Seeds of Love

FUEGO

2008-12-04T08:24:00.000-08:00

The active volcanoes in Guatemala never cease to amaze me. Fuego is the closest active volcano to us. And as the crow flies it is very close. The photos are of Fuego in action yesterday.

Thanksgiving Celebration and a Visit from Monty Roberts at Semillas de Amor Children's Village

2008-12-01T19:58:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving 2008 was a big event for us at Semillas de Amor. We celebrated Thanksgiving in our new children's home in Parramos and had a very, very special guest visit us, Monty Roberts.

Monty Roberts is the man who listens to horses. This is the same man that many people know from the movie, The Horse Whisperer. Monty and his family were in Guatemala to do trainings and to talk about non violence. What a treat it was for us to have he and his family visit and to plant our very first Christmas tree. Thank you to Katie Cunningham for arranging Monty's visit with us and continuing to support our work.

Go to www.montyroberts.com for more information on the incredible work of Monty Roberts.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was a great hit with all the kids. They loved the turkey and all the trimmings. After dinner they were full of energy and ready to run and climb trees. I am so eager to get our kids out to Parramos so they can enjoy the beauty and freedom.

Yesterday, after over a year, we were given the approval for the electricity. We have been given several approvals but things can be difficult to get done here. We are hoping this is our final approval and that we will have electricity very, very soon.

Enjoy the photos of Thanksgiving and the kids with Monty Roberts.

Semillas de Amor goes to Washington, D.C.

2008-11-27T09:13:00.001-08:00

As many of you know, in May of this year we had to illegal raids on our children's home, one day apart. The raids were based on the revenge of two fired employees and an employee of the PGN in Chimaltenango that has had a grudge against us for several years. This man was fired from the PGN two days after the last raid for what he did to us but that never stopped the insane legal process, we never received an apology and have continued to be harrassed and the children, who are ready to go to their families in the United States and England have been held hostage at our children's home by the Guatemalan government. It was suggested that we pay a visit to Washington, D.C.

Although there is a post on the RAIDS in the May archives on the blog here is a short update:
The Raids in May, 2008
Semillas de Amor is currently under unjust scrutiny by the Guatemalan government and legal system. The seeds of the current dilemma began innocently in April, 2008 when Nancy Bailey released several employees after they were caught stealing from the children’s home. These employees exacted revenge by feeding rumors regarding one of Semillas’ cases to the government agency in charge of processing adoptions (PGN). Over 40 PGN employees raided Semillas de Amor on May 12, 2008 based on these tips. They attempted to seize three of the children whose paperwork was off-site with the Semillas attorney in Guatemala City. Nancy Bailey resisted and refused to allow the children to be taken. Two days later, on May 14, 2008, the PGN raided again with an unfounded court order to take ALL of the Semillas children. Again, Nancy Bailey resisted and filed a legal appeal against the PGN. The local judge in Chimaltenango ruled in favor of Semillas de Amor and stated all children must remain at the hogar.

The “unsuccessful” raids started a series of PGN attacks on Semillas de Amor. The individual Semillas cases were subjected to unfair treatment as they moved forward in PGN; 5 babies were seized and placed in government homes during the unlawfully conducted PGN birthmother interviews in May, June & July. The PGN also initiated a criminal investigation by the Ministerio Publico (equivalent to the District Attorney) which led to another round of birthmother interviews in September, October, and November. In September, the PGN suspended all of the Semillas cases – they are currently “frozen” and none are moving forward or being released. The PGN claims that the MP gave the order to freeze the cases. The MP denies this allegation.

Many Adoptions are complete – Children have passports and Visas.
Before the PGN freeze, 12 children completely finished the adoption process. Their adoptive parents are declared the legal parents by Guatemalan law, and they have obtained Guatemalan passports and U.S. Visas for their trip home. Ironically, the families cannot fulfill their duties as parents even if they reside in Guatemala as the children are still court-ordered to remain at Semillas. In addition, Semillas currently has 13 children whose cases are at a standstill within PGN and 10 children who are released from PGN but delayed in their process by other entities influenced by the PGN.

MP Investigation
The MP investigation is essentially finished for many children. Birthmother interviews and background checks are complete. The MP has sign-off letters prepared and has promised to release them over a dozen times; the first verbal commitment was September 29th. The letters still sit on the MP investigator’s desk. The Semillas legal team believes this to be blatant unfounded stall tactics.

Semillas Legal Battle
Semillas de Amor has legally battled the allegations from the very beginning, and several adoptive parents have hired additional Guatemalan attorneys for their individual cases. After several judicial delays, the general Semillas hearing is now set for March, 2009.

The team of Semillas attorneys recently presented a proposal to judicially separate the children whose cases are complete from the overall Semillas de Amor case. The judge in Chimaltenango agreed in principal but requires a letter of approval from the MP and PGN for each individual case. The PGN states it will not move forward with any Semillas cases or write approval letters for the judge in Chimaltenango without the MP approval letters. Hence, Semillas is currently in a stalemate.

Why did this happen?
The Guatemalan attorneys believe that the motivation behind the actions against Semillas de Amor is as complicated as the situation itself. The most pertinent explanation is that many government employees are desperate to “justify their work.” With the Central Authority taking over new adoptions, many of the current positions will become obsolete with the completion of these adoptions. And secondly, Nancy Bailey resisted the unlawful acts of the PGN when they attempted to seize her children, making her a vulnerable target and inadvertently starting a personal war.

1. Nancy Bailey, founder of Semillas de Amor, is a U.S. Citizen with Guatemala residency.
2. Semillas de Amor is suffering financially. With income from adoptions halted, Semillas de Amor has now supported the needs of 51 children for many months beyond its budget and expectations. The adoptive families are paying a monthly foster care fee and fund raising to support the children and maintain Semillas’ quality of care. But it is not enough. We have 16 children that do not have adoptive families
3. Over the past several years, Nancy Bailey has constructed a new state-of-the art Children’s Village in Parramos, Guatemala. They are only waiting for electricity to move in. Once all of pipeline cases are home, Nancy Bailey will be moving her 16 remaining children to the new Children’s Village. It is her sincere hope to begin working with the new CNA to continue to find homes for Guatemalan children in need. You can see photos of the new property at: www.semillasdeamor.smugmug.com

Summary of Semillas de Amor Washington D.C. Meeting,
11.18.2008

A number of adoptive parents and Nancy Bailey attended several meetings in Washington, D.C. early this week. Attached is the summary of those meetings. All adoptive parents’ names have been deleted so there will be no negative repercussions by the Guatemalan government for being involved in the D.C. meetings. Thank you to Parent 3 for writing such a detailed summary.

First of all, an enormous thank you is in order to Parent 1.
Parent 1 is the one who made these meetings happen by getting the attention of Mark Moore of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute. Another huge thank you to Parent 2 and Nancy Bailey,who flew in from Guatemala to attend. Parent 2’s efforts as spokesperson,with the help of the Semillas legal team, helped our cause tremendously, and so did Nancy's presence at these meetings.

We had a strong turnout. There were 19 of us advocating for ourchildren from all over the country. We all brought photos of ourchildren, and we also wore bright yellow buttons that said "FreeSemillas." Collectively, we were a group that had a message we wantedto get across, and I believe we were heard loud and clear.

THE MEETINGS
There were basically four meetings: the first with the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute; the second with staffers of Senators and Representatives; the third with the U.S. Department of State; and the fourth back at the CCAI to debrief. So it was a whirlwind of a day with a few meetings that were very intense. Rebecca Harris, government relations and communications manager for Joint Council on
International Children's Services, attended all of our meetings, and so did a representative from the National Adoption Council. It is soencouraging to know we have the ears of these influential organizations. We are not alone. People are finally listening, thepeople who can ultimately help us bring our children home.

THE FIRST MEETING: CONGRESSIONAL COALITION ON ADOPTION INSTITUTE
For those of you don't know, the CCAI is a non-profit group dedicated to raising the awareness about the millions of orphans around the world in need of permanent, safe and loving homes and to eliminate the barriers that hinder those children from realizing their basic right to a family. They are a powerful pro-adoption organization that has already and will continue to help bring attention to our situation. They told us what we should expect at the meetings and how to convey our situation most effectively. Associate Director of Policy Mark Moore and Executive Director Kathleen Strottman talked to us at length, and were excellent sources of wisdom.

THE SECOND MEETING: SENATORS AND REPS
With the auto industry debacle and a large political convention in town, it was a very busy day for us to be in D.C. But that didn't stop19 staff members from attending our meeting! What an excellent turnout. We had staff members working for senators and congressman from California, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia,
Louisiana, Wisconsin and New Jersey. Even Texas came through, after
all, with 2 staffers: one from Sen. Hutchinson's office and one from Rep. Johnson's.

The meeting itself was extremely emotional. To echo Parent 1’s thoughts, it was a relief of sorts to collectively come together and finally have someone care enough to listen to our complex predicament. We, as in the parents and Nancy, sat in a big half-circle. The staffers sat across from us. Mark made a presentation on our behalf,
and then Parent 2 did an excellent job explaining the Semillas situation We went around the room and introduced ourselves. This was the tough part, when each
of us had to explain who we were, where we were in the process, and showed photos of our children. By the end of this portion of the meeting, many of us were in tears, including several of the staffers. They genuinely seemed to care about our plight. They wanted to help. Several of them asked questions, and shortly after the meeting, at
least two families were asked to meet with their congressmen personally! What the staffers will do with the information supplied to them will unfold over the next few weeks. The basic message delivered to them was that the children should not suffer indefinitely because of the personal vendetta the Guatemalan government has against
Nancy.

THE THIRD MEETING: THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE
This was a key meeting, because while Guatemala is a sovereign country with its own legal system, etc., the DOS is the part of our government that can, if it chooses to do so, help us in some way, shape or form by diplomatic efforts. There were five DOS representatives who talked to us and asked questions. Our DOS seemed very interested and concerned about our difficulties and how the children of US citizens were being impacted.

Thank you to all the adoptive parents that organized the event, you know who you are and to everyone who attended the meetings. Everyone's attendance made a difference. We have yet to have any resolution to the vicious cycle of this insanity but hope to soon.

Donations from Orphan Resorces International

2008-11-26T17:59:00.000-08:00

Today we were fortunate to have a visit from Orphan Resources International (ORI) who brought us milk and new shoes for all the kids. Thank you to ORI and their staff!

The Veggie Garden Grows

2008-11-25T11:25:00.000-08:00

The kids are learning to grow their own veggies from tilling the soil to eating their product. For two days the big kids were in Parramos working the soil, fertilizing and planting seeds. We have our two expert gardeners, Juan Jose and Benjamin, who are also excellent teachers. We can't wait to eat our tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, lettuce and just about every type of vegetable seed I could find. Watch this space as our veggies start to grow.

Monty Roberts To Visit The Children of Semillas de Amor

2008-11-12T18:40:00.000-08:00

Even those of you who are not "horse people" most likely know who Monty Roberts is. The famed horse whisperer or as he would rather be known "the man who listens to horses" is coming to La Antigua, Guatemala on the 27th-29th of November. We are so fortunate to have Monty visit our children's home and the children of Semillas de Amor. What an honor. A number of our children already are riding, as are my kids. Monty has been a foster father to many, many children and will honor us with a visit on Thanksgiving afternoon.

Tickets are still available if anyone will be in town. Several of our children will attend the event. Monty Roberts' presentation is not only about horses but non violence. This is a very exciting event for Guatemala, a country so devastated by violence. Thank you to Club Equestre La Ronda for sponsoring this much needed and wonderful event.

A little about Monty Roberts:

The call was from the offices of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of England and an avid horsewoman. She had heard about Roberts’ work and invited him to come to her country and show her staff his Join~Up® method. The Queen was so impressed by his demonstration she urged him to write a book. That book became “The Man Who Listens to Horses”.

Published in 1996, “The Man Who Listens to Horses” became a full-blown phenomenon. The book went on to sell nearly 5 million copies. Suddenly, Roberts and his training methods had skyrocketed into the limelight. The phone lines were jammed at the farm and the media was clamoring to get an interview; but more importantly, hundreds of thousands of horse lovers heard the message that there was another way.

The PBS and BBC television networks aired documentaries about his work, four more books were published and became best sellers, and countries throughout the world translated these materials, sharing his message that violence is never the answer. Over the past several years, Monty has toured the United States and has raised over $1.6 million for horse-related charities, including 4-H and therapeutic riding organizations.

Monty still demonstrates Join~Up® across the globe. His fourth book "From My Hands to Yours: Lessons from a Lifetime of Training Championship Horses,” is a textbook format of his Join-Up training principles. His academy, the Monty Roberts Equestrian Academy, located at Flag Is Up Farms, trained more than 140 students last year using his non-violent methods. MREA is run by the nonprofit organization, Join~Up® International, Inc. which has set out to ensure that Join-Up principles will be available for generations to come.

Monty never forgets the lessons he learns from the horses. In his fifth book, Monty recounts the stories of his best loved horses, chosen from the tens of thousands he has worked with throughout his lifetime. The Horses in My Life is a celebration of the horses he has learned the most from, as well as those that have impressed themselves most indelibly on his memory and in his heart. His sixth book, Ask Monty is a compilation of solutions to the 150 most common horse problems.

Today, Monty remains steadfast to his goal; “to leave the world a better place than I found it, for horses and for people, too.”
For more information about Monty please follow the links below.

http://www.montyrobertsenguate.com
http://www.montyroberts.com

KITE FLYING IN PARRAMOS

2008-11-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

The Semillas de Amor Children's Village was built and designed for exactly this--FUN. Our new children's home is a place where we want children to be children. To play, to laugh and to just enjoy. Last week we took a group of kids to Parramos to fly kites. As you can see in the photos, we didn't have a lot of wind, so we are going back. It was so wonderful to see the kids running and playing. We are still waiting on electricity (a long, long story) but it will happen.

Enjoy the photos!

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

We hope you enjoy our Halloween party photos.

If you would like to see more Halloween photos, please take a look at Gary Cooper's wonderful photos, http://www.gjcphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/6430688_P4wdk#410424331_4Jdt9

Guatemala Independence Day 2008

2008-09-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Friday, September 12th we celebrated Guatemala's 187th independence day. It was quite a treat for all of us. The children dressed in indigenous traje, we ate typica food, there was music and dance. I have to say the independence day celebration is my favorite. This year we even had little red aliens, with antennas. I am not sure how they figured into Guatemala's independence from Spain, but they were adorable. For more wonderful photos please go to Gary Cooper's website and look at his photos, they are just incredible:
http://gjcphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/5974475_k7nDx#372856964_QYseP

An All American Evening

2008-09-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

Last week we sent the older kids off for an All American evening, Pizza Hut pizza and High School Musical on Ice. As always the kids had a great time.

Photos of Our Little Ones at Semillas de Amor

2008-09-03T13:33:00.000-07:00

TEAM SEMILLAS DE AMOR COMPETES AT LA RONDA

2008-08-24T21:35:00.000-07:00

TEAM SEMILLAS DE AMOR competed on Saturday at La Ronda in Antigua. Our riders, Gaby, Daisy, Santos, Sonia and Marta did a great job. It was the first "real" competition for Santos, Sonia and Marta and we all had so much fun. Sonia and Santos' adoptive parents were visiting so it was very special for the kids. I was so proud of our riders and the horses. Even our wonderful and stubborn Obelix did a great job.

Congratulations to our riders on a job well done!

Parramos and more....

2008-08-11T18:38:00.000-07:00

The "big" kids took a trip to Parramos on Friday to pick radishes, our first crop. I sent my camera with the kids and had them take some photos. I also included photos of two sculptures that Santos and Gaby did. Such talented kids. I always wonder about all the children in Guatemala that really miss out by not having an education and an arena to be creative. I have seen incredible creativity with our kids.

A Photographic Journey through the Children's Village

2008-08-06T10:56:00.000-07:00

We were fortunate to have a professional photographer, Gary Cooper, take photos of our new children's home. Thank you Gary for the beautiful photos.

La Feria Internacional del Libro en Guatemala

2008-08-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

Friday a group of our children went to the La Feria Internacional del Libro en Guatemala (the Guatemala Book Fair) in Guatemala City. Our kids love books but most children in Guatemala have no access to books or libraries. Many children's parents do not know how to read so even if they had access to book they would be unable to read to them.

Our kids were each able to choose a book and then purchase it. Those books were added to our growing library at the children's home. The photos speak for themselves, the magic of reading.

And what could be better after the book fair, yes, dining on Pollo Campero.

Who is Left of the Guatemala 5000 and All The Others Left Behind

2008-07-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

One thousand plus children still remain in Guatemala with their adoptions pending. We need our congressional members and Embassy to support these children's families in order to bring them home.

Semillas de Amor has over 40 children that are in process of adoption and need to be able to go home to their families. We have over 16 children without families and without any means to support these children. Many children's homes have closed as the Guatemalan government tries to squeeze the life out of us. Of the 16 children "left behind" most of them have known no other life than their lives with us. To close our doors and dump them somewhere else is not an option for me. We need help to continue on with our work with Guatemalan children. Please don't let an ineffective, corrupt governmental system, like Guatemala's, take over the responsibility and care of these children. They have never had any interest in them before they received large amounts of money from UNICEF and now everyone appears to be worried. Money talks loud and clear in Guatemala.

Thank you Telissa for another beautiful video.

A Day of Dressage and Chopsticks

2008-07-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

I believe that one of the most important things we can do with the children, who are in our care, is to work with them on their socialization. Learning to say, please and thank you. Learning to care for books, going to a restaurant and having good manners. Everyday things for children who live with families but when you live in an institution that doesn't happen. Our children have had water color art classes for over two years. The children's work is wonderful. Three of our children go to horse back riding lessons every week. They are learning show jumping. We can't keep children behind guarded gates, never leave and then expect them to do well in social situations. So when I have the chance to take the oldest kids with me I do. I want them to see more of the world than they know. I want them to eat Chinese food and try chopsticks. I want them to see a kid, who looks just like them, win awards for her riding amongst groups of white people. I want them to learn they are as good as all those other people that might look down on them. And so on Saturday I took our three horse back riders from the children's home and my two horse back riders to the dressage competition on Saturday and Sunday. My daughter, Gaby was competing both days with her horse, Cornucopia. Gaby is in second place, in the training level for dressage, for Guatemala. She has not been dressage rider previously but started adding dressage to her show jumping to be a better rounded rider.

After the competition we went to lunch at a new Chinese restaurant. I figured we'd forget about the manners because I knew they would love the chopsticks.

It was a fun day for all of us. The kids came home with me and they watched several movies and then went home for the night. Such great kids, all of them.

BOOKS!!!!

2008-07-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

The children of Semillas de Amor were the fortunate recipients of a generous donation of Spanish books from Linda Smith, founder and president, of the non profit Reading Village in Boulder, Colorado. What a treat for all of us. Books are pure magic for so many of our children. Our older kids read to the youngest children daily. It works well because the older kids practice reading out loud and the little ones get to hear stories.

Our future goal for the children's village is to build a library that will be available for our children as well as children in the surrounding areas.

Thank you Linda and the Reading Village for your generous donation!! To read more about the Reading Village you can go to their blog at http://www.readingvillage.org

Semillas de Amor, Who is Left of the Guatemala 5000

2008-07-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

Thank you Telissa for the beautiful video and to everyone who contributed photos.

4-Wheeling Through the Coffee Farm

2008-07-14T14:12:00.000-07:00

Weekends can seem really long for our older kids. The teachers are gone as are all the office staff so they get pretty bored. As we work on a plan to keep the older kids busy and stimulated I picked up our four oldest this weekend and took them 4-wheel driving in our little KIA truck through the coffee farm where I live. All five of our dogs went with us which made the drive all the more fun and gave us the chance to play frisbee.

Swim Party

2008-07-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a glimmer of sun come out, a nice change from all the rain we have had, and gave the kids and opportunity to get into their swimsuits and go for a swim.

Who is Left of the Guatemala 5000?

2008-07-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Thank you Telissa!

Please Help Us Go Home!!!

2008-06-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

With the change in the adoption laws in Guatemala, many children, who have adoptive families have been left in limbo. Please watch the video on this post and if you would like more information on how you can help you can join the Yahoo Group, Semillasdeamorconnection or check http://childrenofsemillasdeamor.blogspot.com/ We need your help now, more than ever.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Parramos Update

2008-06-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the electricity to be installed in Parramos has been such a long struggle. There are many days I feel like it will never happen. We've been told, one more time, 15-20 days. Who knows.

In preparation for our move we have been doing some cleaning. Moving out a few unwanted visitors, rats and bats. The landscaping is growing quickly with all the rain we have had.

We have measured inside and out to prepare for painting but need paint and painters.

As we measured I handed my camera to the kids and told them to take some photos. The slide show of photos were taken by Gaby, Daisy and Santos. Their views of the children's village.

Let's hope we have electricity soon!

Homemade Donuts.....Yummm

2008-06-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

Friday our donut makers, with the help of the secret donut recipe from our cleaning lady Vilma, made 80 donuts for all of us. What a treat!!