welcome fall :)

It's fall! I am now back in Louisville and loving this fall weather! Today was a perfect combination of resting, going to the St. James Art Fair in a sweater and scarf, lots of coffee, my Bible, my journal, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, talking to some dear friends, and getting to cross lots of things off my checklist :)

Last week was incredible and better than I could have imagined. Being at Johnson and spending time with my sisters there was so encouraging. I spoke in some Missions classes about OO and Esperanza and people that I didn't even know were very supportive. At the end of one of the classes, everyone stood up and prayed over me and the ministry... it was humbling for sure. Knoxville now has a worship night in the Square Room one Wednesday a month. It just so happened (thank You, God!) that this month's worship night was last week when I was in Knoxville. Emilee was singing at it with Bill Wolf and United Pursuit Band was playing! United Pursuit Band is my favorite... insane lyrics! And I think anytime I get to hear Emilee sing I cry :) So needless to say, Wednesday night was amazing and such a blessing being able to worship with them.

I was supposed to leave Knoxville Thursday afternoon, but through some cool God-things, I ended up staying until Friday afternoon. Thursday night there was a human trafficking forum in Knoxville so Emilee and I knew we had to go since I was able to stay until Friday. One of the speakers was from International Justice Mission, an organization that works to fight sex-trafficking. The forum was soooo good! It gave us a lot to think about and we were jotting things down all night so we would remember what the Lord was showing us. One of my favorite things that he said was that genuine love has a way of casting out fear. I kept thinking how true that is and how genuine love is the whole reason we are pursuing this dream. We fell in love with the Dominican people and it changed everything about our lives. Any fear or hesitation we ever had fell away in the presence of the genuine love of Christ and our genuine love for Him and His people. I just pray that we always remain rooted in the never-ending love of Christ.

Thursday night, Emilee and I made pumpkin cookies which we had been talking about doing since the beginning of the summer. Check! They were awesome. Friday, I rode back to Louisville (or Luhvul as I'm trying to teach Emilee how to say:) ) with Sara and James and it was wonderful to be able to catch up with them... I miss you guys! Yesterday we had an open house at my home in Louisville and it was such a blessing to see people that I hadn't seen for over a year and catch up on life. I was able to share a lot about Esperanza and what the Lord is doing. Thank you so much to everyone who came by... you ALL were so encouraging and I appreciate your support more than you know! God is good and I am blessed with very uplifting family and friends!

This is my sister, Emilee :) We are really bad at remembering to take pictures, but this is the one that we managed to take!

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

1 Peter 1:3

I read this verse last week and LOVE everything about it. It's so fitting for Esperanza and I think we are going to put it on our prayer cards. It's our whole goal and dream... to praise our Father and bring Him glory... and to share His promises of new birth and new life into a living hope (esperanza!)... and all of that because of the resurrection of Christ! Amen.

the story...

I have been adding lots of updates to my blog recently in hopes to update everyone on what God has been doing in my life. He has done so much in my heart the past few months and I am so humbled by the doors for opportunities that He is opening in my life. He is so good! So here are a few links to both my current blog and my new world race blog that will hopefully fill you in on where I'm at!

Click here to read... The story in a nutshell

Click on the "my dream" tab to read about the dream God has placed on my heart.

Click on the "esperanza" tab to read about the story of Esperanza.

Click on the "world race" tab to read about why I am going on The World Race.

Check these links out as well as the other tabs at the top of my blog for more info!

johnson :)

The past few days have been so good for my heart. On Friday afternoon, my parents headed for the Smoky Mountains and dropped me off at Johnson on the way. While the people have changed and there are a few differences here and there, it feels good to be back at my college home. It's been a weekend full of eating at my favorite Mexican restaurant (and speaking only in Spanish with the waitress :) ), going back to Crossings, eating some free chick-fil-a, lots of coffee and chai tea, and some quality time with some great friends.

I've been staying with Emilee, my sister who spent 2 months with me in the Dominican this past summer. She is awesome and shares the same dreams as I do for the DR. We have been doing a whole lot of talking and planning and thinking and dreaming about Esperanza. It seems like each day this dream of having a safe-home for women in the Dominican becomes more of a reality. I am more in awe of God each day and everything that He is doing. Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by everyone and everything He places in my path. He is so good! I couldn't have dreamed up His plans for my life or Esperanza if I tried.

"O Lord, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago."

Isaiah 21:1

Amen. His faithfulness is perfect. Sometimes I smile just thinking about how many times over the past few months I have begged God to give me answers about the future. He is opening my eyes more every day to His vision, but it had to come in His timing and not mine. And for that, I'm thankful :)

AND, you should check out the tabs at the top of my blog... hopefully they will explain a little more about this whole dream for Esperanza :)

the beginning of an update :)

I am currently sitting in the United States, drinking some amazing chai tea, rocking out my tie dye t-shirt that Andres (one of the boys in Jaibon) made me, and listening to Dominican worship music. So much has happened in the past few months and this is going to be the first of a series of blogs that I hope will serve as an update on where I am in life and with the Lord :)

Most of my summer was spent at the orphanage in Jaibon. I am absolutely in love with the boys that live there. I have had the amazing opportunity to invest in them and become a part of their family. Many of them talk about how they are all a part of the "Colbert" family and they refer to me as "hermanita" or sister. My time spent at that orphanage is one of the things that I am most thankful for in my life up until this point. They taught me so much about life and love and selflessness and the Lord.

This is Jonel... the little five-year-old love of my life!

The last week I spent in Jaibon, we didn't actually have a volunteer program going on. It was a blessing to be able to spend so much time with the boys and my sister, Jacqueline. This is Jacqueline, Chipa, and I with our completed 500 piece puzzle!

After saying goodbye to everyone in Jaibon, I spent my last two weeks in the Dominican in Monte Cristi. Saying goodbye to the people in Jaibon was definitely difficult. It was so odd to find myself in that place. Volunteers say goodbye to those boys every week, but I had never been in that position. The longest I went without seeing them was a month or so. Entonces, the Saturday I had to say goodbye was not fun. I spent my last couple of weeks in Monte Cristi with the kids there and it was so good to hang out with them again. My last two weeks in the Dominican were full of processing, prayer, packing (whoa, that's a lot of p's!), and spending time with the kids and leaders who have become a part of my family. I was so encouraged the last few weeks I was there and the Lord used that time to do so much in my heart. I went from having no idea where I was going next to being overwhelmed by the Lord's goodness and big plans. I couldn't have dreamed them up if I tried (more on that later :) ). And my Dominican mama, Coco :), was the biggest support ever! I loved soaking up time with her and my sista, Christine. God not only gave me some new Dominican family members, but some American and Canadian ones too :)

So I am back in the States now and have been here for a week. It has been an extremely difficult transition, but I know it's all for the sake of the Kingdom. And for that, I will continue to lay down my desires and my heart at the foot of the cross. I have so much peace about being here right now and the Lord's plans, but I definitely left my heart thousands of miles away. God is bringing me joy in sadness and showing me His promises of new life. He's picking up the pieces of my heart and blowing me out of the water with His crazy plans for my life. I surely don't deserve them! He is so faithful!

I can't wait to see each of you soon! Over the next couple of months I would love to get together and hear about your lives and share about mine. I'll probably be having some sort of open house in Louisville soon for anyone to come over and hear about everything. I hope you all are doing well! I'm excited to see some faces of people that I love soon!

agosto

It's almost mid-August and school is starting here next week! Crazy. I'm not sure how time flies by as fast as it does. All of sudden the months are just gone. It still feels like June to me, when in reality, all of our summer interns are leaving next week. It doesn't seem possible. Things in Jaibon have been busy. The past month has been full of Bible camps, work projects at the orphanage, and activities with the boys who live here. It's been amazing and I have loved getting to know different communities, but I think we are all ready for a little rest.

One of my favorite parts of the past month has been going to La Caya. This is a community about 15 minutes away from the orphanage. We have done two different camps there and I absolutely love that community. The people are so kind and welcoming. The youth are so legit and have really stepped up as leaders in the community. Normally, the teenagers are often misbehaving, but in this community, they help in whatever way possible. They are awesome.

Another thing I have loved is spending some extra time with the boys at the orphanage. We have been able to do lots of activities here with them and it has been such a blessing. They are amazing and God has taught me so much through them.

**One of them just came up to see what I was doing. His name is Luis and he is 15. He calls me his sister and I have loved being able to invest in him. He is family to me. He wants to learn how to use the computer sooo badly. He just typed this :)

mi nombre es luis y soy un hermano de heather y megusta jugar baquecbol

translation... my name is Luis and I am Heather's brother and I like to play basketball.

God has been teaching me a lot recently. I'm learning how much weight words carry... how much people are hurting... how people's pain overflows into how to act towards others... how the way I live my life is a reflection of Jesus... how God's plans are ALWAYS better than mine... how waiting and patience are much better than figuring everything out on my own... how everything is insignificant without love... how God's love is more vast than I could ever imagine. I'm begging God for just an ounce of His love and wisdom. There is so much I don't know and so much I have yet to learn. At the end of the day, I just want people to see Jesus in me and have gotten a glimpse of the Kingdom. I still don't know what comes next. And next is in three weeks :) haha. When God told me to be patient, I never thought I still wouldn't know what I'm doing when I only have three weeks left of my current position. I have no plane ticket out of the country and there are still a lot of things up in the air. I am in love with this country and these people and I hope to be here for many years to come. I feel called to this place and there is no denying that. Needless to say, I would greatly appreciate your continued prayers. Hopefully I'll have some answers soon to that never-ending questions of "what happens next?"

But until then, I hope each of you are doing well! I love and miss you a lot, even if I don't always get a chance to say so!

whoa julio...

I can't believe it is July! The summer is flying by... I just wish time would slow down. The past few weeks have been so full of many great people and great things. Graystone was in MC last week and it was the best week ever! We had a camp at the orphanage with over 450 kids each day. It was nuts, but tons of fun. About 15 of my Dominican friends helped out with camp too and we had a blast. We literally could not have done camp without them. Friday we all went to the beach about 2 hours away... I rode the Dominican bus and couldn't stop laughing and smiling all day long. They have become so much a part of my family during the past year. Having Graystone here for a week was also a huge blessing. It was so good to catch up with everyone and see familiar faces.

Last Saturday, I moved over to Jaibon with all of the interns. I will be here until the end of August. Saturday was rough... saying goodbye to all my MC family, saying goodbye to Graystone, saying goodbye to Julie, and saying goodbye to Bebo who headed to the States with Graystone. It stunk, but I was so excited to see my loves in Jaibon. This week has been busy as well, but I have gotten a chance to catch up with them which has been wonderful. Yay for coffee every morning with my sisters. They have always welcomed and accepted me with open arms as if I'm part of their own family. I feel the love of the Lord in this place.

My commitment with OO ends in September. If you could be praying for wisdom and discernment for me about what comes next, that would be wonderful. I have so much peace that the Lord's plans are good and that He will open and close doors at just the right time. He is so faithful. Until then, I'm surrendering my ideas and laying my life at His feet.

I love and miss ya'll a lot! A LOT :)

Arianni and I eating dinner... Her and her twin sister, Ari, rock my world :)

dame tu corazon...

Summer is here and it's hard to believe. The past month has been so full and has flown by so quickly. One of my favorite nights was a few weeks ago at the English Institute graduation. We have an English school in Monte Cristi that provides free English classes to middle school aged students. This past spring, our first group of students graduated after taking four years of classes. Yessica and Christopher, who live at the orphanage, both graduated with this first class. A lot of the older kids from the orphanage came to watch and we had so much fun. This night was so special for them and I was so glad to be a part of it. It felt like my little brother and sister were growing up!

Yenny, Nicol, Carolina, and I before the graduation.

Yessica!

Christopher and my roommate, Christine (you always will be!)

I loved spending this night with my Dominican family. The next Saturday, my roommate, Christine, left to head to her home in the U.S. It has been so weird without her here and I miss her a lot, but I somehow think we might end up living near each other again :) It isn't the same without you, sister! That same Saturday, a dear friend from college arrived here and it has been awesome to share life with her in the Dominican. That Saturday also started the summer Christian internship program and I can't tell you how amazing that has been! I love each and every one of the interns and am in awe of how God has worked so far.

The past couple of weeks we have done Bible camps at the orphanage, English Institute, and in the community. It has been wonderful to continue to build relationships with the Dominican people. My highlight from this past week was definitely "noche especial." Noche Especial happens twice a year and is a giant sleepover with all the girls from the orphanage. I don't have any pictures to put up right now, but it definitely goes down as one of my favorite nights here. It was full of games, good snacks, movies, tie dye, and lots of quality time with the loves of my life. I am so blessed.

Things have been busy, but oh so wonderful. I love the kids here more every day and am so grateful that the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to invest in them. I treasure each moment spent with the kids at the orphanage. It's honestly hard to ever think about leaving them when they have become such a huge part of my family. I just have this crazy Jesus-love for them that I can't explain.

AND, graystone comes tomorrow!!!! Tomorrow starts the week that the kids and I have been talking about for a really long time... when Georgia comes to the Dominican Republic! We can't wait to see ya'll TOMORROW :)