yo tengo un Amigo que me ama...

This week has been very busy, but full of adventures, smiles, and lots of reminders of why I love this place so much. I've decided that I like showing what's been going on through pictures so here are a few from this week...

This is Elizabeth, Bryson, and I in Caberete eating lunch. Caberete is a town on the beach that is near some tourist-y areas, but isn't as "Americanized." We spent the day there last Sunday. It was a lot of fun to enjoy good food (other than rice!), relax at the beach, hang out with each other, and of course, eat ice cream :) oh and ps, for all my dominican, tie-dye loving girls... I was representing ya'll Sunday and telling stories all day of what the "C" meant on my shirt :)

Elizabeth (who is also from Kentucky) and I found a sign at a restaurant (in the Dominican Republic!) for a mint julep so we had to take a picture... representin' the good ole' KY!

Yesterday was Coco's birthday so we went all out to celebrate. She has lived here for 5 years and we really wanted to make it extra special. This is the pinata that we made for her. We spent many hours making "Lumpy" and we are going to be sad to see him die... haha.

Yesterday we went on a road trip to see some of the cities in the interior of the DR. It's crazy because you kind of feel like you are in a different country. A lot of the cities in central DR are mountainous and green... while Monte Cristi is flat and pretty brown. We kind of realized that we really do live in a desert town. We toured some historical cites in the morning where Christopher Colombus fought battles and then continued on the Jarabacoa. I loved that place! It is a pretty good sized city situated up in the mountains. It's much bigger than Monte Cristi and looks completely different. We had a picnic lunch at a place where two rivers meet and I felt like I was back in the mountains in the States. There were actually leaves on the ground! The group picture above is all of us at the meeting place of the two rivers.

After we left the rivers, we drove through Jarabocoa a little more and back through some mountain "roads" or maybe just rock paths :) We ended up parking the bus in a little clearing in hopes of finding a waterfall that we knew was somewhere near by. It had started misting outside earlier that day and we actually were able to wear sweatshirts! In the DR! That in itself was a treat :) We started walking down a path into what I would call a rainforest. I had just been saying the day before that I really wanted to go to one, and there we were! It was beautiful! Everything was so green and wet and full of life. The trees engulfed us in this canopy that made me feel like I was in a different world. Even the sounds around us sounded just like what you would picture a rainforest to sound like... birds chirping, water flowing. It was beautiful and the pictures we got don't do it justice.

And then, we made it to the waterfall! It was gorgeous and right in the middle of this rainforest! I loved every minute of our time there and was simply in awe of our God who is all about the details. Who created this rainforest and waterfall simply because it's beautiful. I saw His beauty and His love for us all over that place. These are my roommates, Christine and Elizabeth, and I at the waterfall.

Yesterday was full of so many adventures and I felt so surrounded by the Dominican culture... seeing new places, eating random fruit and bread from stands on the side of the street, talking to kids in Spanish on there way out of school, walking the streets of Santiago and buying plastic-y Dominican hair clips, sitting down at a restaurant and shocking the waiters because we know Spanish, wearing sweatshirts in December when it's still probably in the low 80s just because we can, and on and on and on. I love this place so much.

It's been pretty busy, but I'll try and post a blog of more depth soon... just wanted to fill you in on what's been going on! I'm moving to Jaibon (the other orphanage) this Friday and spending a little over a week there. We are all moving over there to spend Christmas with them and get the place ready for people to start living there again. While I am so happy to see those boys again and get to be able to do something special with them for Christmas, I'm sad to not be spending Christmas here with my family in Monte Cristi. But hey, changes are abundant in this life and God seems to be stripping me of myself more and more each day. I pray that you are all doing well! I love each and every one of you!

y la ultima!

The Christmas tree at the orphanage!

Group picture with all of the interns and leaders from the fall! Minus Sharon and Christine :(

continued...

Elizabeth and I pretending to throw Vivian in the pool.

After dropping Caela three times, we finally got it right!

Elizabeth getting her hair done DR style by the girls at the orphanage. This was probably a two hour process, but at the end her hair was amazingly straight! Although you should have seen this chair... there wasn't a plug so they had rigged it to stick wires in an outlet to make it work... it was crazy!

The GINORMOUS birthday/Christmas cake celebrating Christmas and all the birthdays from October, November, and December.

continued...

Sisters... Indiana and Luz Maria.

Ari with her new toothless smile. She had an infection and a bad tooth that needed to be pulled. We had some dentists here last week so after lunch one day they pulled the tooth. It was quite the experience. Now she goes around telling everyone she got her mouth cleaned and that the dirty tooth is all clean now!

Last night we ate dinner at a local hotel. Elizabeth and I sporting non-OO shirts :)

The group standing on a TINY bridge between two pools :)

a series of photo blogs :)

Things have been pretty busy here the past few weeks, hence the lack of blogs. So I thought I would just upload pictures that tell a piece of the stories from the past few weeks. But for some reason the internet only likes to upload four pictures per post here, so there shall be a couple of posts :) here goes...

We had a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner with all of the kids from the orphanage. It was the craziest, biggest Thanksgiving dinner I've ever seen... loved it! Joanni digging into some good 'ole mashed potatoes and chicken!

Elizabeth (my roommate) and I with all of the older girls.

This is a nativity scene that is set up at a house right outside the orphanage. They decorate for Christmas really early here and they go ALL OUT. It's pretty intense. This nativity scene blasts really loud music from dinner time until the next morning every night.

Nena being picture shy and Mineli con flores, pero sin dientes :)

gracias a Ti, hoy soy feliz...

So a couple days this week I was blessed with a free hour at school during the day. One day I helped another teacher out, one day I worked on things for my literacy program, one day I cleaned my classroom from top to bottom, and the other day, I read :) I’ve been reading John Perkins and Shane Claiborne’s new book, Follow Me to Freedom and God has been showing me a lot through it. When I was reading one day this week, I came across this quote when Shane Claiborne was talking about his live in inner city Philadelphia…

“Stability is a traditional monastic vow; it is to commit to a group of people and to be submitted to them. Stability is something poor neighborhoods [and really everyone] are starved for. There are so many things that don’t last—like landlords. And missionaries. Things come and go, and people are moving all the time—not far, but often. It’s part of the culture of poverty that is so unhealthy. And it takes commitment—literally, a commitment to become a stable part of the neighborhood to change that.”

After I read that I had to put the book down. I'm a dreamer. I often find myself thinking about where God might take me, what countries I might end up in, ways to bring justice and love, places that need their chains of bondage to be broken. There is so much I want to do, so many places I want to see. I want to go to the ends of the earth proclaiming Jesus' love. I want to do Mission Year. I want to do the World Race. I want to go to Uganda and live in an orphanage. I want to spend more time in the Dominican. I want to go to Eastern Europe... and the Holy Land. I want to go to Papua New Guinea and do Bible translation. I want to do Timo and work with an unreached people group in Africa. I want to live in a trailer park in the States (preferably with Spanish speakers :) ), I want to live in row housing with a stoop, I want to go to Haiti and work to eliminate poverty, I want to raise up leaders in the Dominican to end the racism towards Haitians. I want to breathe the Gospel wherever I go, bringing life to people. Sometimes I talk to people about all these things that I want to do. I want to throw my life at Jesus' feet... and go where He leads. I have often thought about living my life on a year-to-year basis.

But when I read that quote, I just stopped reading. It was like a realization to me that all of those above sentences are about me. I want to here, I want to go there, I want to do this, I want to do that. And though they are all rooted in my desire to show people the love of Christ, I was hit over the head that maybe that's not the way that He wants His love to be shown. Maybe He wants me to build roots with people. To stay in their lives for more than a couple months or a year. Maybe I have a lot to learn about what pouring into people really means. Maybe to invest in them I need to actually move in for the long haul. To live life with them, not just a stint for a year or so and then on to something different. And not that that is wrong. Afterall, Jesus lived His life travelling and ministering from city to city. And I believe God is probably calling some people to devote themselves to that nomadic lifestyle. But somewhere along the line, I think I turned my dreams into my own, instead of God's. I started to take control... and that's the last thing I want to do... because I surely know that His plans are far better than mine! So my reading day turned into God gently reminding me to once again lay my life at His feet. To place my direction in the palm of His hand. And to remember that His plans will far exceed anything that I can even imagine. And I feel Him turning my heart towards putting down roots somewhere. I have no idea where that's going to be. Maybe it's here in the Dominican (can't say I would mind that :) ), maybe it's in the States, or maybe it's in a country I've never even heard of. But I want to devote my life to serving and sharing the love of Christ with whoever God wants me to.

On a side note, when I picked up the book again, I turned the page and about half of the places that I have dreamt about going to were talked about. And the author reminds us that while learning in these types of settings and ministering to these people in short amounts of time are wonderful and bring forth many great changes, it's the long term commitments where we can fully invest in people and see the fruit of God's purposes for us there. So who knows where I'll live the future or for how long... but I'm sure excited :)

Giving Nicol a manicure during a spa we did for the kids at the orphanage.

My roommates! Christine is on the left and Elizabeth is in the middle.

Yulisa, Yenny, Yessica, and I on the patio.

Coral and I at the festival.

...cuando llegaste aprendi a vivir.

me gusta ese paiz...

On Monday, some things came up and I found out that I would not be teaching my classes in the Institute this week, but I will be leading a team of 20 high schoolers that were coming down. I love when teams are here so I was excited about that. The team got here Tuesday night and it has been busy ever since. I have enjoyed the change of pace and being able to spend a little more time with the kids here at the orphanage. The group has been great and this week has been full of special things. On Friday afternoon we took them for a quick swim in the ocean. When we were driving back, we got to catch the sunset...

As we were driving back to the orphanage after the beach, I couldn't help but be overwhelmed with my love for this place. Sometimes these feelings come out of nowhere... but when they come, I freak out thinking about ever possibly having to leave. We were driving down the narrow, curvy road, with the ocean to our right and hints of the sunset peaking out from behind the trees... my ipod was playing Jimmy Needham over the speakers of the bus... words of needing Jesus like a hurricane, like a burning flame, to consume me.. some of the neighborhood boys were driving past on their motorcycle... and there was a bus full of chattering high schoolers behind me... and as I looked out at the ocean, I smiled knowing this is exactly where I am supposed to be. This island is my home. And I'm not sure what will happen to my heart come next August.

This is Yessica.... my prima-hermana as she calls me. Or cousin sister in English. Yessica lives at the orphanage and I spend a significant amount of time with her every day. She doesn't like to show her teeth in pictures, even though her smile is beautiful. I pray that God uses our time spent together to show her His intense love for her.

This is Nena! She is seven years old and is full of spunk and attitude! However, she is also a cuddle bug with a wild imagination and adventurous spirit. Today we had a morning full of activities for the kids with an Olympics theme. Nena colored this picture and hung it on the cabinets with the stickers on the edges. She was so proud of it and wanted me to take a couple of pictures with her standing beside it.

And this is Ari... one of the 3-year-old twins. At the end of the activities this morning, each of the kids received a bag full of goodies. Here's Ari sporting her new sunglasses. All of the little girls had crazy colored sunglasses in their bags that they wore the rest of the day. They were so cute!

Introducing...

Luis Alberto!

So I haven't always been the best at updates or in what all exactly happens here... so I thought, why not introduce you to some of the kids here?! This is the handsome Luis Alberto! He is a precious 5-year-old little boy who just started living at the orphanage the beginning of August. His smile will melt your heart. He loooves learning little phrases in English and can tell you his name, age, and that he is doing "fine" if you ask him those questions in English.

I see Jesus in Luis Alberto. Thursday night I was sitting with him and he started tugging on my shirt with a lot of excitement. "Heather, Heather," he said. "Dios esta ariba en el cielo! Mira! Mira! Dios esta ariba!" ...God's up in the sky! Look up! Look up! God's up there! He was so excited to tell me about how God was up in Heaven. So then we started talking about God through his five-year-old eyes and how Jesus lives in our hearts. His child-like faith melted my heart. After we talked for a few minutes, we sat there and then I said, "Luis Alberto, who is your father?" The question puzzled him for a second, but then he turned and looked at me and replied, "God." As he smiled, I smiled, so thankful for seeing glimpses of Jesus through the gentle heart of Luis Alberto.

love them...

Yesterday was one of my favorite days of being here. We took ten of the older kids at the orphanage on a little field trip to some of the cities in the interior of the Dominican. We got to see a lot of places that are rich in Dominican history. It was sooo much fun! We left at 7 in the morning and all piled onto the OO bus. All the Americans were sitting by themselves before we picked up the kids at their door joking that we couldn't wait to see who we would get to sit next to. The first 2 1/2 hours were spent on the bus, but even that was a lot of fun.

Carolina, Nicol, and I on the bus.

The first stop we made was at a park to eat snacks and then visit a local Catholic church. It was beautiful with stained glass windows made from glass brought back from Italy. The Dominican is 95% Catholic so most churches you see are old but not necessarily extremely active.

Afterwards, we headed to another city where there is a museum dedicated to the Maribel sisters who played a vital role in what brought Dominicans the freedom they have today. The country used to be run by a dictator of sorts and these women helped bring restoration to the D.R. We also had the huge privelege of meeting (and taking a picture with!) the only sister who survived the overthrow of the old goverment.

Yessica, Yenny, and I at the house of the Maribel sisters.

The gardens at the house were beautiful!

After this we headed to a nearby town that has a store similar to Walmart. It was crazy big and something I have never seen in the Dominican Republic. We took the kids inside and actually ate at a "food court" that was located in the store. They had a Domino's! So we ordered a whole lot of pizza and pushed together some tables for all 27 of us to sit down and eat. Everyone loved the pizza and getting to roam around the aisles. It almost didn't even feel like we were in the same country. Here's just a glimpse of some of the pizza we ate...

We then headed to a different park with some gardens to hang out a take a group picture. We then headed to the next stop on our list (which I can't remember the city name) which was the sister city to Atlanta, GA! Crazy! We stopped at a big playground. I have never seen anything like it here. It was a wooden playground painted all kinds of bright colors. We had tons of fun running around on everything and taking some more pictures.

We left this city and drove about a half hour to a monument in Santiago in memory of the heroes of Dominican history. The monument sits on top of a big hill and overlooks Santiago (the second largest city in the D.R.). By this time it was dark so it was neat to see all of the city lights. We left here to begin the 2 1/2 hour drive home... which true to Dominican culture turned into a lot longer than that. That's another story in and of itself, but it took us over four hours to get back home. However, even that was so much fun, just hanging out with the kids, playing a little mafia, and arguing over who has the best music. By the last hour or so of the drive, everyone was asleep. I was sitting with Carolina and Nicol... Nicol was leaning against the window, I was sleeping against her, and Carolina was sleeping against me the rest of the drive. I couldn't help but think about how these kids have become so much a part of my family. I have shared life with them the last 2 1/2 years and watched a lot of them grow up. I love sharing special moments like yesterday with them. It reminds me of the beauty of community and the way God intended life to be. All barriers are broken and we are simply living life together. I love them so much!

Yessica posing with a butterfly at the park. Thank you Jesus for new life :)

since i've been back...

So I safely arrived back in the Dominican late Saturday night. Driving back into town, it almost felt like I had never left. It was so good to see everyone back here and I have loved spending time with the kids since I've been back. Sunday we a little informal church service for the OO volunteers and then we headed to a newly discovered beach after lunch. Nobody swam, but it was fun to just hang out, take some pictures, and enjoy being back outside again. After being at the beach for a while, we headed to the English Institute to play some games and have some real Coke floats made by the Hopkins'. It was so much fun being able to spend time again with the people I live with here. Sunday night ended with going to church with the kids from the orphanage. It was a great first day back!

This week I have been taking over Christine's (my roommate) classes at the English Institute. She will be going back to the States for a month on Saturday so I will now be teaching 5th grade Level 1 students. I have to say, that I miss my Level 2 students a whole lot. It's hard seeing them come into school every day and not get to teach them, but I just keep reminding myself that it's not about me. So this week has been fun getting to know some new students.

I have also being tutoring the five oldest kids at the orphanage in math this week. I enjoy teaching math and it's cool to see how much progress they make in just a week. A lot of times we have to start from scratch on basic concepts because the school systems here are so far behind. But they want to learn so it's neat to see it all clicking for them.

Tomorrow we are taking ten of the oldest kids from the orphanage on a field trip day where we are touring some historic places in the interior of the country. I am so excited to not only see these places, but to get to with them. I love just hanging out with the kids here, so I can't wait to spend the day with them tomorrow. It's gonna be great!

So that's what's been going on this past week! Love and miss ya'll!!

And because she's just the cutest little girl ever... some new pictures of Luz Maria. She's getting so big! Here she is with a notebook and sporting her little backpack...

Before she left to go inside she said... "one more picture?!" She's adorable!

los estados unidos...

As I signed in to my blog this morning for the first time since I have been back in the States, I couldn't put my finger on what was weird about it... and then I noticed. My blog page was no longer in Spanish. In the Dominican all web pages are in Spanish and I had grown quite used to that. These little things remind me of how much I miss that little island that will always hold a piece of my heart no matter where I am.

I came across a quote this morning that really hit me...
"When you feel disenfranchised (like you don't belong in the place that was once your home) it is no longer the world that matters, it is the kingdom that matters and when the kingdom is all that matters to you- you won't fit in."

I have loved being able to see people who are such a huge part of my life these past couple of weeks. I have been able to spend time with family and friends who know my heart and that has been amazing. I have missed being able to share in every day life with my sisters and it has been a huge blessing to spend time with them again. But I also couldn't help but feel overwhelmed that the United States is no longer my home. So much of me feels disconnected from this place. My life is so different now than when I lived here. I sometimes feel myself lost in a distant world where I am back with the kids in the Dominican when people are talking about T.V. shows, the latest movies, or going shopping to find new winter clothes (it's still in the 90s in the Dominican!). It's not that I'm mad or bitter or hate being in the States (I've really loved my time here), I just find myself so disconnected from life here. I haven't listened to American radio in almost 6 months... and while I could tell you the latest Spanish songs and know all the words to Enrique Iglesius' song "Dimelo," I have no idea any of the words to the songs of Miley Cyrus or pop radio or even new English worship songs. So like I said, it doesn't make me mad or even sad, it just reminds me that my home is longer here. My home right now is a little island just south of Cuba... where the people speak Spanish and sit outside all day long and live off little dirt roads and eat rice and beans for every meal every day and will talk to you any time of any day and invite you into their homes and share what they have with you and let you hold their babies even if they haven't ever spoken a word to you and smile at you from their hearts.

And then I came across that quote. And I was reminded that no matter when or how often my physical home changes, I don't want to ever feel like I fit in where I'm at. I don't fit in because I was created for a kingdom that is not of this world. And so while I am here, I pray I am always living kingdom-minded. That the Spirit overflows through me and that I am bringing the kingdom of God to this earth no matter where I am living. Because I have a feeling that my earthly home is going to be changing a lot more than I can even imagine. So I continue to learn lessons of grounding my home in the kingdom instead of my physical location. Oh the beauty of letting the Lord direct our paths. His plans are far better than any I could conceive.

So I pray for all of us that our physical homes don't define us. But that the kingdom is all that matters.

Changes make you reevaluate and think. One more reason why I love 'em :)

2 days :)

I'm gonna miss teaching English to these girls that I love sooo much :)

I'm gonna miss screaming the songs for the Excellent Eskimos, Fabulous Frogs, Wacky Wallabees, and Fantastic Flamingos.

I'm gonna miss this little girl who stole my heart two and half years ago.

I'm gonna miss Ariani screaming, "Hedder, ayuda me! ...suba me!"

I'm gonna miss Coral's attitude, Ariani's hugs, Ari's adventurous spirit, and Paola's smirky smile.

I'm gonna miss driving into this entrance of the orphanage that has become my home.

...But the AMAZING thing is, I get to come back! AND, I can't freaking wait to see everyone back in the States... seriously, I wake up every morning and can't believe that I get the blessing of flying back to Kentucky in 2 days! God is good and I couldn't be more ecstatic! I love you all and am excited about seeing some of you in a few days :)

change

I have grown to love change. While I see some changes as good and some as bad, I have come to see all changes as beautiful part of God's purposes. It seems to me that God created everything to be in some sort of process of changing. People grow. Leaves fall. Seasons change. The sky is different everytime you look at it. Flowers grow. People move. School ends. Souls are renewed. Hearts are changed.

Last night I was laying on the roof and watching the stars. Half of the sky was star-filled and the other half was a mixture of the moon's bright light and clouds. But the sky changed. The clouds moved. There was incredible lightening. I saw a few shooting stars. I kept thinking about how God really does create everything to be in a process of changes. Our hearts weren't created to be stagnant. They were created with life and purpose and longings and desires for our Lover. We aren't meant to simply go through each day just trying to get through it... we are meant to live intentionally and to change... to become more like Jesus and less like ourselves. To fall more in love with our Father every day. And to bring the Kingdom of God to earth.

The past six months have held more changes for me than I could have imagined. I graduated, left home, moved to a foreign country, led a Christian internship program, loved on some awesome boys at an orphanage in Jaibon, moved to Monte Cristi, started teaching at the English Institute, and started a literacy program. I have experienced life in an intense spiritual community and I have experienced it without one. I have struggled, wrestled, and thirsted for the Lord. I have been taught lessons about love and grace and selflessness and mercy. And I have fallen in love with Jesus all over again.

And all of these life and spiritual changes, have resulted in part from the changes in my physical surroundings. If I had played it safe and chosen the easier road, I would not have learned the lessons I have. I would not have learned to trust God with my whole heart. And my faith would not be as deep and real as it is now.

All that to say, change is good. Change is beautiful. And I think, God's plans for us all include more changes than we can even imagine.

We just have to keep our focus at the cross.

new life...

Sometime last year, I got an awesome package from one of my sisters (shout out to you, Katie girl!). Inside, was this flower...

Ever since then, this flower always reminds me of God's promises of new life.... of His promises of rebirth and forgiveness... of His promises to restore His people, bringing the beauty of what He intended life to be. So even now, this precious reminder is twisted around the pole of my good ole' wooden bunkbed. And it reminds me of my soul... once dead, but now made so alive in Christ. God is so faithful and reminds me daily of His love and mercy and compassion and grace, both for me and for the world. I am still so humbled to be here... my eyes are constantly receiving glimpses of God's heart for His children, His heart for the nations, His heart for every person to know Him. And as I held Joanni tonight while she fell asleep, I just kept thinking that I hope this sweet little 5-year old will be overwhelmed by God's love, and one day fall in love with her Maker... and I hope that one day she too will be reminded of new life and the Father's restoration.

So I really can't imagine being anywhere else right now. I love the Dominican so much! The people here are so precious to me! And God reminds me all the time of how divine and perfect His plans and purposes are for our lives.

"As he says in Hosea: 'I will call them my people who are not my people; and I will call her my loved one who is not my loved one.'" Romans 9:25

AND... it's October! And I will be home in less than 2 weeks for Sara's wedding! Can't wait :)

summer is over and the dirt is swept away...

I am continually shocked by how quickly time seems to fly while I am here. When we woke up this morning, my roommate remarked, "Well, your summer is over." What she meant is that the last intern that spent part of the summer with me in Jaibon left this morning. (And I miss her sooo much already!) It's weird for me to think that there isn't anyone else here who experienced the orphanage in Jaibon like I did... who was a part of that amazing spiritual community... who knew those boys so well and watched them change and grow... who experienced a true since of the Lord's divine planning in each person that set foot in that place. Summer is over. That chapter is finished. And while those in the States have the approaching fall season- the cool weather... the changing of the leaves- to remind them of that, I see it in the ending of an internship program insanely blessed by the Lord. His hands were all over it and I saw Him moving so intricately and personally in His children. However, though that summer in Jaibon holds a very special place in my heart, I smile knowing that God's purposes for me here are only just beginning.

And as the seasons of OO change, I am excited for this next one. This morning Christine, my roommate, and I cleaned out our room. And by cleaned out, I mean literally cleaned junk OUT of our room. Living here, things get dirty real fast. Though we are blessed to have a room with concrete walls, a concrete roof, and screens over our windows, dust and dirt still manages to make its way in. So every couple weeks we pick up everything off the floor, sweep, and then "throw water." In the Dominican, you "throw water" to mop. They literally fill up huge buckets of soapy water and then throw it all over the floor. Then you grab a broom, starts scrubbing, and then sweep all the water out at the end. You usually end up throwing water several times before all the dirt is gone. It's sooo much fun! You end up slipping and sliding all around the room with water and bubbles floating everywhere! We also took of our window screens and cleaned out the windows today which we are pretty sure hasn't been done since the building was built a year and a half ago. We were scrubbing those windows forever. Half the time I was standing on a chair, just scratching off caked-on dirt with my rag and finger nail. It looked pretty gross, but it felt so good to be finally removing all that dirt off of our windows. And as I stood there picking the dirt out of the window frames, I couldn't help being reminded of my heart. So many times I forget the need of that clean up. Instead of continually begging God to purify my heart and make me new, I let my dirt and selfishness build up. My business became my dirt. Everything that I had to get done became something that built up dirt on my heart where God was given my pockets of time instead of my all. I was drained and longing for rest in my Love. The past few days I have felt God stripping me of myself and reminding me once again of my purpose in Him. His grace and love for me astound me. I cannot fathom the grace of my Father on a child so weak as me. That when I mess up, He still pursues me. That when He is not my first focus, He still loves me the same. That when I am blinded by my selfishness, He still continually blesses me. So this morning as I chipped the dirt off the windows, I begged God to do the same in my heart. That I would have a clean heart before Him that looks more like Jesus' every day. So I pray that even if it hurts, God continues to chip all the dirt out of my life.

As far as what's been going on here, we have been teaching for two weeks at the English Institute. I have loved getting to know the kids there! They are wonderful. I continue to love the kids here at the orphanage more each day. They have become family to me and hold a very special place in my heart. This week we have a group of 30 high schoolers coming in and we will be launching the first week of the literacy program at a local school. Heck yes! It should be a lot of fun! I love life here. When we drive through town to the Institute, I can't help but think that this feels like home. I don't feel like I'm on a trip or doing an internship somewhere for a few months... this is life. And I love it.

And for fun... You know you live in the D.R. if...
-there is chinola (passionfruit) growing on your laundry lines outside.
-you find turantulas, cockroaches, lizards and many other creatures in your room (or in your backpack!) on a daily basis.
-you find your English getting worse every day as you speak in Spanish or really simplified English.
-sometimes your students at the Institute let out some cuss words... but it's only because they are mispronouncing words in English.
-you get really excited about going to the Italian pizza place in town... and make bets as to who can eat the most pizza.
-you are considered on "team woops" if the OO tshirt you chose isn't the same color as someone else's that day.
-if you relate every weird thing you see back to the earthquake that happened a couple weeks ago.

Love and miss ya'll!

ahora...

And once again, I have failed to update my blog in while. So sorry!

So one question that I have been getting a lot lately is "What exactly are you doing now that summer is over?!" So I figured, why not answer that on my blog :)

This week is kind of the transition week between the summer and fall program with OO. Almost all of the kids have started school (some kids in the Dominican decide they just don't want to go to school the first week or so... and that is deemed acceptable) so we are no longer doing summer camps. At the beginning of the week we took suitcases full of school supplies out to all of the local schools. I loved those days. It was extremely humbling to give these schools the only school supplies they will receive. Orphanage Outreach also started an English Institute in town several years ago where we offer free English classes to 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Tomorrow is the beginning of registration for the Institute so we will be there all day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday registering both new and old students. Starting Monday, I will be teaching all day Monday-Friday... God has a sense of humor I guess :) Haha, but I am so excited! I will be teaching Level 2 kids so they have already had one year of English at the Institute. Today we spent the whole day cleaning out the Institute and setting up our classrooms. I had a ton of fun! It's neat seeing that I am now using my four years of college education in my very own classroom. But I must say, I will never again take laminators, copiers, printers, paper cutters, cork boards, or any other school supply for granted! So from now on I will be teaching 6th graders English!

I am still living at the orphanage, so some evenings we have activities for the kids and other evenings we have some free time to just hang out with them or plan our lessons for the Institute. However, this week we also are starting a program for the five oldest kids at the orphanage to help prepare them for college. Leonel and Carolina will be graduating at the end of this school year and Kelvin, Cristofer, and Nicol have two years left. By the time they are ready to go to college, they have to pass a GED-type test. We are working with them 4 nights a week so we are also pouring a lot of time into that. Each of the leaders have a night where we specifically are in charge of teaching a lesson on a specific subject area. My subject is math, so on Tuesday nights, I teach math in Spanish :) Ha, that's definitely a bit of a challenge! But I love it!

In addition, I am also starting a literacy program this year for OO! The rate of illiteracy in the Dominican Republic is extremely high, so my long term focus for this year is starting a literacy program where we promote reading, teach reading, and provide a place where people can have access to books. We will also be involving groups and teams in this program in the spring where we will put on reading weeks (at an unknown location at this point :) ). Yeah literacy!

So... English teacher to kids that speak only Spanish, Math teacher in Spanish, and Literacy Program Director... it's gonna be a busy and fun year :)

Adios from the island full of beautiful sunsets, priceless smiles, dirts roads, loud roosters, palm trees, tons of ants, and an orphanage full of kids who have stolen my heart :)

noche especial :)

Like I said in my last blog, Noche Especial was Tuesday night! It was sooo much fun! Just picture... a floor covered with 30+ mattresses, pillows and beach balls everywhere, streamers hanging from the ceiling, a PINATA!, pin the tail on the whale :), the present game, lots of movies, snacks, and pillow fights... basically we had a HUGE slumber party with the 26 girls who live at the orphanage! It was sooo much fun! The kids here love and talk about it all year. When they got their invitations on Monday night, they freaked out! I left Noche Especial with a smile on my face from all the fun and with another piece of my heart stolen by these kids. I was completely humbled by them that night. I watched Carolina (she is 16 and the oldest of the girls at the orphanage) take care of all the younger girls... nobody told her to do that... she just does. She loves them and chooses to put their needs above hers. I have watched her grow up throughout the past three summers. She has a beautiful heart and I couldn't help but feeling so proud of her that night. I also saw Jesus in the heart of Indiana, a 9 year old girl who I have also watched grow up through the past three summers. After we did the piñata (they LOVED it, especially since candy is a big treat for them), we had to all walk back over to where we were having the sleepover. The boys (who are having theirs tonight!) wanted to come up sooo bad and they were all waiting at the bottom of the steps when we came back over. Indiana and I were the last to walk back over. We started walking up the stairs, but then she paused. I watched as she turned around, ran back down the stairs, and shared her candy with her brother. Then she proceeded to pass out her candy to all of the boys who were there. In that moment, I saw Jesus in her eyes. Eyes that were filled with joy from sharing her gift. I continue to be humbled by the sacrificial attitudes I see in the Dominican people. They have few material possessions, yet they still offer their best to others. I am reminded to live unselfishly, to love others more than myself, and to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus.

Yasmin rockin out lots of leis!