A new pet

Not long before Christmas vacation the Luceros house (boys 6 - 11), acquired a new pet - a bird the boys found that cannot fly. The boys found the little bird, brought it inside, and have raised it as a pet. The bird accompanies the boys all around the orphanage, riding on their hands or shoulders. Right, Kevin spends some quality time with his new pet.

Casa Shalom is now on Facebook!

All of you who are part of Facebook can now check out the brand-new Casa Shalom Fan page! We've posted lots of photos, info, and videos and will be updating the page regularly. Check out the link below, and become a fan too!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Lucas-Guatemala/Casa-Shalom/226681275418?v=photos#/pages/San-Lucas-Guatemala/Casa-Shalom/226681275418

Merry Casa Shalom Christmas!

We at Casa Shalom have had a very merry Christmas season! The children enjoyed multiple Christmas parties and received gifts from many churches across the USA. Take a moment to check out photos of the final Christmas party of 2009. The gifts and party were provided by several churches in Florida


Ada, Alejandro, Victor and Enma pose in front of the leaning Christmas tree.







Baby Monserrat got an interactive walker.















Maria loved her make-up kit!
















Obed was very excited about his Cars remote-control car.












Enma shows off her new Hurley-brand shirt












Nixon shows off his present before unwrapping it (Santa brought him a soccer jersey!)















Wilson loves his new soccer gloves













Antonio got a remote-control car too.












Edwin tries on his Brazil soccer jersey.
















Waltercito and Tony play with their new remote-control dinosaurs.












The whole Casa Shalom group with the team from Florida that provided the party and gifts!

Enma and Colim's duet

Enma, who just began learning to play the guitar, and Colim performed a duet for Casa Shalom's Christmas talent show!

Waltercito's song

During our Christmas talent show, we had many great songs, musical instrument numbers and choreographed dances. But there was no doubt as to who stole the show - little Waltercito! Without a moment of hesitation, he climbed onto the stage, grabbed the microphone, and sang a song about Jesus' love! He'd memorized the lyrics to the whole song, and even took a bow when he was finished!

All they want for Christmas is new shoes!

Last week, a visiting team from the Labelle, Florida, Church of God took all the kids of Casa Shalom shopping to for a new pair of shoes. We went to a local Payless (yes, there is Payless in Guatemala!) and each child got to choose their own new pair. Some chose dress shoes, some chose boots, some chose tennis shoes - but all left with a brand new pair! The kids had a blast getting to shop - check out the photos!



Carlos is really excited about his new shoes





Rolando picks out some tennis shoes


















Jose Ramiro goes to great heights to get some new shoes














Little Tony gets some help picking out light-up tennis shoes














Colim looks for a pair.


















Ada and Eliza are hard-to-please shoppers!

















Karen and Maria went right for the tennis shoes








Even Casa Shalom's littlest kids got new shoes - Abby, Anggie and Linda got help picking some out.

Fireworks!

For the second year in a row, a local fireworks company has donated a wonderful show to the kids of Casa Shalom. Fireworks are a traditional Guatemalan way of celebrating Christmas! The kids and staff enjoyed the impressive show, and we hope you enjoy a few videos of it!

Christmas 2009

We here at Casa Shalom are celebrating Christmas 2009 in a big way. At the party, we enjoyed a chicken dinner cooked with birds from our very own chicken farm! Many of the kids also participated in a talent show. Enjoy some photos from our second Christmas party.

Carlos enjoys a big piece of chicken from Casa Shalom's chicken farm!

Even little Monserrat got to enjoy the chicken.

The babies performed "I'm in the Lord's army"

Waltercito was one of the most popular performers of the night!

Alejandro and Eduardo won 1st place for their duet.

Hector played a song on the recorder.

Jose Ramiro, Julio and Kevin sang.

Ada and Eliza performed a choreographed number.

Enma, who is just learning to play the electric guitar, performed with Colim.

A buffet conquered

As a special treat for the teen boys of Casa Shalom, we took all 15 of them to a special breakfast this morning. Using funds from the Casa Shalom Child Sponsorship Program, the boys enjoyed the breakfast buffet at Casa Santo Domingo, a 5-star hotel and restaurant in nearby Antigua. None of the boys had ever been to a buffet before and at first, they were confused by the concept of "all you can eat." They quickly got the hang of it, and quickly emptied out the omelet station, pancakes, bacon, sausage, fruit, cheese, beans and more. I don't think the servers at the restaurant had ever since anything like these hungry boys - they returned to the buffet time after time - some of them as many as 5 trips! We'd like to thank those who sponsor the teen boys for helping make possible this special event.






Yes, both of those plates belong to Alejandro.




























Fresh orange juice!
















The boys loved the fruit as much as the hash browns and bacon.









Some of them needed a rest after eating so much - Clemente took a short nap after his 4th plate.

1,350 pounds of bananas

Today Casa Shalom received a unique donation - 1,350 pounds of bananas to be exact! A missionary in a nearby town was giving them away for free to any ministry that could come pick them up. We received as many bananas as our pick-up truck could hold! They will be enjoyed by both the kids of Casa Shalom and Rio Bravo in the coming weeks.

Clara Alicia, Enma, Eliza, Jessica and Alejandro

Rio Bravo

Last week, we made a special trip to Rio Bravo with the ministry team from Maranatha Church in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. The team brought some great things for the kids - a puppet show, crafts, and a goodie bag full of food for the children to take home, and a brand new pair of shoes for each child. Check out the photos and video from our most recent trip to Rio Bravo.

Maranatha children's' pastors Than and Megan Graffam put on a great puppet show for the kids.






Preparing a nutrition drink as part of breakfast.


















Waiting for breakfast.













Trying to be tough guys. They were all smiles when the camera went away!

Mmmmm...pancakes!

Items from the goodie bags

Brand new croc-style shoes! No more bare feet.

New shoes + a goodie bag = a happy kid.

Jessica's mom helps a little one try on some new shoes.

New shoes

All the extra shoes and clothing that were left at Rio Bravo to be distributed at a later time.








Puppet show!