glimpses.

Cuidad de Luz :: City of Light. The name of the school where I teach definitely describes the kids in my class. They are all so full of so much light and joy and life and I love each of them so much. All 23 of them. Here are most of them a few weeks ago...

In a lot of ways, we do things you may have done in Kindergarten. We learn letters and play with blocks. We learn to count and cut and paste. We sing songs and learn Bible verses.

We like to take pictures and play at recess. We have special helpers and win prizes for good behavior and attendance. We don't always enjoy doing work, but most days we leave with smiles on our faces.

We write in notebooks and love to color and are always practicing our handwriting.

But in other ways, we do things very differently. We speak Spanish instead of English. We bring plantains and yuca for snack instead of oreos or pringles. We bring pesos to buy our snacks and there is always enough for everyone.

We talk about where I'm from and how most of them haven't seen snow before. We still like to play with pogs here and get excited about the ones that come as prizes in our potato chips. We sing a different national anthem than I'm used to singing every morning and my students call me Profe (Pro-fay).

But mostly, we just LOVE. And so while there may be a few tiny differences, we are mostly all the same. Kids are kids and no matter where they are from, they find joy in the simple things. And so the more time I spend with them, the more I get to see glimpses of life through their eyes... and through His. I'm so blessed.

life.

The past few months have been so full of all things old and new and beautiful and difficult and life-giving. My heart feels fully alive here and I can't imagine being anywhere else. It seems that the longer I am here, the more I can't imagine leaving. Though it seems hard to explain, I can only say that my heart was made for this place.

I love my students to no end. Teaching was harder than I ever expected at first, and the only way I made it during those days was through the Lord's strength and wisdom. But time has passed, all my teaching background has come back to me, and now I find myself missing my students on the weekends and loving being able to spend part of my days with them. As I fill out their report cards, I find it hard to believe that it's already December and the school year is almost half over.

Em and I spend Saturdays in Jaibon at the orphanage and with friends and family there. The boys at the Jaibon orphanage are and will always be a huge reason why I am here. I can't imagine not being involved in their lives as they grow up.

Em and I with Luis Alberto and Jonel in Jaibon.

Our Sundays usually consist of planning and spending time at the orphanage in Monte Cristi. We are blessed to have roots in this town already. As we dream of real change, freedom, redemption, and hope, we have realized again the importance of roots, time, and trust. Discipleship doesn't come quickly and true trust is established through lots of ups and downs. And that's what we want to be here for.

We started art/sewing classes for girls a couple afternoons a week. The classes are definitely at the beginning stages, but we are excited to see where the Lord will take everything. One of my heart's deepest desires is to see women here understand their worth and value and find true freedom in their identity in Christ and who He has created them to be. Poco a poco.

Be looking for more pictures and updates soon, but that is a short overview of life here :)

la casa.

This week has been exciting, exhausting, new, rewarding, and hard all at the same time. Blessed. That's really all I can say. I started teaching Kindergarten this week and it was... crazyyyyy. Me and 24 spanish speaking 5-year-olds in a tiny classroom with lots of character. I already love them with my whole hearts.

We also spent lots of time this week taking care of all the necessary details for renting our house! We are beyond thankful for this gift that God has blessed us with. It's a great house, in an awesome location, with amazing neighbors. We couldn't have found a better house if we tried. Here are some pictures...

We hope you can come visit sometime and see it in person :) There's even a bubblegum pink guest room that can be all yours!

immeasurably more.

We have arrived! Words could not possibly express my heart right now. I am beyond blessed and the past few days have been amazing. God has confirmed that this is exactly where we are supposed to be more times than I can count. It's insane really. I'm overwhelmed thinking about all that He has done just since we got here last Wednesday.

We have spent the past few days meeting with the director of the school we are teaching at, observing classes, hugging and catching up with all the kids at both orphanages, and visiting with our friends and family that we have missed so much.

My heart is full.

I start teaching kindergarten tomorrow and I'm excited! I met my students on Friday and they are adorable. We are also beginning the moving process and will hopefully have moved into the house we are renting next weekend. God has provided us with so much!

These are my two sisters that I get to spend the next year with. This is the only time all three of us have ever been together in the States :)

God is good. I find myself going back to the Scripture that I put on one of my first updates about moving back... "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine... to Him be glory" Ephesians 3:20.

He is truly doing more than we could have ever asked or imagined.

cuidad de luz.

When deciding to spend the next year in the Dominican, all I knew for sure was that the only constant would be change. And that has proved itself to be true before Emilee and I have even left the States. With less than three weeks to go before we leave, we have some really exciting news to announce!

The past couple of months we have talked and dreamed and asked the Lord about where we should invest ourselves in Monte Cristi. It seemed like we had more ideas than we would ever have time, but the one thing that we knew was that we wanted to love people, share hope, explore long-term ministry options, and serve wherever we were needed. This all brings me to the incredible opportunity we were presented with last week...

Cuidad de Luz (City of Light) is a small Christian elementary school that was started by missionaries years ago. Below is a picture of the school when we took our parents to teach there during our time with Orphanage Outreach.

Christine spent last year teaching English at Cuidad de Luz and is currently the first grade teacher. The director has asked me to teach Kindergarten and Emilee to continue teaching the English classes that Christine started last year. We are so excited (ok and maybe a little nervous!) for this opportunity! While I was on the race, I knew the Lord was telling me that I would teach again, although I had no clue what that would look like. I couldn't have imagined a more perfect opportunity for this year if I had tried... I'm humbled by God's grace and blessings for sure.

So with a little less than three weeks until I leave, my mind is now whirling with teaching ideas and ways to make my students feel special and ideas for my classroom and ways to be involved in their lives and love them and their families well.

My heart beats to see restoration in the Dominican and I'm believing that God is going to transform Monte Cristi...

...I'm believing that He will raise up youth that are passionate about the Kingdom...

... I'm believing that girls will know that they are valued and created with a unique destiny...

...I'm believing that discipleship will happen through our relationships in the community...

...I'm believing that God is going to redeem all the broken places...

I'm believing.

t-shirts!

The past couple of days I have eagerly checked my front porch for anything out of the ordinary each time I pulled into the driveway. I honestly didn't expect there to be something there, so when I saw this big box today, I may have freaked out!

This box just so happens to contain all of the t-shirts that Emilee and I designed and ordered two weeks ago! To say that we were excited for its arrival is an understatement :) Here they are...
We LOVE them! I don't want to repeat myself or for you to read the same thing twice, so please take a moment to click on the t-shirts tab at the top and read about the incredible company that made these shirts and/or buy one! Purchasing one for $20 would greatly support Emilee and I, as well as the Dominicans who made them :)

enough.

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him."

1 John 4:16

I've been ruminating on God's love a lot today. Sometimes it's the most simple truths of God's character that dig their roots deeper into my soul, revive my heart, and renew my mind once again. God is love. He loves us. And we love because He first loved us. And that's enough. Really, it is. His love is enough to cast out all fear. It's enough to bring freedom to the captives. It's enough to restore broken hearts. It's enough to shed light into the darkest places. It's enough to send people to the nations. And it's enough to satisfy our soul's deepest longing.

God's love is enough.

I just pray that this simple (but not small) truth will penetrate my heart once again and not just my head. Because a lot of times it seems a lot easier said than done to live life with God's love being enough when I'm worried about everyday things.

"There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."

1 John 4:18

thanks, dove.