what do you REALLY know..?

jessi and ariel are getting MARRIED!!

you know what this means..
no? c'mon..

the girl needs a bridal shower!! yeah!
we threw her a surprise shower to celebrate. she and candace had just gone to dinner and candace made up some shpeel about how she needed to go to robin and cara's apartment. we ate a ton of snacks, jessi opened her presents, and played some games.. one of my favorites:

we'd asked ariel questions about himself.. and about jessi.. wrote them all down..
THEN made her answer ALL of the questions in front of all of us.. funn.

three whole years

happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday los tweeeeems
happy birthday to YOU!

our two favorite little twinkies and roommates turned THREE! big day :)

sharla invited their nana and papa (jim and teresa) to their birthday party which was super exciting! they came from santiago and we all sang, jakob and isaak blew out the candles, and got to eat CAKE! they LOOOVED the cake and couldn't get enough.



man, i can't wait to see two of my favorite little dudes in 3 more years. they get cooler by the day.

i love you boys. happy birthday!!

discipline and salsa

anne registered our staff to attend a "positive discipline" workshop at doulos discovery school in jarabacoa. the doulos school is incredible and really inspiring. chad and krista wallace, the founders of the school, are amazing people and the work God is doing through them is absolutely brilliant. i really can't speak highly enough about them and their school; their professional work and personal selves are very respectable. their house is the one we stayed in last fall for a weekend when we did the awesome swing thing, rode horses (and a donkey), hiked, etc.. and they let us stay there w/o even knowing us first and w/o even being there the first night! it is an honor to know them and it is really neat for us that anne connected us to a little part of what they are doing.

the workshop was really informative and interesting. i actually really LOVE to learn about all of that kind of stuff and the workshop gave our staff new ideas to impliment in our classrooms and school. there are so many new ways we can make learning interactive and have the students participate in classroom decisions.

and how about this? instead of "HEY.. QUIT RUNNING AROUND THE ROOM! GO STAND ON THE WALL!!" i will try "ok you have 2 options. you can sit in your chair and participate or we can go outside and talk to robin." yeah, skills.

bonus- we rented this sweet van and mama anne drove us all:

on the way to jarabacoa we stayed at the white's one night (santiago was about the midway point between puerto plata and jarabacoa) and went out to dinner.

we. ate. mexican food.
at a mexican food restaurant.
salsa. burritos. fajitas.

these are things we just don't ever get to eat around montellano or puerto plata. i was maybe too excited..

rainy weekends..

sure when it rains the weather is not ideal for going to the beach, hanging laundry out to dry.. or really for going outside because somehow we just get soaked walking around.. BUT there are definitely some perks here about the rain:

1. rain = cool nights (sometimes we can use TWO sheets because it feel that cold and we don't even have to turn on the fans!)

2. good solid rainy day play time w/ jakob and isaak!

i feel like we get into the whole going, going, going routine sometimes and forget to chill out and relax with each other. katy, kendall, jakob, isaak, and i were the only ones hanging out at the house this particular weekend we were stuck in a raincloud.. and it was FUN. it was actually the first time we roommates were able to hang out without the group being here! oh and thank you God for the rain now. i know i will be wishing for it in the HOT summer!

kisses for jakob!

some love for isaak too!

isaak chowin' down at lunch time

k and k with the dudes at the table

chopped it off!

one day..
after teaching art class..
i walked over to cara and robin's apartment..

and cara chopped my hair off.

turns out she is all professional and such..

goodbye 5-6 inches..

check out that pile of haaair! (looks like i am crying but i was really glad)

haha..

it is gone!

stone group

first group after christmas break: austin stone college group!
mission: build a wall. YES.

here's the deal- around our school is what we like to call our, you know, "school yard" (clever?). it is a wonderful space for the chilluns to run around and play. however it has been kind of hard first of all to define to the neighbors, kids, me.. exactly where it starts/stops. AND people just kept coming in and stealing our fruit! (fyi- we have quite the garden out there..)

brilliant solution? a wall. clear boundries. protection..

in true dominican fashion of course it is cinder block style..

some of the awesome group working with some of our friends who live around the school. shovel that dirt!

why of course there was some time to play.. :)

THANK YOU AUSTIN STONE.

really, there were SO many amazing things about this group. nicki and scott were incredible leaders and i was so happy to see some familiar faces from home!! everyone was extremely hard-working and so incredibly flexible about everything. some hardcore ladies attacked my termite-filled shelves, others carried cinder block for hours, some worked in the garden and made the yard look awesome.. of course they wore themselves out loving on our kids.. AND when all of our directors were out of the country at the end of the stone trip, the group ROCKED the bucket baths and "no flushing" after a sweaty beach day (our pump overheated, we had no water in the cistern.. calling a water truck and soliciting help from our neighbors didn't fix it.. blah)

the wall is still coming and it will be so cool when it is all finished. praise Jesus for bringing such willing people to serve Him in this.

full bellies = strong

how are we going to start the year (yes, we've been in school.. i mean 2009) out with the chilluns? for "cara time" she did a unit on water. SUPER IMPORTANT. aaand super brilliant. i mean, they really just NEED to know that water from the botellón (the water jug thing) is good to drink and that it is clean.
cleaner than tap water.
cleaner than the river water (that is mixed of course with pee, soap, trash, parasites.. yum).
anyway, GREAT lesson..

another peek into cara's awesomeness for you.. she taught us that food makes you strong. that's right. so now everyone is always always reminding me "profe!!!!! i ate my food!" (as the flexing ensues..) and of course the shirts are yanked up so we can ALL see the full bellies of food that make us STRONG.


not nearly as many "i am NOT eating" decisions..
now it is more like "bahaha i ate more than carlos so i will be stronger!!!!!"

thanks cara.. for caring about their little bellies and bodies. :)

so we met in the airport..

meet my new friend, stacey:

we first began our friendship in the lovely dallas airport.. we'd already boarded the flight and gotten settled in when "we will be deplaning due to difficulties shutting/sealing the door.." came on.

well, that just doesn't sound safe, right?

so we deplaned. and waited. (hadn't met yet at this point). i got some snacks and returned to our terminal. waited. saw an empty seat next to a girl about my age. she was on the phone explaining our situation so i sat and started my crossword..

"well i don't know if i will get to haiti today. i might miss the flight from miami.."

haiti?? awesome! we were going to the same island! wait, that means i won't be getting their either probably.. wonder why she is going to haiti.. maybe i will ask. no, that is nosy..

i asked.. turns out stacey is all sorts of awesome and we talked until they'd gotten a new plane for us. praise Jesus she was there because we were able to figure out all the reservation/flight change stuff together. we were both going to miss our flights in miami and have to stay there overnight.. in miami, we met up again at the counter to get our meal and hotel vouchers.

"so we should hang out tonight.."

yeah, we should!

and that's what we did. we were put in the same hotel so we watched tv in her room, ate dinner together, played on our computers, had a photo shoot.. it was really FUN. stacey was definitely the best part about the delay!


oh, and bonus: cara AND my 2 new roommates were on my flight the next day! got to meet 2 more people in the airport..

the kelso's 12.27.08

my ashlynn. shlynn. shlynnie. farmer shlynn..
GOT MARRIED!!

i was so blessed and honored to be a part of it. i wish i could have been there for more of the planning and such of course.. we had so. much. fun. as bridesmaids (jesica, kristi, sonia, heather, and me) together the week before the wedding. we have grown up together for over TEN YEARS (that is more than a decade, people..) and i looooved spending so much time with some of my girls.. ah, i love y'all. here is a mini-rundown of our time during this part of my visit back to the states:

heather, kris, the BACHELORETTE, me, and sonia before heading out for din-din at p.f. chaaangs!

the bride-to-be opening some of her gifts at her bachelorette party..

this could sum up much of the time we spent together: daaaancing. (i miss this, kris!)

me, jes, shlynn, kris, sonia, and heather at the rehearsal.. :) we rehearsed. then ate some dinner..

we hung out all day on THE day.. make-up, eating, hair, eating, talking, talking, talking, eating, getting each other cinched into our dresses, making up dances, taking pictures, laughing, praying, getting nervous/excited..

then it happened! the ceremony was beautiful and ashlynn was gorgeous of course. such a sweet time. it is official: ashlynn and clay kelso. the kelso's.

bridesmaids at the reception.. all the single ladies, put your hands up..

my sista and brotha that i love oh so very much

why of course, there was dancing. much dancing.

so happy for mr. and mrs. kelso :)

ashlynn, i love you and am always praying for your lives together. i can't wait to see what God does with you guys..

1st weekend home!

the entire 2 weeks i was home seem like a whiiiirlwind. a fun whirlwind. in summary (though i know you'd love to hear me blab..) there were 2 weddings, my dad's birthday, fun bridesmaid stuff for ashlynn and clay's wedding (bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, spa day, FUN..), appointment after appointment, a mini-trip to spicewood, eating indian food and mexican food (oh how i miss it), Christmas, new year's, spending time w/ my wonderful friends, family time... you get the picture. it was awesome. i came back more tired than rested but, man,

it. was. worth. it.

the first weekend i was there, kenneth and kelsey got married!! it was absolutley beautiful and of course i could not be more excited. it was also like a reunion w/ our little georgetown family :)

almost cried (actually i did, didn't i?) when i got to see shlynnie!!!!!!

um, that's right. my soul mate friend, KOOOOSH, came.

the stunning couple.. takin' it away on the dance floor!

some of my favorite people.. class of '04 dude reuinion at the reception

emily, my siiiiister, and kelly were there too!!

what an amazing evening. congratulations, kenneth and kels. love you guys!!