Josh Renaud

Photos: Friends and family

We managed to get Yoli's entire family together for a photo. This is the first time we've all been in one place in several years. Count 'em — there's 20 people!

Here are Rebeca, Daniel, and Melany; they are the children of Yoli's sister Eliza.

Here are Raquel and Abi with Jadzia; they are the children of Yoli's sister Noemi. It is Bolivian tradition to shave babies' heads on their first birthday to help them grow more hair. Since the weather was pretty hot, Noemi decided to shave Raquelita's hair a little early.

Here are Jonatan and Leya with Jadzia; they are the children of Yoli's sister Lucy.

Here is Jessy holding Jadzia; she is also one of Lucy's children.

Here is Yoli's sister Sara setting up a high seat at the restaurant where she works, called Picolo. We ate there twice: once with Boris and Eliza, then with Noemi and Alcides.

Sure, Jadzia would LOVE to try a banana split! Notice how curly her hair is? When we got back to the States, it got straight again. Must have been the humidity.

Here's Corina and Heidi playing with Jadzia.

Awwww... Jadzia's sleeping. Notice the bunny in the background? It was sniffing her hair right before we took this photo. One of Jadzia's favorite books is called "Pat the bunny."

Photos: Hogar Nacer

Casa Hogar Nacer is a home in the country that helps boys who live on the streets of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Yoli has volunteered in the past at this home. I have visited it every time we've gone to Bolivia, and each time I go I find it more beautiful than before. This time I wanted to take some photos to show the beautiful landscaping and also to take photos of some of the boys who live there.

I said before that Hogar Nacer is even more beautiful that Santa Cruz's present Botanical Gardens, and I still think it's true.

We arrived shortly before lunch time, so we ate with Miguel, the director, and Ken, a volunteer. Afterward, I took this photo of some boys washing the dishes. The kids at Hogar Nacer each have responsibilities they must take care of every day.

These boys are preparing to bake some bread outside. It smelled AWESOME once they got it into the oven.

Last time we came to Hogar Nacer, they had two pigs. Now there are 40!

And of course those 40 pigs require a lot of feed each day.

These are some of the younger boys playing on their bunks in the dorm.

This boy is getting ready to do some digging for a landscaping project.

I found a few boys taking it easy during the afternoon in the metal shop.

Photos: Jericho

Here are some photos of the new construction at El Jordán. First a few notes: The name refers to the Jordan River in Israel, which the Israelites had to cross before entering the Promised Land. El Jordán is a support center for street kids where they get help to leave behind their old life and "cross the river" to a new life.

Several years ago, the folks at El Jordán were able to buy the property next door. They had been praying for this opportunity. They named the new property "Jericho," which was significant in several ways. First, in the Bible, it was the Israelites next major challenge after entering the land. Second, the Israelites had to tear down the walls of the city. The same would be true of this Bolivian Jericho. They cleaned it up, but at that time didn't have the money to begin demolition and construction.

So that's the background. Here are the photos:

This is "Jericho" from the front. Yoli and I had our wedding reception on this property in 2003. Late in 2005 they tore down the old house that had been there and began the construction that you see in this picture.

They don't use many two-by-fours in Bolivia. It's mostly straight skinny tree limbs.

Primary construction materials: bricks, sand (for making concrete), and tree limbs.

Inside the structure it was pretty dark, especially on the first floor. Because they build with bricks and concrete (and there had been rain), it felt very damp and there was mud on the floor.

This was definitely a construction site. There were obstacles everywhere, and we were constantly ducking under things to see all the rooms. I did all this with Jadzia strapped onto my chest in the baby carrier. I probably wouldn't get away with that in the U.S.

When we visited the construction site it was siesta time, so there were workers everywhere hunkered down for a quick nap.

Eulogio (left) and Heidi (right) are workers at El Jordan. They will each get new apartments when the new building is finished.

The view from the top of Jericho is pretty amazing. You can even make out the Andes mountains far to the west.

Yoli on the top floor.

Josh and Jadzia on the top floor near the construction elevator. I wanted to actually walk out on those planks with Jadzia, but Yoli probably would have killed me, so I didn't.

As you can see, there aren't any guard railings around the roof yet. This made the experience more exciting.

As we were leaving, I spotted a horse cart down the street, so I ran down to snap a picture.