I had quite an exciting week! It was filled with new challenges and great experiences, as always. This semester I started teaching science, during the first semester I did Social Studies. I think Science is much more interesting to the kids and more fun for me to teach. We are learning about rocks and I have been doing lots of experiments with them.












































We also went spider hunting because we read "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" in Language Arts this week. It's not hard to find spiders here!




































Kristy and I spent time with our neighbors this weekend and they took us on some really fun adventures. One night we went up to Camp David, which is a restaurant in the mountains. It looks over all of Santiago. It was so beautiful up there. The best part was that we had great conversations about God. Kristy and I got a wonderful compliment. They told us that they could tell we were Christians even before we talked to them about God, just because of how we acted. It just shows that someone is always watching and that you never know who you might be showing God to just by the simple everyday choices you make.




















Yesterday we went to the mountains again, you won't believe what I did. We went paragliding. This is when you are strapped to a kite and another person and you run off the side of a mountain. Ha, yup, I did it. It was so scary! We got all strapped in and just started running and then the wind caught the kite and up we went. I saw the mountains and waterfalls from the air. It was amazing! It was the best Sunday morning church service ever! Complete trust in God and a view of his creation that I will never forget. "Your eyes will see the king and his beauty and view a land that stretches afar." Isaiah 33:17 ~Love you and miss you all!

Hello my friends! I have so much to tell you. Last week I had lots of fun with my kids. It was a much better week than the first week back. I started to teach my kids about fractions and you know, I think I found the key to keeping their attention...food. Lessons with food always seem to go well. We made pizzas and cut them in half and we made bread with jam and cut them in fourths. They loved it, which made me love it.












































I had a wonderful adventure this weekend. It was so much fun!! To celebrate Kristy's birthday a bunch of us went to spend Saturday night at the beach. We stayed at a resort, which was a new experience for me. It was so nice to not think about anything except having fun. We all needed it, as I am sure most of you reading this do to. The weekend was filled with new experiences. First, we arrived in Puerta Plata and we thought, why take a taxi when we can take a moto councho and have an adventure on the way. So we piled on to three different motorcycles, ha, I know not the best idea and I don't know if I will do it again. It was so much fun though!


















Stacy and I ran out of gas and one of the other motorcycles came up behind us and pushed us to the gas station. Ha, we were laughing and screaming through the whole ride.


When we finally made it, after they took us to the wrong hotel... we changed and went right to the beach. Insead of just laying out all day we decided to go kayaking in the ocean. I loved it and the view of the mountains from the ocean was beautiful.





































I think this was my favorite part of the night. We snuck into the kids playground.























Well before I go, I wanted to tell you all that I need your prayers for guidance and to stay encourage. I know that in my pictures it must look like I have fun all the time, but I also have some very difficult days. God has been so good to me though and he always seems to give me what I need to not just make it through the day, but to also find the joy in it. I miss you all!

It has been a week now since I have been back. It feels like so much longer. This week was so busy for me. I felt so behind and I still do, but things are slowly getting better. Even though I felt very unprepared for this week, I think things went okay and the kids surprised me at how well they behaved. This week in science I taught them about the layers of the earth. We made models out of play doe.





The layers didn't turn out so good on this one.




























On Friday my kids finally earned a tally party. They get tally points when they are good and once they get 25, they get a party. I was excited for it because I missed out on their Christmas party.


































On Friday we had a surprise birthday party for Kristen. She's one of my favorite people here. She is such a sweetheart and the only other redhead.


















I spent all day yesterday working on lesson plans. I wanted them to be way better than this week. I was going to keep working on them, but we realized that this week was the last week to see the Agulas play again. So, we decided to go to the game. I am so glad we did because it was so much fun and I really needed the break.




It was a playoff game and everyone was smacking these together and there was a marching band going through all the rows. Very exciting!









































Today I went to an English speaking church. I really liked it and the people there seem great. So hopefully I will keep liking it and feel at home there. Before I got back to working on school stuff, my roommates and I went up on the roof to sunbathing. I am so blessed to have these girls here with me.






Look at that sky, it's always so beautiful here.










Okay, well I am going to go relax a little and get a good night sleep. I hope all is going well at home. I could use your prayers this week. There are lots of things going on at school that are really stressing me out. I will be praying for you all to. Goodnight!

Hey Everyone! I just wanted you to know that I made it back to the DR safely. I had no delays and thankfully my luggage also made it safely and on time. And to my surprise I have returned to an apartment with electricity, gas, water and internet. What a blessing! It is almost 1 in the morning here and I think I have got about 3 hours of sleep in the last two days. So, I am going to go sleep and hopefully not wake up for many hours. Pray for an easy transition back into teaching, I am a little nervous about going back because I have not only missed the last two weeks like everyone else, but also over a week before Christmas break. Love you and miss you already!

Happy New Year!! I hope you find 2009 to be a year that is filled with blessings from God. I wanted to post before I go back because I have a feeling that my apartment will either be without power or Internet service. I leave tomorrow very early and I will make it to the DR by 10 at night. It is going to be a long day! Oh well, maybe I will sit by some very interesting people. School starts up again on Tuesday. I am getting really excited to see my kids again. I missed them! They are what is keeping me from being to sad about leaving.

Anyways, here are some highlights of what I have been doing since I posted last. I had so much fun last weekend when I had some very special visitors. It has been so nice to be surrounded by the people who know me best. I could never ask for better friends!




















Kelsey and I did all the things I had been wanting to do in the snow. We went snowmobiling, sledding, made snow angels and a snowman. Kelsey's snow pants were a little big!
























Ha...we were looking for a game in the closet and found some old makeup. So we decide to do each others makeup instead.





























































Well, even though I really don't want to, I should probably go finish packing. Thank you all for helping to make my Christmas break so wonderful! I can't even tell you how great it has been to be home. I have some prayer requests as I go back for the rest of the year. Please pray for safe travels for tomorrow. I would also like you to pray that I stay positive about the time I have in the DR and that God would guide me in the decisions I have to make about my future. I feel so blessed that God has given me this opportunity and I am sure that where ever he leads me to next will be just as rewarding.