Today was one of those days that I got A LOT done. That is always a good feeling. I had a goal of getting two grades done and I ended up getting four. I got double the amount of what my goal was!
While I have been here I have been trying to do a job of setting reasonable and flexible goals for myself every day. Goals that are probable to get done but will require focus and effort. It is usually my tendency to have the goal of getting as much as possible done and that is setting myself up to fail. As a result that is how I felt after many days of work, like a failure. As I have tried to set more realistic goals it has proven to be helpful, healthy and productive. So when a day like today happens, it makes it that much better!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Abilene
Exciting News!!!
My sister is currently in labor as I type and she should have a beautiful baby girl by the end of the evening (hopefully earlier)! I am going to have a niece!! Her name is Abilene :)
I was so excited when I received the email this morning that I squealed!
My sister is currently in labor as I type and she should have a beautiful baby girl by the end of the evening (hopefully earlier)! I am going to have a niece!! Her name is Abilene :)
I was so excited when I received the email this morning that I squealed!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
typical Saturday
this week was quite the busy week. preparation for my presentation kept getting distracted by other priorities but it all got prepared and was completed on Thursday after school at the staff meeting. It was a lot of fun to talk to the staff about how cultural adjustment affects their health.
here i am!
It is nice to have that part of my internship completed.
Today I have been able to have a "typical" Saturday. A typical Saturday means that i clean, do laundry, and catch up on the emails and such as best I can. These days also include slow mornings (my favorite part) and reading! I have never enjoyed reading as much as I have in the past months I have been here. It is probably because I get to read what I want to without feeling like I have a class that I SHOULD be reading for instead. I just got done with another Narnia book and am starting on The Silver Chair.
Exiting news! While Matt was here visiting a friend of mine, Leah, who teaches 3rd grade at Doulos took pictures of us! They are so great! It was such a blessing to even have any taken because they are very expense. Leah is a natural and do hope that one day she is paid more adequately than cheez-its and chewy bars in the future (Matt brought those two things from the States as a "thank you" because she can't get them here). But Leah is more than the person that took pictures of Matt and I. She is becoming a close friend whom I love and cherish. I will miss her greatly when my time here is over.
if you want to take a look at the pictures you can find them on my Facebook as well as Matt's. Be sure to give Leah the credit for taking such beautiful pictures. and making Matt and I look like models!!
here i am!
It is nice to have that part of my internship completed.
Today I have been able to have a "typical" Saturday. A typical Saturday means that i clean, do laundry, and catch up on the emails and such as best I can. These days also include slow mornings (my favorite part) and reading! I have never enjoyed reading as much as I have in the past months I have been here. It is probably because I get to read what I want to without feeling like I have a class that I SHOULD be reading for instead. I just got done with another Narnia book and am starting on The Silver Chair.
Exiting news! While Matt was here visiting a friend of mine, Leah, who teaches 3rd grade at Doulos took pictures of us! They are so great! It was such a blessing to even have any taken because they are very expense. Leah is a natural and do hope that one day she is paid more adequately than cheez-its and chewy bars in the future (Matt brought those two things from the States as a "thank you" because she can't get them here). But Leah is more than the person that took pictures of Matt and I. She is becoming a close friend whom I love and cherish. I will miss her greatly when my time here is over.
if you want to take a look at the pictures you can find them on my Facebook as well as Matt's. Be sure to give Leah the credit for taking such beautiful pictures. and making Matt and I look like models!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
time is precious
**written on Sunday
I am sitting in the house of Whitney Scarborough. I have been staying at her house this past week while her husband, Tim is away at an Expeditionary Learning conference in the States. Whitney is a beautiful and gentle woman. It has been more than a joy to be here and live life with her for the past week.
It has been a slow and restful weekend. It is so funny how spending time at another American’s house for the week and weekend is like a vacation here. It is such a privilege to eat familiar food and converse easily. And yet at the same time, I do miss my host family. I do miss the challenge of practicing my Spanish and using energy to even understand what time dinner is going to be at. I miss the constant growth that living in the depths of another culture requires of the human soul. Especially on one what is saved by God.
The Dominican people are one that all Americans and Christians could learn from. They are one of the most loving groups of people I have ever encountered (even within the body of Christ). It is beautiful the way that they love and the way that they share.
I only have about 6 more weeks here in the Dominican and at this moment, at the kitchen table of Whitney’s house, with the tropical wind blowing in through the window, I feel like that is not enough time. Not enough time to learn all that I can learn from this place. As much as I yearn to be around my family, my friends, and my fiancé back home, I know that this time is precious. My time here is unlike anything I have experienced before and no experience in the future will ever be the same. I do not say that meaning nothing will be better or that something could be better. It is just is that there seems to be so much to learn here and a semester is only scratching the surface.
But the weekend is now over and the work week will begin in when the sun rises again. Another week will go by before I know it and time will pass too fast. In the mean time, I will do my best to just be. To stay present where I am. To be honest with the Lord no matter how much it scares me. And to live free.
I give the second half of my presentation requirement for my internship on Thursday at the staff meeting so my week will be quite busy preparing. I will put it on my to-do list to post a blog about how it went this coming weekend, if you don’t hear from me before that.
I am sitting in the house of Whitney Scarborough. I have been staying at her house this past week while her husband, Tim is away at an Expeditionary Learning conference in the States. Whitney is a beautiful and gentle woman. It has been more than a joy to be here and live life with her for the past week.
It has been a slow and restful weekend. It is so funny how spending time at another American’s house for the week and weekend is like a vacation here. It is such a privilege to eat familiar food and converse easily. And yet at the same time, I do miss my host family. I do miss the challenge of practicing my Spanish and using energy to even understand what time dinner is going to be at. I miss the constant growth that living in the depths of another culture requires of the human soul. Especially on one what is saved by God.
The Dominican people are one that all Americans and Christians could learn from. They are one of the most loving groups of people I have ever encountered (even within the body of Christ). It is beautiful the way that they love and the way that they share.
I only have about 6 more weeks here in the Dominican and at this moment, at the kitchen table of Whitney’s house, with the tropical wind blowing in through the window, I feel like that is not enough time. Not enough time to learn all that I can learn from this place. As much as I yearn to be around my family, my friends, and my fiancé back home, I know that this time is precious. My time here is unlike anything I have experienced before and no experience in the future will ever be the same. I do not say that meaning nothing will be better or that something could be better. It is just is that there seems to be so much to learn here and a semester is only scratching the surface.
But the weekend is now over and the work week will begin in when the sun rises again. Another week will go by before I know it and time will pass too fast. In the mean time, I will do my best to just be. To stay present where I am. To be honest with the Lord no matter how much it scares me. And to live free.
I give the second half of my presentation requirement for my internship on Thursday at the staff meeting so my week will be quite busy preparing. I will put it on my to-do list to post a blog about how it went this coming weekend, if you don’t hear from me before that.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Bed & Breakfast
Today is Wednesday and I never have appreciated Wednesday as much in my life as I do now. Wednesday means that you are half way though the week. Wednesday means that there is a two day break on the horizon where I can breath and rest until I get to try again on Monday.
Don't get me wrong nothing awful has happened this week or anything but things have been busy and the weekend is so attractive right now. Sleeping in till 8 is so attractive right now.
This week I am staying at a staff member's house while she is in need of care and her husband is gone to a conference in the states for the week. I am getting the pleasure of making her dinner and setting her up for breakfast and lunch while I am gone at work. I have found that I really enjoy this opportunity. It is fun for me to host. Let me clarify, it is fun for me to host small groups of people.
This past Sunday I made dinner for my friend, Sara and her two friends that were visiting. They had gone to the beach for the weekend and came back on Sunday. Nobody likes to figure out what they are going to eat for dinner the night they come back from a trip so I volunteer to make dinner. It was a joy and fun to get to know them while cooking and eating.
So this morning I had this crazy, random thought. What if I worked at a Bed and Breakfast? and even crazier: What if I opened one some day?? You and I both have to understand that this was my thought at 6:15 this morning when I was putting together breakfast and lunch ideas out for Whitney. Who knows how rationale my thoughts are that early in the morning yet on the other hand, I am my best in the morning...
just thought I would share.
Happy Wednesday!
Don't get me wrong nothing awful has happened this week or anything but things have been busy and the weekend is so attractive right now. Sleeping in till 8 is so attractive right now.
This week I am staying at a staff member's house while she is in need of care and her husband is gone to a conference in the states for the week. I am getting the pleasure of making her dinner and setting her up for breakfast and lunch while I am gone at work. I have found that I really enjoy this opportunity. It is fun for me to host. Let me clarify, it is fun for me to host small groups of people.
This past Sunday I made dinner for my friend, Sara and her two friends that were visiting. They had gone to the beach for the weekend and came back on Sunday. Nobody likes to figure out what they are going to eat for dinner the night they come back from a trip so I volunteer to make dinner. It was a joy and fun to get to know them while cooking and eating.
So this morning I had this crazy, random thought. What if I worked at a Bed and Breakfast? and even crazier: What if I opened one some day?? You and I both have to understand that this was my thought at 6:15 this morning when I was putting together breakfast and lunch ideas out for Whitney. Who knows how rationale my thoughts are that early in the morning yet on the other hand, I am my best in the morning...
just thought I would share.
Happy Wednesday!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
frogs are sweet!
Wow, it has been quite a while since I have posted. And so much has happened in the time I have been away.
First off, my original computer is on its way to Atlanta as I type and will go to the Harold, the computer doctor for one last diagnosis and attempt at treatment. Luckily we got all of the files off of my hard drive so I didn't lose anything!!! that was big: the day we were trying to get my files was the same day that I had a presentation to give to the staff. Literally 5 minutes before the presentation our IT guy, Greibys comes quickly walking through the doors with a big grin on his face. He had did it. Not only retrieved all my files but also the one that I needed right then.
the presentation went great and I have another one to complete my requirement on March 24th.
Well to move on to more exciting events, like I mentioned in the last post my fiance Matt came to visit. He got here on March 4 and left this morning. We had so much fun together and it was such a blessing to have him come and see my life here. I am comfortable that I have about 7 more weeks here but I also can't wait to be back home and only 40 minutes away from him. Here are some pictures from the two waterfalls we went to.
The first one was the Upper Jimenoa. Rumor has it that this is the waterfall that in in the movie Jarasic (sp?) Park.
We found a frog and I got Matt to catch it for me!!
The second waterfall that we went is one that I have been to from coming to the YL camp here Pico Esconido on work teams the past two years. It is quite a fun hike because you have to hike through the river leading up to the water fall. There is a small waterfall first then you keep going and eventually get to the BIG one **sorry for the ones that aren't turned the right way...I get get them to work
And we found more frogs :) My dad gave me a flip for my birthday and send it with Matt so that I could use it while we were going on our adventures. So here are the frogs :0
I hope that worked. Welp there are some glimpse into the parts of the week I captured. I will try to put a full album of pictures up on Facebook sooner than later.
First off, my original computer is on its way to Atlanta as I type and will go to the Harold, the computer doctor for one last diagnosis and attempt at treatment. Luckily we got all of the files off of my hard drive so I didn't lose anything!!! that was big: the day we were trying to get my files was the same day that I had a presentation to give to the staff. Literally 5 minutes before the presentation our IT guy, Greibys comes quickly walking through the doors with a big grin on his face. He had did it. Not only retrieved all my files but also the one that I needed right then.
the presentation went great and I have another one to complete my requirement on March 24th.
Well to move on to more exciting events, like I mentioned in the last post my fiance Matt came to visit. He got here on March 4 and left this morning. We had so much fun together and it was such a blessing to have him come and see my life here. I am comfortable that I have about 7 more weeks here but I also can't wait to be back home and only 40 minutes away from him. Here are some pictures from the two waterfalls we went to.
The first one was the Upper Jimenoa. Rumor has it that this is the waterfall that in in the movie Jarasic (sp?) Park.
We found a frog and I got Matt to catch it for me!!
The second waterfall that we went is one that I have been to from coming to the YL camp here Pico Esconido on work teams the past two years. It is quite a fun hike because you have to hike through the river leading up to the water fall. There is a small waterfall first then you keep going and eventually get to the BIG one **sorry for the ones that aren't turned the right way...I get get them to work
And we found more frogs :) My dad gave me a flip for my birthday and send it with Matt so that I could use it while we were going on our adventures. So here are the frogs :0
I hope that worked. Welp there are some glimpse into the parts of the week I captured. I will try to put a full album of pictures up on Facebook sooner than later.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Death of the Dell
sorry readers for the delay in an update. This weeks has been busy with preparing a presentation that I gave to the staff yesterday.
further yesterday my computer stopped working and so for now I am without a computer and am using other teacher's computers when they are in class. SO i might continue to have a delay in writing an update post but I wanted to let everyone know what was going on really quick (I need to get back to work so I am making this short).
today my fiance Matt is coming to visit for a week. We have a couple fun adventures planned so I will be sure to take pictures and share when i get the time.
Thanks for all the prayers and support from everyone!
further yesterday my computer stopped working and so for now I am without a computer and am using other teacher's computers when they are in class. SO i might continue to have a delay in writing an update post but I wanted to let everyone know what was going on really quick (I need to get back to work so I am making this short).
today my fiance Matt is coming to visit for a week. We have a couple fun adventures planned so I will be sure to take pictures and share when i get the time.
Thanks for all the prayers and support from everyone!
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