Team Liberti, thanks for the love.

Here we have a great photograph of tons of awesome people. Included are the kids, and some staff of New Hope, Team Liberti, “The Interns” as Nathan likes to call us (or those who are serving long term at the home), Dave and Debbie who founded New Hope, kids and neighbors from Pachacutec, kids who used to live here at New Hope and we even have the two guys from the bus company who drove the second bus to the airport (far right in the dark green shirts).

While they were here, the team came up with the brilliant idea to paint a mural of Alpacas and Sheep playing futbol. Since they put a lot of hard work in to the mural I thought it was only fitting to do a group photograph in front of it before the team left for the states. The mural is right at home in the perfect spot centered on the futbol court. Not pictured are the sheep of the mural due to being a lot shorter than Alpacas.

Hey Brad, when are you coming back?

When you first arrive at New Hope one of the first things the kids ask you is, “How long are you staying?” and, when you leave, the only thing the kids can ask you is “when are you coming back?” With those two questions posed to you, its hard to ever think about leaving since they always want you to come back. The above is just what happened on Brad's last day at New Hope. Brad has been here since mid November working with the older boys, giving the little Peruvian girls at the Home a single guy to try an marry off (no success yet) and overall being a great role model to all the kids. It was a sad night to when everyone said their good byes to Brad. He has certainly made an impact on all the kids and made some great friends with a lot of the older boys at New Hope. For the next few months Brad will be living in San Bartolo, just south west of Lima. But just like I mentioned earlier, the kids never let you leave without promising to return. Brad will be returning to New Hope sometime around May to spend more time with the kids before he heads back to the states. Surrounding Brad is just a fraction of his Peruvian Family. From right to left: Maricrus, Marina, Roberto (in the blue sweater), Fredy in the yellow, Elizabeth, and Patti (who is always hiding from the camera) and last but not least, Brad, in the center. .

Birthdays: Peru style

Here at New Hope Birthday's are not just an ordinary day. They are something to celebrate with lots and lots of fire works. Well, maybe the second “lots” wasn't needed. However, we did celebrate a birthday recently and it happened to be Julia Black (Julia is in the center of the photo, just beyond the cake on fire) turning the grand ole age of blank blank on January 27th (you never tell woman's age, or is it you never ask a woman' age? I'm not sure, I just don't want to hear from all the women out there if I let it out).

Julia is a major staple here at New Hope, she is the Educational director. If you want to know exactly what she does, you can ask her, but chances are you won't get a minute with her, because she is always in a meeting, always going beyond her job title by helping older kids write resumes, find jobs, and helping them set goals. Somewhere in there she finds some time to do a bit of laundry and make some food. Needless to say, Julia is worth celebrating because of everything she does around here. And this should be a birthday to remember… I mean, a cake with firework candles? Thats a Peruvian birthday.

Team Liberit: I will be posting more photos in the future of you guys. So hold on to those memories and keep checking back to see if your pretty faces show up on the blog. We miss you guys, and you did an awesome job. The clothing closet is all sorted and in order. And the kids have already begun to count down the days until you return.

Photos of the day 1/24/2009

Dave and Neal tackle the project of building shelves for the clothing closet (the “closet” is really a small room). When the team arrived there was no walking room in the closet due to so much clothing donated during the christmas season. The team's first project was to create more space in the closet by sorting the clothing into sizes and gender. After everything was sorted, the kids were able to come and select the clothing they needed. Once these shelves are complete, the closet will be incredibly organized.

Jorge uses a couch cushion as a weapon to minimize fredy's attack during their friendly wresting match on the lawn out in front of their house.

Jhon (left) and Miguel (right) are two little boys here at the home who love to hang around together, and that includes basketball hoops.

On our way to Colca Canyon the bus stopped for some sight seeing. So Neal and I decided to include our selves in the sights. Neal and I shoot a quick candid while Haley sneaks into the shot at the last minute. Neal is one of my prayer supporters back in the states and it was great to spend time with him while he has been here.

Liberti team members made tons of haste while the sun was shinning on this day. The mural of sheep and Alpaca's playing futbol is almost complete, a few more finishing touches will complete this awesome piece of art. When you're out of paint brushes and rollers, you turn to mama invention and ask her what to do in order to finish the job. She tells you to use rags or your hands.