her head up at all and was incredibly floppy. She is still a bit behind in development for a five month old, but she is making progress in leaps and bounds.
Our ten month old baby A. is happy to have a floor buddy to play with and also to have a girl around. She has had only boys with her since she came to our house last July!

Girls on the Go

Babysitters hard at work...

When I can't find F. I know to look in the girls room. The picture above is an often sight these days! Paula told us that she wants to grow bigger and taller right away, so that she can carry the baby and fix her bottle and cook for her! Paula is still a bit to small to do any of those things, although she does get to snuggle her as much as she wants!

The picture below has nothing to do with baby F., but I liked it anyway!!!

Happy Reading Everyone!

Our plates are quite full with four in diapers again, and my dryer currently broken. Over the weekend it rained almost nonstop all day. But rain or shine, diapers MUST be washed and dried... So I rigged up clotheslines inside. Yep, I was pretty happy with my invention!!

Breakfast under the clothesline! Featuring baby diapers! 

Dinner under the clothesline! This time featuring baby clothes!

We are thankful to have our house bursting at the seems again and the extra blessing of another baby girl to love! "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward." Psalm 127:3

Happy Girls!!