Over the years we have had many groups adopt our students and then shop for them for Christmas. This year it seemed that no one was able to make that commitment and the teachers and I were worried that the students and families were going to be really disappointed!

But like ALWAYS, it turned out better than we could have imagined and the kids helped us remember what we were celebrating. (more…)

Hello friends and family,
An update is long overdue and we apologize. We have had a great year in terms of family and work and as our circle of friends in the Dominican Republic grows we feel more and more at home here. This is the first Holiday newsletter in more than ten years that as I sit down to write I don’t feel flooded by memories of drama and significant change.We have had a quiet year of growth, maintainingand nurturing things already planted. (more…)

We were so excited to be able to take a few of our girls to the young life camp in Jarabacoa this weekend. We had a small group of ten girls for a “grow”camp, a time to grow and reflect on their relationship with God. (more…)

When I heard that we had a sick student from TEARS School that was in desperate need of O+ blood, I volunteered immediately to give her some of mine. It wasn’t until we were on our way there that I began to remember that I hate needles with a passion! I’ve never donated blood before, so this was a unique experience all around. The lady at the blood bank was fabulous, (more…)

We are so excited to open up the school year 2009-2010. After spending the summer in preparations for new curriculum integration we are starting to pick up speed and are running with all the great tools we’ve been given. Partnering with Battalion Park Elementary in Calgary Canada we will study parallel units and share our learning with one another. The friendships that can be built across cultures, land and sea are extraordinary. (more…)

That’s right, the 2009/ 2010 school year has already began! Here are a few pictures of a lot of happy kids eating their first breakfast of the year, getting used to their new classrooms and new teachers, and having their first bible study of the year. (more…)

I used to think part of being a good host of teams that came to help us work was having everything in place so all they had to do was pick up the tools and get to work, but I noticed that it robbed them of the true accomplishment of not only getting a project completed, but completing it in the Dominican Republic. (more…)

Just said goodbye to my dear friend Amy and her two beautiful children who came for a visit to help me organize the four and five year old Language Arts Blocks. If you ask her we didn’t get anything done or work very hard, but that’s the way we had always worked– Lesson planning in the car on the commute to school, in the staff room (more…)

I flew with the kids to the states on June 5th to take a professional exam that would allow me to reinstate my teaching license and also to leave the kids with my mom for the summer. The kids haven’t been to the states since Elijah was born more than two years ago and with our very busy summer schedule it seemed like the right time. It is so nice to be back with family and in our church. My friend described the (more…)

There are many lessons that my Dominican friends and colleagues have taught me during my time in the DR. Among them is the importance of celebration. I tend to trudge ahead moving from point A to B to C…never looking back. Not anymore, at least not in with my staff. It is important to (more…)