Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! This was the first year I just stayed home since I moved overseas. The last three years were either spent at the beach or in the mountains. In some ways it was sad to just stay here, in other ways I really enjoyed it. I spent Thanksgiving with about 40 other people from Rosslyn. I think that was the biggest Thanksgiving I had ever been to, besides those at church and school not actually on Thanksgiving. We actually had another Thanksgiving meal before that with some other friends! I am going to use the word Thankful to tell you more about the things for which I am thankful.

T--traditions. I love that even in Kenya we had turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie!

H--health. I am thankful that it has been 2 months since my stay in the hospital. I am also thankful that I can go to the hospital when I am sick.

A--abundance. I have so much. I need to be more thankful for all that I have.

N--night sky. This one is random, I know, but I LOVE the night sky here in Kenya. If you were to catch me walking on the track at night, I would most likely be looking up. I love that special time with just me, Jesus, and the stars shining brightly.

K--kids. Not my own, but my students. They are crazy, but I love them!

F--faithfulness. God has been so faithful to me this year. He has brought me through a lot. Lately He has been doing a great work in my heart, and for that I am thankful.

U--umbrellas. With needing umbrellas comes rain. I am thankful for the rain falling on this land that so desperately needs it. I am still praying for rain in the northern parts of Kenya.

L--little babies. I think this one is obvious :). I love all the little babies at the orphanage. I now officially want to take two home. I know, that's crazy. Will you pray with me that they will all be adopted by loving families?

What about you? I would love to hear what you are thankful for this season. Above all else, I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without him, I am nothing. May I spread his love to all those I touch.

Field Trip Craziness

What do you get when you take 37 second graders to a huge outside park with caves, waterfalls, boats, camel and horse riding, and lots of places to run around? The answer is CRAZINESS!!! Haha. But it was fun. Let me see if I can paint a word picture to you of our field trip.

The place we went to was called Paradise Lost. One of the boys, upon arriving, said "This really IS paradise!" I am glad we could go to paradise for a day! It basically is a big park with all the things mentioned above. When our buses arrived, we paid and headed down to the boats. And when I say boats, I really mean floating pieces of wood with slight sides that sit really low in the water. Yes, my second graders rode on them! They had way too big bright orange life jackets on. Thankfully none fell in!

When we finished there, we took them to the cave. In front of the cave is an amazing waterfall. The path actually went behind it, which is fun. Before we went to the cave, they told us the power was out, so only one class could go in at a time. We took 18 kids with only three flashlights! It was crazy but super fun! The cave was 20 meters under the ground. It reminded me of my sixth grade field trip to Mt. St. Helens and going in the caves there. It was super dark and hot and hard to breathe. It was cool turning the flashlights off and having it be completely dark. Most of the kids had never experienced that before.

After returning to the outside world and eating lunch, it was camel and horseback riding time! I RODE A CAMEL!!!! It was crazy! They are very bouncy and it is crazy when they stand up with you on their backs. Sitting down was crazy too! But it was a lot of fun. 9 of my kids rode the camel, and 17 rode horses. They LOVED it! It was also a time when we just let them run and play. This was a perfect field trip for a class with 12 boys! They had so much fun! Needless to say, I am tired now, but it was so worth it! I love being able to see the beautiful world God made for us!

Camels! The other lady is one of my student's moms. She is super nice!

God's creation is amazing!

Rickety boats!

Random

So little unconnected thoughts are all I can think about, but that's what I will share anyways. Get ready for brain disconnect!

-This weekend I kissed a boy and then he proceeded to throw up. This story would be so much funnier if I didn't tell you he was 5 months old. Haha.

-This week is Spirit Week. It also happens to be the week where my kids lead chapel tomorrow for all of elementary and we have a field trip on Friday. Yes, I know, that is crazy. I didn't know about Spirit Week when we planned all this.

-The first day of Spirit Week was clone day. My whole class dressed up like zebras, complete with masks and tails. We looked amazing. I will post pictures when I am not so tired I might fall out of my bed.

-If anyone saw me walking on the track tonight, they would have thought I was crazy! I kept being blown away by my God. The moon was beyond beautiful tonight. I kept stopping to look at it. And then I was listening to my roommate's ipod since mine was stolen and blown away by the words about my Jesus. I am so thankful for Him! May you see His presence today. He truly is worth worshiping.

-If you think of it, pray for my kids at school. I want them to really see Jesus. Some of them have never heard about Him before. I want them to see how amazing He truly is. Please pray that that parents would also come to know Him. Thank you!

Babies, babies, Babies

Look who is getting back into the habit of blogging! Let's hope I can keep it up.

Today I helped out with a track meet here at Rosslyn. Some of the kids from other schools ran the races barefoot! They say that wearing shoes slows them down. I love being in Africa! And this was on a very rocky track!

I got some pictures of the babies from my roommate Emily. Hopefully you aren't tired of seeing them yet. I sure am not!

Can you tell they want attention? :)

LOVE this one! He was also in the hospital.

Happy John!

Chilling outside

My roommate Emily and I. I am glad she loves the babies as much as I do!

Cuties!

They sleep three to a crib, even the big ones who don't fit sideways very well. They are SO crowded! The one on the left is Moses, the baby we are fostering on the weekends.

I love this baby! His name is Japheth. He was one of the ones in the hospital recently.

My roommate Emily and a very happy baby.

This might be my favorite picture of all time! Trying to get them both to look at the camera. Yeah, that didn't work so well :)

Privileged

I have been thinking a lot about how privileged I am. I have more clothes than I need. I have a fridge full of food. I have running water. I don't have to go hungry. I eat way too much. I will be honest with you, at times I struggle with why I have so much when so many have so little. Why did God bless ME? Why do I have so much? It is easy for me to be stuck there. And that becomes a problem. I can't get stuck there. Yes, I am privileged. Yes, I have way more than I need. So what am I going to do about it? If I just wallow in self-pity about being too privileged it's not going to do anything. The fact is, I have a lot. Now what am I going to do with it? Do I reach out? Do I feed the hungry? Do I love the unlovable? Oh God, may it be so! May I truly share what you have blessed me with. May I reach out and touch others' lives with the blessings He has poured out on me!

Three months

I have now been in Africa for three months. It's hard to believe. It seems like so long ago, yet also just yesterday. I have laughed, cried, danced, fallen to the floor, been sick, been healthy,and so much more. Jesus continues to blow me away every day, though so often I don't listen to His voice. My prayer is that I would open my heart up to Him more and more every day. He blows me away. I love hearing my students talk about Him. I love hearing them tell other students that Jesus is the only way to heaven. I love being able to foster a little baby on the weekends. I love the way he laughs and smiles at me. I love the privilege I have to love on him and all the other babies at the orphanage. I want to love more. I want to have Jesus' love just spilling out of me.

As I posted last time, I was really sick last month. I am feeling much better and thankful for that. I am loving my second graders, at least most days :). They keep me on my toes. The best story this month is that a few of them saw writing on the bathroom walls and decided they wanted to solve mysteries. So one of my boys brought a briefcase to school the next day so he could better solve the mysteries! I love their imagination! Their passion for life convicts me. I love how they believe what Jesus says without thinking twice. Oh may I have a faith like that!

I cannot believe it is almost November! This school year has flown by! I am going home for Christmas, which I was not planning on but I am super excited for the opportunity! It will be so good to see friends and family there. If you live in Dubuque, let me know if you want to get together!

As I mentioned earlier, we get to foster a baby on the weekends. I absolutely love it, and him! The next three pictures are of our cute little dude!

This last one is the baby girl we were supposed to foster. The day we went to get her for the first time, she was sick so we didn't take her. Less than two weeks later she died. It was really hard, but I am happy that she is with Jesus!
I am excited to see what God brings my way in the next few weeks. I will try to keep the blog world posted!

Radiance

I love Psalms 34:4-5: I sought the Lord, and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

Those verses blow me away. How often have I not sought the Lord? Instead I have lived in those fears. I was not delivered because I looked everywhere else to meet my needs. And instead of those fears shrinking, they grew. I love that when I seek the Lord, He answers. I love that these two verses go together. When I am delivered from my fears, my face is not covered in shame. Fear varies for each person, but so often it covers us in shame. Maybe it's for something we did, maybe for something we didn't do. We all deal with failure, and I know I fear that failure. But when I seek the Lord, I am delivered from that fear of failure. How often am I not radiant because I have not sought the Lord? Oh Lord, may I seek you above all else!

NOT my goal...

Contrary to popular beliefs, it is NOT my goal to visit the hospital of every country where I live. Yes, I have already managed to wind up in a Kenyan hospital. Yes, I realize I have been in the country 7 weeks. That's a record for me. And this is a record stay for me as well--going on 5 nights. I am hoping hoping hoping to make it home tomorrow. I have been sick almost two weeks, so I am glad they finally figured out that it's an infection. I just got started on the medicine yesterday. I have been here since Thursday night. I am very thankful for all my new friends who have come to visit. I am also grateful for good insurance. Though it has been lonely and tough, my Jesus is bigger and my Jesus is stronger. He will never leave me, and I love that.

Some things that have made me smile while here:

-All the new friends who have come.

-One of my staff kids came with his mom and sister. So fun having a student come to see me!

-I emailed my students' parents yesterday and let them know what was going on. 11 of them have emailed me back to say they are thinking of me and many are praying for me.

-A couple of us have had the FUNNIEST email chain going on today. It has made me crack up more than once. Sitting in the hospital by myself. Haha. Love it! Thanks guys!

-My friend brought me my stuffed Nemo. The first night I had it here the nurse was like "I like your fish." Yes, I am 24 years old and have a stuffed fish with me in the hospital. I am that cool.

-The same friend brought me a TV show I had never heard of on Saturday. I finished it today. Yay for new fun shows!

-I have been able to chat with my friend Amanda in the DR. We had each other cracking up today reminiscing about some FUNNY FUNNY events in the DR. Love her and love that I could chat with her!

-I have my computer and internet now! Yay!

Life is so much better when you count your blessings. Please keep praying that my body heals completely and that I can go home tomorrow. I am more than ready! I miss holding babies. I asked my friend to bring me one today. Haha. That probably would not be the smartest choice, but I would love it. I am so thankful for friends who care!

Held in His arms,

Mindy

Life

Well, I am not really sure what to write, but feel like I should. How do I describe my life even more fully in this little white box? Wow. I guess I can start by saying I am blessed. I get to spend all day with 18 little second graders that sometimes drive me crazy but are such a blessing. This morning I was able to share the gospel with them through the bridge illustration. I will never get tired of being able to tell little kids about Jesus! I love it! And one of my boys blew me away today! We were talking in Social Studies about needs and wants and the difference between those. We had read about them and then I asked what needs were. The kids mentioned the normal (water, air, food) and then one of the boys said, "God." I gave him a huge high five and said "You are totally right. All people need God, but not all, umm... (I was at a loss of words on how to explain this to second graders) and he said "want Him." Wow. He hit it on the spot. I couldn't have said it better. I almost cried. He is so right. We all need Him. Desperately. Yet not all want Him. Is living for Him worth it? Absolutely. Is it easy? No way. But it's amazing. I love the things He does in our lives when we let Him.

I am excited to see what He will do in and through me here. I know the road will be rocky, but I have an excellent guide. I miss my friends and former students in the DR a lot, but I know God has great plans for me here.

And what could be better than spending THREE DAYS IN A ROW with the cutest little African babies in the world? Here are some pictures from Sunday.

Snuggles with a new one. She just chilled in my lap for probably a half hour!

He was the most smiley baby I have ever seen!

My roommate Emily. She comes with me a lot.

Happy.

This little guy has the CUTEST laugh I have ever heard! He was really going at it today. It was hilarious! I can't help but bust out laughing every time he starts laughing.

If you think of it, pray for these babies. Pray that the orphanage would have the funds to finish their new building. Right now the babies are crazy crowded (two to three in a crib) and don't really have a great place to play. Pray for people to adopt them and love them. They are so precious!

Picture Update

Pictures!

A cute baby at The Nest. They were so silly today!

The coolest birthday cake ever! This was for two of my boys' double birthdays.

Happy.

My two roommates on one of their birthdays.

Outside my house, which is also the admin building. Here are some of the flags representing where all our students are from.

Awesome HUGE kitchen.

Living/dining room. Yes, it is round.

This is the painting I received from my school in the DR when I left. It is now hanging in Africa :).

On the volcano with the lady I student taught with three years ago.

Beautiful.

Jambo!

Here is the email I sent out last week. If you are not on my email list, leave me a comment and I will add your. Or email me.

What's going on in my life? I can't believe how much has changed in just four weeks. Four weeks ago today I was sitting in church in Dubuque and being prayed for in front of the congregation. Today I am sitting in my room in Nairobi, after going to church and holding babies at an orphanage nearby. And what about the time in between? Let me just tell you, a lot can happen in four weeks!

Well, for starters I moved to Nairobi, Kenya! That's a pretty big life change! I am living and working at Rosslyn Academy. I live with two awesome female teachers, Emily and Jennifer. We have had a great time getting to know each other and getting used to life here in Kenya. Emily has been here one year so far, and Jennifer is new.

I started my fourth year of teaching! And it is also my first year in second grade. I have 17 great little blessings. 11 of them are boys, so just imagine what second grade at Rosslyn is like! But they truly are great. I love seeing their little personalities come out. It is also neat having so many different cultures in my class. They are from different places and some speak different languages at home. It was neat to look on the map and see how we truly do come from across the globe! We have had 7 days of school so far, plus a Saturday Open House. It has been super busy but also super great! I love working at a school where some kids have never heard the gospel. I have been telling them the story of Moses. They are mad at me for stopping and not telling them more! One little boy who is from a Hindu family said, "PLEASE tell us more! I have never heard about Moses before!" Wow. Please pray for open hearts for him and for the others in my class. I am so thankful for the opportunity I have to share the best news in the world with them!

Moving to a new place means meeting many new people. I am excited about the new friendships I am making, but at the same time missing the friends I no longer see as much. But I know that God has great things in store for me here, and I am excited to see all the different people He brings into my life.

I love the one-in-a-lifetime experiences that God puts in your path. I hope one like this is to be repeated, but it definitely was unexpected and amazing! We as a staff went hiking at a volcano about three and a half hours away. Well, it shouldn't have taken that long, but roads in Africa can be...umm...interesting. Anyways, after hiking, some of us stayed and camped there. When everyone else left, our guide for the hike asked if we wanted to go to a Masai village. This was not a tourist trap or a place where a lot of white people go. There happened to be a ceremony going on that day and the next, so people from a lot of villages were there. It was incredible! We were able to see inside their mud and straw huts. The kids also sang and danced for us. One of the coolest parts was seeing warriors dressed in their traditional clothing, with mud paint on their legs and everything! They chanted and had a jumping contest for us. I have never experienced anything quite like that. The kids were fascinated with my sunglasses and took them off my head to wear them. Then I would take a picture so they could see themselves. Let's just say I have quite a few pictures of village kids with sunglasses! And many times the sunglasses were upside down! Words cannot even express how cool that was. I hope more opportunities come up like that soon!

So the question is, can Mindy go somewhere and NOT find the babies? You probably all know the answer to that question. NO WAY! I have been able to go back to the baby orphanage I visited last time I was in Kenya. Three years ago they had six or seven babies. Now they have over 20! I am still trying to learn their names. It's even harder when they put the boys in pink clothes! There is not enough space for all of them in the building where they are now, so they are in the process of building a new building. Let me know if you would like more information about the orphanage. The smallest baby is almost three months and under 6 pounds! I have really enjoyed being able to hold as many babies as I want as often as I want! I haven't made it over there as much as I would like simply because teaching is taking so much of my time right now. Hopefully soon things will slow down so I can!

I have posted a bunch of pictures on Facebook if you are friends with me there. You can also send me a friend request if you are on Facebook.

Thank you for praying for me! Here are some specific requests:

-Knowing how to best reach my students. I want to meet them where they are, and help them as much as I can. Please pray for wisdom.

-Working with new co-workers and getting used to a new school and new ways of doing things.

-Knowing how to best use my time and energy. I want to help as much as I can both here at Rosslyn and at the orphanage. Please pray that I would know what that looks like.

-Please keep Kenya, especially Northern Kenya, in your prayers. The drought and famine there is really bad. A guy shared at church today about a village he visited where all but 9 of their 200 sheep died out of lack of food or water. Please pray for rain and an end to this famine. Where I am in Southern Kenya things are ok, but keep praying for rain!

I hope to post pictures soon. I wanted to post some from the Masai village, but am going to wait for now. My facebook has a lot though. I took some good ones of the babies today. We had a day off school. You will never guess where I wanted to spend it :). It was great!

The beginnings...

Jambo from Nairobi! I have been here a little over a week already. In some ways I feel like I have been here forever and in other ways I feel like I just arrived. I am excited and overwhelmed, sad and happy, and so much more, all at the same time. School starts a week from today, so it's been crazy trying to get everything ready for that. We started new teacher orientation on Monday. Talk about overload! But the information was all really good, especially the stuff on transition and working with third culture kids. For those of you who don't know, that means kids who have lived a significant amount of their lives in a country that is not their passport country, to put it simply. Most of my kids will be third culture kids. I can't even say half their names! But that will come. Right now I have 17 kids, which is the smallest class I have ever had! I am kinda excited about that. I have been busy trying to get bulletin boards set up, desks arranged, and all that kind of stuff. It's weird to be in a new classroom. I definitely am missing my kids and friends in the DR, but I also am excited to see what God will do in my life here.

Other than school, I was able to go back to the church I went to when I student taught. I loved being back there! I think I will just stay there since I have friends there and know it's a good church, but we will see. Two of the new teachers came with me to church and then after church we walked to the baby orphanage I also used to go to. When I left, they had 6 or 7 babies. Now they have more than 20! It was so great to go love on them for a little bit. I have already gone back two more times--Monday and Wednesday! Can you tell I love that part about being here? :)

Tomorrow we are going to a mountain to go hiking, and some of us are also camping there. I have never gone camping in Africa, so we will see how that goes! We will come back Saturday afternoon, and then it's back to getting ready for school! The new staff went to a tea farm last week, and that was a lot of fun. I am really enjoying getting to know the new staff here. I love hearing everyone's stories and what God is doing in their lives.

I am so glad God has brought me here, even though some days are difficult. I love that He has me in a place where I can spend time with both school aged kids and babies. I know there will be trying times ahead, but God is bigger and stronger and I am so excited to see what He will do in my life!

ABCs of Jesus

Have you ever gone through the ABCs, naming a character/quality of God or Jesus for each one? I was doing that as I went to sleep last night and meditating on those things rather than fears or worries. I need to work on doing that more often! Anyways, A, B, and C were all pretty normal for what I have thought of before. I think I said Awesome, Beautiful, and Compassionate or something. Then I got to D and my mind all the sudden said "daring." I realized what I thought and was like "No, that doesn't fit." But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my Jesus is indeed daring. Dictionary dot com says the following for daring: "audacity, bravery. 2. dauntless, undaunted, venturesome,audacious, brave" I sure think that fits. My Jesus was dauntless as he came down to save a people He knew would walk away from Him. He had the audacity to do it anyway. Wow. I know I would not have been daring and died for people who would walk away from me. He was brave enough to leave perfect heaven to come to sinful earth, walk on this earth for 33 years, and then die a cruel death. Yes, I would say my Jesus is daring.

What a friend we have in Jesus! I am so blessed that He died to take away my sins, and the sins of anyone who asks Him to take away their sins. He is worth living for. He is worth dying for. May I live my life for Him!

Stuffed Suitcases

How do you fit three years of things in three suitcases? I think I am figuring out the answer...you don't. I am not going to post a picture of what my brother's room, aka my packing room, looks like right now. Explosion city. There is no way it's all going to fit. I might have to take a fourth bag, though it's very expensive and I am tired of spending money. Haha.

I leave a week from today! Woah. I am trying to fit everything in this week. I have been spending lots of time with friends and lots of time shopping. Last week my mom and I went and saw my friend who had her baby 11 weeks early. I have never seen a baby so small! But it was super good to see them and meet the baby's big sister who I had never met. It's been busy around here but good. If you live in Dubuque and want to get together before I leave, let me know!

In Transition

Well, it's been a long while since I wrote on here. Hopefully I will never go that long. Frankly, every time I think about writing I am just not sure where to begin. Leaving the Dominican Republic was very hard. Pulling a sobbing first grader off you twice and having her pulled off you another time is not very fun. I miss my kids, my friends, my life there. BUT I am also excited about what's coming. I am in Iowa for three more weeks and then off to KENYA. I am trying to get everything ready for the big move. It's hard to fit everything in life in just a couple suitcases! This summer I spent a few weeks on the west coast. Unfortunately, I took like no pictures. Sorry! My family took the train out, so that was a lot of fun (and a lot of bumps!) It was great to see my grandma and friends out in Seattle and east of the mountains. I realized that is the last time I will see my brother for a while because he is still in Seattle and won't be back until after I leave. I am not a fan of goodbyes! Oh well.

Several of you have asked if my blog address will stay the same. I am not planning on changing it, but if I do, I will make it very clear how to get to the new one. I won't be in the DR anymore, but that's okay. You all know that.

I am learning a lot about trusting God during this season of my life. It's easy to question what He is doing and what is happening, but then I realize again that He has a plan, that He is in charge, and that if I follow Him, I am right where I should be. I am blessed that I have a job. Several of my teacher friends do not, and my heart aches for them. I have so many blessings to count!

Thank you to all who have been and are praying for me. I hope to keep updating here and then also plan to send out email updates. Please continue to pray for my time in transition, especially adjusting to life in Kenya. I haven't taught second grade before, so it's going to be a lot of adjustments, to say the least! But God is good.

Here are just some fun pictures of my last few weeks in the DR.

At the beach. Usually there are swarms of people right here, but not that day. My friend Amanda and I went for the weekend. It was so great. I miss her a lot!
My crazy class on the last day of school. I miss them too!
One of my church friends on my last day at my Dominican Church.
With Angie, a kindergarten teacher, Jenn, the art teacher, and Eileen, my amazing principal, at Camp David. This is up on the mountain overlooking the city.
Field Day. We were the red team. That yellow glob is a sponge filled with water. I just LOVE that little girl's face! Isn't that awesome?!?!

Have a great week everyone! I will try to write more soon and post more pictures!

Destination: AFRICA!!!

Okay, the word is out. Most of you probably already know, but I am heading to KENYA in July! I will be teaching second grade at the same school where I student taught. I am sad to leave the Dominican Republic but excited at the same time for the new adventures that await me. I am sure life will be very different. I will really miss speaking Spanish, my kids here, and my friends. But I am excited for African church, the students there, and the babies, among other things. I am sure it will be very different than when I student taught there. It is a three year commitment, which is scary but exciting because that way I know what I will be doing, Lord willing, for the next three years. It was really tough telling my students that I am leaving. Now they all want to come visit me in Africa, which is fine with me ;). This year has been really really good for the most part. I have learned so much about God and His incredible love for me. He is truly amazing! My first graders have taught me so much about Him! I love their desire to learn about God and the questions they ask. I wish you could all sit in and hear them when we are talking about God! It blows my mind.

I will post pictures hopefully today. I only have a little more than 6 weeks here! YIKES!!!!

Wow

Can I just say God is amazing? I have been thinking a lot lately about His plan. In the past I have thought about it but never really kept my thoughts there. And now that I have been, let me just say I am falling even more in love with our Creator! I always knew He had a plan for me and for others, but the more I think of it, the more it amazes me. He weaves all of our lives and His plans for each and every one of us into a perfect picture. There are no glitches. He doesn't give me a great plan and then have no way to have a great plan for someone else. And our lives, our plans interweave perfectly. Sometimes it's easy to look at someone else's life and God's plan for them and be jealous or angry and think that God forgot about you, but He totally never did. Your plan still is perfect. His plan for me, despite my imperfections and my weaknesses, is perfect. I am so excited to see how His plan unfolds in my life. Sometimes the road is hard and steeped with sorrow, but God is still there and He is still good. And His timing is never wrong. Sometimes I am tempted to think "Why didn't this happen earlier?" or "Can't it just wait a little while?" But no. That's not His plan for me. That's not what He has in store. Wow. I am swept off my feet by our amazing and faithful God. May I fall more in love with Him each and every day! May I rejoice in His plan for me even when the road is steep and my eyes are filled with tears. He is amazing!

Pictures, please!

It's been forever and a day since I posted pictures. Sorry! And I just realized that my mom was here for a week and we NEVER took a picture together! Uggh! I guess she is going to have to come back :).

At one of their birthday parties. Cute girls!

LOVE her! And she is not even the model, but looks like one here!

This big smile is on her face most of the time--love it!

Spelling bee! My little one is on the left--first place out of first and second grades! I wish I had a video. She was so cute!

Okay, this one needs an explanation. We were on a horse ride at Family Day at school and were acting scared. Yes, Amanda and I are ridiculous. We know :)

This is at one of my girl's birthday parties. You can't really tell, but she lives overlooking the city. It might be one of the most beautiful parts of Santiago!
February 27th was Dominican Independence Day. The kids worked with the Spanish teachers to put on an awesome program! Here are most of my little Native Dominicans :)
My roommate's mom and dad came. She is a kinder teacher, so she came and read to us.
Love this! How many dodgeball balls can YOU carry at once?
Lately when they need to work on an answer as a team, some of the teams do this. So cute :)

Well, there's a little glimpse into my life in the past couple months. I will post some from the beach after I upload them. May you all experience His peace today!

Pleasing men

So a verse has been stuck in my head lately, and I need to get it stuck in my heart too. Man, do I ever need to! Those who know me know I really deal a lot with people pleasing. A lot a lot. A verse that has come up often in the past two years is Galatians 1:10.

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Unfortunately, many times I still live in the "win the approval of men" thing. More often that I can count actually. But this verse hits me on the head. I need to win the approval of God if I call myself a servant of Christ! It's hard and the road is long, but we serve a good God who walks with me on every step of the journey. God, focus my heart on you!

I will trust you

Okay, so the plan is to post pictures soon. Hopefully this weekend. I did have tons of plans but I think all of them fell through, so I will have time to picture blog I hope. It's amazing what God does as we let him. The last few weeks have been really rough but it's amazing how much God teaches me about myself and about Him when I am in the valley. I love those mountains He gives us while struggling too. Sometimes they are just hills, but all the while He shows a little more of His face to us. The next few months are a huge time of transition for me. It's been really hard but so good at the same time. I stumbled on a song by Steven Curtis Chapman called "I will trust you." His sorrow is much bigger than my own, but I really like especially the last part of the song.

God I’m longing for the day to come
When this cloudy glass I’m looking through
Is shattered in a million pieces
And finally I can just see You
God you know I believe its true
I know I will see you
But until the day I do

And I will trust you, I’ll trust you
Trust you God, I will
Even when I don’t understand
Even then I will say again
You are my God
And I will trust You

And with every breath I take
And for every day that breaks
I will trust you
I will trust you
and when nothing is making sense
Even then I will say again
God I trust You
I will trust You

I know your heart is good
I know your love is strong
I know your plans for me
Are much better than my own

So I will trust you, I’ll trust you
I trust you God, I will

Even when I can’t see the end

I love that we can trust Him because we know His heart is good, His love is strong, and His plans for me are so much better than my own. Wow. Every time I think of that it blows my mind. I have some pretty good plans for myself, or so I think. But God's are so much better. May I open my heart up to Him and to His ways. Even in the midst of health problems again or transition or so many other factors, I have so many things to be thankful for. We serve an amazing and faithful God! May you learn to love Him more and more!

Have Your Way

This song from Britt Nicole is my prayer right now. God is good even when life is hard. This expresses my feelings so perfectly.

Feels like I've been here forever,
Why can't you just intervene,
Do you see the tears keep falling?
And I'm falling apart at the seams,

But you never said the road would be easy,
But you said that you would never leave.
And you never promised that this life wasn't hard,
But you promised you'd take care of me.

So I'll stop searching for the answers,
I'll stop praying for an escape,
I'll trust you God with where I am,
And believe you will have your way,
Just have your way, Just have your way,

When my friends and my family have left me
I feel so ashamed and so cold,
Remind you take broken things and turn them into beautiful

So I'll stop searching for the answers,
I'll stop praying for an escape,
I'll trust you God with where I am,
And believe you will have your way,
Just have your way, Just have your way,

Even if my dreams have died,
Even if I don't survive,
I'll still worship you with all my life,
My life, yeah,

Woah, font change. God, may this be my cry, my prayer. Have your way!

Lessons from the Israelites

So I have been reading in Exodus lately. I never noticed that before Moses went up on the mountain, God allowed 70 leaders of the Israelites to meet with Him. They had the privilege of meeting with the Most High! And then just a little while later they freaked out when Moses left. This is when all the people told Aaron to make a golden calf. AFTER they had seen God. Wow. It made me think: how often do I do that? God shows me things all the time about how amazing He is, and I forget in the next few seconds sometimes. Wow. Lately I have been thinking a lot about His plan for me. So often I expect it to go one way, yet it goes the direct opposite. I sometimes wonder what God is doing, why things look that way. But them I am reminded over and over again (because I need it) that He is in control. My life has been changing drastically the last month or so and will continue to change. It's scary, and I sometimes wonder what God is doing. But I need to remember that He is in control. Even when I get scared like the Israelites did, I don't need to go building my own golden calf. He alone is enough! Praise be to Him!

Smiles

I love it when God does something that makes you smile. He totally knows what we need when we need it! A little background--we have new neighbors from Haiti that have a nine month old little girl. Lately she has been bringing her over and leaving her with us to play for an hour or so. Today I was talking to God about stuff and I prayed that she would bring the baby over. I went about my normal business and within fifteen minutes my doorbell rang! I got to play with the cutest baby in the whole world for awhile! The mom only speaks Creole and French, neither or which I can speak at all. Haha. But we smile and wave and laugh over her daughter. That's enough :).

God has been busy here. He has clearly directed me regarding next year. Email me if you want more info :). May you feel His love and presence today!

Water

Our water was cut off, I think, for no reason at all. This is the third time this has happened. I got home from the gym, really excited to shower, and then there was no water. And the last couple times this has happened, it took a while to get it turned on again. Then it hit me. I HAVE water. IN MY HOUSE. Mostly clean water, at least for showering and stuff. What a blessing that is. I should be thankful for the water I usually have instead of complaining about the water I don't have for a couple days. Thank you Lord for reminding me that you are good, even when crazy things happen. I am thankful that He reminds us of our blessings!

Soft Hearts

So I was reading today in Exodus 9 about the plagues of the livestock. Moses warned Pharoah that if he would not let them go, only the Egyptian livestock would be sick, not the Israelite livestock. And that's just what happened:

Ex 9:1-7

9:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me." 2 If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, 3 the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field — on your horses and donkeys and camels and on your cattle and sheep and goats. 4 But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.'"

5 The LORD set a time and said, "Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land." 6 And the next day the LORD did it: All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. 7 Pharaoh sent men to investigate and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.

NIV

It amazes me that Pharaoh SENT MEN to investigate, and found that it was true, yet still his heart was unyielding. It made me think: how often is my heart like that. God says He will do something, I see the evidence, and yet I don't open my heart. Well, I might open it for awhile but then the next time the trial comes, I forget that God did exactly what He said He would do! I want a soft heart, a yielding heart. May I fully and completely believe God!

It's a Totally Different World

Just a little funny moment from the day that reminded me these kids I teach are growing up SO differently than I did! Most of my students get picked up by a chauffeur. One of my girls has always had the same chauffeur, but the last week he has not been there. I asked her about it and she launched into a long story about what happened. I won't get into it, but at the end she was like "Miss Seeman, do you want a chauffeur?" I told her that first I want/need a car. She proceeded to tell me "Well we had a black Bentley (pronounced Bentaley :)) but we gave it to my dad's friend. Or else you could have it." Hmmm, I don't think she quite realizes how much that car is worth, or that you don't just give away cars. Haha. I think she didn't know the word for "sold," but even if she did, she has no idea that I could never ever afford that car. But it did give Miss Metzler (pronounced Metzaler by said little girl) a good secret laugh :).

Oh, and on the subject of cars, the kids told me that Santa could bring me one. Unfortunately, one didn't appear beneath the tree :).