Rachelle D. Alspaugh's Blog, page 3

DR Reflections-Part 4 (Our tasks)

We only met once or twice as a team before coming to the DR together to discuss what we might be doing while there. We knew that there are constant construction type projects going on, that we would be helping in the school with English immersion activities, that we may spend the afternoons out in the nearby villages doing VBS activities, and that we'd have opportunities to connect with students. We also hoped to be able to support and encourage the missionaries on campus, especially the ones from our home church. Our main tasks were to lend a helping hand wherever needed and to love on and connect with the students as much as possible. 

Once we got there, we just waited for instructions each evening to know what we'd be doing the next morning. We found that we didn't get to do certain activities due to the small size of our team, but that was fine. All of the ladies spent our mornings pulling the little kids out of their class for one-on-one tutoring sessions. Sarah took the kindergarteners, I took the four-year-olds, and Melissa took the three-year-olds. We had a box for each grade level with about 20-25 minutes of activities to review letters, numbers, colors, and read a book with basic vocabulary about animals, bugs, weather, etc. After we pulled the whole class to work on Box 1, we moved on to Box 2. We repeated the process with the afternoon classes when we didn't have another project to work on. The kids were very comfortable with the process and seemed to understand the order of the activities, always starting with letters and ending with a book, so it's a pretty well-organized system they have going with all the teams that come in to give the students a good English immersion experience. We all three had a great time and really enjoyed connecting with the littles in this way. 

This is one of the kindergarten classes, including one of the MK's on campus. 
Below are just random pics of some of our tutoring sessions. 
Frandi working the timer

Sarah with a kindergartener

Abraham building a number order fence with popsicle sticks. 

All of us working at once

Jade identifying numbers




We visited one of the local bateys after lunch one day, but our small team did not do any kind of VBS in the village. Understanding the history of the school and knowing more where the students lived really helped us understand the students we were working with the rest of the week. 




Mike quickly volunteered to run the Bobcat to work on leveling out some land,


moving some rock, 
and filling in some dirt. 

Sarah enjoyed playing an afternoon soccer game with all of the missionaries and MK's after school one day. 


We had daily Scripture reading and memorization that they built time for in our schedules. Our theme for the week was: God is there. So we read several passages to see the different ways that God revealed His presence to people in the Bible. We also worked on memorizing Micah 6:8. 


John worked on building a new swingset. 


After lunch, we headed back to the tutoring room to pull kids one at a time from the classrooms. 




Watching Kimberly, one of the missionaries, in action as she taught their English class. She and I connected really well, and I really enjoyed every chance I got to talk with her. 

Abigail was the first student I worked with, so I formed a very sweet attachment with her. 







We had a chance to watch over the littler MK's one afternoon while their parents attended a school staff meeting. Melissa came prepared with a fun craft for us to make with them. 
We also spent a few extra chunks of time helping inventory the supply room full of donations with one of the missionaries.
Here are the four-year-olds in class. 

Raylenis captured my heart when she realized that both of our names started with RA and we even shared the letters L and E in our names. :) A very bright little girl!




Sarah wanted nothing more than to be able to play volleyball with some of the high school girls. Once they found out she was a volleyball coach, they ate up her attention and wanted her to not only play with them, but to coach them, too. They even convinced their P.E. teacher to let her teach them volleyball during class!



Our church personally sponsors the fourth grade class, so we took worksheets with questions on them for them to fill out so we can start a pen-pal program between them and our fourth graders back home. We enjoyed visiting their class during their English time to help them fill out the worksheets. 

I wasn't expecting such beautiful cursive penmanship!I 








This is Miguelina, so proud to send her paper with us to connect her with a pen-pal. 

Mike got to help with the welding part on the swingset that John was working on. 

John gave the breezeway walls a fresh coat of paint, perhaps a fresh canvas for a new mural to be painted soon. 



I sat with this boy on the first day and encouraged him to eat all of his food. After that he found me at every meal to show me that he finished eating everything on his plate. 



Sarah had a great idea to get a picture with both the morning and afternoon classes. Here is the morning class of four-year-olds.


These are some of the high school girls who bonded with us through Sarah's volleyball skills. I caught them after lunch working together on a project for Bible class, a small brochure they were creating over the six chapters of Ephesians. 








They also encouraged us to go out to recess with the kids and continue loving on them out there. I used English to connect with them inside, but then switched to Spanish outside. We played a lot of hide and seek before they all begged me to push them. I heard a lot of "Empújame, Miss Rachelle! Empújame!" (Push me!) They were such a delight to my soul. Took me back to my days of teaching Pre-K, reminding me how grateful for all of the different bilingual teaching experiences God has given me over the last 25 years.  

Here is the afternoon class. Such sweeties. :) I will never forget them. 

DR Reflections-Part 3 (Our purpose)

Our specific purpose for this trip was to be a helping hand to Freedom International Ministries at Freedom Christian School, to be a part of the work that God is doing in San Pedro de Marcoris in the Dominican Republic. 

This is the third Christian school that God has given me and Mike the opportunity to work with outside of the United States. We spent a summer working with missionaries, Mark and Karen Hedinger, in Tasquillo, Hidalgo, Mexico in 1998 at El Camino de Vida (Evangelical Institute). We later spent a month working at ECA (El Camino Academy) in Bogotá, Colombia in 2012. Now we got to spend a week working at Freedom Christian School in the Dominican. 

Each school stands out with a very unique ministry, but I must say that this one just blew me away by all the different levels of discipleship and ministry taking place here. Such a well-oiled machine with so many working parts, between the ministries to the 373 students in the school, the bus drivers making their rounds to the (not easy to get to) villages, the families in the bateys (sugar cane villages), the grounds crew, kitchen crew, and cleaning crew, the mission teams who sometimes come through weekly, the Dominican teachers on staff, the interns who come as teachers or construction workers, the discipline team, the MK's on campus, the child sponsorship program that gives kids nutritional meals, school supplies, uniforms, and also funds their teachers' salaries, and the extra mentoring and discipleship that goes on at varying times through the week. What stood out to me more than anything (besides the level of organization to keep it all running smoothly) is the JOY that you feel all over the campus. It is a joy to serve the Lord here in this place. 

This is the front entrance to the school. I've been told that the school looks different (and bigger) every time someone comes back, as it continues to grow and thrive with so many different missions team coming through week after week. 
This is the fourth grade class that our church sponsors, specifically giving them opportunities to go on field trips!

This is the daily morning assembly that happens once all the students arrive and have eaten breakfast (which now includes some type of protein, thanks to so many children being sponsored). Precisely at 8 am, they start by singing the national anthemn while volunteers from one of the classes raise the flag. 

This is a special drink that comes with breakfast many days. 
These are the breakfast lines all ready for kids to arrive. 
This is a full cafeteria filled with joyful kids bused in from the villages, eating the breakfast provided for them. 
We were able to join the kids for both breakfast and then again at lunch. The kids are served a full plate of food and are expected to eat every last bite. A few need a little encouragement to eat, but most have no problem!
Here is a picture of a village school where many of them would attend if not for Freedom. The educational level between the two schools is a night and day difference. 


This picture pretty accurately gives a picture of the living conditions they come from. Even still, they are smiling. 
This is our tour guide showing us one of the churches that opened their doors to lend space to Freedom missionaries who wanted to open a school for the village children. 
Another church that lent its space for those first classes. 

Freedom's very first classroom held in the village where it all started. Thirty 3-year-olds came to class here. Many of those original 3-year-olds are now 11th graders at Freedom and will be the first graduating class a year from now. They have a good grasp of both Spanish and English, they have a solid Biblical foundation, and their education has already far surpassed that of their Dominican peers. 
Another pic inside their village. 
To live in these villages (bateys), someone in their family has to work in the sugar cane fields. 


More school pics.
A Kindergarten classroom. 
The front entryway


The missionaries who serve here
A view from the roof.

The playground and terrace area.

The apartments that the missionaries live in. 

The apartments where the single interns live (and the future apartments that aren't finished yet). Much of the construction is completed by youth teams that come in the spring and summers. 
Most of the classrooms. The top floor is reserved for secondary (7-11th grade). 







A glimpse of our dorm room accomodations. 




Unlike other trips the church has taken here, we were the only team here for the week. Melissa said that the dorm is usually full between our team and any other teams that are there at the same time. But we oddly had the whole room to ourselves, so we had plenty of space (and peace and quiet). 

We each came with specific skills, but also with an open heart to jump in wherever needed. 

DR Reflections-Part 2 (Our Team)

I must say that the best parts of any mission trip I've ever gone on are the deep relationships you form with the people on your team. Those people are some of my most treasured, life-long friends.
This trip, we went with a pretty small team, all people that I'd only talked with maybe a few times before, if that. They were pretty much strangers to me, except that we all attend the same church. I definitely don't look at them as strangers, anymore. In fact, we share a very unique bond now that holds precious memories we built together over our 8 day trip. 
First, meet the two men on our team. This is John. He works in marketing at his job, and he's the last in his family to come to the DR. He admits to being a bit skeptical at first about the traveling and the accommodations, but he expressed just how amazing the trip turned out to be and how thankful he was to have gone. 

This is Mike (or Michael). You already know him pretty well from my blog over the years. We have always enjoyed traveling together, especially on mission trips and to places that most tourists don't go. We haven't been on a mission trip together since we adopted Juan David from Colombia in 2013, and we haven't really traveled out of the country together since our cruise in 2019 to our three ports in Mexico, Honduras, and Belize. We did go on an excursion in Belize to tour an orphanage and get a taste of a typical meal there, which turned out to be a neat cross-cultural experience. 
We didn't think we could make it work out financially for both of us to go on this trip to the DR, but at the last minute, God worked it all out so he could go. We're really thankful that we got to have this experience together.  His skills definitely came in handy over the week. 

This is Melissa, our fearless leader. She's John's wife, and she's come to the DR with the youth mission trip about 7 times before leading this first-time ever adult/family trip. Her calm, laid-back personality was a big help on this trip. This is a picture of her with the child that her family sponsors, Escarle (who I got the privilege of tutoring over the week). Melissa and John were married within about a month of when Mike and I got married, so we have lived through many of the same life experiences as each other. 

This is Sarah, born a month after me. Her daughters are both in college right now, one at Grace College (I graduated from Grace) and one at Taylor University (I went to Taylor Fort Wayne my freshman year). She's a volleyball coach for BCSC (the district I teach in). She's on the prayer team at church, an incredible prayer warrior and very in tune with the Spirit. God gave her some very specific answers to her prayers over the week and made his guidance very clear over a specific child in need of a sponsor. Seeing her sweet connection with God over the week was truly inspiring and invigorating for my own faith. Her faith really touched my soul. I'm eternally grateful for this new friend and our opportunity to talk so deeply over our 8 days of traveling together. 

Here we are on Sunday morning worshipping online with the rest of our team, our family at Terrace Lake Church. The moment that our pastor prayed specifically for us gave me goosebumps. 

I love how God drew our small team together and bonded us all so well with the connections He knew we already shared. We sure had a lot of fun playing Dutch Blitz late into the night on several occasions! 
Our Terrace Lake team also became part of the overall Freedom International team, consisting of Abby (the teams coordinator), about 7 missionary couples with their families, about 3 more single missionaries, and then several year-long interns. We especially enjoyed getting to know Abby as she took care of our team, Ryan as he oversaw a lot of the grounds work that Mike and John did, Kimberly as she taught English to the Pre-K classes who we tutored, Scott as he gave us an educational tour of the neighboring bateys (villages for the sugar cane workers) and showed us where Freedom originally started, and Jacob and Mia, missionaries sent directly from Terrace Lake Church. Taylor Ingram has also been sent from our church, but she was at language school when we were there. With Mike and I still being fairly new in Columbus, we appreciate now having this connection with people like Jacob and Mia. We also got to know several of the interns, Lilly, Grace, and Maria, and hear their stories of how God called them to spend this year of their life serving at Freedom. Their passion for cross-cultural ministry reminded me so much of myself at their age, wondering just where God would place me and how He would use me. 

DR Reflections--Part 1 (Our arrival)

As I said in an earlier post, my first true exposure to the Spanish language came through a personal connection in my early teens to two high-school aged girls from the Dominican Republic who worked at McDonalds with my older brother. Over a period of time, they became like family to me, and I still call them my Dominican sisters today. They introduced me to their language, accent, culture, and food and music, giving me an insatiable thirst to immerse myself in all things Spanish. From then on, I excelled in any Spanish class I took and set my heart on traveling to Spanish-speaking countries that could bring my Spanish classes to life. 
God later opened doors for me to travel to Mexico numerous times on mission trips (and also a few personal trips), to study abroad in Argentina, and to make a weekend visit to Uruguay. Years later I spent time in and adopted my son from Colombia and later traveled to both Guatemala and Spain with him. My husband and I went on a cruise that stopped in Honduras and Belize. Now after 30 years since my first trip to Mexico, I finally made it to the Dominican Republic, the country that first captured my heart and gave me a desire to learn and embrace its language and culture. (If you count the United States, that makes it my tenth Spanish-speaking country to visit). 






We made it! And look how close we are to Puerto Rico, my next destination in just another two months!

Watching the flight tracker is one of my favorite things to do while in the air, showing me what places we're flying over and just where we are in the world. I loved seeing just how close the Dominican is to Colombia, the other country so near and dear to my heart. 

We were somewhat surprised at how mountainous we found the terrain as we flew into the Dominican. 

When I studied for my Spanish licensure exam last summer, I learned a lot more about each Spanish-speaking country's flag. I never knew before that the Dominican Republic is the only flag with a Bible on it. Getting to finally be on the ground to see their flag flying in the wind just filled my heart with delight. 
Even more interesting is the verse that Bible is open to on their flag. John 8:31-32"If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will now the truth, and the truth will set you free." Sounds like a clear path to FREEDOM to me.

But first a stop at Wendy's to grab some lunch before we arrived at Freedom International Ministries. 

To the Dominican Republic we go!

Freedom International Ministries


My insatiable appetite to learn Spanish began some time during my middle school years when God gifted me with a beautiful friendship with two young ladies from the Dominican Republic who both worked at McDonald's with my brother. Those two young ladies became Christians through our family and became like sisters to me. It's always been a deep desire of my heart to one day visit their country. That desire rekindled within me this last summer while I intensely studied the history of all 21 Spanish-speaking countries for my Spanish licensure exam. 
My Dominican "sisters". I do have pics of us much older than here, but I have no idea where they might be at the moment. This captures the time when we met and grew close, though. 


The youth in my new church go to the Dominican every summer to visit Freedom International Ministries, a Christian school that we support and where we have sent our own members as missionaries.  This year the church decided to take their first ever adult/family mission trip there. They attempted to take a trip last summer, but the time wasn't right. So they set a new date for spring break of 2025 (March 15-22), and I just knew I had to go. I attended the meeting and signed up shortly after it. We went back and forth over the idea of Mike signing up, too, but we decided against it financially. He seemed a little bummed, but didn't say much about it. As the time drew closer, we found out the team was much smaller than expected, so we started talking about Mike again. God just kept the door open and we realized we are supposed to take the leap of faith and go together on this trip! We now have airline tickets with both of our names on them, and we leave in about six weeks! 
We will be staying in the dorm style rooms at the school and will be working alongside other teams that may be visiting during the same week. Mike will be able to use his skills to work with any construction projects going on, while I will be able to use my skills to help out with English enrichment time in the school (they really count on mission teams to make this an authentic English time), and I will be visiting the villages in the afternoons and helping out with VBS types of activities. I'm assuming I'll be able to use my Spanish skills when we go out into the villages. We will also have a day to go to the beach right after we arrive before the week starts. 

We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this quickly approaching trip, for our health to be in tact, for my stress level at school the week before and after (as I tend to get overwhelmed when I have too much on my plate), for our team to gel together well, for the ability to develop lifelong friendships with the people we're traveling with and the people we will meet there, for all the financial aspects to fall into place, and for God to use us as individuals and as a couple to minister to the Dominican children and families, to the school staff, and to our mission team and the other mission teams that will be there. I also have developed a heel spur that can be quite painful at times if I'm not careful, so I'm praying that I won't aggravate it while there. 

If you'd like to give financially to this trip or just to Freedom International Ministries, please let me know so I can let you know the best way to do that. 

 

Capping off 2024, Rolling into 2025

I'm so thankful for an unexpected snow day today so I have time to add these precious memories to my blog while they're still fresh on my mind and heart. I'm currently sitting by a warm fire, looking out the window at about 12 inches of snow that fell over the last two days. I love how beautiful a fresh snow looks before it's disturbed and how peaceful it makes everything feel. I literally have not seen this much snow in about fifteen years. I think the last time I saw so much snow was when I visited my brother in Pennsylvania at the very end of 2009. 

Interestingly, I just got back from spending four days in the Texas sunshine. In fact, after my friend picked me up from the airport, our first "event" together found us siting outside on the patio at a Starbucks for the entire afternoon on December 31st. Talk about contrast!

We started out with four of us, me, Amy, Martha, (two of my closest friends) and Regina (my writer friend who still speaks virtually to my classes about writing!)

Then Aubree (my soulmate friend) came, so we needed another selfie!
Then Seana, my long-time bilingual teaching coworker/church friend (who happens to currently have my last class that I taught in Garland as 2nd graders),
and then Savannah, Aubree's daughter, who is now a teacher also!
It was such a treat to spend the day catching up with all of them, my dearest and closest friends that I am so thankful to keep in touch with despite the miles that separate us. I can't think of a sweeter way to bring 2024 to a close. My parents stopped by briefly, too, but we didn't get a picture with them.
Besides hanging out at Starbucks, Amy and I also enjoyed a lovely lunch and dinner together before we both fell asleep before midnight while watching movies. LOL. Hey, I'd been up since 2:30 a.m. Texas time in order to catch my flight. 


For New Year's Day, Amy and I watched another movie together and then grabbed a quick lunch out at Chick Fil-A before she dropped me off at my parents' house for the next two days and nights. 

I insisted on sitting outside in the Texas sunshine that I miss so much at this time of the year. 



Definitely don't see this in January in Indiana


Then my precious son, Juan David, came with his girlfriend, Loren, and took me out for a Vietnamese dinner. 
And then we sat in the car in front of my parents' house so they could open their gifts and stockings that I brought for them. 
Juan found a special bowl for eating his ramen at home in his stocking, which I had already noticed in a picture that he'd received from someone else--so now he has two identical ramen bowls with his favorite anime character on them. LOL. 
The next day my mom and I went shopping at all of our favorite little stores nearby, and I stocked up on a bunch of little Texas trinkets to take back for my coworkers who always bring me things from their travels back to their countries. 

We also did a little crafting together. I failed to get a picture of my mom's craft, her yummy reuben egg rolls that she made for our dinner. 
I made a rope wreath for my classroom with different center ornaments that I can change out for different seasons, along with the ribbon. 
My mom took me out the next day for lunch at a beautiful tea shop she'd just discovered called the Chocolate Angel. It's located right in the center of an antique mall. I don't know how I lived in Texas for so long without knowing about such an adorable place! It was a real treat, and the strawberry pretzel salad was delicious!




After lunch, we went back to the house to get my stuff, exchange some writing projects with my dad, and get one last picture together. 
Well, maybe a few last pictures. 

I spent my last evening in Texas out with my son, Juan, and my friends, Warren and Martha. Juan treated us all to an amazing dinner experience at Delucca's. (Loren got sick and couldn't join us). I'd call it a cross between Cici's and a Brazilian steakhouse. The waiters kept coming around with about 25 different kinds of pizza (dessert pizzas, too), and you ate until you just couldn't eat any more. Plus they brought you arrugula salad, meatballs, and a warm, creamy lobster soup in a cup. My favorites were the street corn pizza and the dulce de leche dessert pizza. 

Juan and I got a couple last pictures together outside before he gave me my Christmas gifts and one last giant hug. I love and miss that boy so much!


New pink slippers from Juan! And a new planner and devotional book.
I stayed at Warren and Martha's house that night so they could take me back to the airport early the next morning. So Martha and I stayed up coloring and watching Hallmark movies. I love friends that are so comfortable to be with. 

I made it through security the next morning with enough time to get a quick breakfast before my flight.  And before I knew it, my plane landed back in Indianapolis. 

Mike and David and I enjoyed a nice lunch out together, got some groceries to stock up before the winter storm predicted to come in the next morning, and then we made it back home to settle in. I came home to quite a nice surprise in my bedroom/bathroom that they spent hours working on over New Year's!


They did a fabulous job! I felt spoiled for sure. :)
The next morning, since we haven't taken down the Christmas trees yet, I was able to put up my newest ornament that Amy gave me while in Texas. :) So thankful for such a treasured friend and for the way we both intentionally stay connected, despite the many miles that now separate us. 

The three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas truly exhausted me mentally to the point that I didn't even look forward to making a quick trip to Texas. I knew that I already had a packed semester ahead of me without any kind of break (going on a mission trip over spring break), so I really wasn't enthused about "sacrificing" any of my winter break. Plus David is here indefinitely for now, and I didn't want to miss any time over Christmas with him. But I'm so thankful I bought the tickets and went because I felt so spoiled and loved on all four days. I needed that reconnection with my close friends and family. It filled me up emotionally in a way I didn't realize I needed. It was worth every penny and every minute. 

Word for 2025

Last year my word for the year was PRESENT. 2024 brought a lot of change and ushered in a lot of new things. New is exciting and invigorating, but it's also exhausting. There's not always a precedent for new, so there's no prior knowledge to cling to when you're going through something new. Nothing to compare it to or to help you prepare for it. You just have to keep charging forward and learn as you go. So God didn't really give me a choice but to be intentionally present in the here and now because my brain was too exhausted to be anywhere else. Teaching a new grade in a new school in a new area meant I had a lot to learn every single day. I never once regretted the decision to teach the older kids, but there's just no way to get past doing something new than to just barrel through it. Now that I've got a semester under my belt, I feel much more prepared to take on the second semester. 

So I find it fitting that one of my students' new vocab words stood out to me so much that I think it's supposed to be my word for 2025. INTREPIDEZ. Yep, that's Spanish for  FEARLESSNESS. Basically a reminder to not hold back when something new comes along just because new is scary or doesn't necessarily fit in my plans. Be adventurous! 

Deuteronomy 31:6: 

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you". 

So here's to embracing a fearless, adventurous spirit in the year ahead. So far the calendar holds quite a bit of travel within the next six months with two short trips to Texas (one of which I'm on right now), a mission trip to the Dominican Republic, a camping trip with 6th graders, and our first pioneer trip with Legado students to Puerto Rico! Mike and I are also joining a pilot group at our church over the next three to four months to "pioneer" the concept of freedom groups, something similar to what we had in our church in Texas. 

Here are my words for the last 11 years so I always have them as a reference.

2013-Trust

2014-Live

2015-Give

2016-JOY

2017-Focus

2018-Cherish

2019-Shine

2020-Release

2021-Receive

2022-Peace

2023-Satisfy

2024-Present

24 Blessings from 2024

1. The best of friends who stay close no matter how far apart you really are

2. Getting to have lunch with my Grandma
3. Receiving my certificate in Biblical counseling


4. Mike built me a book nook like I've always wanted.

5. 25 years of marriage

6. An anniversary gift that. turned THIS....

into THAT!

7. Blessing my students at New Song with three personal author visits to learn more about writing as a career, one virtually and two in person
Regina Stone Matthews
David Runge
and Emilie Hendryx Haney
8. Experiencing a total solar eclypse

To me, it was an incredible experience
9. My baby graduated college!!!!!




10. People like this in my son's life who have mentored, discipled, and encouraged him since the 6th grade and continue to do so even now
11. A trip to the "beach", AKA Silver Lake Dunes in Michigan




12. And family to travel with

13. Finding a podcast that helped me brush up on my Spanish skills and and cultural knowledge in preparation for a test to become a certified Spanish teacher in Indiana. I loved this podcast and learned a ton every day all summer lon!

14. Amazon Wish List for teachers. I was blown away by people's generosity and support of me as an educator.








15. A new opportunity to teach in a Dual Language program with the warmest welcome I ever could have imagined



16. New coworkers from all over the world who love their job and enthusiastically support their team




17. Seeing God weave so many details of my life all together, making so many connections I never could have fathomed
One of my first and closest friends I made here at my church,
whose son is now a Legado Spanish Immersion student, who volunteered at a community event with his mom, me, and several of my students.
18. A step in my teaching career that has stretched me in many ways and pushed me to do things I might not have ever tried (like teaching 6th graders!)

19. New travel opportunities coming up during second semester


20. A powerful reconnected friendship here in Indiana with friends we met in Colombia, who know both Juan David AND Julian on on a very personal level.  Only God weaves stories together like this one. 

21. Terrace Lake Church and all of the friendships and ministries we get to be a part of.


22. The way these boys love their outdoor toys and how they work the land with them


23. A front row seat to God's beautiful creation


24. Extra time with David post-graduation, soaking up every opportunity to make memories with him here in Indiana



















































































































 

Christmas 2024

It's been a very busy holiday season here, between working at a very festive school, having adventurous friends, being part of a great church community, and living by the world's best neighbors. If you haven't heard from me since Thanksgiving, here's why! 
Our Christmas celebrations started during Thanksgiving break with a trip to Madison, Indiana to see Christmas lights with my sweet friends from Colombia, Zayde and Alvaro, and their daughter Toni and her fiancee, Eric. One of Toni's friends from ECA (El Camino Academy in Bogotá) also joined us. Such a sweet reminder of how God connects us as family and weaves our stories together. 



I came back from break to a precious gift from a new coworker from Mexico that just touched my heart!

That first week back at work, we had a family gingerbread night at my new school, and I appreciated my husband and son's willingness to join me in the event, even though it was mostly for teachers with little kids. We had fun making gingerbread houses together.


For the three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I set up a stocking for all of my students and the staff that work directly with them and gave them a chance to write notes of appreciation to each other. I've always done something like this with my students, and each group of students reacts differently. Sixth graders are an interesting breed, but I noticed that my quieter students really got into it and enjoyed it. They all kept wanting to peek into their stocking ahead of time, and they cared more about getting their stocking on the final day than they did about anything else planned for our party. 
Then we had the annual Festival of Lights parade in Columbus. This year we sat at the beginning of the parade rather than the end, and it was a much better experience. Plus it wasn't freezing like in year's past.

Following the parade, my school had a fundraiser winter dance to raise money for our 6th grade camp in May, and I got "voluntold" to take care of the decorations. My very creative sister-in-law had a bright idea to visit the floats after the parade and ask if anybody had decorations they no longer wanted or needed that they might donate to our winter dance. Two truckloads later, we had a bunch of fake wrapped presents, some big candy canes, and a massive gingerbread house!

Before knowing I'd have all of those decorations, I had also asked Mike and David to make me some wooden Christmas trees (for our house) that I could use for the dance, and they made those for me, too. They turned out beautiful! As did the dance. 


My little friend, Cooper, who is my sweet friend, Hannah's son and is also in the Legado Spanish Immersion Program where I teach. I snatched him after school to help me decorate for the dance. 



Immediately after the dance, we continued with another fundraiser at school, Holiday Shop, which took place for the whole school to shop out of two different classrooms in sixth grade, one being mine. So while my students "supposedly" did E-learning, they also helped out all the shoppers that came through. 


It made for an interesting week, to say the least. But the love and gifting spirit of my coworkers and administration kept my spirits high. 


For our Christmas party/activity day, I had games set up at all the tables for the kids to rotate around and play together before we watched a movie together and had hot cocoa and popcorn. A nice way to end the semester of hard work.


Once school got out for break, we went with a group from church to a Colt's game because they were doing Faith and Football afterward, where we got to go down to the field and hear testimonies from two of the players and one of the cheerleaders. It was quite inspiring! The best part of the day (for me) was when I posted on Facebook that we were at the game and found out my niece was there, too, on a field trip with her Christian school in Warsaw! It was such a treat to see her!




We had a day to recuperate before Christmas Eve, and then the day started with lots of treats. First the neighbors came over with cookies, and then we saw more neighbors walk by and fill up our mailbox, that already had a package in it from my parents (just in time!).
That night, we went to the Christmas Eve service at church and got our picture by the tree. I was so excited to finally get to wear pink for Christmas since my friend in Texas found me a shirt with pink Christmas trees on it. :) Turned out nice for the picture, too!

In keeping with tradition, we stopped at Papa John's after church to bring home our Christmas Eve dinner before we opened all of our gifts, drank hot cocoa and watched Christmas movies. 









Of course, I now I have slippers that look like cowboy boots. :) Should I expect anything less from my boot-loving family? Lol. 

They treated me well. :) Now I can finally replace my 15 year old printer, and I can bake banana bread muffins and not spend tons of time cleaning the metal pans afterward. 

Then tradition continued with cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas morning as everyone got up on their own time and enjoyed a quiet, peaceful morning. 


Late afternoon on Christmas Day we went over to Mike's brother's house to have Christmas dinner with them and continue exchanging gifts. 




You can tell we are cat-loving families because they got David a funny cat book, I got a game called You're Kitten Me, and I gave Chrissy grouchy cat socks!

We missed Juan, but he sent me a picture of all of his gifts late last night, and he was definitely showered with love. 

I sure did enjoy having David here for all of the season this year and really focused on savoring every moment I could with him. He said this year felt more Christmasy than any other year, and that warmed my heart. I was a bit overwhelmed with work things, so honestly I think he's the one who made it feel so Christmasy around here. I loved experiencing his generous heart in this very new season of his life.  God's preparing a job for him somewhere soon, so I'll continue to embrace every day I have with him while this is still home to him. 

15 years

It's been 15 years since I tearfully pulled out those blue snowflake stockings and wished I'd never seen or gotten them earlier that summer in preparation for my first Christmas with my little girl. The daughter of my heart that never came home.  While managing an online failed adoption grief support group now, I'm reminded every year of how heart-wrenching that first Christmas without her was. 

But God. 
Ever since reconnecting with her and visiting her in Spain back in 2017, not a birthday or Christmas goes by without the chance to communicate with her and tell her I love her. 
So I make it a point yesterday to savor my communication with her, to cherish the Christmas conversation that she herself initiated, wishing me a Merry Christmas. When I said I loved her, she said, "I love you more." When I told her I always carry her in my heart and pray for her every day, she said she does the same. 
The love I poured into that 7 year old girl mattered, even if she never became the daughter I hoped for. It wasn't in vain. It had purpose. It filled her up when she needed it, and it still lives on today with the love she continues to pour back into me. Reading her Christmas message to me yesterday was like unwrapping a priceless gift. So grateful.