Valentine's Day

What we did to celebrate:  I love celebrating love.  Valentine's Day landed on a Sunday this year.  (Here's the link to how we celebrated at the Reyes Academy last year.)  I had some friends over for dinner.  We ate pasta, and we ordered the yummiest cinnamon rolls from my new favorite place: Mari's Cakes.  I also had the apartment decorated for the holiday.  (Thanks mom for sending such cute decorations!)  

The Reyes Academy celebrated Valentine's Day on Monday.  We first made Love Rocks.  Here's an article that explains where the idea came from.  A couple lost their daughters a few years ago.  To help cope with the tragedy they started making these love rocks to spread joy.  Visit their Facebook page here to learn more about what they do.

My mom made one for my roommate and I last year, and I loved the idea of randomly blessing others.  We could leave them at the supermarket, give them to people on the street, or set one on a step of the apartment.  I thought the concept of spreading love went perfectly with Valentine's Day.  The kids each made 2-3 using fabric scraps and modge podge.

Next we did black out poetry with using 1 Corinthians 13 or 1 John 4.  I loved seeing how different the 6 poems turned out.  Christin and I also participated.  It really helped us to think deeply about the text and its themes.  I would love to incorporate this same strategy into English class sometime.  

We ended the celebration by giving the kids their valentines.  Over Christmas break I found these poop pencils, and I knew they were perfect for the boys.  They absolutely LOVED them.  We had fun laughing about sticking poop in our noses, eating poop, and touching poop.

Christin and I made cookies and cake to give to the guys at the colmado and to bring to Bible study.  Through a friend on Facebook, I discovered a website called 40 Acts.  Each day of Lent they send an email with an act to do for the day.  I had already planned on making these things, but when I opened my email the act for the day was to make food to give to someone.  It was fun to randomly bless those around us.

How did you celebrate love year round?

24

What I'm doing to celebrate: This year I turned the big 2-4.  It seems like such a big number.  I told that to the boys and they said, "You said the same thing last year."  My birthday was such a fun day.

It began right when I woke up and got to open the package my mom sent with me in December.  She sent a birthday card in the mail, but it sometimes takes a long time to get mail in Santiago.  Even without a card, it was nice to have a piece of home to open on my special day.

Christin was an awesome roommate and decorated my classroom and laid out cute cards the students made for me.  She wrote a clever note with cute little gifts.  The cards from the kids were so special and nice.  The girls are so incredibly artistic, and the boy's precious notes melted my heart.

Rosa brought me the biggest balloon bunch I have ever seen, and we celebrated at lunch with pizza.  Unfortunately Andrew and Joseph weren't feeling very well and couldn't stay for the whole day.  Isaac was having a lot of fun singing, as you can see in the funny picture.

The night of my birthday I met up with some friends at Mari's Cakes for more pizza.  Corinne came all the way from La Vega to celebrate, and Amanda came straight from work.  Nathaly offered to drive us, and it was so fun to laugh, talk, and eat good food.

I felt so spoiled and loved by the gifts, texts, posts on Facebook and messages.  Thank you all for making my birthday so special.  Here's to many new adventures in a new year.

New Year - Reyes Academy Style

What we did to celebrate:  I realized I never posted anything about our beginning of 2016 celebration.  With the business of kidney stones and starting teaching again after the holiday, I simply forgot.  Last year we had an awesome New Year party (Here's my blog post about it), and this year I wanted to make it even bigger and better.

Thursday, January 6th was the first day back to school.  We had a half day so Christin and I could get the apartment ready in the afternoon.  We decorated for our sleepover/party.  The kids came over Thursday night.  We had pizza for dinner and had a New Year's photo shoot, which was really fun.  We played Skipbo and watched a movie, Captain Phillips, with the girl's classroom full of air mattresses and glow sticks.  It was a late night full of laughter, talking, and celebrating 2016.

The next day I bravely made chocolate chip pancakes for 8 people, something I never thought I would do.  It showed me one day what it might be like to prepare breakfast for a family.  Pancake batter flying, trying to make sure the kids eat a banana, and make sure all six of them were dressed and ready for our field trip.

We were heading to Puerto Plata for the day, a town near the beach.  Our first stop was the cable car.  We had a lot of fun taking pictures and walking around once we reached the top of the mountain.  We also found this cool bridge that had an amazing view, which I hadn't seen the last time I went up the cable car.  The boys especially loved the caves.

The second stop was an old fort in the city.  We ate lunch in the car and explored the building, learning about the history of Puerto Plata.  This part happened during the heat of the day, so we took a rest after the tour.  I absolutely love the architecture of the fort.  The old doors, windows, and arches are fun to photograph.

We ended the day at an amber museum.  After reading reviews on Trip Adviser, I had very low hopes for the museum, but the boys and I just finished studying fossils.  The amber museum was a perfect way to connect the field trip to science.  The museum was surprisingly really interesting.  It is not very huge.

We are hoping to plan some more field trips this spring.  I would love to go to Haiti with our students.  Currently in Spanish class we are reading about dolphins, so a trip to Ocean World is in the near future.  Love getting to explore this beautiful island.

Con mucho amor.

Pirating up the Week

What I've been teaching:  This was a "ruff" week.  The boys were more restless than normal, talking and not paying attention.  I had shorter patience because I have been busier.  I have been fighting off sickness and this stupid kidney stone.  Part of the way through the week, I realized I needed to "pirate" some of my lessons.  I hoped this would engage the boys more and improve my attitude about work.  

Teach like a Pirate (prior blog post about it can be found here) is all about being a purple cow in a sea of black and white ones.  The book encourages teachers to be creative and think outside of the box through different "hooks."  

from: here 

The Safari Hook:  Wednesday we moved to the roof for reading time.  There was a beautiful breeze, and we sat in the shade while reading Long Way from Chicago.  There are so many different places in our apartment complex that I should take advantage of and use.  Getting outside of the four walls of the classroom helps keep them engaged.

The Mystery Bag Hook:  Thursday I placed these three mystery bags on my desk.  I purchased some freeze-dried "astronaut" food over the summer.  We are currently studying outer space and the solar system.  I wanted the boys to be intrigued.  They could feel the bags.  Rice cakes, cookies, and paper were some of the guesses.

We ended week 22 of the Reyes Academy with worship, prayer, and a fun little selfie photo shoot.

How are you mixing things up in the classroom?  What are you doing to keep students engaged?

La batalla

What I've been learning:  It has been a rough 10 days.  I started feeling some pain a couple weeks ago in my lower left stomach area.  I thought maybe it was cramps, or maybe my stomach being sensitive after the parasites from December.  Saturday, January 16th the pain came back.  And it wasn't going away.

My sister convinced me from a thousand miles away to wake up my roommate and go to the ER.  After a urine test the nurses determined I had kidney stones.  It didn't surprise me that I had them, since mom and dad have had them before, but it made me mad.  Why did I need to get them?  I am only 23, too young for this.

After vomiting, trying to sleep in the freezing hospital, and finishing the IV of harsh pain medications, Christin and I headed back to our apartment with more pain meds in tow.  The nurses also gave me the name of a doctor to see on Monday.  I slept and drank many liquids for most of Sunday (and had a few visitors who brought me juice!), and then Monday rolled around.

God sent me a wonderful friend in 2016.  Carla lives down the street from us, and she is my age.  She just finished her time in the university and is waiting to graduate.  She agreed to accompany me to the hospital on Monday.  We headed to the seventh floor to see the doctor, only to find out he was on vacation.  No one knew when he was going to come back.  I was ready to give up right then and there.

Carla took charge, and we went from floor to floor looking for other urologists.  In the DR, in order to see a doctor, you don't have a specific appointment time.  You arrive in the morning and put your name on a list, and the doctor sees patients in that order.  We found the urologist with the shortest list.  After waiting a few hours, he could see me.

The doctor was so kind and funny.  He did a sonogram and could tell there are at least two kidney stones, maybe more.  He wanted me to have a special X ray done.  Monday when I got back from the doctor I found these sweet notes from my students.  Their prayers made me cry.  

Thursday I had to fast and clear out my system for the X ray on Friday.  What a painful process.  Friday went fine, I just arrived home extremely tired, but with the X rays.  This week I will go back to the doctor with the X rays to see how many stones there are, how big they are, and what we can do about the situation.

I has been a difficult week.  I was kind of mad at God at first.  WHY I kept asking.  I am getting more involved at church and serving more in Santiago.  These kidney stones are holding me back.  The devil doesn't like it when we are serving God.  We are in a battle (la batalla) and this was one of the devil's schemes to knock me down, make me feel discouraged, and tired.

My two words for the year are REST and PRAY.  I have gotten lots of time over the past week to rest.  I need rest.  My body is trying to get these stupid kidney stones out.  It's tiring.  I also have had lots of time to pray.  It was a long weekend, and many of my friends left for the mountain or beach.  That left me alone in my apartment.  I took advantage of the time to talk to my Heavenly Father.

There are no limits for those who have faith in God.  Trust in him.  He makes the impossible possible.  He changes and transforms our circumstances. 

One of my friends in the DR said to me, you will never know God as HEALER if you are never sick.  Those words really hit me hard.  

Thank you for your prayers, texts, and messages.  I have felt SO supported in this challenging journey.  What is God teaching you in the middle of the battle?

Con mucho amor.  

Bible journaling

What I've been creating: I love art journaling.  That's the main reason I started this blog way back in 2011 (first blog post ever can be found here).  Through Instagram I discovered the #biblejournaling feed and #illustratedfaith feed.  Many people around the world are turning to Bible journaling to connect with God.

I was fascinated with the idea.  At first it seemed weird to cover over the words in my Bible, but then I realized what an amazing way it was to talk to our Heavenly Father.  I love being creative, and I truly believe it is one of my gifts.  It has already helped me memorize scripture and get excited about opening my Bible.  I really have to think about how to represent a particular verse or passage; it forces me to slow down and actually spend devoted time with the Lord.

On my first page  I was messing around with my watercolor markers and my new stamps that Christin got me for Christmas.  I opened my Bible to the page that had the bookmark and decided to begin there.

The second page I created has these wings.  It is smaller and does not fill the full two-page spread.  It's simple and really highlights the verse: "Let me take refuge under the shelter of Your wings!" Psalm 61:4

I am so inspired by the sunrises and sunsets that I see on the roof.  I have always had the desire to paint them, and what better place than my Bible.  This is my favorite page I have created so far.  I love the mountains and the colors of the sunset/sunrise.  God uses nature to speak to me and fill me with His peace.

This past Sunday at church the theme of the message was Quien soy? or Who am I?  Pastor John read most of Romans 8, which I turned into this...  I used some new washi tape that mom got me for Christmas.  I included English and Spanish notes, and used my watercolor markers to highlight especially important passages from the text.  It is one of the simpler pages, but I love that it doesn't need to be extravagant.

"The Spirit helps us in our weakness." Romans 8:26

"For in this HOPE we are saved." Romans 8:24

Over the past week I wanted to try something new with the boys during Bible class.  We all read the same Bible passage (Isaac chose Genesis 19) and journaled/illustrated what we learned from the passage.  Genesis 19 is the story of when God destroys Sodom and Lot's wife turns to sand.

This passage made me really think about why are sad and strange stories in the Bible.  Isaac mentioned that life doesn't always have a happy ending, and neither does this chapter of the Bible.  It also showed me how we need to surround ourselves with people who will bring us closer to God.  We need to be alert and look forward toward the future, not behind us like Lot's wife.

The story of Mary and Martha is very convicting to me.  I saw someone else create an incredible illustration from this passage.  She used the whole margin, but I wanted to try something new with the paper flap.  On the backside of the flap I stamped "Are you Mary or Martha?"  I am still trying to figure out how to easily flip the flap, because right now the tape impedes it a little bit.

God has already taught me so much through this way of connecting with Him.  It allows me to slow down and rest in His truth and His promises.  I cannot wait to continue creating.

Con mucho amor.