Kindergarten Graduation!

We had our kindergarten graduation on Friday. It was super cute. The kids did an awesome job. Victoria and I did some speeches (I even got a little emotional), the kids sang and they got these little certificates. It was cute and absolutely exhausting. What is even more exhausting is that they have 3 more weeks of school...what??? I don't understand, but we're going to try to make it fun (ok, funner than usual). lol 21 five year olds is ridiculously crazy sometimes, but we have fun and I love 21 hugs everyday :) That's pretty much all for now. I guess we did have a teacher sleep over last night to say good bye to Peggy, Kim and Kim as they prepare to leave in 4 weeks :(. We all stayed up late and then made a great lunch. I made french toast casserole. It turned out just like mom's (you would have been proud mom). It made me a little homesick, but was awesome. Okay, and that's really all. Buenas noches.

Trusting God in changes...

Life has been doing a lot of changes (as if it didn't change enough with moving to a new country, living with a new family, speaking a new language, working a new job, etc. lol no big deal). Anyway, just as life started getting a little "normal" here, things changed again and we're working through a lot of changes with our school and life. I have been so busy that I was almost sick of the weekend. I barely did anything all weekend and just laid in bed all weekend. Sorry to everyone to whom I haven't responded by phone, email, etc. I haven't had a spare moment and I am exhausted. lol but what's new, we all are for different reasons. As things change again, I find myself having to remember to trust the Lord again. No matter what changes, no matter how out of control life feels, God gives us the peace beyond all understanding. God has been providing for me in little ways that show me that He cares about the little things. How cool! Here's a funny example from today...you people from Cincinnati, even more so you people that are "faithful church softball followers" ;). So I was at basketball practice today and all the sudden thought how much I would enjoy going to Price Hill Chili for dinner. Obviously not possible, I dismissed it out of the mind. Then when I got home, my family was making onion rings! We've never had that here, or anything like it. lol that is my absolute favorite thing from Price Hill Chili. We also had bbq chicken wings. Not a huge deal, but hey it's the little things. I was thrilled...smiled the whole dinner. lol creepy. Anyway, I'll leave you with a neat verse that popped out to me this week that spoke to my heart.

2 Chronicles 20:12

"...For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO, BUT OUR EYES ARE UPON YOU."

I don't know what your "vast army" is and you may not know what to do...but the best thing we can do is put our eyes upon Him. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness :).

Senior Trip :)

Back from the senior trip that I chaperoned. It was me and eight high schoolers. I went in excited, but not really sure of what to expect...but I ended up having so much fun. I think they were all so suprised at how much fun the had as well. It was kind of a random group and two languages going around all the time, but we all bonded a lot and just laughed. I loved it. It was fun getting to know all of them and see their personalities come out. It was quite adventurous...taking a public bus 5 hours, getting in the back of a pick up...trusting them to cook meals...etc. Thankfully they behaved really awesomely and we didn't have to deal with any behavioral problems. lol So that was good. I think the best part was probably laying on the beach with them at night looking at the stars and sharing embarassing stories. I definitely took the prize :) Anyway, so all else is well. Please pray for our school. We are going through some transitions. Our director (who is wonderful) had to go back to the states to have surgery and there are some complications with his new prosthetic. Long story short, he is having to stay for a long time and has decided to take a rather long leave of absence...maybe for good. We are all bummed and now our school must make a lot of decisions. You're prayers are much appreciated. Thanks!

Cursing in dos languages :)

Good story for you. So my friend Jen was talking in Spanish to my team teacher the other day. She was trying to tell Victoria that her son was a little scared to ask to go to the bathroom in Spanish class. To say this, you would say: "El tiene miedo en su clase..." which means "he has fear in your class." Rather than saying that, Jen said, "El tiene mierda en su clase..." which directly translates "he has sh*t in your class." So basically Victoria thought Jen was really mad because her son had sh*t in her class. LOL Pardon my language, but it is just so funny. Victoria was like, "never say that word." So I came home and told my family and they were cracking up. They were asking me about the curse word and how it was different from "sheet" in English. To them, it's very difficult because there is no short "i" sound in spanish, so both words sound the same when they say it. (You may remember my past mishaps with this term in Spanish). Anyway, so my Tico mom keeps trying to say it correctly but it never comes out right so she's walking around the house saying, "There is a sh*t on my bed." or "Please give me that sh*t to make copies of it." I was dying laughing. Everyone was cracking up. So probably not appropriate language for my missionary blog update...but it's life...and really funny. That's all for now. Please pray for me, I am the chaperone of our school's senior trip to the beach this weekend. I'm a little nervous, but more than anything I want God to work in their hearts! Plus for safety, wisdom on my part, and smart, appropriate behavior on the students' part. Oh God help us all!

New trimester :)

Hey! Here are some pictures of my students that I recently took. This week marked the start of a new trimester so I received 3 new students...which takes the count to 21 kindergarteners. There were more than a few times this week that I questioned whether or not I could really do this...it's a good thing that God gives me strength :). The week went well but it was hard to get the students back on track after spring break. The new kids have transitioned well, however, and I'm excited to finish up our last 6 weeks of school! Yay! I can't believe how fast it is going. I'm six weeks away from being done with my first year of teaching. Weird. God has been doing some amazing things and I am really excited. I have been learning a lot about faith and about believing God and I have just been amazed by God's work. If you think about it, please pray for God's work in me...increasing my faith and giving me wisdom to carry out His will. It's exciting to know that we can have faith in His incomparably great power (Ephesians 1) and that we share in an inheritance of God keeping His promises to those who believe in Him (Romans 4). I love it :) Besides that, my spanish is improving more and more everyday (thank you Jesus) and I'm coming to understand almost everything I hear. It is such a blessing. Well, that's all for now. There is so much more, but I'm going to try to blog another time this week. I'll leave you with this picture of a beautiful flower we found on a walk with my Tico mom the other day.

Back....home?

Well I was able to go home to the United States for a week and it was wonderful. I had a chance to catch up with a lot of people that I miss so much. I loved going to church and singing in English (although I couldn't believe how short it was in comparison to my church here). I had another waffle party with my family to celebrate my cousin Sarah's birthday, ate lots of food I was missing, worked at City Gospel mission, watched Hannah's trackmeet, and went to Cedarville. I got to hang out with my best friend and catch up with so many people that I absolutely adore, eat Chipotle and a resee sundae at Cedarville (which was amazing). It was also great hanging out with my family and seeing my doggy, teach Spanish to Grace and go shopping for the millions of things that people asked me to bring back. Overall, it was great...and now I'm exhausted. Thankfully...well I think, I didn't catch the swine flu in the airport (seemed like everyone had those state of the art masks) and I returned "home" to my Tico family that had beans, rice and meat waiting for me. It was wonderful. My stomach was a lot happier with that than the restaurant food. :) So now I'm back and it is raining...actually pouring at the moment...which means rainy season has returned. Kinda sad...but refreshing too. Goes without being said that it's necessary in a rain forest. The coolest thing is that with the rain, all the flowers pop out. :) Well, that's all for now. All is well and we are looking forward to tomorrow. Please pray for me as I will have 21 five and 6 year olds in my class tomorrow...which is insane. And please pray for the new missionary kids as they make the transition to living in a new country this week. Thanks and God bless!