miss you, katy!!

all for you kah-tee. love you. :)

couldn't let you miss out on g's new mooooves.

zach graduated!

zach graduated. zach graduated. zach graduated.. that means he will be going to COLLEGE. whoa. when did he even turn 8 years old?? i don't remember him being this old.. anyway, wierd. SO stinkin' proud of my brother. it has been so encouraging to see how he has matured and grown. he is such a cool kid and i can't wait to see the man God continues to make of him. seriously, though. i could go on and on and i'm not just saying that because i am his sister.. he rocks, people.

some of the graduating peeps on the NEW field in georgetown (cool/wierd..)

i don't know.. some people say we look alike. :) proud of you, zachy!

graduated? YEAH he did!

brotha and some buddies.. can't believe they're all done!

christina and i are so proud of our brothers!

CONGRATULATIONS, ZACHARY!! i can't tell you how excited i am for you about all of the sweet things ahead of you. i LOVE you so much.

week in tejas

i was so thankful to be able to go home to visit friends and family for a week before all of our summer stuff got started. of course there never seems to be enough time to see everyone but i love the little time i do get to spend with friends and family.. here is a mini-collection of photos from the week:

i learned how to long board with zach! it was really fun/a little scary. i did alright until the LAST run. i was holding onto the car while he pulled me and when he stopped i was supposed to cut in front of him around the corner.. what it actually looked like was me NOT cutting hard enough, deciding to jump off because i was headed for the curb, and barrel rolling on the pavement because i was definitely going faster than my feet could run. ouch.

lunch date with my sister and taylor. love my crazy little sista.

have a coke and smile. tay is a genius at knowing "hippie ashley" places to eat and always has some fun, random place to try that i have never been too. i get lost in all the great places to go but she can totally sort it out and knows the perfect places.. thanks, girl.

and some things haven't changed since like 7th grade.. kristi, jes, sonia and i went to ashlynn's to swim, lay out, and catch up (missed you shlynnie! she got there later) rachel (ashlynn's mom/another mom for all of us) had invited us to come over even though no one was going to be there and left drinks in a cooler. when she got back she had NOODLES. so funnn..

before i'd even gotten home, tay had invited me to go to mauldin's 60th birthday party- heck yes! i LOVE her whole family and it was wonderful to eat some good bar-b-q and do a little dancing with everyone!

there was a lot going on but there are some of the highlights from the week! love me some tejas time. love all you tejas peeps too.

kennedy anne

i have been so thankful for God's timing in many things this year and i couldn't believe how perfect it was this may. i only had one week off after preschool ended and our summer literacy camp/group stuff started. i was talking to ashlynn on the computer one afternoon and we figured out that i would be home right around her due date!

..so i basically started happy crying almost in disbelief of how perfect that would be. when i got home, kristi and i road-tripped it up to san angelo to meet the beautiful kennedy anne. it was SO good to see clay and ashlynn and meet their sweet daughter. auntie tinkle (me..) and auntie kristi FELL IN LOVE with her in about .3 seconds.. like the speechless, awe-filled kind of love.

kennedy anne is a beautiful little gift from God. i am so thankful for who she will be in all of our lives; she is one LOVED little girl. oh my gosh i am so excited to see her grow up. clay and ashlynn are already such loving parents. we are all amazed at every little expression and noise she makes. oh i wish i could put this into words.. but i feel like i am failing to describe how truly incredible kennedy and her little family are.

auntie kris and kennedy

momma shlynn and her girl :)

auntie tinkle misses you like crazy already, kennedy anne. i love you.

last day of preschool!

our kids are DONE with their first year in preschool!! woo hoo! cara and i "organized" a last-minute "ceremony" for our kids.. basically, it looked like drum rolling, shouting names, giving out folders/crafts from the year, and lots of screaming and clapping.




so proud. good job, chilluns! man, i love these kids!!

cara is pretty

for a project at one of her churches back home, cara had an assignment to have pictures taken in her everyday activities with a sweet pair of frames.. i had the honor of stalking cara for days with a camera.

it was funny to watch the kids play with them and react to her.. here are a couple i thought were cute:

there's really no point to this blog post.. i mean i guess to sum: glasses are fun and cara is pretty.

guitar class concert

for one of cara's personal projects this year, she taught ronni, sili, and ernesto how to play guitar! they LOVE cara so much. she spent a lot of time preparing music for them and ended up making them binders with all they'd learned. the grand finale of their class was a concert at our apartment!

..well, we were all QUITE excited and quite overwhelming for the boys. the whole makarios staff was there and ronni's family came. the boys refused to even come in the apartment for awhile.. they did NOT want all of us watching. most of the staff actually went onto the back porch so they would start. it was really sweet once they'd been convinced to start. they did such a good job! so proud. :) they had such a great teacher..

ronni and ernesto

cara and sili

after eating treats and performing, cara gave them their binders and certificates. it was such a sweet time. because they performed she also promised a trip to the beach.. :)

david and goliath

for the david and goliath story in Bible time we decided to do an interactive play. who better to play the part of goliath than garrett?? for our first round the casting directors (us..) decided yunairi, who is quite possibly the smallest kiddo at school w/ a little bitty voice, would be perfect. i mean, look at the two. what a pair! they certainly looked the part and did a brilliant job telling the story. imagine garrett (goliath) towering over our little yunairi (david).

without hesitaiton she flung the rock (threw crumpled paper) directly at goliath and he came CRASHING down!

drama. truth. brilliance.

because the performance was incredible, the casting directors tried out a couple other students and then had everyone be david for the grand finale performance.

david and goliath: the performance

meet goliath (played by garrett boon):

meet david(s) (played by all the preschoolers):

aaaand ACTION!

goliath is threatening but david(s) have prayed.. no fear. God gives david(s) strength and courage..

goliath is DOWN! praise God for His faithfulness!

a stunning performance.


..then there was an impromptu attack session. poor garrett suffered no serious injuries after being trampled by 30 children.

diego is a YEAR old!

it's official. the cutest little guy in the makarios family is ONE YEAR OLD!! jennie and miguel's son, diego, is such a cool kid. he already has SO much personality and whenever he is around he of course has all of our attention. he is one of the funniest little people to watch and honestly just brings joy wherever he is.

happy birthday, diego! time to celebrate..

opening his presents with his papi

that's right- he got a POOL for his birthday! yeeeeah! how fun is that? (note to self: need blow-up pool) oh AND robin and jennie blew bubbles. miguel played in the water a little and gave us a mini-concert on the mini-keyboard at the mak house. funnn.. miguel's family also came so diego and his cousin got to chill together in the pool.


and of course there was CAKE!! who needs hands, really?

sancocho saturday

anne's face might just sum up how we felt about RIVER day:

this would be one of the reasons for all the excitement: sancocho!!
ok so here's the idea..

WHO: all makarios staff (from the people who work at the school to the guys at the job site) and familias
WHAT: eat sancocho, play in the river
WHEN: saturday
WHERE: the river.. (you know, that one ;)
WHY: sancocho is some dang good soup, we like to hang out with each other, and who doesn't want to be swimming in the river?

everyone just hung out, we went swimming and made a "water slide" through the part the rushes more, the MEN COOKED the soup all day, and we ate. and we ate. and then we ate some more.


and there was a cool tree..

date with luis!

whenever i have a bad day or feel like i am just going to break down for whatever reason, there has been one little man here that God has created who just makes everything ok. do you ever have those moments? when you just need to stop or feel like you are on the verge of tears? whenever i have those mornings, i get to school and pull my little luis fernando over. one hug. praise God for his little bitty arms..

not only is he just sweet and wonderful; he is absolutely hilarious! i love that he narrates my every action and finds it hilarious. he screams across the room and gets excited about everything. he is shy in new situations or with new people but the second he feels comfortable, watch out! he is a wild man. he will talk your ear off and laugh at everthing. not that i have favorites, but he is totally a favorite :)

i absolutely LOVE my little preschool chilluns and they are all so beautifully different. it is so FUN to have time to just play with them outside of school too..

one day after school the dialogue in my head went like this:
-what should i do this afternoon?
-go get luis and hang out??
-yes, yes, yes.

pretty simple.

i went to his house and asked for permission to take him on a walk for a little bit and we left. he was surprisingly quiet and just held my hand while we walked. we saw a man opening the little ice cream place- perfect timing! luis picked out a little fruit popsicle and we walked to a gazebo so he could finish it/ drip it all over himself. after he was good and sticky we walked to the old cane processing plant (which isn't currently running) and looked at all of the big equipment. the watchy-man came over to tell us we couldn't go in but i ended up asking him to explain what all the big machines do to luis. he was a chatter. i think he liked having someone to talk to..

luis and i just kept walking and went all the way to pancho mateo so he could see where some of his classmates come from every day. we saw a couple of the preschoolers and hung out on the basketball court for awhile. after a little talking and some time to sit, we jumped on a moto back to luis' house (the walk was a long one for his little legs and i think he was tired!).

and that was it. popsicles. sugar cane refinery. walking. pancho. moto.

i love time with this little guy! oh i want you all to meet him..

luis fernando sucking down his popsicle..

on the bridge to pancho- check out his baller shorts!

during our walk

luperon

it is so good good good to be able to occasionally explore other parts of the island we don't see everyday and to be somewhere it feels completely different. we all piled in the truck and headed out to find luperon. for the most part, we knew the general direction to go- not to the mountains, head to the coast.. we had to ask a couple people for directions which sent us all around the tiny town.. but we made it! it was super tranquilo and we were able to really chill out and relax.

(that's garrett out there fishing)

good day.

weave me a hat..

please. cristina said she knows some people who can make it happen. i think i might take her up on it. i mean, how cool does davidson look in this hat?? we have such stylish preschoolers.
i'm thinking maybe teal and brown.. on the hunt for some yarn.

thai thai thai

is it really possible to get enough thai food?
(hint: NO.) look at it..
we had a wonderful reason to revisit lax for another go at thai night: amanda was leaving town! amanda is a really good friend of cara's from back home who stayed with us a few weeks.. she pretty much rocks- freakin' hilarious and just full of spontaneity. she is fearless and friendly and a great person to talk to. for her goodbye dinner we put on some normal clothes and wilson took us all to the restaurant in his sweet van.

the ladies.. with all of our bags

me, johan, robin

wilson, amanda, cara, kendall

oh yes, then we went to bon for some goodbye ice cream..

nice, kendall :)

miss you, amanda!

..and now i am hungry.

clase de arte

quick review of the schedule during the school year:
mon- preschool + staff meeting
tues- preschool + personal project
wed- preschool + personal project
thurs- preschool + personal project
fri- Bible classes for older kids

(if that was a useless repeat of information, sorry. i forget how much i have explained..)

the staff has many projects going on (english class, guitar class, Bible study in chichigua, etc). wednesdays, for my personal project, i would go to the homes of my students and spend time with them and their families to build relationships and just hang out. tuesday and thursday afternoons i taught an art class! i was able to hold it at the school for people that live around tamarindo. shallan would stay with me at the school last semester and katy or kendall would stay to hang out and help this semester. our options are a little limited because of the supplies we have and there are no art supply stores or hobby lobbys around here.. we definitely got creative. :)

there were a lot of random things we did- bead necklaces, make paper beads, fold oragami boxes, watercolor, watercolor over white wax, make cards, prime a shelf, paint t-shirts (thanks to a group!), use acrylics on canvas (thank you again, group for the supplies!), paint frames and put them together, "paint" with chalk, decoupage, make leaf rubbings, design and color puzzles..

i ended up having to create a sign-up sheet because it got really crazy with so many people piled in the room and limited what we could do. there ended up being a cool group of teenage kids, a couple younger kids, some mothers of my students, and even some babies (who had to come so their moms or siblings could be there). the age range was difficult sometimes, trying to accommodate different levels and abilities. i'm thankful they loved it so much, though, and would wait outside for me to open the door up.

frame making.

paint and katy.

yamela.

the original thought for art class was for it to be a safe place for people to escape to, a pause from everything else going on. i wanted it to be a place where relationships would begin and continue to form. i wanted it to be a place where minds could expand and experience freedom in creativity. i wanted it to be a place for removing boundaries. for conversation. for expression.

i can't say it is just bliss all the time. i am thankful though for relationships that have begun and deepened because of the time together. excited to see where everything goes..

curry cravings..

ladies night? yes please. well, i guess we get a lot of these because there really aren't a lot of dudes on staff.. anyway, what we DON'T get to do a lot of "going out" type nights (ain't got no money, ain't got no car to take you on a date.. name that song).

we noticed a sign one day at lax that said wednesday nights are... THAI NIGHTS!! that's right. curry. oh how i crave curry.. on a daily basis.

the staff at lax were still figuring out all the logistics of this themed night so the food was a little slow (more time to talk, right?) but oh man.. it was so worth it. i think i inhaled mine..

my two foxy roommates, katy and kendall

jennie, robin and rachel.. lookin' good.

cara, me and amanda.. love.

i guess the point of this blog is that
1. these girls rock.
2. i love curry.
3. i really love curry.