felicidades.

Celebrating this special guy today...

{2007}

{2013}

Happy Birthday Jochi!  So incredibly thankful and proud of him!  His thoughtfulness, his ability to bring laughter, and his drop-everything-to-help/fix-something-for-you-attitude inspire me.  

be still.

"Be still, and know that I am God; 

I will be exalted among the nations.  

I will be exalted in the earth."

Psalm 46:10

...a good piece of truth for this Monday morning.

saying yes.

It's now April and it's hard to believe that Semana Santa (Holy Week) has already come and gone.  Things around here have been the best kind of busy.  Full of friends who came to visit (to plan their Dominican wedding!) and lots of laughter and good coffee and conversations that make you think a little deeper about things and traveling around the country to visit some special ones who used to live at the orphanage with us.  

I simply can't explain how incredibly blessed I am by the people who I get to walk alongside through this one wild and precious life.  I have these friends who are crazy world changers, each of them changing and impacting the lives of others and fighting for the freedom of the ones we've been entrusted with.  They care more about others' needs than their own and they understand the need to trust the Lord and step out in faith even when the unknown can seem overwhelming.  Mostly, they'll stop at nothing to love people with everything they have in them, to bring freedom for the captives, to heal the brokenhearted, and to bring hope to some of the darkest places I've seen.

And the best part is that they live right here with me.  In this country and with these people who have stolen my heart.  

Sometimes I just can't contain my awe at God's faithfulness.  He's so so good.

And recently, I've felt this deep knowing that I'm living through a season where God is about to do something huge through the time spent with these people and the conversations that we are having.  It's this sense that these are holy moments.  And it's all the Lord.  We have done nothing but simply listen to Him and follow where we know He is leading.  

We've just chosen to say yes.

Yes to God and yes to His plans and yes to wherever and whoever He leads me to.  Yes to what He is asking me to give up and yes to more of Him and less of me and yes to what He is asking me to step into.

For it's all so worth it and I'm humbled to say yes to the One who gave me everything.  So my prayer recently has just been that God will show me what to say yes to.

And then I'll do it.  I'll say yes.  

Even if it's hard or uncomfortable.  And even if I need His grace to have a good attitude about it.  Because by no means do I come close to always choosing what He has for me over what I think I need.  It's just a journey in learning how to say yes.

So you should check out this goodness.  It's been changing my heart and filling my soul.

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And here are a few glimpses at life here...

Pedro!  One of my favorites :)

Coffee factory tour... the process is fascinating!

Visiting Carolina while Elizabeth was in the country.

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I'm attempting to post a photo every day under the photos tab so you should check 'em out :)

hope.

Yesterday was one of those days dripping with hope, where nothing at all felt impossible.  What began as a day trip to visit a friend of a friend turned into a miraculous gift from the Lord that I never would have believed even fathomable.

Over the past two years, many of the close to 70 kids at the two orphanages have left.  New kids have come and gone, but many of the ones I fell in love with at the beginning are now spread out all over the country.  Some live with parents and some live with grandparents.  Some live with aunts and uncles and still others live in different orphanages.  I have this deep love for those 70 that I will never be able to explain... this crazy love that makes it hard for me to ever imagine leaving this country.

So I pass the weekdays teaching English to the amazing kids who live in my barrio and the weekends... well the weekends I spend either at one of the two orphanages or traveling around the country visiting many of the kids who have moved away.  Because if there is one thing that I hope they always know, it's that they are loved.  And for that reason, I have committed (at least to myself) to be involved in their lives as long as I can.  For some that means spending time at the orphanages.  For some it means a whole lot of prayer.  And for some it means traveling across the country to see them for a few hours.

Because it's always worth it for one.  It's worth it to travel five hours across the island to the opposite coast for one hug.   It's worth to stay up late baking cookies for the twenty boys who live in Jaibon.  It's worth it to travel seven hours on random buses with no idea where we are going to sleep to spend a few days singing songs and coloring on the floor with some precious little girls. It's worth it for every single moment that one of them knows just how much they are loved.  Because more than hoping they know how much I love them, I hope they know how much God loves them.  The God who formed them before they were born and has loved them with an everlasting love that makes all things new.

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So back to yesterday.  While visiting someone in a city about two hours away from where we live, Katie (a friend of a friend of a friend... I know, crazy.) mentioned that she volunteers at an orphanage for children with special needs.  Christine and I quickly explained how one of the girls who used to live in the orphanage here was just recently moved to a special needs orphanage.  Long story short, Katie asked to see a picture, said she knew her, and within a matter of minutes we were in a taxi on our way to see one of the ones who is so precious to us.  It felt like a dream, but there we were, standing in a different orphanage with a little girl who stole our hearts years ago.  I honestly didn't even know if I would ever see her again.  God is so good.

It was such a reminder that the seemingly impossible is always possible for the Lord.  We couldn't have arranged that series of events if we had tried.  On the bus ride back home, I stuck my earbuds in and faces kept flashing through my head.  They were faces of people who I feel are in impossible situations in one way or another.  But they aren't.  For in Christ there is always hope.  So we keep on loving and we keep on praying and we keep on showing grace and we keep on being the friends, brothers, and sisters to these ones who God has entrusted us with.

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Wilfred, a good friend's son, just turned one.  We share the same birthday :)

generosity.

One of the most incredible gifts of living in a culture that's not the one you grew up in, is being able to learn and grow from people who see life a little differently than you.  When living your whole life in one single place, you often think that all over the world everyone has similar views and behavior as you.  But that is simply not true.  When I first stepped off the plane almost 6 years ago, one characteristic was extremely evident about Dominicans: their generosity.  It was easily noticeable everywhere I went, no matter what the outer circumstances were.

Little kids share the small amount of chocolate they are given with all of their brothers and sisters.

There is always, always an extra plate of rice and beans for whoever may stop by the house.

Five adults share one piece of candy so that everyone is able to enjoy it.

Students at school offer me their snacks at recess.

A man Emilee and I met on a bus gets off at a stop and buys us candy bars.

If someone walks into my house with a cup of juice, they always offer me some.

So my question is, why have I grown up always having a "mine" mentality?  I worry that my money will run out.  I hoarded all of my candy and toys as a child.  Someone gives me a piece of cake and my first thought isn't to share it with the five people I'm with.  Why is offering the coat off my back not second nature to me?  Why am I not always concerned with others' comfort over my own?

The bottom line is, a lot of the time I don't live as if I have enough faith that God will always provide.  Because if I did, it would be second nature to offer the coat off of my back and the cup of coffee that I'm drinking.

God has taught me more than I can recount through Dominicans the past few years.  And right now that lesson continues to be selflessness.  I'm learning what it means to not just die to myself once, but to die to myself every moment of every day, preferring others over myself.  For as Matthew 10:8 says, "Freely you have received, freely give."

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Jose playing a song he wrote  :)

capture every moment.

I always love finding joy in the little things and appreciating every moment, but a couple of weeks ago I woke up with extra excitement for all that was to come that day.  And so instead of just letting it all be memories I decided to start capturing more of those moments with my camera.  It quickly became normal to hear "capture every moment" coming out of someone's mouth and it has resulted in more photos and a deepened appreciation for what we may be tempted to deem as common everyday life.  For the common is hard to find when you really think about how much beauty and grace we are always surrounded by.  So here's to capturing every moment and memories in the form of photos and glimpses into the everyday happenings around here...

Christine, Emilee, Bebo and I watching Jochi play baseball.

Jochi pitching.

Visiting some of our favorites.

Indiana and Joanni fixing Christine's hair... just like old times.

Valentine's Day Bingo at school.

Thankful to spend time with these boys in Jaibon.

Jose... attempting not to smile.

Coffee in special little cups at Jacqueline's.

Emilee y su cafe.

Visiting Carolina.

Bebo's birthday.

school.

I absolutely love my students.  Some days they are full of smiles and other days they have crazy attitudes, but they always bring so much joy to my life.  Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks...