{weekend glimpses}

{an hour and a half bus ride to visit these precious, growing ladies}

{they took us to see the river and I gasped at the view.  I grabbed my camera to attempt to capture it, while they all laughed at me for thinking it was pretty... Nena :: pointing out the beauty :)}

{bakery donut holes for breakfast}

{Sunday-after-church-lunch :: yaroa :: mashed plantains, chicken, ketchup, mayonnaise, & cheese.  it's good, I promise.}

{greca coffee, always.}

{cafe con cremola after worshipping in our first language}

{thoughts & prayers}

It's been months since I have posted on here and I hate that for so many reasons... but mostly because I love this little space so much and I truly enjoy filling it with words and pictures and beauty.  But life right now feels like a constant juggle, hoping that I don't come up short on time and let it all fall.  People sometimes ask me if I have gotten everything done for the day (in regards to school) and I often laugh.  Because really, the list is never ending and I'm pretty confident I will never get it all done.  I'm not saying this to complain, because I will also say that I absolutely LOVE every single thing that I am a part of here in San Pedro and I wouldn't give up any of it.  Which is exactly why I often find myself running around from place to place and waking up at 3 in the morning to finish planning and grading papers... and practically never blogging.  But those things that I am saying yes to are good, beautiful things and I wouldn't trade them for a less hectic lifestyle.

All that to say, I'm sitting here in McDonald's, freezing cold and drinking steaming hot coffee, thinking I should be grading papers, but knowing that my soul just needs to write.  So I sit here, staring out the glass windows at the rain, eyes full of tears that don't fall.  I'm not sure what's going to come out here, but I know I must write.  And so I do.  My heart is aching right now.  Aching for the people who stole my heart in Monte Cristi and Jaibon.  I'll never be able to explain it, but sometimes I think God just locks a people into those deep places in our hearts and we will never be the same again.  I spent last weekend up north and coming back here just about shattered my heart into pieces.  I can't stop thinking about them and I can't shake this deep longing to be closer.  

Don't get me wrong, I also truly love it here and feel like I'm living out something I have only dreamed about for so long.  Being a part of the women's lives often leaves me speechless at all that God is doing.  And my students.  Oh my students.  I love them more every day even with their crazy middle school attitudes.  But this Jaibon/Monte Crist love.  It's just... deep.  I can't explain it and I doubt I'll ever be able to.  But I know it.  

So I don't have any pretty way to wrap this all up, but I do ask that you would just pray.  That seems like the only and best thing I can do for now.  To wrap them up in prayers.  That their hearts would be full and that they would feel fully loved and known by the Lord.  That there would be restoration in their homes and in their hearts.  That they would experience grace and know God more because of it.  That the forgotten and lonely would know that their Father deeply loves them.  That the hurting hearts would become whole in the presence of Jesus.  That Kingdom would invade that place and that they would understand that religion and rules are not the heart of God.  That they would know that they are loved, fully and unconditionally, by the One who formed them into existence.  Oh please pray...

That's all I've got and that's my heart.  So from this crazy little city in the Dominican Republic to wherever you are reading these words, all my love and hopes that you are resting in the love and astounding grace of the One who calls you His beloved.

{Jochi}

de lo mio.

{Jacqueline}

The woman who has taught me what it means to have an open home and an open heart.  Always.

**written from a booth in McDonald's a few days ago :)

faithful.

It's been over two months since I've blogged.  I could say it's because I've been busy, but a lot of us are pretty busy in one way or another, aren't we?  But my life has been more busy than normal for me and (sadly) my blog has taken the back-burner.

In many ways the past couple of months have been full of contrasts.  Beautiful moments where my heart feels so full that it might burst and hard ones where tears are the only option.  Moments spent surrounded by wealth and moments spent surrounded by poverty that makes you angry.  Moments spent in the safety of my home and moments spent in extremely spiritually dark places.  Moments surrounded by heartbreaking injustice and moments spent hearing the stories of God's redemption in the lives of His precious children.

Sometimes I can't wrap my mind around all the contrasts.  It's just too much for my mind to comprehend and it honestly just doesn't make sense.

But if there is one thing I know for sure, it's this...

He is faithful.

And that's been my song these past couple of months... Has sido fiel.  God always has been and always will be faithful.

And so in the midst of beauty and pain and darkness and miracles and tears and laughter... He is faithful.

And for that, I'm grateful.

...

These pictures are over a month old now, but they are from a trip back north to see a good friend get married.  It was incredibly special :)

 

humbled.

Normally when I sit down to write a blog it's because I have something on my mind or heart.  But today I just opened up this page to write because it's been far too long since I've written anything at all.  So we'll see where this goes :)

I'm sitting here on this cloudy day, awaiting the promised storm that hasn't shown up yet.  My neighbor just brought me a glass of freshly made mango juice and my mug full of coffee is still hot.  It's recess at the school next door and the voices of tons of little kids dressed in blue and khaki uniforms fill my house.  Life.  Is.  Good.

Life would be full of goodness anyway... even if everything that was going on around me didn't feel like goodness.  Because the Lord is good and has blessed us with gifts that are more than we could have ever asked for or imagined.  But life right now also feels full of that exceptional kind of goodness as well.  The kind that leaves me in awe of all that the Lord has done and amazed at the fact that I get to live here and do what I'm doing.  I seriously stop dead in my tracks all the time, so thankful and humbled to be where God has me right now.

I spend a large chunk of my days with a bunch of 5th through 8th graders who are INCREDIBLE.  And I mean that.  They are brilliant and hilarious and full of surprises.  They are already awesome leaders and their love for the Lord inspires me.  I absolutely LOVE that I get the opportunity to spend my days with them and I'm so humbled that God has allowed me to be in the position that I'm in.

I've also been overwhelmed by the way that the Lord blesses my heart.  He knows me and cares so much about even the smallest of things and I'm often left with one of those crazy big smiles on my face because I can't contain the joy.  Moving away from Jaibón and Monte Cristi just about broke my heart in two.  I hated (and still do) the fact that I was going to be so far away from people who had become my family.  But you want to know something?  Even miles away from all of those people who stole my heart, God still chooses to bring a little bit of my world there down here to San Pedro.  Early this week, a big bag of limoncillos (amazinggg little fruit) arrived at my house, sent here with love from a precious older woman who lives in Jaibón.  I've also been extremely blessed by a sweet new friend who grew up IN Jaibón with all of the people who I call family.  Really?!  She grew up in Jaibón.  Her mom used to give me a mug full of coffee every time I passed by her house because she knows how much I love it.  And now she lives in San Pedro with her family.  God is too good to me and I have been so blessed by her friendship already.  She opened up her home and shared her family from day one and I'm so thankful for a little bit of Jaibón down here in the big city :)

There's so much more on my heart that I would love to share, but then I would be writing a book.  So for now, this is a glimpse.  I'm hoping to start sending out update emails every few months.  I really want to share more about what I'm involved in here, but I've decided not to mention some of those details in blog world :)  So let me know if you would like to be added to my email list!  Because I'd love to share a little more about what's going on down here.

Hoping that no matter where you are or what the Lord has you doing, that you are feeling blessed by His goodness and that your eyes are opened more and more to all that we have already been given.  He is so good.

today.

Today we...

:: painted fingernails bright purple.

:: drank lots of refresco.

:: traveled on two motorcycles, three buses, a taxi, and a carrito.

:: took lots of photos and recorded lots of videos.

:: laughed and sang and did each other's hair.

:: ate arroz con huevos.

:: and told story after story of memories that happened years ago.

I'm so thankful for these precious girls...

{Joanni, Elena, and Dariela}

{Joanni and Carolina}

{Luz Maria y yo}

{love them.}

{Luz Maria and Carolina}

{Dariela}

{Indiana}

blessed and encouraged.

This past week I was blessed to have some pretty incredible visitors stay at my house.  They are the kind of people that you always want to be around.  The kind of people whose words and actions are drenched with the love of Jesus.  The kind of people who leave you missing them and wishing they would come back as soon as they leave.

Jennifer, Jacob, and Jordan blessed and encouraged me so much during their week here.  Their passion for the Jaibon boys and the country in general is enough to make anyone excited about coming here and experiencing it for themselves.  Their love for the people here is deep and God-given and I can't wait to see where the Lord takes them.  And I also can't wait for the day that they are back on Dominican soil!

...

While they were here, we went up to Jaibon for a few days and I was once again amazed by the hearts and hospitality of my friends there.  They inspire me to give more, to serve more, and to open up my home more.  I honestly haven't met many other people who are more selfless than my dear friends in Jaibon.  These three women have completely different personalities, but they each love people with their whole hearts and welcome strangers into their homes as though they were family.  You leave their houses feeling filled up and encouraged and I hope they one day know just how much they have taught me about truly loving others.

...

I'm back in San Pedro now, missing my visitors and my dear friends in Jaibon and Monte Cristi, but grateful for all that the Lord has done and all of the people He has put in my life.  

I'm so so so blessed.

Here are a few photos from the past week...

{Gregory}

{Galan}

{Carolina}

{Genesis}

{Jonel}

{David}

{Imanol}

{Geisi and Genesis}
(photo stolen from Jennifer :))

{a whole lot of people I love}
(this photo is also stolen from Jennifer :))

depth.

I've been living in San Pedro for almost a month and that hardly seems possible.  Things have been busy and full in the best possible way and for that reason I've neglected this little blog.  But things are settling into more of a rhythm (as much as a rhythm is possible in this country...) and I can't wait to start blogging more often... because I really do find so much joy in the process of recording life in words and photos.

I arrived in San Pedro and immediately the overwhelmingly reality that depth takes time smacked me in the face.  It was as if I had forgotten that friendships that are like family don't happen over night and that deep trust happens as life is lived in community with others.  But all of a sudden I found myself in a setting where most of my relationships were very, very new ones.  The people I have met here are absolutely incredible and I already love them, but I'm reminded of what a treasure it is to dig roots down in a place and truly know people.  Six years ago I was setting foot on this island for the first time and falling in love with the people of Monte Cristi.  Six years of laughs and tears and prayers and people who became my family.  Depth is a beautiful thing.  And it doesn't happen overnight.  And honestly, I love that it isn't seen everywhere and that it takes time, because it makes it all the more special.

So while my heart aches and misses those people on the other side of the island, I'm also growing to love San Pedro.  A lot.  These past few weeks have flown by...

Full of learning my way around a "big" city, getting lost in the rain, asking thousands of questions, and seeing the grace of God through people going out of their way to help.

Full of baking lots of cookies and trying new food that I never saw up north and my neighbor yelling my name in the morning to give me a mug of coffee.

Full of getting to know the incredible staff at Las Palmas and teaching English to some amazing 1st-8th graders and parent meetings in Spanish (that run a lot smoother than they did two years ago!).

Full of Bible studies and a church community who loves the Lord and the beauty of being a part of a team working towards the same vision.

Full of new opportunities to serve and early morning lesson planning and figuring out how to drill holes in the wall because my Dad isn't here to do it for me.

Full of long afternoons on the porch with Galan and his family and late morning pancakes with Carolina and a trip to Monte Cristi/Jaibon that my heart so desperately needed.

So while depth does indeed take time, I'm so incredibly thankful for all that the Lord has done and all He has taught me these past few weeks.  He knows my heart and has blessed me with more than I could have imagined.  So here's to a new city and an incredible ministry and new friendships that will one day become ones that are laced with depth as well.

...

{Carolina}

{Galan}