I had such a great Thanksgiving! Let me start with school... my kids came to school on Wednesday dressed as Pilgrims. I loved watching them walk in one by one, all of them decked out in their best Pilgrim attire. Their costumes were amazing and we had so much fun.


















Before our big feast we had the 1st and 2nd graders switch classrooms and each teacher had something different for them to do. I had Thanksgiving games... my room was the best! ha
















For my long weekend I went with my roommate Kristy's family to the beach. We left right after school on Wednesday and stayed until today. I was feeling so sad that I wasn't going to spend Thanksgiving with my family, but God gave me a great weekend with a wonderful family. I felt just like I was one of them. Every day was so much fun! Here are some pictures our my weekend.



Here we are on our first night in Caborete. Every meal we had this weekend was so good!











We spent lots of time on the beach. I took walks, went swimming, attempted to snorkel (the water was a little cloudy) surfed, sunbathed and had some great time with God while watching the sun rise. I loved every minute of it! Having so much fun kept my mind off wanting to be home.




















This is me getting a surfing lesson from Kristy's brother. I don't think I can quite pull off the surfer girl look... oh well, maybe after a few more tries.












I know you can't really tell, but this is me! I actually made it up, lots of times!

























I would love to say lots more about this weekend, but it is already 10:30 and I have to get up so early! I need some good sleep tonight! I only have 3 weeks until Christmas. I am so excited to see you all! You can just be praying for my reliance on God in decision making for next year and just every day life. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Hmm...where do I start. Well, I could tell that you were all praying that we would raise lots of food for our food drive. We raised enough so that every child's family in the school we visited got a bag of food. Here are some pictures of us delivering the food on Wednesday. I was so worried about how the kids would behave and getting them their safely, but everything went really well.

Here is all of our first graders at the school we took the food to. It was really great for the kids to see the poverty that is just down the road from us. Now every morning when I ask for prayer requests they always ask to pray for the kids and the school. How wonderful!

I promised my kids that if every one of them brought in food, they could have a party...and the little stinkers did it. So later that afternoon I took them out for an extra recess. Then I played "Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving" for them and gave them brownies. They loved it! I think they enjoyed the movie almost as much as me.

Ha, this was our silly face pictures. They really shouldn't let me have this job!

On Thursday I went to see the Águilas, Santiago's Major league team. One of the mom's from school invited us. What I didn't know was that her dad owns the team, ha. We had amazing seats and they kept showing us on the score board. The fans are much more enthusiastic here! It was so much fun!

Today was Family Day at school. It was a little sad because it rained all day. It would have been way better if it wasn't raining. We still had fun though! Here is a picture of some other teachers and I watching a middle school dodge ball competition. It wasn't the best place to sit. We kept getting hit!

It was a freezing 70 degrees today! I loved it! I am actually using my quilt at night now. It gets a little chilly sometimes now. Look how great it looks on my bed!

Well I probably won't have time to post again until after Thanksgiving. I am sure I will have lots of fun pictures to show you. We are having a thanksgiving feast at school on Wednesday. Then I am going to the beach with my roommate and her family. They are going to teach me how to surf. Ha, surfing for Thanksgiving, crazy! I hope you all have a great holiday! I will be home for the next one! Only 28 days! I have some big decisions to make about next year, so you can be praying that I will follow God's will and hear him clearly. Love you all :)

1 Titus 1:9~ "He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine."  

Hey everyone, I have had so much fun the last few days and I am excited to tell you about it! This week at school we had some fun times. I had all the kids do their hand prints for a lesson I am doing next week and we had a spaghetti party. The kids loved it!





















Yum Yum, you should have scene their white shirts when they were done! Ha


























I had such a fun day today! Our neighbors took us to the mountains to see waterfalls. They were the most beautiful waterfalls I have scene. They were even more beautiful than 27 waterfalls and we had so much fun together.











We rode in the back of their truck to get there. It was so fun! It was great going through the mountains like that...so beautiful!




When we got there we had to walk on lots of really scary bridges to get to the first waterfall. It worth it!












After we saw the first waterfall we headed up the trail to the next one. It was a difficult climb. All of the rocks were loose and it was really steep at some parts.












There were vines in some parts of the trail to help us get up the really hard parts.



































This was the waterfall we worked so hard to get to. It is way more beautiful that the picture is! We went swimming in the water right next to the fall. It was so cool...but the water was freezing! I had forgotten what it felt like to feel cold...I liked it!


































There were some really amazing rocks over by the waterfall. We had so much fun climbing them and taking pictures.













This is a picture of us coming down. Going down was a little easier, but scarier. The rocks kept slipping and we kept falling.























We took this picture on our way home. It started to rain a little. Ha...that was fun. It was so great to just have fun today and not think about school at all. Wow this was a long post. I am so tired! Time for bed! I am getting anxious about Christmas, so you can be praying for that. Oh, and we are going to donate our food drive boxes to a really poor school on Wednesday. We haven't got enough donations yet, so you can be praying that the food comes in and that we will be able to bless them in a really big way. ~Goodnight!

I don't even know what to say. I got my quilt today! Thank you so so much!!!! I know that all of you put so much thought and work into it. It really means a lot to me! I love all of the squares. They are each very special. I know that some of you haven't scene it finished, so I wanted to put up some pictures for you. Oh, Mom...It is perfect!! You are so thoughtful... I want to be like you when I grow up! Thank you!




































































I wish I could show pictures of all the squares. They are all so great!

I have to tell you that it really came on the perfect day! It was a a rough one. I got to break up my first fight on the playground. Oh, and I had an awesome lesson planned with my ESL teacher. We are reading "On Top of Spaghetti" this week and we had real plates of spaghetti to introduce new vocabulary words. When we went to get them from the fridge we found the plates all mixed up and there was broken glass. It was a mess! Then we caught one of the maids at school going through the other 1st grade teacher's purse. Ha! it was a crazy day!

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and how can you not want to go through it all over again when you have kids like this!
















Well, I just got back from the gym and I have done no lesson planning for next week. So, I should get to work. Thanks again! I really love it! It even smells like home! I miss you all.
Love ~ Andrea

Well...It has been a great weekend. I have had so much time to just have fun and rest. I haven't done any school work since I left on Friday, which is okay because I don't have school tomorrow...Woohoo! The end of the week was great. My kids finished up their pilgrims. This is a picture of them standing under them.

































We also practiced our addition and subtraction facts in shaving cream. Ha, the classroom smelt like boy all day! It was fun.













On Saturday we had some friends over for dinner and a movie. It was fun, but I scared the crap out of them when they walked in the door. When they were coming in I thought a bat flew in with them. It was actually a moth. Ha, but it was like the size of my hand. I have been a little jumpy around insects lately, but you would understand if you only know the things I have scene this week.

















I had lots of fun tonight too. We had our neighbors over for dinner and cooked them an American meal. Cheeseburgers, well Kristi made the burgers...I made desert. They are always helping us out... killing spiders and turning away creepy guys asking for the American girls. Ha. I think next weekend they are going to take us up to the mountains to see some waterfalls. I am supposed to go to the mountains tomorrow too. We planned to go up for dinner and to watch the sunset. I hope we are get to go!

Anyways, I was wondering if a few of you could help me out. I need a few things for my classroom. I am running out of prize box stuff. They love little cheep things from the dollar store. I mostly need things boys would like. Oh, and I would like a puppet. I have some ideas on how to use it for teaching reading, but I don't have any. If you want to help just email me and I can make sure you have my address. Thanks so much!

Keep praying for me, I know you all are. It has been hard being away from home, but I have had some amazing encounters with God this week. I know he is right here with me. Well I need some sleep, I have some work to get done tomorrow. Love you!

Hi! I had a little extra time tonight so I thought I would let you all know how my week has been.  It has been really wonderful.  The last few weeks have been.  I think I have just had a great attitude which has made all the difference.  I read this passage a few weeks ago and it has really stuck with me.  "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.  Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you".  1Peter 5:6-7  I have been saying it over and over when I worry or when I think about how much I wish some things were different.  It reminds me that those thoughts don't come from God... and you know what?  It works!  I stop thinking about the bad and  focus on the good.  Something that is simple to say, but often hard to do!  Anyways,  here is what my class and I were up to today...

We are starting to prepare for Thanksgiving! They were really excited when I told them they get to dress up like Pilgrims.  Ha

After school today I finally put up some more pictures in my room.  It feels more like home.  Here is a shot of my wall.  A little something from my Arbor girls.  Do you like it Sarah?

Then I worked on making up a goal paper for my students. We are trying to get each family to bring in a box of food.  I am hoping this will encourage them! 

Ha, Tonight we had some friends over for pizza and then Kristy taught me some salsa moves.   I am working on it!  

Anyways I should probably get some sleep if I want tomorrow to be a good day.  Oh, Spanish class tomorrow, practice... then sleep.  Thanks so much for your prayers.  I think they are helping me a lot.  Love you and miss you all!