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