Last day of school

We officially finished off the school year on Friday. Mother's Day is this weekend in the DR so we invited all the mothers to school to be a part of the presentations. The kids worked so hard this year practicing their parts and songs. Each student also received a bag full of clothes to take home and share with their family, which is an added help in the house. We do a program twice a year, but this was by far the best year yet. I was so proud of these guys and now our 8th graders are off to high school and that makes me even prouder!

Singing on Mother's Day

Just a few songs to get the "crowd" warmed-up for the activities of the last day of school and Mother's Day presentations. Some kids are so animated and into the singing...others look like they've just arrived into the program that day and are a bit clueless to what's going on. Either way, it's fun to be a part of!!

The presentations...

No program is complete if there aren't poems and the all-beloved pantomimes (I'm still a little scared of them). It was the best program we've had yet and I feel quite proud of all the work they did.

Rain!

It has been raining and pouring every afternoon, today was no exception. The problem with where the Care Center is located is the river we have to cross to get in and out of the village. It rose quickly this afternoon so we waited awhile for it to go down. During this time, children were getting passed above the fast water and others were doing their best to find the foot bridge. Finally Alberto felt the river was low enough to get his truck through the high water, and we headed out, only to encounter more water along the path. I'm now home safe and dry...and the rain has stopped for the moment.

Kids Alive Care

This weekend the Kids Alive-ers from the DR and Haiti met in Jarabacoa. It was a great time to be encouraged and reminded of how to take care of ourselves far away from home and when the needs are overwhelming. The speakers were more than amazing and I look forward to meeting up with them again this week. It was fun to see others I haven't seen since the last conference a year ago...sometimes this little island seems so big! Ariel also got initiated into a full English-speaking weekend and did well, I'm proud of his tenacity and courage!

Gotta get there!

So I know it's not safe to take pictures while driving, but I couldn't help this one. He's actually carrying his wheelchair on the back while someone is driving the motorocycle. I've seen a lot of great things being carried, but this one topped the list!

Sponsorship Update!

As I've talked about before, we've been working on the Child Update project, which includes taking a new photo of every child. Here are a few of my favorites, if I'm allowed to have such a thing.

Smile Contest

When I was a kid, I watched a cartoon show that also had a live audience of children. During a break from cartoons, the camera would pan to the kids and they would get really excited. Well, they also had a smile contest as the camera went from kid to kid zoomed in to show their smile. So this is my verson of "smile contest". Pick your favorite! (Try to find the ones I couldn't get to smile for the life of me). Don't forget you can always click on one of the collages to make it bigger and see their beautiful little faces up close!

We had fun!

It was obviously fun and hard to keep a straight face while posing for a photo. These guys are priceless!

AWANA!

The AWANA program at school continues to go strong and the kids are absolutely crazy about it. They start with lots of games and competititions, then move into "manual" time where they study Bible verses and get points for memory work, then all come together for a lesson and more competitions. I love seeing how these kids are growing and maturing and changing and, despite the few fights and the scrapes and extra blood on these days, it's fun to be a part of it all!

Adventures in Babysitting!

Ariel and I watched our 10 month old neice, Grace, this weekend from Sat-Mon! We learned all sorts of things, to say the least! We didn't sleep much on Saturday night, but played hard on Sunday and didn't let the baby sleep until 9:30 and then smiled as she slept all night! She is the happiest, smiley-est baby ever. We took the nephews as well all to the grocery store on Sunday night and drove the cart around which they LOVED! Nice trial-run for parenting...we're in no rush!!

Layne and Caitlin

Layne and Caitlin used to live in Montellano and work in Caraballo with us until they were switched to Jarabacoa. This weekend they came to stay with us and it was great! Caitlin is 7 months pregnant and it was fun to talk pregnancy and labor & delivery like the "good old days"! We ate lots and talked lots and had a fun time together. They're leaving soon to move back to the States and start their family, so it was a nice last weekend to spend together.

Double check

Every year we do child updates for the sponsors of our kids at the Care Center. The teachers are given a sheet about the child to fill out and then we take that to make a history about how the child is doing in school, socially, physically, etc. I've spoken Spanish for awhile now and feel that I can hold my own with the language. It happens everyday though that I learn new words.

Well, as I was doing the child update, I came across a word I didn't know, but knew it was something related to the government. As it was referring to the child's father, I thought it meant he was working with the government. Just in case though, I grabbed my dictionary, and oops, he was actually in trouble with the government, not working for them. It's good to make sure...no more assumptions!

Santiago date

I had a meeting in faraway Jarabacoa (2.5 hours) the other day, so Ariel and I met in the middle (Santiago, an hour and a bit away) after he finished work. We ate lovely Taco Bell and went to the monument for sunset. The monument is set high on a hill so you can look out onto the whole city, and it was beautiful. It's great being in new places and getting to know more cities, although Taco Bell seems to be the constant for me in Santiago!

Meeting the family

Ariel's brother, Alex, has been living in Norway with his wife, Marianne. They have a little baby girl, Alida Louisa, and everyone came to visit! It's been fun having them here and getting to know our little neice and sister-in-law. Alida has done so well with the time change and all the travels and is happy and smiling...way better than I do with all the distance! I have to say too, that it's nice having another "gringa" in the family!

A day at theriver

We celebrated the ending of Semana Santa on Saturday by going with a group to the river in a Safari truck we rented. We carried all our goods (including food) across the river after the 1+hour drive there, but it was worth it. We played in the water, had lunch together, talked and just spent time and caught up on each other's lives. I'm glad I can add "Safari driver" to my resume now...it is always an adventure!

So I got referred to Swag Bucks and think everyone now should be on it. I get points if you sign up and search through it, and then you're going to refer friends and also get points. Basically you do what you're already doing...searching, but you do it through their website and then they give you points which you then redeem for giftcards and other stuff. Click here to get started and you'll see how great it is!!

Sweet Beans!

So every year during Holy Week, it's a Dominican tradition to make sweet beans. It's quite a process and definitely an aquired taste, but on my 3rd year here now, I can actually say that I like them! It's basically red beans boiled until soft, then liquified and all the hard parts sifted out. Then it's mixed together with sugar and cinnamon, cloves and evaporated milk and boiled for a long time. Apparently it's also better when cooked over a fire, which we did, but I can't tell the difference yet...maybe by year 4! When they're almost ready to be served, come cookies and raisins are added to the mix. The kids each got a big cup of sweet beans as they were headed out the door this week. We are now on Holy Week break/Spring Break for the upcoming week. Happy Easter!

Juice

When my family asked me to describe Ariel, one of the first things I told them was that he loves to make juice. He's like a professional juicer, this man is! We have passion fruit, cherry, orange, pineapple, mango...whatever fruit is in season. Tonight he brought home oranges so it looks like we will be having orange juice for a few days. And let me tell you, the juice is AMAZING. No sugar and no questions about what else is in it. Come down and have some with us!

Princesa

I thought it might be time for another Princesa update. She is 2 years old now!! Time has gone by so fast, I can't believe it. She is a smart little girl and talking like crazy. She stayed with me the other evening and we painted nails and talked and had crackers, definitely bonding! She comes to visit at school sometimes which is always fun. can't wait until she's old enough to be in class and I get to see her everyday!