Goodbyes

Let me just say, in my short 23 years of life, I have learned to dislike goodbyes. Many short term mission trips and living in different places around the world have cultivated many friendships. And the problem is, these friendships are all over the world. As this school year winds to a close, I have to say goodbye to some very dear friends whom I have spent two years laughing with, crying with, going on adventures with, and more. I don't think I can say another goodbye. At least, I don't want to. Sometimes it makes me not want to reach out again, but then I think of all the relationships I would have missed out on if I didn't reach out for fear of saying goodbye. So though it is sad, I can take joy in one day seeing my sweet friends in heaven. And I can look forward to remembering all the great memories with my friends here.

Speaking of the year being almost over, I can't believe I am almost done with my second year of teaching! Some days go so fast, others seem to last forever. I am not ready to say goodbye to these kids. I love them a lot. I have so many fun and funny memories from them. A recent favorite is from our spring concert last Thursday. The girls were supposed to dress up like princesses. I too wore a dress, and I asked some of my boys if I looked like a princess. One responded with, "You look like you are from New York!" Haha. to them, the US is basically New York and Miami. It was cute :).

For those of you in Washington and Iowa, I will be around this summer. I am looking for all different sorts of adventures. Shoot me an email or leave me a comment if you want to hang out. I love getting comments and emails :). May you truly feel God's love and grace today. He is amazing!

Springtime Adventures

So, I have tried several times to write a blog post and post pictures, but the pictures don't work, and then I get discouraged and don't even try. So, this is an attempt to update even if the pictures don't work. Let's see, life here...

Today we didn't have school because elections were yesterday and the president decided on Friday to shut the city down this weekend. Haha. So yay for a day off! Unfortunately, we have to make it up, but it was great to have a break.

Only 3 more weeks of school! The kids are so done, and I am in many ways as well. I will miss these kids a lot. I am looking forward to next year, but I wish I could keep the same kids again. They are such big sweethearts.

I LOVE third grade birthday parties! I went to one last weekend that seems like something from a dream. One of my little girls had 3 third grade friends and a sixth grade friend, along with her fifth grade brother and his friend, and me. The girls first went to get our nails done, then we picked up the boys, went to a movie, then went to TGI Fridays, THEN to Haagen Daaz. Wow. I have never been to a birthday party quite that elaborate before. It was really great though. I let the girls pick out my nail colors and designs. They were so happy I went!

A couple weeks ago, I went with some friends here to a coffee processing plant and a coffee farm. For those of you who are familiar with Julia Alverez, who is a Dominican writer, it was her coffee farm! I learned SO much about coffee. It brought back memories of writing a paper on coffee in ninth grade! I was amazed at how hard it is to pick and process coffee. And the best coffee is grown under trees and amongst brush and other plants, so it is not easy to pick. It was a great experience.

God has been doing a lot in my heart lately, which has been really hard but really good. Living in another country really brings out things about yourself you didn't even know. God has shown me a lot about what it means to surrender to Him and allow Him to take over my life. He also has shown me a lot about His unconditional love. I think in so many ways, though we know He loves us no matter what, we try to earn His love. Maybe that's not the case for everyone, but I sure have. I am learning what it means to be secure in who I am in Him and to serve Him not to make Him love me more, but because of how much I love Him and WANT to serve Him. Verses from Romans 8 have been really encouraging to me lately:
Rom 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I have read those verses many times in the past, but never really camped out on the fact that His love never changes. I can't do ANYTHING. And my motive for serving Him should not be to be loved more by Him or by others.

Hmmm... I don't know if there is much else in my life of interest. A couple weeks ago, I went and stayed with some Dominican friends near the beach. My mom met the husband at ISI a couple years ago. It was a great time of just rest and relaxation. And I also was able to practice my Spanish! That is always a great thing for me!

Well, the pictures didn't work. Oh well. I hope you all have a great day!

First Week Back

This was our first week back from break and on to the final home stretch! There are only 7 more weeks of class yet! In some ways I am so glad and in other ways it's really sad. I am not ready to give up my kids! It was hard to get back into the working mode this week. But enough about school. There were some other funny/strange/new things that happened this week.

I started working out with the new trainer at the gym this past week. The one I liked and knew left at Christmas and I was too embarrassed to work out with the new guy, so I just worked out on my own, and then I got sick and didn't go for a while. I decided to get brave this past week and work out with him. The old guy spoke English and that made it easier, but this one doesn't. Let me just say he is going to give me a run for my money! I worked on my abs on Monday and was sore until Thursday! Then I did more! Haha! I haven't been that sore for a while. It's good though. He told me that if I work out with him, I will be heavy! Good thing heavy means something totally different here--it's a good thing to be heavy! It means like cool, fit from what I can understand.

On Friday, my neighbor who is a medical student had a ceremony for going from being a med student to being a medical intern. He invited us to go with him! It was quite an interesting experience. He is Haitian, so we went with his family and friends, most of whom don't speak Spanish or English! Thankfully my roommate Megan came who can speak French. And Pierre the neighbor can speak them all, so when he's around, we have no problems. It was kind of like a graduation of sorts. I ended up having the four year old on my lap the whole time--he is so cute! They came over from Haiti after the earthquake and only speak French and Creole. He was trying not to fall asleep but did towards the end. I was surprised he stayed asleep because at the end they had a mini rock concert! Seriously, they were up there with drums, guitars, etc. and singing loves songs! Oh, complete with back-up singers who were basically dancing! Megan, Amanda, and I were like "what is going on?!?!" It was like a graduation and rock concert combined! I have never experienced anything like that before. Then afterward we went out to Chinese food. We were laughing because it was 3 white girls with a whole bunch of Haitians eating Chinese in the Dominican Republic! Talk about a mixing of cultures! We didn't end up eating until like 11 at night. The three of us were so tired, but it was a great time. I am so thankful for awesome neighbors!

Me, Megan, Pierre, Amanda, and Pierre's mom. She is still living in Haiti and came over for the ceremony. He was so happy!
Probably some of the cutest kids in the whole world! And this is one of my top ten favorite pictures ever as well! It was dark outside the theater where the ceremony was held, but there were lights shining on the walls. The kids were all looking at the light. This isn't posed--I just happened to catch them all at the same time!

The oldest one having a great time looking in the light! If you think of it, pray for the two boys. They both have sickle cell anemia. This one has been sick this past week. Look how cute he is all dressed up!
The three white girls at dinner. Can you tell how tired we are? We got our food before everyone else and waited to eat it. We were so hungry!

A HUGE blessing happened today--I could understand most of the message at church! There was a lot I could apply to my life and a lot to think about. The same guy is going to speak next week on the same topic, so I am excited about that. He talked about "the root of bitterness." One verse that really jumped out to me was Hebrews 12:14, which says, "Make every effort to live at peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." Wow. That's quite a statement. First of all, I need to live in such a way as to be at peace. That's hard sometimes. But what really stuck out to me is the part about how without holiness no one will see the Lord. We need to live in such a way that our lives point to the one true God. May my life point to Him at all times, for He is worthy!

Semana Santa

This past week was our Spring Break, also known as Semana Santa, or Holy Week. I really needed a break, so a few weeks before, my dad offered to take me on a cruise! We both flew to Miami and met there. We went on a five night cruise to Key West and to the Cayman Islands. A lot of time was just spent at sea as well. It was wonderful! It was my first cruise, and I loved it! The food was awesome and it was a great time to just relax and spend time with my dad. I enjoyed it immensely. We just walked around in Key West and went snorkeling at a reef and a ship wreck in Grand Cayman. We went to dinner in the restaurant every night and sat with the same couple and had the same waiter. It was great to get to know them and to have really good food! I wasn't hungry the whole week from how much I ate! The food was amazing! My dad even tried frog legs, and I tried a bite! I just tried not to think about what they were. It was a great time to rest and think about what our Savior did for all of us.
Our table with our two waiters. This couple was very nice and fun to get to know. She is a reading teacher :).

Our room!

The ship. It really is like a floating hotel!
Playing with angles :)
FROG LEGS!!!!

We were all SO ready for Spring Break! I can't believe we go back to school tomorrow. Last month was Reading Month, which meant more crazy activities. The kids had fun though. The highlight of the month is Dress Like a Book Character Day. They were all so cute! We also had a mystery theme--someone "stole" the Cat in the Hat and the kids had to figure out who by asking the "suspects" questions. I was one of the suspects, and that was great too. My class figured it out--it was cute! I can't believe I only have 8 more weeks with them. I will miss this group a lot!

Best buds reading. The third one of their group is to the left--you can see the one looking at his book :)
A Mummy!
Geronimo Stilton! He is the newest and biggest craze in third grade. The cool thing is, the whole series was first written in Italian and then translated to English! Gotta love the glasses in this picture :)
Reading under my desk! This is taken from the front, where a piece of wood hangs almost to the floor. He was peaking out, as I was reading on the floor in front of him :)
She should be reading "Rapunzel" :)

As far as summer plans, I still don't really have them nailed down. I was hoping to travel to Europe, but now I have nobody to go with me. So we'll see what happens. Any ideas from my readers out there?

I am excited for the end of the school year, but it is bitter-sweet. I love my kids. And, even more than that, a couple of the people I have really grown to love here are leaving. That makes me sad. I pray that the Lord truly directs all their adventures as they seek to follow Him. And I am praying for more awesome staff to come in that I can work and serve alongside. The cool news is almost all the elementary staff is staying, so that will be great to have consistency! Our school often struggles with consistency in staff, so we are all very excited!

I hope you all had a blessed Easter. He is RISEN! There is so much joy in that. May you all feel that joy as you seek to serve and follow HIM!

Picture Update

So, I was going to write a long blog this weekend, but then I didn't. I already had downloaded all this pictures though, so I will just give you a snapshot of my life the past few weeks. The above picture is of me and one of the girls at the girl's home at a birthday party for one of the girls.
Independence Day here--27th of February. Friday was the 26th so they celebrated then. The boys are all men from the campo--country men, and I think the girls are too.
Cute Girls!
More cute girls!
Really cute campo men!
March is Reading Month! This was bring your stuffed animal to school day!


And my favorite picture from the day! He was just reading with his bear on his head, not distracted by it or anything. Gotta love it!

Well, enjoy bits of my life here. I will write a longer post later...

March?!?!

How is it March already?!?! And the third at that! Time flies! March here is a busy month--we are right in the middle of Spiritual Emphasis Week and this month is also Reading Month. When do I have time to teach? Oh well, it's fun. The kids love it. For Spiritual Emphasis Week, a group of seniors from a Christian School in Pennsylvania come down to help with it. My kids LOVE them! I swear they have all turned into superheroes this week! Story to prove it? (I have many :)). We were supposed to divide the classes in half for an activity, so I did. Well one boy was in one group, but the senior he loves was standing closer to the other group. So he was trying to pretend like he was in that group. I caught him and made him move, and he was so sad. But thankfully the senior followed him! He was so happy! My kids also wanted to show them the Bible walk-through they know, so we did that too! What a great chance these seniors have to reach out to my kids!

Things that make me smile? That definitely did. Today we had cooking class, which I am running as an after-school program with TWENTY ONE kids! Oh man! I am so thankful for my two assistants! One of the little first graders is SO cute--all he wanted to make was "spagetty." We had them write down their favorite food, and i bet you can guess what he wrote! Today we did tacos though, and he seemed to like that. One of my boys when he gets disappointed starts to "droop." You have to see it to believe it, but he really does. It's like he melts. Well, he picked up his taco and it fell apart, so of course he started to droop. It was all I could do not to laugh!

In other news, I would appreciate prayers as I have been dizzy for the past three weeks. I went to the ear dr. and she gave me meds for that a couple weeks ago and it got better but now it is not. I have to go to the neurologist at some point. Please pray that it would just go away!

I have a lot of deep thoughts somewhere in my head, but the dizziness makes them hard to express. Email me if you want to know more. I hope all of you are having a blessed day!

Life

Well, I do so well blogging for a while and then I stop but life doesn't. I start to get overwhelmed by how much I have to say and don't even know where to start. haha. I need to learn that I don't need to say everything and just blog when I feel like it, which is hopefully more often :).

Let's see. Life...hmm....let's do an acronym....

L--lots on my plate. A lot has happened in the last month. I was sick (again) and missed two and a half days of school. they still don't know exactly what was wrong (sounds familiar) and I have had a headache constantly for the past two weeks since I got sick. Being sick just makes life crazier. My class is doing well though, so that's good.

I--in the kitchen. My school likes to offer after school classes to give the students an opportunity to try new sports, crafts, etc. I hadn't taught one yet because I am not really good at any of that kind of stuff. I mentioned to the coordinator that I like to cook, and she said I could do a cooking class! My friends Amanda and Amy are helping me, which is good because we have 22 kids! And it's not really in a kitchen either--we do most of it in Amanda's classroom. There is a tiny stove in a closet type room that we can use. It's been a little interesting to say the least.

F--faith. I went to a women's retreat a couple of weeks ago that was really refreshing. It was good to fellowship in English and to just have time to spent with God. They schedule in a lot of individual time, which is so good. I was challenged in my faith in many ways. I need to make God my priority. It is so worth it! It was good to meet others who live close to us here in the city. We have hung out with two of them a couple times, which has been really fun.

E--energy. Something my kids seem to always have. They love to run around and get so excited when we play outside! Please pray that I would have energy in many ways: energy to be patient with them, energy to pour more and more into them, energy to meet their needs, and energy to share my faith with them often.

Well, there's a little snapshot of what my life is like now. I wrote a prayer letter about a week ago for some churches. Maybe I will post it on here. May you feel the presence of God today!