Last week, two of our girls participated in a Concurso de Biblia at school. In the months leading up the competion, they had to memorize 30 verses from Judges and the answers to numerous questions regarding Biblical people and events. They spent hours afterschool with their teammates preparing to compete against other Christian schools. On the day of, two other schools showed up at Colegio CEFAS and the teams nervously took their seats in front of the judges and audience.

Each participant had a buzzer. A light on each buzzer indicated who had pressed their button first. It was the responsibility of the team captain (one of the Love & Hope kids!) to get the answer from their teammate and relay it to the judges and audience. We were impressed at how fast the kids buzzed in and recited the verses or answers to questions. Because the competition was at CEFAS, the home crowd got pretty excited when our team answered a question correctly. The CEFAS team was pretty excited too:

Overall, CEFAS finished in 2nd place and fun was had all around. Congratulations to both of our girls; They worked so hard and did a great job!

On Saturday night we enjoyed an evening of games based on the NBC show Minute to Win It. Everyone throughly enjoyed the competition and cheered for their teammates (actually, the intense yelling and screaming could be more accurately described as a deafening roar). 

We had five teams of six and children of similar ages competed against each other in each round.

Face the Cookie: pitted our caregivers against each other as they attempted to move a cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands.

Egg Race: had our littlest guys balancing an egg on a spoon and walk back and forth across the kitchen as many times as they could in one minute without dropping the egg.

Three Blind Rice: the contestants were blindfolded as they searched for three safety pins hidden in a bowl of rice.

Don't Blow the Kings: had the kids using a straw to blow a deck of cards off the table except for the four face-up kings.

Stack Attack: players built a pyramid of fifteen cups and then break it down. If the pyramid collapes or they knocked over a cup in the process, they had to start over.

Noodling Around: our oldest kids picked up straw pieces using only a strand of uncooked spaghetti in their mouths. 

Everyone had so much fun we'll probably do it again soon!

CEFAS school recently hosted Family Day. Twelve of our children, including some who attend other schools, attended and had a blast playing games, eating, having their faces painted and running around with their friends.

CEFAS school recently hosted Family Day. Twelve of our kids, including some who schools other than CEFAS, attended and had a blast playing games, eating, having their faces painted and running around with their friends.

In April Kirsten Zimmerman moved to Love & Hope, having made a two-year committment as our Director of Education. She is overseeing all our educational needs: providing extra tutoring, managing school supply requests, organizing our library, attending parent-teacher conferences and much more. 

Welcome Kirsten - we are happy you are here!

Whenever we get the chance, we like to plan fun nights where the kids can experience and learn something new. Recently we took advantage of some of our Salsa-crazed friends to put on a Salsa night. Everyone learned the basic steps and then we tried our best to stay on beat and move our feet in the right directions.

First, we had to get dressed up.

Next, a quick lesson. 

At first, the boys weren't so into it. 

But they eventually came around. 

Some of them let loose and danced on the tables.

The rest of us stuck to the floor.

This year, we celebrated Easter at home with the kids. First we read from Luke and talked about the significance of the day. Then we had a scavenger hunt that lead the kids all around the house until the returned to where they started find bags of candy.

Next, we colored Easter Eggs. This year the eggs came from our very own flock of a dozen chickens who have been giving us between 6-10 eggs per day.

In March we celebrated Shelby’s Quinceañera, or fifteenth birthday. In the Latino culture the Quinceañera is an important rite of passage, marking the transition from childhood to womanhood. Shelby's celebration included a church ceremony, where she made a public commitment to follow God and to a life of purity. After this, we had an outdoor dinner reception. Shelby also chose to include the “Tree of Life” ritual in her celebration. This was a special moment for her to present candles to fifteen people that she believes impacted her most during her first fifteen years of life.

Since the beginning of March visitors have been streaming into Love & Hope to prepare for this special event and we feel blessed by all those who dedicated their time to making this a memorable day for our sweet Shelby. Heartfelt thank yous go to Mandy Sidorski, Brittany Waickman, Nathan Migal, Jason Nehez, Philip Miller, Karen Vana, Anita Pauley, Kathy Sanson, the Reyes family and The Union Church of San Salvador for making this an unforgettable and beautiful occasion.

More photos from Imagen Photography can be viewed here.

Last week, Ohio Wesleyan University paid their 7th visit to Love & Hope during Spring Break. This year they got their hands dirty in all sorts of different ways. We kept them busy all week! 

They repainted our office.

They helped with Sunday School in Platanillo and then served a meal. 

They helped us build a new pen for our chickens.

They also worked with the local community to clear land for a playground that is being built. Hauling sand and digging rocks is not an easy job. 

Thanks for everything, OWU. See you next year!

Two weeks ago we celebrated El Día de Amor y Amistad (Love & Friendship Day) or, as the gringos call it, Valentine's Day. In El Salvador the focus of this holiday is just as much on demonstrating appreciation for friends as it is a day for romantic love, so each child had to bring a snack and a regalito (little present) to school for class parties and gift exchanges.

The Americans showed their love for the kids by decorating the kitchen...

and making extra special treats - waffles for breakfast...

heart-shaped Rice Krispies treats for snacks and heart-shaped cakes for dessert.

Our patient cook and tías also used a cookie cutter to make heart-shaped sandwiches for lunch!

The Valentine’s Day festivities continued on Friday night when Jodi, Anne and Amanda cooked a delicious lasagna dinner, complete with salad and pan francés sprinkled with garlic salt.

The kids really enjoyed it all!

After eating, the kids participated in a scavenger hunt. The boys, led by Jodi, formed one group, and the girls, led by Anne, another. Both groups began in the kitchen.

The girls’ first clue led them to the roof, and the subsequent nine clues led them down, a floor at a time, until they reached the empty volunteer rooms at the back of the house.

The boys’ clues followed the opposite route, starting downstairs and ending upstairs.

The girls buzzed with intensity from the start. They spread out, combing the roof and terrace for clues. When they found and decoded one, they emitted ear-splitting, high-pitched screams as they tore through the house, searching for the next clue.

The boys were a little slower on the uptake. Not that they weren’t interested; they just struggled a bit when with their first few clues.

While they were standing on the stairs trying to decode their fourth clue,

the girls, located on the level above the boys, discovered their fifth clue and decided their next move was to go down to the little girls’ room. They ran down the stairs, screaming like banshee, almost trampling the stunned boys.

After that the boys, having caught the girls’ contagious energy, started moving faster, and both groups discovered their treasure – bags of candy – at the same time.

A special thanks to Anne and Jodi for creating the scavenger hunt and to Mandy for sending the candy and heart-shaped pan!