Thanksgiving

I was thinking about my own experience and listening to the other teachers talk about their Thanksgiving Breaks and decided that the break came at a perfect time. It helped give people the rest they needed so they could be re-energized for the final stretch of the 1st semester. That thought of a perfectly-timed break sounded familiar. It's familiar because that's how I feel about all breaks: they come at the perfect time. Here are some things we did on our break:

To kick off the break, 1st grade had a Thanksgiving Feast. It was hectic in the moment but fun in hindsight. So many Pilgrims too.


Becki and I shared a Thanksgiving with 20+ other people from school on Wednesday evening. God has blessed us in providing people to share life with even though we are away from our family.


We spent actual Thanksgiving Day at the beach. Very un-traditional but I'm not complaining. Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the DR so we started to forget about what day it was. Forgetting what day it was until we ran into this inflatable reminder.

Beauty Around Us!

I was looking through my e-mails today and I found this picture that was taken by another teacher at our school. I meant to put it up last week, but I forgot. I just thought that you might enjoy this beautiful scene that we all witnessed last week while the hurricane was approaching the country. It was taken at school. Even though all week last week was dark and dreery, God still managed to give us something beautiful to look at. Enjoy!

Comfort Food

We have not been homesick for the majority of the time we have been here. But there are days where we really miss home. Those days usually fall near milestones. Milestones like the birth of a niece, Thanksgiving, and birthdays. I distinctly remember having a rough birthday last year although Becki did all that she could to make my day better. Today is Becki's birthday and it was my turn yesterday to encourage her. She was feeling homesick and I wasn't sure what to do. I sat quietly listening to how she was feeling until I thought of exactly what she needed. She needed food. That makes any situation better. And not just any food, American food. So I worked up the courage to order Papa John's over the phone last night. It was a rousing success. I understood the questions they asked me over the phone. The pizza arrived at our apartment and we enjoyed the garlic breadsticks. I was so pleased with how the delivery worked out, I decided we ought to order more food. I called the frozen yogurt store and once again, understood his questions and placed my order. I even used a coupon. It was another success. And as we followed our pizza with some excellent frozen yogurt, the feelings of homesick-ness left until the next milestone. Thankfully we do not feel homesick too often or we would be much fatter and much poorer.

Rats and Stories

I read a rather depressing book last year called Firmin, Adventures of a Metropolitan Lowlife. Reading it put me in one of those melancholy moods as I read about Firmin, a rat who's love for reading alienated him from his fellow rats and who's rodent appearance alienated him from the humans he had become enamored with. In the words of the author, Sam Savage, "Firmin is faced with what he can only regard as an utterly meaningless life". Firmin feels that through the books he reads, he can rescue himself from his meaningless rat life. He not only wants to read these books, he wants to be a part of them because he "is aware of the relation between a meaningful life and some sort of encompassing narrative". Thus his goal is "to become a character in a story". He recognizes that to live simply for himself, mindlessly eating the worn pages of books like his rat siblings, is to live a meaningless life. He wants to be a part of something larger, something bigger than just himself.

I think the reason that I enjoyed reading that book in spite of its melancholic mood, was that the desire to live a meaningful life is a desire all humans have. We want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves whether we realize it or not. That is the great thing about Christianity. It gives us meaning. It allows us to play a part in a story much greater than ourselves. I was reminded of this when a young girl sitting in the back row of my class asked me directly, "Why did Jesus die on the cross for us?" In that moment, I was not a teacher simply earning a paycheck. I was an agent of God's love and story to children who didn't know him. I was pointing these children beyond myself to a God that loves them so much that he sent his son to die on the cross to take away their sins.

I think that I have enjoyed the last year and a half so much here because at more than any other point in my life, it is clear to me that I am part of a bigger plan that God has. I can see the meaning God has for my life.

Here are two pictures from my class. The first are several students of mine. The second is an enormous birthday cake we had for one of the boy's classroom. It was so wide they had to carry it in at an angle to fit it through the door of the classroom.

Cuts and Colors

Yeah, I know this is probably really random; not the kind of thing you put on a blog, but it's life and it's something I am excited about!

Today, I got my first haircut in the Dominican Republic. I was a little skeptical at first, because I am pretty particular about who cuts my hair, but after many recommendations, I decided to give this place a try. And since it is my birthday on Sunday, Jon said that I could go get my hair and nails done for my birthday present. I was super excited. It was quite an experience and super economical. They do your hair, toes, and fingers all at the same time! I was very impressed. And it only cost $35 to do everything: haircut, manicure, pedicure. ONLY $35! What a deal!

Well, tell me what you think! I did not ask them to make it so fancy, but that's just how they do things here. It's very typical Dominican!I am sure that once all the curls come out, I will better be able to see what it will look like!

Fall in the Dominican!

FALL!! Fall is probably the thing that we miss the most while living here in the Dominican. We miss the apples, the fall leaf colors, the orchards, the caramel, the cider, bonfires, the cool sweatshirt weather, football, and many other things. You see...it is never fall here. It feels like a never ending summer. Who would have thought that one could ever get tired of summer?

Well, we tried to make the best of our situation this year and I would say that we have had a pretty good fall this year. We get apples every week at the grocery (even though they are a little bit expensive) and Jon's mom sent us caramel so that we could have caramel apples. We got to have hot apple cider last week at a teacher fall party. We have even been able to watch several COLTS games on TV this year. It has been quite an eventful "fall" season. We have included a few pictures of our last few weeks here in the Dominican Republic during our "fall" season. The first one is a picture of the boys that I (Becki) tutors eating my pumpkin cookies that I made (thanks to Elaine for sending the pumpkin). The next picture is of Jon and I dressed up like old people for a fall costume party that we went to. The last picture is of a Halloween lunch that was made for us by a dear dear new friend of ours named Akari (She is from Japan and one of the most creative people I have ever met.) Please take notice of all the amazing Halloween details she put into it. The thing in the back right is suppose to look like a hand coming out of the ground. It is really just sausage coming out of eggs. Enjoy!

Becki's Class

This year has been quite a challenging year so far. My class this year is much more energetic and talkative than I would like, but I love them none the less. Today was picture day and although I couldn't resist taking tons of pictures of them today, I felt that this picture best represented the energy in my classroom this year. Enjoy!

An Unexpected Joy

Looking back at my time preparing to become a teacher, I realize I was very naive about something. Back then, I thought that all a teacher had to do was teach. I knew there would be occasional meetings but I figured those would just be informational, not additional work. I have only been teaching for a year and one quarter but I've quickly learned there is so much more to teaching. There are committees to evaluate curriculum, committees to rewrite curriculum, committees to focus on the mission of the school, and many more committees. I'm in too good of a mood to focus on those things though. Rather, I want to tell you about a different, unexpected part of teaching that I have grown to enjoy. I have really enjoyed working with the parents of the students in my class. I never gave much thought about working with parents prior to teaching but I am beginning to realize how important working with parents is. I really enjoy working alongside parents who really want to help their child. I know that I have been blessed by having great parents to work with but I truly have enjoyed that aspect of teaching more than I could have imagined. Here is an example of some of the parents helping out with our first grade food group lunch.

There is also another picture I took in my WWKD campaign. The Dominican Republic has some excellent iron work. I think that it is because they have so much practice working with iron considering all of the bars on windows and gates that surround the city.

WWKD (What Would Katie Do)

My life is closely connected to the computer and the internet. Therefore, I was like a chicken with its head cutoff last Thursday when our internet was down. It was still down Friday morning and I was getting worried thinking of what I would do to pass the time during the coming weekend. We had someone contact the phone company to report the problem. The company said that they would have someone come and check the problem out and that they would be there any time from Friday to the next Tuesday. I started grumbling about the situation with thoughts that this would never happen in the States. It challenged me to think about my dependence on the internet. Because in all honesty, it's not that imperative to check my email constantly or to research the history of water polo on Wikipedia. But thankfully even small prayers are answered, because there was a small crew of workers cutting and putting wires together late into the night Friday. And sure enough, the internet was back up that night. I quickly got on the internet and went to all those websites that I have to check on a daily basis. Email, check. ESPN, check. IndyStar, check. Google News, check. DominicanToday, check. katiefleetwood.blogspot.com, check.

Reading through Katie's well kept blog made me feel guilty. Sure, her stories were much more entertaining, but I expected that. It was all the pictures she has. She has proof of the life that she lives. I only have stories. I was determined to try to compete with her. I knew I would be going to a church fair the next day. I would be walking probably 1-2 miles to the church by myself. So I decided to bring my camera along for the walk and show you some of the things I'm doing here. I was very glad I did because as soon as I walked up to the church, I saw the most amazing bread maker. I quickly pulled out my camera and documented the machine. I thought, "I bet you Katie would have taken a picture of this if she was here." I won't ruin it by talking about it, because the picture will do it more justice.

Go Fish

When I tell someone new that I am a teacher, they nod in understanding. Then I add that I teach first grade and that understanding nod turns into a look of complete unbelief. Even I don't quite believe myself all the time when I say that. Becki will tell you that I can be awkward around young children since I talk to them like they are adults. In fact, this is how the scenario almost always seems to play out: I see one of my students in the mall, store, restaurant, etc., I try to speak with them, and we walk away as Becki reminds me, "Jon, you can't speak to them like they're an adult." For some reason though, all that changes when I'm teaching. I feel totally comfortable and I become a different person on that stage called the classroom. Because of that, my relationships with students are always very defined. I am the teacher, they are the students and I don't stray from those roles. Today was different though. For some reason, when one of my students begged to stay in at recess and play cards with me, I gave in. I taught the student the easiest game I knew, Go Fish. We played for the entire recess. Strangely enough, I wasn't worried about the copies I needed to make. I was worried that they might beat me. The student wore a smile that I hadn't seen or noticed yet this year. It was a contagious smile that brought a smile to my own face. They showed an enthusiasm for life that I thought was dormant. It was an enthusiasm that renewed my enthusiasm for teaching. It gave me a whole new perspective on this student. No longer were they the difficult student who wouldn't listen to directions. They were the student who has problems like everyone else, but who wants to know that someone cares for them. And all of this happened with just a deck of cards and a mere 15 minutes. What a small price to pay for a look into the life of a student I never would have seen from teaching them math.

The Dog Days of August

The first few weeks of this school year have been extremely difficult and challenging for me. I had grown accustomed to what a 1st grader can do at the end of the year and had somehow forgotten what a 1st grader at the beginning of the year can and can't do. The frustrations seemed to multiply and frustrations were festering in my mind. I felt like I had reached rock bottom of teaching. I shared some of these feelings with someone and they suggested that I go back and look at some of my blogs from the beginning of last year. I did that and memories that had faded came back in vivid color. I saw Sonny Liston helplessly looking up at the menacing Muhammad Ali and thought to myself, now I remember. That gave me some relief to know that I had felt this way before but it didn't ease my frustrations.

The frustrations came to a culmination yesterday. It was a day where it seemed that I was set up to fail. We left our apartment and headed to school. It was a difficult day in the classroom as I continued to strain to teach these young children how things are done in my classroom. There was an after school faculty meeting. Then there was an Open House that went longer than expected. We finally arrived back at our apartment 15 1/2 hours after we had first set out, well after my bed time. I seemingly had every right to complain and dwell on my frustrations but that's not how things turned out. Thanks to many small prayers throughout the day and my wife constantly badgering me to see the good in things, I made it home in one piece. Then, unexpectedly, God abundantly blessed me today. He gave me the best day I've had this year with my students. He gave me energy to teach and not once did I feel tired from the previous day. I finally felt like I could see progress in my students. It's as if he spent the last few weeks humbling me in and out of the classroom showing me all of my flaws and failures until I was finally ready to accept that I need to rely on him to meet my every need.

Restoration Day

The past year had caused me to forget how much 1st graders need to learn at the beginning of the school year and how much energy they require. I was quickly reminded of those things on Thursday, the first day of school. We were fortunate, though, to have had only two days of school last week because we were exhausted. By the time Friday came around, we were sprawled motionless on our couch mindlessly watching television. Thankfully, after those grueling two days, we already have a day off. The name of the holiday is fitting considering how we feel: Restoration Day. It came at a perfect time to restore us for the next week. The only bad news is that I've checked the calendar and there is no Rejuvenation Day next Monday.

First Day of School for the Second Time

Our first day of school is complete. It was a good day and although we miss our old students, we are proud of them that they have moved on and look forward to seeing what God has in store for a full year with our new students. We have a long way to go with the new students, but it was a great start. Please pray for these next couple of stressful weeks as we get back in the hang of things and try to train these new students in our classroom rules and procedures. It is quite a long process and can be quite discouraging at time.

Here is a picture of us on our first day of school. We took the same picture last year and thought that it would be a good tradition to start. Just like parents taking pictures of their kids heading of to school every year on the first day...why not let teacher take a picture of their first day of school too. So here it is. It is at the end of the day so my hair has already gone up and our faces are quite shiny from sweat. Oh yeah...and we are exhausted. Apart from that, it is a good memory. ENJOY!

Return and Prayer Requests

Well everyone, we are back! In case you didn't know or didn't realize, we went back home to Indiana for the summer to enjoy some time off with our family and friends. We had a wonderful time, but when it came time to come back here to the DR, we were ready to go. We arrived yesterday at about 10:30 p.m. after a few compounding problems which delayed our plane by about 3 hours. However, God kept us safe and allowed us to return to our wonderful, but dull apartment last night. It felt so different than last year when we came for the very first time. We know the airport, the city, the people picking us up, and the apartment that we arrived to. Believe it or not...it felt like we were home...to our home with our stuff. God really has answered our prayer by allowing us to enjoy it here and easily make it through last year and look forward to this year.

So as some of your know, we spoke at a church this summer to tell about our many adventures and new life here in the Dominican Republic. We listed four prayer requests that others can pray for about us. After a little bit of thought, we decided that we would post those four requests here on our blog so that our other followers could prayer for us as well.

1.) Pray for our incoming students that will be in our classroom this coming year, that they would be accepting of the Word and of what we have to teach them.
2.) Pray for our slow learning of Spanish, that we would learn it more quickly and that we could use it to better our ministry here.
3.) Pray that God would provide us with some good friends to encourage us in every area of life.
4.) Pray as we make our decision about staying in the DR another year or returning to the US at the end of this year.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and thoughts. You have no clue how much they have helped. We enjoyed seeing most of your this summer and look forward to seeing you again soon. You are in our thoughts always.

Window of Opportunity

I have spent the past school year trying to teach my students everything they need to know. From addition to subtraction, from sounding out words to reading paragraphs, from capitalization to punctuation, from nouns to verbs, from rocks to plants, from pilgrims to maps, from raising their hands to speak to keeping their hands and feet to themselves, from walking in a straight line to sitting quietly. Today I stopped teaching them and they left the room much different people than they were a year ago. They are going to 2nd grade and that makes me nervous. Nervous that maybe in the course of the school year I forgot to teach them something they needed to know. Nervous that they won't be ready for 2nd grade. This is what I imagine a parent feels when they drop their child off at college for the first time. The feeling that my window of opportunity for shaping and preparing them for the next level has passed. The feeling that I've done the best that I can and now I must simply watch. That's where the similarities end though. For another window of opportunity is just now opening to a whole new class of students. And now I have experiences that have prepared me to better help this new class.

A bad dress rehearsal means a good performance

"This is the director speaking. Listen up! Keep your arms to your side! Sing louder! Smile! Quite moving around! Always watch me! But most importantly...have fun!"

Last Thursday was the long awaited 5th Grade Musical. We had been practicing for 6 long weeks. We had solo tryouts. We had speaking tryouts. We learned choreography. We had props. We had music. We had lighting. The speakers had memorized their parts. Now, we just had one more task before the big night...dress rehearsal!

I ran around all day trying to make sure that everything was in its place and everyone that needed to be there would be there. I copied off programs and then had to copy brand new ones when the first ones turned out to be wrong. I was stressed out of my mind with everything in preparation for the big night. At 1:15 our dress rehearsal would begin. After lunch, the 5th graders would meet me over at the stage and we would begin. Everything was all set...or so I thought.

The sound man arrived 15 minutes late and took another 15 to get set up. Finally everything is all set up, the first song starts and then quickly ends when the soloists don't know when to start singing or how to sing in a microphone. So we start again and it went a little bit better. Then the first song is over...it's the actors turn, but they haven't practiced on stage before or with props yet. They are confused out of their mind about what to do. Next song comes on and the 5th graders don't know which part comes next or which words to sing or when to start and you can hardly hear them because they're not singing loud enough. I had thought that they were all ready and knew all their songs, but now everything was going wrong and I just couldn't figure out why.

We are finally 4 songs into our dress rehearsal and I realized what was wrong. The background vocals that they had always practiced with had somehow disappeared from the music and the 5th grade was singing all their songs completely by themselves. That was why they didn't know the words and when to start and stop singing. They had grown so use to singing it with the background vocals that they were relying on the help of other children their own age to back them up. I was stressed out of my mind when I figured it out. I honestly didn't think that they could do it. They are good, but not that good. However, the sound man said he didn't know why it happened and he didn't know how to fix it. So no background vocals for this performance.

I told the class about the problem and without any hesitation, their faces and postures changed and they were up for the challenge. They were ready to face this battle head on and prove to me that they could do it. Well, it was by far one of the worst dress rehearsals of my life, but I knew these kids were not going to give up without a fight. I gave them a little pep talk at the end and told them they were going to do great, but inside I was just about ready to burst out into tears. I had worked so hard and this was something that I love to do. It was going to be my first big performance and well.....I wanted to prove to myself and the rest of the school that I could put on a great performance.

I prayed and prayed when I got home that afternoon. I prayed that even if everything went completely wrong (and I was expecting it to) that at least the kids would have fun, the parents would be proud, and God would be glorified.

I arrived at school at 6:00. The program started at 7:00. Kids started coming in at about 6:15. They were looking pumped and ready, but I was shaking in my shoes nervous. By 6:50 every 5th grader was present. I took a last minute bathroom break and a quick potty prayer and headed back in to give one last "good luck" to the 5th graders. We prayed together and headed downstairs for our performance.

With smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts, the first song started and the kids sung as loud as they could. They hit every note. They knew every word. They had smiles on their faces. They stood still. And my goodness...they had fun. The rest of the night went on without a single glitch.

Last Thursday was the long awaited 5th Grade Musical. It was said to have been the best 5th grade musical ever put on at Santiago Christian School. And their director could never be so proud!

The Lord gives and takes away, gives and takes away, and gives...couches

The Lord has used couches to show me how true that verse is. There were two comfortable, matching couches in our apartment waiting for us when we first arrived. We knew that we would lose them in December but there was always the hope of holding on to them longer. December came and we lost both couches. Now, a bare living room greeted us every day after work. Then, we were blessed with two different couches in January. They were not a match but they did complement each other well. We were happy because we had seen how God had provided for us. In April, one of the couches was taken back and I started to worry. If they could take back one couch, they could take back the other, so I started looking for more permanent options. And once again, the Lord provided in that also. Last week, we finally purchased our own couches.

Our apartment may be a revolving door of couches but I have learned that through it all, the Lord will provide for us and there will be some place for us to sit.

The picture above is one that I wanted to show everyone. This is what I've been learning to do lately on the weekends.

Hanging 10

Today we learned how to surf! It was so much fun and we would definitely do it again. Here are some pictures of proof that we did indeed do what we said.

Skipping Spring

As you are all probably saying..."Spring is in the air...la la la la la la." So I have been hearing about how wonderful the weather is back in the States and I am quite jealous. It completely skipped Spring here and went right to the blistering heat of summer. It is hot again here! Reminds us of our first few months. I come home from school and take a shower. Then I take another shower before I go to bed. Well, I just take a lot of showers. Trust me...you would want me to, because after a long day with smelly fifth graders, no AC, and the trash burning in the lot behind us that comes in my window, you would want me to take a shower too. With these ridiculously hot past few days, we have been missing home as we think about our upcoming summer in the States. We are so excited to see everyone and know that it just won't be long enough.

On another note...I am directing a musical and am loving every minute of it. I will videotape part of it and try to post it. It is called "Lifesong" and it is about these kids who go to a leadership camp to learn how to lead like Jesus. The 5th graders are putting it on and they are doing such a fabulous job.

And on another note...please pray for us right now. We are a bit discouraged with some things at school and could use some prayers as we try to find the strength to finish this year out strong.

We love you all and miss you dearly. Thanks for you prayers and we look forward to seeing you soon. Departure date is June 15. See you soon!

Spring Break

The anticipation for Spring Break was like waiting for Christmas, anxious to see family, open gifts, and get a break from everything related to school. But like Christmas, it came so quickly and left even more quickly. So after that whirlwind of a week, here we are back at school.

Spring Break did accomplish some of its purposes. I do feel rested from the break and have regained the patience towards the students that I had lost those few weeks leading up to Spring Break. Unfortunately, Spring Break did stir up desires to go home that had been successfully suppressed. Seeing family and enjoying warm weather on a beach felt more like summer making it more difficult to bear down and finish the last quarter of the school year. These feelings made the first few days back at school long but thankfully after a week back, it seems that I have regained my mid-season form. I'm back to the grind and have put dreams of summer on the back-burner. I better take advantage of this mindset because who knows how long it will last.

Dreams of a Child

Supernatural strength and x-ray vision were tempting, but my dreams were always to fly. That was the coolest superpower I could think of for the majority of my childhood. Sure, there were those few years in middle school where I wanted to be invisible, but overall, the dream was always to fly. Those dreams have been tossed aside as I have matured. Flying can take you to many places but what are you going to do when you get there? I have bigger dreams now. The ability to speak any language at a moment's notice with no accent. Now that is something that would really be helpful.

Until I am bitten by a radioactive spider or fall into a vat of radioactive sludge, I have had to find other avenues to learn Spanish. Sometimes, it's me driving Becki crazy as I watch Bob Esponja (SpongeBob Squarepants) after a long day of work. Other times, it's talking to the security guard near our dumpster. And every week it's going to a Spanish class. It's not glamorous but I'm just trying to live the dream.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I have always felt that the most difficult stretch of school, as a student and teacher, is that stretch between Christmas Break and Spring Break. It is so long and with the cold, winter weather, there is nothing to do. It always felt like I was cooped up in the classroom, dying for some break from school. I assumed this was a problem endemic to parts of the world that experienced cold, long winters. Coming to teach in this Caribbean country, I thought I would escape all of that. It may be a long stretch from Christmas Break to Spring Break but at least the weather would be nice and allow for me to get out and relax. I was wrong.

The past few weeks have been hard. It has been much easier to become negative. I have been quick to become frustrated with my students. I was much less tolerant of their little concerns that they brought to me. I was feeling overwhelmed . The students made me feel like the pieces of bread I throw into Dale Hollow Lake every summer. The fish swarming around me, violating my personal space and slowly picking me apart until there's nothing left of me. I had a revelation on Wednesday though. Spring Break is only 2 weeks away. Surely I can make it till then. If I can make it till then, everything will fine. I will be refreshed and ready to face the end of the year. Hopefully the fish don't pick apart everything though in the next two weeks.

5th Grade Vocabulary

This week one of our 5th grade vocabulary words was legal. I always start the week by introducing the words with their definitions and then give a couple of examples. From there, I ask the students to come up with their own examples. One student brought up that people had the right to bare arms, therefore it was legal to bear arms. I was quite impressed with this example and with the way the discussion went from there, I knew that they would remember it. Well I was very right.

On Friday, I give the students a vocabulary test to see if they really know the words or not. Well, of course legal was on the test. I always pick 5 of the vocabulary words for them to write their own sentence about it. Here is the sentence that one student wrote for legal.

"Having bear arms is legal."

Well, maybe it is legal to have bear arms, but until someone actually does then we will never know.

Paleface

This past Wednesday, Becki and I went to Santo Domingo with the other first year teachers to begin the long process of getting our visas to live here. When I first heard the news of the trip, I was excited because I am always happy to see other parts of the country. That excitement quickly passed when I realized that this particular trip was the medical exam of the process because I assumed that the exam would involve needles and blood. I was right.

In preparation for the trip, I loaded my pockets with suckers, cookies, and an apple. Anything that would help me feel better in case I started feeling sick. So when the nurse called me to the small, cramped room in the back to have a seat in her chair, there were bulges in both front pockets of all my snacks. I had my iPod playing loudly as I sat in her chair. I closed my eyes, started praying, and gave her my left arm. Not all prayers are answered as I would like though. I felt myself losing it. I pulled out my sucker but unfortunately, that only made me feel worse. And with inopportune timing, I forgot how to say "to lay down". With that phrase gone from my vocabulary, I could only tell the nurse that I didn't want to stand up and that I wanted the floor. She wouldn't let me though so I continued my misery in her chair. Finally, they let Becki come back to me and she helped me walk across the hall to the only spot where I could lay down. After 10 minutes and one apple, I finally felt good enough to walk out. Their eyes followed me out as if they were expecting me to collapse at any moment. I made it out though, thankful that the exam was behind me.

Bittersweet Symphony

If I had to make a guess, I would say that my dad has been to over 95% of every sporting or extracurricular event that I have ever been involved in. This has profoundly influenced the way I view love and friendship. I expect someone who truly cares for me, to be there for me when I need them because that is what I saw lived out with my dad. Likewise, I want to be the type of person who won't forget about his friends and family. That's why it's so hard to be here now.

My dad had a doctor's appointment last Friday concerning the hole he has in his heart. I wanted to be there to show him I cared, but I was here.

My brother and sister-in-law had their first child today making me and Becki an aunt and uncle. I want to be there to show them and the baby that I love them and will be there for them, but I am here.

It's out of my hands though. I can't be there for them which is a good thing because I would ultimately let them down. Thankfully, there is a God who is there and won't let them down.

Long Awaited Update

Hello Everyone! I know it's been quite a long time since we wrote last and the reason for this is quite silly. It's not that we've been too busy or that we have been forgetting. The truth is that we have thought about it almost every night, but have been arguing over who was going to have to write it. You see we just didn't seem to have anything to write about and we both find it much more easier to write when we have inspiration. We kind of feel like authors with an audience waiting to read the sequal to our first book but having no inspiration to write it. The publishers keep bugging and bugging but nothing is coming. Well, we greatly apologize for making you wait so long. We wish that it wasn't the case.

Now you may be thinking that I finally have something to right about, but I still don't. I'm only writing because I finally feel so bad about my lack of writing that Jon was finally able to convince me to write. So, sorry that this may be a little boring. I am only going to tell you about the few things that have been going on here lately.

The first and most important thing going on is that for the first time since we have moved here, our apartment finally feels like a home. As you might have read in a previous blog, we had some people donate two couches and a TV to us. Then, about 2 weeks ago we got an e-mail from some missionaries who were moving and selling most things in their house. We were able to buy several things from...a TV stand so that our TV no longer sits on the floor...a desk so that our computer no longer sits on the kitchen table...two end tables to add some comfort to our living room...and a ceiling fan to go in our living room for some much needed relief from the heat (it's been unseasonably hot here in the DR which seems weird since it has been unseasonably cold everywhere in the states). All these things have really helped make life more comfortable and take some of the stresses away from our long day at school.

My cheerleaders have had their first few games this past month and despite that fact that the basketball team is sooooo bad, the cheerleaders have been doing a wonderful job. It made me remember my first game to cheer at in 7th grade. Oh those were the days! We ordered uniforms from the states and the girls look great.

Speaking of basketball and cheerleading...this past Friday we had a really fun event that the school hosted called Hoops for Haiti. It was a benefit game to raise money for Haiti. The male faculty from our school played the male faculty from another nearby school. People would pledge money for the amount of points scored and all that money would go to support our French teacher (she is Haitian and lost several family members in the earthquake) and two other organizations that we are aquianted with. The whole high school, middle school, and upper elementary got out of school early to come watch the game. It was quite an event. The cheerleaders got to cheer. But the most exciting thing of the whole game was watching my husband (a.k.a The Admiral--nicknamed by the announcers for the game) score 9 points at the game and have the time of his life running around the court crazy like he was actually young again. What a sight. The pictures don't even do it justice.

Well, until next time...please keep praying for Haiti and our small bit of homesickness that comes and goes. Thanks so much for you prayers. You are all in our thoughts frequently. Enjoy your Valentine's Day!

Help for Haiti

Students from Kindergarten to 6th grade were asked earlier this week to donate money to help out an orphanage in Haiti that was affected by the earthquake. The response was overwhelming. Over $2,000 US Dollars were raised by these students who can't be more than 275 in number. As I walked around the classroom collecting the money from my students, one student stopped me to tell me the origin of his donation. It was all the money he had received from losing his front tooth. I was amazed at this 7 year old's generosity.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

About a month before we first flew into Santiago, we were told that our apartment would be completely furnished when we arrived. There was one condition though: we would lose everything sometime in December. This was an answer to prayer, though, since it allowed us to put off purchasing furniture until we were more familiar with the area stores and our budget while we slowly accumulated our own furniture. Days passed, weeks passed, and months passed until the calendar finally stopped in December. We still had not purchased any furniture of our own for our apartment. Then the fateful day came when after a long day, we came home to an empty living room. As we slowly came in, our voices echoed off the empty walls. We talked about what we could do until we finally decided to drag the mattress from an extra twin size bed to the living room, converting it to a couch with no legs and no back. Trying to remain optimistic, I told Becki of all the memories we were making. Of how we could look back on this time with such fondness years from now. Of how a twin size mattress really isn't that bad, we could have nothing. Those attempts at optimism bounced off the empty walls, bouncing around in my consciousness but never sinking in, because in all honesty, coming home to an empty living room is not all that inviting.

Several days before break, a friend asked me if I had any prayer requests as I returned to the DR. I told him, "Yeah, it's small, but please pray that we would find some good furniture for our apartment." His reply seemed funny at the time, "Well, I'll pray that you find some furniture that has your name on it." "I wonder what that would look like?" I thought to myself.

The first day back at school, I was stopped by the head maintenance man at the school. He said that he had found a couch and a t.v. that he was going to give us. I was shocked. I immediately went to find Becki to tell her of the good news. Later that same day, we heard from someone else who didn't need one of their couches anymore. They wanted us to have it. I was shocked. It truly was an answer to prayers, furniture that had my name on it.

I Feel Sick!

It was Tuesday afternoon. Jon and I had just gotten home from school. I was getting dinner ready. Jon was sitting on the couch grading papers. Here are our stories:

Becki: "I was standing at the sink peeling carrots for Jon to eat. He loves his carrots for dinner and I try as often as possible to have some for him, although it is such a hassle here and I hate doing it. Well, I had been standing there for quite a while concentrating quite hard on not hurting myself, when the carrot in my hand starting looking blurry and my body was swaying a little bit. (You know when you have been staring at the computer for a long time concentrating on reading what's on the screen and it starts looking a little blurry. So you have to refocus yourself by shutting your eyes for a moment.) Well, I felt the same way. So I stopped what I was doing, shook my head a little bit, repositioned my feet, and continued what I was doing--peeling carrots. Only this time when I started peeling the carrots, it felt worse. I thought, 'man I must really be feeling sick or something.' Finally, I stopped what I was doing and looked around. Then I looked at Jon. We made eye contact and I could tell that we were thinking the same thing."

Jon: "I was sitting slouched on the couch grading writing papers from the days activities. As I graded papers it felt as if everything around me was rocking front and back. I set my papers down and placed my hands on the couch to steady myself. The rocking continued, so I figured that I must really be sick. It was so bad I crawled to the ground and laid on my back in hopes of settling my stomach and curing this sickness that I was feeling. The feeling did not go away, however. In fact it just got worse. Something just did not feel right. I heard Becki's footsteps and looked up towards her. She said exactly what was running through my mind."

At approximately 5:45 in the afternoon on Tuesday evening January 12, 2009, Jon and I experienced our very first earthquake. The epicenter was located in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (approximately 124 miles from our apartment in Santiago, Dominican Republic) and measured a 7.0 on the Richter scale.

Please pray from all the people in Haiti who have suffered this horrific tragedy.

Things That I Thought This Christmas Part 1

Becki comes from a family of storytellers. The stories range from the time her grandpa stood next to Fulgencio Batista, the Cuban Dictator who was overthrown by Castro, to the time her dad was stopped at a gas station by an avid fan of his singing group that last performed in the mid 1980's ,or the time Becki sent her dad to the hospital with an errant golf swing. But there's one story I've thought a lot about this Christmas Break. It involves Sarah (Becki's sister), her father, Dale Hollow Lake, and a fishing boat.

Sarah and Becki's father were going across Dale Hollow Lake in the family fishing boat. Sarah was at the steering wheel, confidently guiding the small boat through the choppy waves of Dale Hollow Lake. Through the heart of the lake, angling the boat to avoid the brunt force of the waves and watching the shoreline to make sure she was in the channel, Sarah was in charge. She looked to the back of the boat to check her surroundings and became enraged. There was her dad, using the trolling motor to steer the boat. Suddenly, her confidence was shattered. She had never been in control. It was just an illusion with her dad guiding them all along.

It was late July when we first came to the Dominican Repulblic. Shortly after, I looked to the back of my own boat and realized that to my own disgust, I was never in control of my own boat. It took little things like sitting in a taxi cab not knowing where I was headed and standing in my classroom wondering how I would teach 21 students to realize I was not the captain of my ship. I had to learn to trust that God had a plan and was in total control.

I stood silently in the house. I looked out the kitchen window not saying a word, only thinking of everything that could be happening. I waited for the next phone call from my sister telling me how my dad was. I knew that I was not in control and I had to keep reminding myself that God had a plan. Then, I began to think of those times sitting scared to death in taxi cabs and humiliated in classrooms that first made me realize I was not in control. These were the same things that prepared me to handle this moment.