15 weeks

Christmas dinner in Los Alcarrizos with Tim, Paola, Ana Leah, Rachel, and family!



Going to the Escuela Caribe Christmas Banquet



Our baby is the size of an apple!

What's been happening this week:

I got my third ultra-sound this week and the baby is looking good, he/she (couldn't tell which yet) was moving around a LOT, all over the place, Dave said it looks like a DeYoung baby, always moving and can't wait to get out already, which made me start laughing and the ultrasound machine started going crazy, jumping around and making all these loud noises, and Dave didn't know why and he was like are you farting Kristin, right in front of the doctor, which made me laugh even more and make the ultrasound make more noise and go even more crazy, and all the while the doctor did not think it was one bit funny... on top of that, while Dave was late getting to the appt., I told the doctor about all the things I've been reading in my pregnancy book that doctors are supposed to do at appts. (like take my weight and blood pressure, so he did, but looking a bit irritated about always being told by the high maintenance American girl how to do his job) so after all of that, the doctor charged us more than double what he usually does and was not in the cheerful mood he usually is (but I have to be careful cause he's the best doctor in town and a parent of a student from school so I don't want to mess up that relationship).  We tried to leave on a good note by saying Feliz Navidad, but I don't know if that really helped... He also was concerned that I haven't been gaining any weight, I have only gained 2 pounds in the whole 15 weeks so he told me to take Ensure, we went to PriceSmart in Santiago yesterday and bought a big $28 container of it but the directions are confusing and in Spanish, they say 6 scoops for each shake and 2 shakes a day, but Dave is scared I'm taking too much and will be like 200 pounds by the end of next week (and I am getting pretty fat from it already!)  For those who don't know Pricesmart is like the Dominican version of Costco or Sam's Club, so I was drooling over everything I saw... including Totino's pizza rolls which I have been craving badly so Dave bought a box of 160 of them for me for Christmas - I was a happy camper. :)

I have been feeling a lot better lately since my transition into 2nd trimester but there are still some of the same symptoms... the weird dreams are still vivid and super weird, like craaaaaaaaazy stuff, lots of dreams about alien invasions and UFO's and that kind of stuff lately, really trippy kind of stuff.  Also lots of headaches and still super tired, but better than the first trimester.  The doctor gave me the go ahead to go off the hormones I've been taking for the past 3 months, so I'm wondering what that will do to me, we'll find out.. And like I mentioned before, I have started having cravings, in the beginning I didn't want to eat anything at all, but unfortunately for Dave I usually crave things now like PF Changs and Applebee's or things you can only buy from a Meijer's - he got to point the other night where he was like "Do you want me to make you some Fiesta freaking lime chicken, sit down cause I'm going to make you some" cause I was talking about it all day, but I fell asleep like 10 minutes later before he had the chance to.... seriously he has had the patience of a saint always trying to accomodate to all my needs and I don't know what I'd do without him.

This week we had lots more Christmas activities and fun, we were invited to the Escuela Caribe Christmas Banquet at the boarding school where we used to live, which we didn't realize was a very formal affair, girls had prom dresses handmade in town and poor Dave showed up in flip flops and blue jeans, oops (I wasn't that much better in leggings and a sweater dress).  Then we took the bus down to the capital on Christmas Eve and stayed just outside the capital in Los Alcarrizos where I used to volunteer and live in 07 and got to see family and old friends, and the most exciting part was meeting my new neice Rachel who is absolutely gorgeous.  Meeting and spending time with babies has become all the more exciting when you know you have your own swimming around inside.   Christmas Day we spent with family and friends at the old "camp" where I used to live and it was a very multi-cultural dinner since most of the dinner guests were doctors from different countries who volunteer at the hospital there, we had a mix of Ethiopian, Indonesian, Australian, Bolivian, and American dishes for Christmas dinner then lounged around poolside.  We met another couple from Ethiopia who are expecting this summer who we enjoyed spending time with, talking pregnancy and baby stuff (I really wish I had some pregnant friends here!).  On the 26th my sis-in-law Pam flew in to visit from Boston and whoa did she bring the Christmas treats, so a big GRACIAS to all of you who sent them, especially my mom who sent me an entire new pregnancy wardrobe, which I'm already loving, maternity pants are the most amazing thing ever.  Also I had a meeting while in the capital with CONANI, which is the child protective services agency here in the DR and also licenses NGO's here, about the safehouse and they were eager to get involved with us (which is exciting, if they actually follow through :)  Okay that's it for this week since this was an extra long update.  Love and miss you all!

14 weeks

Our baby is the size of a lemon!

What's been happening this week (it's been a REALLY busy one with Christmas around the corner!):

Miss Luedtke's going away party - We said good-bye to my student teacher who left to go back to the US then her home country of Switzerland, I was soooo sad and so were the kids :(

Wyldlife Christmas Party - Dave dressed up again like a "hipster Santa" (costume rental was too expensive) for his youth group Wyldlife where he's a leader and held a party for the kids.

Hotel Yunior Christmas Party - We had a Christmas party at our house for women from the brothel down the street, we had 15 of them come, they decorated Christmas cookies, played games, and I got to know the women better, another former prostitute who is now a Christian shared her testimony and really inspired some of them to do the same (so maybe we'll be getting some of them to come live with us soon! :)

JCS Classroom Christmas Party - We decorated Christmas cookies, made angel tree toppers, water color painted gingerbread men, made cotton-ball Santa Clauses, listened to Christmas music, and more... the kids were very sugared up by the time they went home!  Oh and two of my students accepted Christ after we shared the Christmas story about why Jesus came to earth to save us. :)

Teen girls Christmas Party - We had teen girls from at-risk barrios in the area over to do a Christmas party as well as prevention work for the sex trafficking org.  We shared the Christmas story and one of the girls accepted Christ which was awesome, and then we talked to the girls a lot about their rights as females (the right to their own bodies, the right to say "no", etc.), many of them had stories to share about times men had tried to rape them and things like that, one shared that she was being abused, and it showed me that there is so much more work to be done here, sometimes I don't know where to start!  They followed up by painting nails, doing hair, and playing games.  Oh and the funniest part... we made like an assembly line of cookie decorating stuff, DR version of what you can get here, so like frosting, sprinkles, raisins, fruit loops, candy, etc.... they dumped the cookies and toppings in the bowl, crushed them up, added a scoop of frosting and then stirred it up and ate it like cereal... I was like um hey girls, you're supposed to uh decorate the cookies like this.... lol oh well.... 

Church Christmas Banquet - You'd think we be all Christmased out by now right?  Nope.  We had a potluck and I helped in the kitchen of our new feeding center to serve more than 130 people from the community, it was tiring but fun, with lots of smiles and full bellies.

JCS Christmas Cookie Exchange  - Dave organized this at school and I think he has made about 2238947 Christmas cookies by now.  He did a great job bringing lots of delicious cookies and Christmas cheer (I sound like the movie Elf) to share with people we care about!

13 weeks

Posing with baby Jesus on stage at the JCS Christmas program :)

Our baby is the size of a medium shrimp!

What's been happening this week:

School Christmas Program, Dec. 9 - We made "ponchos" out of butcher paper and wore cowboy hats and the kids sang and danced to a song in Spanish about riding their little donkey to Bethleham... the funny thing is in Spanish little donkey is "burrito" so there were Americans who thought the butcher paper meant they were actually supposed to be wrapped up like burritos (the food) and that's what we were singing about, hahhahahaha.

OANSA Christmas Party at Church, Dec. 10 - We had a lunch, gifts, games, and the Christmas story for over 60 OANSA kids (the club that I teach at church), most of who are very poor and were very excited, most likely was the only Christmas present they would get, and they each got an apple, which are expensive here so was a really special treat for each of them, it was a really heartwarming day.

OANSA Christmas Program at Church, Dec. 11 - I made up a little dance to a Christmas song here called Din Don Din and taught to my 3-7 year old class at church which they were super precious performing for our church Christmas program.

We also hosted a team of 12 in our house this weekend from the anti-trafficking Defender's Foundation from Florida and California for a few days during their mission trip to the DR and hosted them on local outings such as waterfall hikes and souvenier shopping.

12 weeks

Our baby is the size of a lime!

What's been happening this week:

Dave's bday - I made a cake for him to eat at school, then we went out for pizza, what else?  I'm kinda a lame wife I know, but our beach trip over Christmas break will make up for it... ;)

School Christmas Banquet - Dave and I dressed up as Mr. and Mrs. Clause again and got lots of photos with scared kids and passed out lots of candy canes.



11 Weeks

In Barahona at the Christian Reformed World Missions Retreat

Our baby is the size of a fig!

What's been happening this week:

Fall Festival and Thanksgiving Party at school - We put on a show at school singing a song called "Tanto Tanto" which meant so much to give thanks for, and one of my super cute 6 year olds Natanael did a solo rap, all dressed up gangsta style, the whole school went nuts, it was hilarious, then we played lots of turkey games and did turkey crafts, fun fun (I have it on video if I can get it to post).

CRWM Retreat - Thanksgiving vacation we went down to Barahona about 6 hours from here to the beach for the Christian Reformed World Missions retreat... we found out last minute that we were in charge of childcare which meant less rest and more wiping runny noses and playing with play-doh, but I got to work with the babies and toddlers which was a fun switch and good prep for me, but I did have to take Monday off work after vacation because I was sooo tired and had a killer sinus infection by the time I got back, so not exactly a retreat but a good experience anyways and always fun seeing new places.
 

Two Angels Have Arrived....

This is Lexie Luedtke.  And if that isn't a cute enough name for you, my first graders like to call her "Miss Lucky". (though I think I'm the lucky one to have her with me in my class) She is my very first student teacher and I loooooove her already.  She is beautiful and amazing, and having a student teacher is the best thing EVER, I think I would be happy to have one for every semester for the rest of my teaching career.  She is a natural teacher (like my Aunt Chris always said "teachers are born dear, not made).... and I am so grateful that she came at the most perfect time ever because .......

My other little angel gives me fatigue, nausea, headaches, the works, but none of that keeps me from being entirely in love already.  I would put a photo up but I don't have a scanner here to scan in my ultra-sound.  Yup, this little angel is still in my belly and you get to meet him/her in June if you're on the island with us, otherwise it could be a little later before we get a passport for him/her.  But I couldn't be more blissfully happy. 

As most of you know, this is my third pregnancy and it's a high-risk one, but I have hope and faith that this little guy, or gal, is going to make it.  But I will also take all the prayers I can get too. :)  Yes, I know what you're all thinking.... but what about the safe house?  Your teaching job?  What's going on with all that?  Are you still going to......

While I've been asking the same thing - like WHAT GOD, really, I just made peace with not having a baby this year and doing this whole safehouse, mom for trafficking victims thing instead, so we stop trying to get pregnant, throw out all the charts, and BAM then I'm pregnant.  But this is one bendicion I'm welcoming with open arms, and definitely not turning down.  SO, I don't have any answers for you yet on all the "what ifs", but I'll keep you posted.  For now, I am completely content with just being ecstatic about the baby, almost just as ecstatic about having my student teacher, and my bed has been my new best friend (but at least it's not the toilet).  I sleep like it's my job (and I guess it kinda is my job since rest is imperative in a high-risk pregnancy and I'm tired ALL. THE. TIME.) 

So that's my update from this end, pretty good one right?  Oh and one more awesome thing to share.... these incredibly generous missionaries offered AGAIN to pay for us to attend the Christian Reformed World Missions Retreat with everything included.... and this is where it's going to be:



I know you're rolling your eyes right now, like I can't believe I ever felt sorry for this girl who wrote these pitful blog entries about life in a third world country.  Dave probably just lost his "poor Dave" nickname for quite a while too. :)

Okay well I know (many of) you don't like long emails, sooo write me soon with all of your updates from the other corners of the world and please keep me and our growing baby in your prayers. :)

Love, peace, and prayers,
Kristin, Dave, Santa, and Baby :)  

Kilsi update

Hi,

Just another update for those who have been praying and asking about Kilsi.  After Kilsi ran away on Wednesday, she called Thursday night and said she was going to come back on Sunday with two teenage friends (also from the sex trade) to live in the house again.  We spent the weekend preparing the house for the 3 of them, and talked to Kilsi Sunday morning around 10 a.m. when she said she was leaving Santo Domingo (about 3 hours from our house) and said she would be there soon.  We waited all day until 9pm and checked every bus that came in and she was not on any othem.  We talked to her and she said she was in La Vega, a city about 45 minutes away from us.  Two of the guys from our team went down to get her and looked for around 2 hours for her.  When they called and told her they were in La Vega to pick her up, they heard loud music in the background (like she was maybe in a bar) and she hung up on them.  They tried calling back several times and she never answered (though the phone did ring, so the battery was not dead).  We waited up last night for a while longer for her and she never came home at all during the night.  It was a tough weekend, and we´re not sure what is going on with Kilsi and her friends - if she is messing with us or if there is something bigger going on.  A parent of one of my students said the other day (when I returned to school bawling after Kilsi first ran away) - this is why God gives us babies, so we start out easy and have over a decade to train them up - you´re starting at the hardest phase Mrs. DeYoung!  So I feel for all of you out there who are also trying to mother teenagers, especially teenage girls, it´s not an easy task at all.  Please keep Kilsi and her two friends in your prayers, as well as the other 3 girls, Jessie, Katerin, and Yaguira, who also ran away.  Dave and I and the rest of the Priceless team can use your prayers too. :)  Keep in touch, and thank you for all of your prayers and encouraging emails, sorry I don´t have time to respond to each one individually, but I do love you all and appreciate you.

Love and prayers,
Kristin

Hi again,
Just want to let you all know that Kilsi, the girl who has been living with us the past two weeks ran away today and went back to the streets.  We really feel like it came out of nowhere cause she has been making so much progress and are totally devastated.  If you can please pray for her safety and that she would return if it is in God's will.  We are really having a hard time with this and are super bummed out.  Sorry also to all the personal emails I have not had time to write back to - I promise it's on my to-do list - we have been short-staffed at work since last week so it has been really nuts at school so I never get online to check my email and we don't have internet at home so I'm really sorry for the excuses but please keep in touch and keep Kilsi in your prayers.  Thanks!
Love,
Kristin

Hi everybody,

I haven´t had a chance to update the blog and I know I´ve seriously like fallen off the face of the earth lately and not returned anyone´s emails and I´m sorry, life has been CRAZY...but CRAZY in a good way.  I´m at an internet cafe right now so I don´t have enough time to update the blog, but just wanted to give a quick update to everyone who has been asking.  Since my last pity party of an email, God has been answering prayers in big ways... and no I don´t mean by any pink lines or plus signs on a pee stick, sigh... BUT there have been some crazy BIG changes. So I´ll try to keep this as short as possible.

We moved the first week of September from our tiny apartment that had been destroyed after we got evicted to an American boarding school up on the mountain in this HUGE palace of a house with an amazing view and hot showers and even an American washer and dryer - we were super spoiled.  And the best part of all of it were the staff there, the most amazing people who just blessed us constantly and prayed for us.  It was like a total refuge, vacation home.

While we were living there and teaching at Jarabacoa Christian School, I went on a weekend mission trip to the south of the island to work with the anti-trafficking organization I volunteer with and some different teams who were working to rescue victims from sex trafficking.  I never realized at the time how much that trip would change my life.  It was an incredible trip and weekend, and 12 girls were rescued (both underage and above 18).  I can´t even explain the inspiration I got from these women who would walk right up to the brothels with me side by side and risk so much to give their testimonies.

After the women were rescued and brought to various safe houses and such, it was realized that the home for underage girls here in country was not ready and could not take some of the girls so we needed to start a safe house of our own in Jarabacoa, and fast.  The leaders of the organization asked if Dave and I could be the house parents, all in a matter of a few days. 

We prayed about it a LOT and decided to move out of our beautiful mountain home, yes that was hard after being there for 3 weeks of luxury American living, and have now become the house parents of the safe house.  It has been busy and challenging, but also a blessing.  We had 4 girls but 3 of them ran away in the first week after being rescued before we had even moved in with them.  It´s hard to imagine that that they would rather be on the street than with us but maybe someday they will be back.  We are asking them to make radical changes in their lives which is not easy.  The one who did stay is a beautiful, strong, funny, smart, AMAZING woman of God.  It is unbelievable to see how she has tranformed her life so quickly and I adore her already. 

So that´s the big news.  I will be resigning from my teaching job but I don´t know when yet.  I am supposed to have a student teacher coming in a couple of weeks, who looks awesome, a girl from Switzerland who has traveled all over Africa and speaks a bunch of languages so I´m sure we will get along great.  So that could be a huge help if I do decide to stay til Christmas I will have her there with me for 6 weeks.

So that´s the update - CRAZY huh?  Some MAJOR changes happening here, but I know God is working behind all of it.  Right now we are in Puerta Plata visiting a childhood friend, Aryn Bloodworth, and supposed to be getting some R and R but so far it´s been just crazy hot traveling cause our bus broke down yesterday and it was like 110 degrees inside, no joke..... I have a million and one other things I could write but since we haven´t had internet at home now for over a month I just don´t have the time to get online at work since I´m trying to roll two jobs into one between teaching and the safehouse.  Speaking of which, being that it is a SAFE house, it is a secret down in this area and no one is to know about it.  There is always a risk that pimps could come around looking for their girls and we want to protect the girls´ identity and image so please NOTHING on facebook (Mom I know you want to tell the world you´re proud of me and to pray for us, but not on a public forum por favor).

Okay, that´s all for now, until we get internet and I can start updating the blog again... by the way, did anyone notice that Santa and Dave somehow both got a hold of my blog password?!? :) 

Lots of love, peace, prayers,and sunshine sent to all of you,
Kristin xoxo

- Show quoted text -



Kilsi and I going to Escuela Caribe retreat week!



BBQ, and Snakes

So we are slowly getting back on track, school's in full swing, we have a place to live for now... and life is good and rainy. There has been amazingly beautiful mornings, a bit cold and hard to get out of bed, to super hot by mid afternoon and then pouring rain. The rain usually starts right before we are about to head home, and driving on a motorcycle in the rain is not one of my favorite activities, Kristin's either.
Well we had our Wyldlife kickoff party last Thursday night which went great, about 35 kids showed up, most of which were first timers. Wyldlife is kind of like youth group in the states. It consists of 3 parts- club, campaigners, and camp. Club is a lot of fun and games and the kids hear about who Jesus is. Campaigners is for those kids that want to dig in a little deeper into the word. And a big part of Wyldlife is Camp which will be coming up in Febuary.
This week at club we played a couple games, and had a barbeque for the kids it was mostly just a time to meet and greet the kids and a way to hang out and talk. We had a great turn out, and it was exciting to see the kids excited about it. Here are some pics:

Watermelon seed shooting contest

A relay to see which team could dig out all the skittles from the jello first without using their hands

School has been crazy. I've been working with limited supplies, and a ton of classes. Since there are more students this year than ever in the school they had to open a number of new classes. There are now 2 first grades, 2 second grades, 2 fourth grades, and a ton of Prek2-3-4 and Kindergardeners. I teach a total of 16 different classes through out the week so I have had my hands full. Some are more fun than others. Below are pictures of snakes we did in Mrs. DeYoung's 1st grade class working with patterns, some got it, some were out to lunch.

Snake patterns

In my defense (Santa)

I am truly sorry of all the pain and suffering my owners had to go through, but while they were up in Michigan enjoying their summers, I was here with some idiot of a dog sitter having to suffer.

Do you have any idea what it is like to be locked in a bedroom that is only about four times the size of my crate for days  unend with little food or water? Talk about horrible! So when there wasn’t much to do, these were a few of my favorite things I liked to do to pass my time:

First of all, after not eating or drinking for a few days, the saltiness of butt sweat on a seat cushion begins to sound and smell quite appetizing. The straps, well they were okay, but they got caught in my teeth, however later on they worked as great dental floss. For dessert, I liked to top it all off with the wood arm rests on the chair, they gave my palate the earthy sensation of being outside playing in the woods (which I rarely had the chance to do this entire summer).

Also, have you had the pleasure of bouncing up and down on a giant inflatable toy? It makes me jump an entire 6 inches higher at the very least! Not only that, but it does break my fall when I do slip. It was okay to sleep on it too I guess. I slept there for, oh about a week I think, it was nice. I think that’s what my owners used it for, they called it something like an “air mattress”?? However the real pleasure came when I sunk my teeth into it for the first time. It was a bit scary at first, it sounded like a cat, which really made me jump to my feet and fight back with all my fury.  But once it stopped making the hissing sound it gave me hours and hours of chewing pleasure. It was by far the biggest, mouth watering chew toy I have ever sank my teeth into.

Well being left alone for hours unend things got extremely boring, so I would try to stay as active as possible. Since my dad wasn’t around, playing Frisbee was out of the question. The next best things accessible were these little plastic miniature Frisbees. Though at first I must admit they didn’t look that appealing, once I figured out how to open up the small plastic cases there was a world of fun to be had. These miniature flying discs provided hours of fun. Tossing them up in the air and catching them and sliding them around on the tile like a hockey puck was so amusing I would get caught up for hours playing with the little silverfish reflective discs. Not to mention in the sun they would make all sorts of rainbow colors, my Frisbees don’t do that. I was able to find an entire box of these discs to play with before my “dog sitter” came home. He took away the fun and hid them from me in a closet…. but does he really think I’m that dumb? I found them again the next day when he was out, and proceeded to tear into six complete box sets of them, what a blast!!! He must not have known my dad trains me by hiding my toys and making me find them, this dog sitter what a joke…..

One night I was left alone at the apartment and the doofus who was supposed to be taking care of me forgot to close the door. Since we live in the mountains, an underfed inactive dog will get cold very quickly on a tile floor. So I really had to go back to my basic survival instincts and since my mother isn’t around to cuddle with the next best thing in my arsenal was these bright yellow curtains. I really didn’t want to do it, and yellow really isn’t my color, but I figured if I tore off just the bottom foot and half, my owners wouldn’t notice it was missing….. I was wrong. It did work though for all you dogs out there who need some ideas for keeping warm.

All that being said, again I’m so very sorry I had to put my owners through this, but the guy they had watching me was a real jerk. Since Dave and Kristin have been back my life has been sooooo much better though. I think I am really starting to warm back up to them and they to me. Who can stay mad at me Santa dog? I mean seriously, who would bring there smelly dirty shoes to their owner if he asks me for them? Me Santa.

Who will get my own leash for me if I need to go out and potty? Me Santa….

Who will tell there master they’re hungry, not by barking and begging, but simply bringing him my dish and waiting patiently for him to fill it? Me Santa…..

And when I’m thirsty I don’t whine like other dogs, I get my water dish and wait patiently with it.

Not to mention when my owner needs to blow off some steam and throw around a ball or Frisbee, who is the fastest, baddest Frisbee catching dog besides my mother on this entire Island….. You guessed it….

I just wanted to clear a few things up, I think you might have gotten the wrong impression of me on the prior post. And really Kristin does sound mad at me, but I think in time she will hopefully get over it????.

Hitting some rough patches

Hi friends and family,

I know that stretches between my blog posts keep getting longer and longer.  I have been struggling with what to write in an update, trying to think of the positives instead of just sharing every week from my heart like I used to.  So I’m going to try to get back into doing that every week as my goal for this year, without or without the pictures, as upbeat or depressing as they might be, though lack of electricity and internet can sometimes be a bit of an obstacle here in terms of weekly blogs so they may be less frequent. :)

So yes, for those of you who didn’t already know, you can probably guess that that means we are back in the DR for another year.  Here’s what been going on in the past few months since my last blog:

We had a good end to the JCS school year despite some of the hard times you’ve all read about already.   The last month of school was full of celebrations, long hugs, and some sad goodbyes, especially to two of our favorite couples – Tim and Laura & Mark and Kristina, two couples who have been such great friends and amazing blessings in our lives down here.  Dave put on an art show displaying his kids’ best work from the year, we had an end of class celebration with my English class from church, my girls’ dance class put on a spectacular recital, we had an end of the year reward trip to McDonald’s and the zoo with my OANSA class at church, and a glow in the dark dance party and water day with the firefighters for the last day of school.  Dave also threw me another magnificent birthday party with colorful decorations and the neighbors, especially kids from church, filled our apartment with loud Dominican laughter. 

We flew back to Michigan on June 14th for the summer.  Dave got a job working at his old workplace Velocity in Grand Rapids for the summer, and I lived with my dad in Troy, while “working” as assistant for my dad’s new girlfriend Debbie who is an occupational therapist.  I say “working” because it was more hanging out, having fun together, and her being my own therapist than anything else.  She works with clients with traumatic brain injuries and spinal cord injuries, who have some of the most inspirational stories of love, strength, and perseverance I’ve ever heard.  I can’t say enough how much of a blessing she has been to me and how happy I am she is becoming a part of our family.  I also was able to meet my new niece Zoe, who is full of smiles and who I fell in love with just as quickly as my other adorable nephews and niece, just one of many reasons that made me want to move home to Michigan more than ever.  I also was able to stand in my beautiful best friend Melissa’s wedding in August and take part in all of the wedding festivities – from bridesmaid dress shopping to the shower to bachelorette party scavenger hunts to a glittering carnival celebration of a Panamanian-American wedding reception.  That said, this summer was not the easiest one.  I think the longer I am with Dave, the harder it becomes to live without him.  Though they say absence makes the heart grow fonder and prior to summer I envisioned romantic weekend reunions that made the time apart all worth while, it just wasn’t all that glamorous and being apart really took a toll on both of us and our marriage.   Keep in mind that for all of the 9 years I’ve known him, my husband has hated talking on the phone – easy to deal with you live together, but not so much for long distances.  But thankfully I have family and friends who support and love me unconditionally, drop everything they have going on to tend to my needs, listen, and pick up our relationships just where I left them even after two years away and I couldn’t be more grateful for that.  The longer I am away, the more I realize how much I want to come home to these special people who will always be a huge part of my life.

To be honest, coming back to the DR really wasn’t anywhere in my plans for this upcoming year.  I applied for teaching jobs in Michigan, contacted Michigan adoption agencies, investigated getting back into refugee foster care, drooled over American houses up for sale, and even starting researching the world of travel again with the funds I would have from an American job.  We even interviewed to help with developing a new orphanage in a Mexican border town that our friend John Shinsky started (which is amazing by the way and so worth supporting if you want to check out this amazing youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8PBmUqkDSI ).  But when push came to shove, I found myself shoving beanie babies, classroom decorations, bottles of contact solution, and all the other American goodies we can’t find down here into a suitcase and fighting tears as I boarded the plane.  Sometimes in the world of missions, plans aren’t as clear as they appear from the outside.  Decisions are tough.  Sometimes two spouses have two hearts yearning for two different things.  Being far away from each other and not being able to talk enough complicated things this summer a lot more.  And while there has been a bit of kicking and screaming on my part, the most important thing is that we’re together again now here.  My friend Johanna showed me the cutest video on youtube the other day of a father and daughter singing a song together called “Home is wherever I’m with you.” (see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L64c5vT3NBw – I am in love with it) and I think that even though it’s cheesy, it is the truth.  So we are home because we are together again – even if it’s not the home I want to be in.  And though this transition has been a tough one, I can say it does feel so good to finally have my husband back again and I could never imagine being married to a more amazing person and there isn’t anywhere I wouldn’t follow him to.

So about this transition…. While we have definitely been warmly welcomed back by friends, neighbors, fellow teachers, the kids, the gorgeous mountain scenery, and delicious avocados and mangoes that I’m so thankful are now in season and that I have been devouring non-stop, we have been hitting some road bumps. 

While we thought finding a dogsitter with three German sheperds himself who was willing to care for Santa in exchange for free summer rent in Jarabacoa was a God send, I think he may have just been sent from somewhere else.  I think Santa did more damage than Hurricane Irene could have, and we have added up around $700 in damage so far, including two dining room chairs, our IKEA living room chair, an air mattress, our curtains, over 30 DVD’s, and many more miscellaneous items.  Santa was sickly skinny and she has developed a new habit of pooping and peeing in the guestroom as that is where she seems to have been shut in all summer to do it.  No pictures this time of all the damage because we had an angel of a friend come over to kick the dogsitter and his girlfriend out and clean up who knows how many days of poop, pee, a bajillion other destroyed items, and even used condoms stashed underneath our bed.  We are still finding Santa’s summer destruction, even things like dishes under my bookshelves?!  Okay I’m done talking about that, cause my friends here know I could go on foreeeeeever with this topic.

Shortly after arriving back, we were also told by our landlord that we were being evicted from our apartment, which was not a big surprise considering what our apartment looked like and must have smelled like this summer while we were gone.  We have been looking and looking with no luck so far and have to be out by next week. 

I met my class and while they are all precious little 6 year olds, they are a challenge and a half.  While 19 kids doesn’t seem like a lot for a first grade class in the states, they fill the classroom and many don’t understand one word of English.  And while I get so frustrated with them for just not sitting quietly sometimes, I try to put myself in their shoes.  What if I was 6 and sitting in a desk for over 7 hours for the first time in my life (not tables or carpet areas like an American classroom), unaware of the clock and how it works, asking over and over and over is it time to go home yet, while some strange foreign woman stood at the front of the room talking and singing in a language about as familiar as Mandarin Chinese is to me – would I listen?  Well, maybe, considering that at age 6 I was still a pretty perfect kid, but probably not.  Oh and I think I forgot to mention that the curriculum and kids’ workbooks were shipped late and haven’t arrived, and I had all of one day after hitting the ground to unpack and get my classroom set up before starting teaching (thank you to all my friends, teacher aide, and husband who helped!)  And I really can’t complain because my husband has an empty classroom with no furniture, and the 3 year old classroom has 20 kids, can you imagine that?  Luckily they are fabulous teachers who I know will get by.  Oh the joys of teaching in the DR.

Today I’m sitting home from work with a spider bite and my foot propped up trying to self-diagnose online as I often do here (though it IS healing on it’s own, yesterday I couldn’t walk and today I can, gracias a Dios :).  Just another road bump in our less than 2 weeks back.

I know I shouldn’t complain.  I know we are so blessed.  I can see that everywhere around us, especially here, that we have been granted with so much.  But for the first time I can remember, I am really homesick (home referring this time to the imaginary one I dream of back in Michigan that doesn’t exist yet).  I miss my friends and family there.  I miss hot showers.  I miss being able to get in my car and drive to go buy something right when I want it.  I miss being able to afford buying a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  I miss going to the chiropractor and the movie theatre and yoga classes and to Panera Bread.  And the truth is more than anything else in the world, though I love the kids I teach and minister to here, I just want my own kids at home with me – whether from my own belly, from a teen mom who can’t care for it, from the foster care system, from an orphanage in Africa, from a refugee camp on Burma’s border, or all of the above, I am just so ready.  Someone was right when they said that after a miscarriage you see pregnant women and babies everywhere. you. look.  I still cry my eyes out every time I get my period each month.  And I get frustrated with the parents around here too.  Women who ask why I don’t have kids at my age and that it’s so weird and ask me everyday if I'm pregnant or when I’m going to get pregnant (not cute or funny anymore).  My next door neighbor who lets her kids scream at her and in return calls her kids the Dominican version of the F-word what seems like every five minutes.  My favorite little girl Jelenyi from church who has no dad in the picture and a mom who got married this summer and moved away with her new husband and baby to a house that is too small to fit Jelenyi in and left her behind with grandpa and grandma who live around the corner from us - Jelenyi and other kids from the neighborhood who just can’t get enough love are constantly on our doorstep and it breaks my heart. The families who sell their girls into prostitution and sex slavery who then start getting pregnant as pre-teens delivering babies who are thrown into the cycle of poverty and trafficking or orphanages all over again.  The woman who works for the adoption agency here who tells me that my husband and I are just not old enough to start a Dominican adoption here despite all the time and effort we have put into this and all the while, there is a 12 year in my town who is pregnant with her third, yes third, baby and gets to keep it.  And while one part of me wants to scream at all these people, I think the bigger part of me is just scared too.  Scared to have a baby in this country, scared to have another miscarriage, scared to have another D&C performed by someone who doesn’t speak a word of English.  It’s not always just a fun adventure here, and I’m not as fearless as some people seem to think I might be.

So please pray for us in this transition period.  I know God has a plan for us, and that He will take care of our needs.  I can’t say enough how much your prayers and support mean to both of us.  Please pray for our marriage, for this upcoming school year, that we can find a new home, and that we can bring Christ’s love and joy and peace into the lives we encounter, even when we might not be feeling so joyful ourselves.  Also I just found out that a former co-worker and friend, Miss Amanda from Bay Cliff Camp passed away this month at the young age of 25 from ovarian cancer.  Please pray for peace for her family.

Forgive me for being out of touch for so long, and for the waaay too long and less than upbeat blog entry (kudos to those of you who made it all the way to the end :)  Please keep writing with updates of what is happening with all of you in the different places you are reading from.  Thank you again for all of your love and support all the time.

Love, peace, and prayers,
Kristin

Coming home.....

Hi all,

I know I'm overdue on an update but there's no time for one tonight, so will just say we are coming home June 14th to Michigan!  Getting very excited!  Here are some things I am looking forward to/want to do while home:

1. Hang out with friends and family and play catch up
2. Stand in my beautiful best friend Melissa's wedding
3. Meet my new neice Zoe
4. Drive
5. Take hot showers that are not out of a bucket
6. Shop in American stores - Target and the Teacher Store especially
7. Eat American food - PF Changs, Panera, Mongolian BBQ, Qdoba, Buddys Pizza, Applebees (maybe not all exactly "American", but anything besides beans and rice)
8. Work as an occupational therapy assistant for the first time for my dad's awesome girlfriend Debbie
9. Go to Michigan Adventure or Cedar Point
10. Go to Lake Michigan
11. Go to the movie theatre (I figured out it has been over 2 years now)
12. Watch television
the list goes on...........

Hope to see you all next week! :)

Love,
Kristin

Therapy for Two

Hi all,

Will start by saying thanks for the emails, kind words, encouragement, support, prayers, meals, visits, phone calls, and more that I have gotten from near and far in these past few weeks.  I can't say enough how much it means to me and how much it has helped me to get through this experience.

As crazy as it sounds, this experience has in many ways made me realize how truly blessed I am, and again what all I take for granted.  To not only have such great love and support during difficult times, but simply having the money and resources to be able to receive decent healthcare in a clean facility and having needs as basic as anasthesia met during the procedure following my miscarraige, something that so many women, or should I say most women (some of whom I have found include my closest friends) weren't able to have during their D&C procedures - being fully awake and having to not only see, but fully feel every excruciatingly painful second of it is something I could never imagine enduring and gives me one more reason to admire the incredibly brave Dominican women I know.

Speaking of those who have it worse off than I do, I've been spending a lot more time lately with my neighbor Ruben.  Some of you may remember me mentioning my 66 year old neighbor from our apartments who was a news reporter and was recently diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor.  I'm not sure where I left off on updates because I've been horrible with updates, but he had surgery to have the tumor removed and became blind in the process.  So now he stays at home trying to navigate his way around with a cane (sudden blindness is not easy to adapt to), and has generously given me his moped as a temporary gift (temporary in case he ever experiences a miracle) though this past month has not been the one where I'm up for that kind of learning to drive a moto adventure, soon though I swear.  So not seeing me around for a while after the miscarraige, I finally made it around to visiting.  Because I'm not sure how else to put it into words, I'll put it in his words instead:

Ruben: Kristin, I hear you're not doing good and you were in the hospital, what's going on with you?
(I explained the miscarraige, D&C procedure, etc.)

Ruben: Oh but Kristin, eso no es nada ("that is nothing" said with a chuckle) - come on Kristin, my wife used to have those all the time.
(I was pretty shocked, though there have been some rude comments in these past weeks, this one topped the list, but I thought it was fair enough from a diabetic who recently went blind having a brain tumor removed)

Ruben: Wait a minute, legrado you said (Spanish word for D&C), oh I had that word confused with something else.  My wife didn't have one of those, I was thinking of something else.  That is hard, but don't worry Kristin, the sun will be shining in your eyes again and you'll be pregnant before you know it.
(sounds like a better answer right?)

Me:  (after finding out he couldn't eat any of the meals we were bringing him due to his diabetes) Would you like it if I came over and read to you every so often?  I have a Bible in Spanish I could read with you if you would like that?  That would help me with my Spanish too.

Ruben: Sure you're more than welcome - I listen to anyone who wants to come preach to me - they all come and read to me all the time, I invite them all - Jehovah's Witness, Mormons, Catholics, Protestants - I listen to them all.  You can preach to me whenever you'd like. (this made Dave and I laugh thinking of all the different door to door missionaries in this country)

Me: (realizing he had the wrong idea and me wanting to show him Christ's kindness and set doctrinal differences aside for later) I don't want to preach to you, I want to spend time with you and read to you.  Is there anything else you would like to hear?

Ruben:  Get that book over there (I pick it up) - Shakespeare's Greatest Works - Shakespeare is my favorite. 

Me: (thinking what did I get myself into, but proceeding) Which one is your favorite?

Ruben: Othello.

So Othello it is, and not just in Spanish but Castillian Spanish where I struggle over every other word and he explains in detail each paragraph to me, which makes for loooong reading sessions.  And when I think I am done, he says "Not yet Kristin, read me another scene, your Spanish still needs much more practice".  So yes, my newest hobby is reading Shakepeare in Spanish to a blind man every night. 

And that's not all... though I'm not sure what all I can believe, this man is one of those walking encyclopedias, if you've ever met one of those?  He knows everything there is to know about everything, and on top of that he has an opinion and conspiracy theory about everything too.  So I get to hear lots more than Shakespeare.  And I think as some type of side effect of having a portion of his brain removed, it all seems to operate on shuffle (though you're probably saying Kristin your brain does the same thing every time you write a blog or email - this is like a seriously accelerated shuffle).  Imagine Wikipedia shuffling through facts and stories about Fidel Castro, Linden B. Johnson, World War II, the Panama Canal, the art of human relationships, the Berlin Wall, and the current situation in Libya - this all happens in a ten minute conversation, complete with names and dates, all the facts fascinatingly easily retrieved from his memory and not in any way tied together.  That's what a nightly visit with Ruben is like.  I've only told one person so far the book fact that had me saying "I think I hear my husband calling" early the other night and it won't make it in this post, so if you want to know you have to email (and have to be a good friend of mine too :)

So that's what's new here (well not really - there's school, church, dance, friends, always something new there, but the weekly emails with every last detail of my life are long gone and I figure this enough for tonight).  I thought this was cute enough to share, and it is nice to be needed by someone who also feels like I need him (the need to perfect my pronunciation of Shakespeare in Castillian Spanish is serious business and no laughing matter to Ruben :)

Please continue to pray for us, for Ruben, for our students, our church here, the orphanage, and all the beautiful souls here that change our lives every day.  Hope to see many of you in Michigan next month. :)  Thanks again for all the love and support that means so much to us.

Love, peace, and prayers,
Kristin (and Dave and Santa too)

Haiti

Not sure where to start with this one.  A lot of people have been asking me how was Haiti, and to be honest I had what may have been the most terrible experience of my life.  This is not to say Tim and Paola weren't the best hosts ever and that I didn't love playing with my precious neice, but it still hurts.

Our first day there at breakfast after church we shared our secret with Tim and Paola, we were pregnant and due in November, a couple weeks before them.  The next 24 hours were full of baby talk, and hoping our deliveries might be together in the DR.  Until I started bleeding and cramping, and was told in a Haitian clinic that we weren't going to have a baby anymore and it was over.

I expected before I even went to come back from Haiti feeling hurt - for the people of Haiti, from seeing the poverty, the aftermath of the earthquake, the tent cities, the hunger, the disease that is such a constant in that country - not to feel so much hurt over losing someone I have never even met, I'm not sure how it can hurt this much?

So I know this wasn't what you were expecting, and neither was I.  I honestly have been anticipating my blog about the pregnancy everyday since we found out, images in my head of baby clothes and sonograms, brainstorming new ideas of how I could creatively present this announcement online, unable to think of anything else to blog about -I didn't see this one coming.

One of the first people who came in my mind to write when I got back to the DR was Maria, my beloved teaching assistant and close friend from the orphanage.  I remembered she had a miscarriage back in the fall and another one a few years ago to twins when she was 7 months pregnant.  I can't understand now how she ever got through that.  A tia at the orphanage delivered 3 stillborn babies.  Our custodian at the orpahange had 9, yes 9, miscarraiges.  How do people survive this?  How do they go on?  How can life be this unfair?

I think the toughest part is trying to understand living on an island where teenagers are so frequently getting pregnant, drinking and lacking any pre-natal care through their entire pregnancy, and then delivering healthy babies only to discard them on the street or in an orphanage, or worse, sell them into slavery or prostitution as soon as they're old enough, why this would happen to us?  Or why adoption, which we have investigated thoroughly during our time here, is almost impossible for us when we are oh so ready to love one of these kids whole-heartedly, only because we don't have sacks of money to hand over to a corrupt government?  Why?

I know only God has the answers to these difficult questions.  And I know He will get us through it as He has before, this was actually not my first miscarraige, though this one was definitely much harder than the first one.  Maybe I sound like a drama queen and I know life goes on, but it really does hurt that much.  So please pray for us during this time, and thank you to the people who already have.  I know I have a great support system of prayer warriors out there just waiting for the opportunity.  Oh and as a sidenote to reassure you - not that I didn't already know I had the best husband ever, and not to boast - but I have been getting the best care ever at home - from my favorite flowers to my favorite food to my favorite candy to my favorite ice cream to even him finding the recipe online for Panera Bread's Cream of Potato Soup and creating a copycat version for me just because I missed it, and watching hours of Lost DVD's together so I don't have to think about the only thing I can think about, anything at all to make me feel better - I do have to say there is no one else on earth I would rather have, or even lose, a baby with.

Thank you all for your consistent love, prayers, and support.  Hope to see you all in Michigan in 6 weeks.

Love, peace, and prayers,
Kristin

Feeding Center Up! :)

As I mentioned in a previous post, our church has been in the works starting a new children's feeding center in the community.  After 2 children from our church passed away from malnutrition, our pastor decided to start putting the center up without any funds to do it, working on faith alone.  Many of our Haitian church members have been working everyday on a volunteer budget (and by that I don't mean the $65 a month that I used to make).  Their pay is not monetary, but in the future promise for their children, children with smiling faces and full bellies.  Here in the DR, it is estimated that over 8% of the children will have irreparable retardation because of the hunger they suffer.  The number of Dominicans across the country who are living in hunger surpasses 2 million, and that number grows by approximately 2,500 people each year.  And while that statistic is nothing compared to our neighboring Haiti who continues to suffer beyond belief, that number does include many beautiful faces that faithfully attend my Oansa class each Saturday, showering me with hugs and kisses, giggling at my stories, singing their hearts out to each praise song, and flashing their beautiful smiles regardless of what great obstacles they might have against them outside the church walls.  For that reason, this feeding center has me overjoyed and I just had to share with each of you.

View of the feeding center from the outside

View from the inside - hopefully Dave will be alongside some of our high school students doing a service project to get this place ready very soon!

Since some of the students from my class at school are from middle to upper class families, I have them participate in service and giving projects integrated into our Bible curriculum as often as possible.  This past week, I taught about Jesus teaching us to help widows and orphans, and children who were able to brought in canned foods, beans, and rice to donate to the new feeding center.  Even at six years old, I am so proud of their willingness to serve and give.  

 Though the details are yet to be determined, for around $50 US dollars per month, you can sponsor one of the children from the community who are living under the poverty line and may otherwise suffer from malnutrition.  They will be provided with 2-3 meals a day for the whole month.  Please let me know if you're interested in helping! :)

How could you turn down a smile like that?

Hope all is going well back in Michigan and all the other places this is being read from, and hope to see you in a couple of months when I come home for summer.  And please let me know if anyone can use a teacher, tutor, nanny, or any type of worker this summer, I promise I work hard - our bank account is dwindling and we need to save up money to make it through another year of service next year in the DR! :) Have a great week!

Love, peace, and prayers,
Kristin

If Only, If Only

A phrase I find myself saying all the time here - if only there was electricity, if only I had a car, if only we had more money, if only the copy machine was working... but most often, it's if only we had internet, and when we do have it, it's if only our internet was fast enough!!  Fast enough to skype, fast enough to download movies - fast enough to upload my photos and write my blog!  Though I know I am so truly blessed and have no room for complaint, I will use our record slow internet as our excuse for not blogging in forever and a day.  Honestly I have started this blog about 100 times now, but the internet just won't open the pictures, or they take 30 minutes each, or it won't let me write anything because it's frozen, or most often right when I'm getting in started with my ideas, it all just shuts down mid-blog - and I scream at the computer and get frustrated and say I'm so done with it, and then start the process over the next week, this has been going on for about 3 months.  Soo I will stop complaining now, but here is my update, if you can take it all in one reading (or viewing, cause it will mostly just be photos) from Christmas to Valentine's Day, with lots in between, as well as all our new and exciting plans for the new year 2011.... (and I know Christmas is waaay over, but since each photo took so much of my time to upload, you get to see these ones anyway :)

Christmas party with my class at Miss Craig's house - we made Christmas cookies and drank hot chocolate, made birthday presents for Jesus, Christmas cards, nativity scenes, and Christmas ornaments - very crazy but fun!

Our Charlie Brown Christmas tree - our friends gave us a small Christmas tree for our house, and since we didn't have any ornaments Dave found all kinds of junk from around our apartment to decorate with, from tea bags to hair scrunchies... the neighbors were as confused as all get out - I tried explaining my husband did it to be funny, and though they attempted a courtesy laugh, their exchange of glances made it clear they did not think it was at all as funny as we did. :)

Cristal was our "mamacita" for the school Christmas program, they were all so cute!  If you don't know the song, look for Mamacita Donde Esta Santa Claus? on Youtube... the kids all came in their jammies, Mamacita sat in her rocking chair scolding them, while one my other first graders snuck around the stage dressed as a big stuffed Santa with his hopping reindeer - they were so stinking cute! 

Two of my first graders getting ready to sing Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer for the school program

I manned the girls dressing room while Dave took on the 20 some first grade boys in the other one for the hour and a half wait til our turn - I think I got the better of the two rooms :)  We had a blast!

Stealing a kiss under the mistletoe after the school program - notice all the styrofoam snow for our white Caribbean Christmas!

In addition to planning the two song/skits for our school program, I also was in charge of my class of little angels for our Christmas program at church (did I mention December was a busy month?)  We did the Christmas story theme so my kids did the angels singing in the field to the shepereds part.  I managed to run around and borrow most of the angel costumes, and Dave made the rest with his art class - turned out so cute!!

Helenyi is one of our neighbor girls who I am mentoring and absolutely adore - she made a beautiful angel!

All my little angels waiting backstage for their turn to go on!

Andy is a boy from Haiti who is truly an absolute angel, sweet as can be, I wish I could take him home with me!

Melia is a missionary kid in town who's parents run a school for low-income children and orphans, she is a sweetie pie and so is her friend Allie on the left - they are all beautiful little angels!!  I just couldn't get enough photos of them all!

Acting out the Christmas story for our program - they did a great job!!

After the program and taking off our costumes, all the kids from the Oansa program came back on stage for their Christmas presents - each bag had a pencil, crayons, some candies, and a small toy - they were soooo excited!!

Guess who dressed up as Santa Clause this year for our school Christmas banquet? 

Notice the long white skirt I wore under my costume - Mrs. Clause is apparently quite sexy in the DR! 

Before we left for the states, our neighbor Dinelia's family from my church prepared us a very special dinner of chicken, rice, chickpeas, and soda.  They were very excited to share with us and we felt so blessed to spend this Christmas meal with them!



 In addition to all this Christmas fun, we also had a big Christmas banquet at church and went Christmas caroling all around town in the back of the pastor's pick-up - going to the police station, fire station, hospital, and lots of local neighborhoods.  Everything was fantastic.  And here's the thing - there was no shopping, no long lines, no mounds of presents - just a celebration (or should I say lots of celebrations) of the birth of Christ with all the people here we love - and I found out that was truly enough.  Except for one thing missing..... 

Family!  And Dave's family too of course though I didn't get a picture with all of them together.  And all of our wonderful friends as well.  We were very lucky to have been able to fly home for a white Christmas with the people we love most!

Enjoying an American Christmas!

We were very blessed to receive donations of toys and art supplies to use with the kids here - many of them did not get a single Christmas present, so you can't imagine the joy just a simple toy like this could bring them!

Since we've been back things have been going good... we are back into the swing of things and have had a few visitors too...

Our roommate Kristina from the orphanage last year (the actress from New Zealand) came up to visit with her boyfriend for our long weekend.   We had lots of fun showing them around Jarabacoa... (Dave is so great at posing for pictures)

One of the great things about having visitors is seeing Jarabacoa through new eyes.. here are some great photos they shared with us of their time here

Flowers in the park

Santa is getting big and up to all kinds of new tricks!

Dave and Mark found this friend at the top of the mountain El Mogote that Dave climbed for his 4th time now



From the top of El Mogote



Next we had two couchsurfers from Poland - they were so fun!!  And I couldn't believe the amount of gifts they brought for us - we now own everything Polish you could ever imagine - jewelry, CD's, bookmarks, pens, magnets, you name it!  This picture was after 5 hours being lost on a mountain trying to find this waterfall - the one on the right is an experienced mountain climber so I trusted her instead of my instinct when we came to a sketchy looking tube to climb across - but they were so great that we had a lot of fun being lost together anyways!

In our community ministries, Dave's Wyldlife group and my Oansa group, we are loving life....

As you know Dave is one of the leaders of Wyldlife, an English speaking youth group for Dominican middle school students.  Thanks to your donations Dave was able to go spend a weekend with them at camp where God did some amazing things and they were able to participate in all kinds of fun adventures!  Here's all the leaders and kids - can you find Dave?

Dave and two of his middle school boys from his cabin

 

As I've shared before, my community ministry has been with Oansa at church - a Spanish speaking ministry for mostly low-income Dominican children where we have games, songs, messages, and a feeding program for the kids on Saturdays.  Here they are playing beauty shop for our "Crazy Hair Day" competition.

Here are 3 of our church's missionary kids on crazy hair day - the two in the middle are both in my class at school and won first and second prize!

I am so happy to be back with my kids after Christmas - I know I sound like a nerd, but I even miss them just on the weekends so long breaks just always feel too long!

Here's my first graders in our crowns celebrating 100 days of school!  We had all kinds of fun with lots of 100 type activities!



Right after our 100's day celebration, we celebrated Valentine's day!  The kids loved making heart crowns, valentine cards, heart baskets, exchanging cards and candies, dancing to the Cupid Shuffle, making Love books, and playing "Hot Valentine" with the class!  I was very blessed this Valentine's Day with tons of gifts from students and friends, flowers, candy, and a card from Dave, and a pizza night together.  I used to hate V-day but now I think it's the best! :)

Some new news... 



As some of you may know, Dave now has his own room - he did an awesome job painting, decorating, and making it a fun place for the kids to learn art!

Here's his class full of fifth graders learning - notice he still only has a small handful of chairs that he had to find himself - please pray that he will get chairs soon as he has been without them since December now and it is difficult to teach when half the kids are standing up!

Something else new we have been doing since we came back from Christmas is "Dinner and Discipleship nights" with the kids from church and around our neighborhood.  We invite a few kids over each week to teach them how to make dinner, cook together, read Bible stories, play games, and mentor them.  Here's one of our pizza nights with the neighborhood girls...

Dave teaching the girls how to make pizza!

 

Helenyi serving up slices!

Though my favorite part is hanging with the kids, this is Dave's favorite part of these nights, of course!

Another ministry that I am getting involved with here is called Priceless International, which works to fight human trafficking and especially child sex trafficking, which is rampant here in the Dominican Republic (exportation of prostitutes is the fourth highest in the world here).  Two weeks ago, a friend and I went on a research trip in the south of the country to interview various ministries and people in the communities involved in human trafficking.  This will probably have to be whole entire blog in itself, but we are excited about the possibilities and our long-term goal is to start a refuge house for child sex workers in the DR. 

Here you can find me with my pen flying as I interviewed Alison, an incredible lady who you can only see the backside of in this picture, but she started a dress shop, jewelry shop, school, and home for prostitutes from San Pedro and Juan Dolio who want to leave the sex trade and find a better life.  If you want to learn more about her ministry, you can visit http://www.drvision.org/ 

Since I came to Jarabacoa this year, I've been getting a reoccuring question (besides the daily "Are you pregnant?" that makes me pull my hair out) - "Will you teach me English?"  Though I was tempted to say yes and give lessons to make money, I decided I wanted to use this outreach to help those who are unable to afford English language school or pricey tutoring sessions (even if it means the cold showers and slow internet and lack of beach trips this year will continue, sigh...)  And so, I started our church's first ESL class.  January 27th was our first class and we meet every Thursday night from 6:30-8:30.  I have about 30 students so far, and it is almost all Haitians, with three Dominicans (there is a HUGE racial divide here between Dominicans and Haitians but so far we all seem to be getting along). Yesterday, eight year old Helenyi was over looking at my photos as I wrote my blog and she in a surprised tone,
"Kristin, you give classes to the Haitians?!?"
"Yes," I responded, "They are wonderful and beautiful, I love teaching them, just like I love teaching the Dominicans the same way".
She thought about this for a minute, and said "You know, we're really all just the same - God made us the same and loves us all right, no matter if our skin is light or dark right?  He thinks we're all beautiful and equal right?"
I didn't know whether to smile or cry, so I did a bit of both - "Exactly right Helenyi." :)

Here's our first night of English class!  I love them all!

I don't know if I've ever had such dedicated students who are so enthusiastic about learning - they ALWAYS study and are actively participating - I can't imagine a more perfect class.  I even overheard one girl my age talking to a friend saying "I love English class, I just LOVE it!"  Who actually loves going to class that much?  Even though it makes Thursday a long day, it's so cool to teach people who are so eager to learn!

One last piece of exciting news - I get to be a bridesmaid this summer for my beautiful friend Melissa (the angel from Panama who came to help in my classroom in Owosso three years ago and has been a huge part of my life ever since).  They got engaged on Christmas Eve, the same as Dave and I, and are getting married August 13th, two days after our anniversary.  I can't wait and am so excited for them!!

The happy couple!

 A few other new pieces of news... (without photos)
I started my tutoring club back up and now have four students I am tutoring every Monday in math and reading after-school. 
I started another dance class this semester but am teaching dance to 6-8 year old girls instead, while Johanna continues dance classes with the older ones... so we have lots of Jonas brothers, Disney, and fun girly dances planned - let me know if you have any ideas!
I am still teaching Spanish to the Haitian parent of one of my students - this has helped us to develop a special relationship with her and helps me to keep up my Spanish!
I am almost finished with my online graduate class - one more paper, my final project, and I'm done!  I can't wait to be done and able to renew my teaching certificate!
Dave started a cycling club with the kids in town to bike together two nights a week but no one has signed up yet - hopefully the kids will soon (Dominicans are late with everything!)

Yes, I know what you're thinking and yes, I already know I'm nuts, but please pray that I don't lose my head with this crazy lifestyle, and that I stay sane and healthy.  I usually love everything I do but sometimes it makes me a little crazy.  I'm trying to remember how to use that word "no" too, but it's really hard for me - it just doesn't come easy.  Please pray for our marriage, our students, our church, our activities, and especially the new refuge house we are trying to start here in Jarabacoa.  Oh and for Santa - I splurged and finally bought new shoes after losing 4 of my favorite pairs, if she doesn't break these habits I might just break her! :) 

Anyways, sorry again for being away so long, and for writing such a long blog too, but love and prayers to all of you back home, miss you all, please come visit us soon!!  Oh and shout out to my best friend Lauren of (almost) 29 years, she may be the only one who finishes these blogs and her birthday is tomorrow - I love you Laur!!! 

Love, peace, and prayers to all of you,
Kristin xoxoxo