Some fun fotos

Elijio singing in the morning

Bernadeta, Memo’s mom, is 8 months pregnant

Ernesto’s hand. I don’t know why but I like this photo

Ambiolix’s nose! He’s so presh.

Kendall with some of our crazy Chichiguan kids.

Ambiolix playing in Chichigua

Franchesca eating a guava

Bernito…looks like he’s thinking but he’s really looking at Kendall and Memo

Kendall tickling Memo.

Emilio’s hand

Wilton

Alturo, he’s so happy!

Learning to use our hands nicely

Our students are in need of learning to treat others nicely. It’s hard to break them of what they have learned, though. When grown men here “settle” arguments with violence and when parents or siblings abuse each other, what else should we expect. We do, however, expect them to learn to make good decisions with their hands during their year with us. Our teachers have taken to making books about how to use hand (or feet, or teeth, etc). Today Ashley’s class was talking about hands and what they are for (throwing the ball, eating, painting, hugging, etc). After Ashley read them the book she made, they each traced their own hand to hang up in the classroom to remind them what our hands should be used for. Here are some pictures from the day:

Jeson tracing his hand

Miguel Angel, Yery, and Gustavo trace theirs

Escarlet shows off her work

Miguel Angel got marker on his hand…and then proceeded to cover both hands with blue marker.

In the front of the classroom they now have a visual reminder of how we are supposed to use our hands. “We can use our hands for good thing!”

¡El Primer Día de la Escuela!

Our first day of school was yesterday! It was an exciting day that had a few bumps along the way. Here are the stats:

48 students showed up

15 cried

5 cried all day

2 kids bit

1 kid tried to escape

13 staff members made it to the end of the day

1 million (roughly) mini prayers were said all day

We are so joyful for the kids that the Lord has given us. It’s a huge job and, at times, a scary one. But we know that we have been placed here and that our students have been handpicked to be taught by us. Continue to pray for us as we teach rules, give hugs, discipline in love, and persevere through the beginning of this new school year.

Just before the madness began

This is how super excited the teachers are!! Hooray!

Our wonderfully amazing new cook: Odilsia!!  She is an amazing person!

“Ok, everyone get in line. We’re going to start singing. Now, you go over there. Wait, you’re line is that way. Oh, don’t cry…” etc.

First time to get in their classrooms! Look at that lovely line!

A lot of parents wanted to stay and watch the beginning of the day

Franchesca, Jeson, and Bernito praying before entering Profe Ashley’s room

Profe Lorena’s (Lauren) and Profe Ashley’s classes

Walking into their new classroom!

Ambiolix and the rest of Profe Kim’s class singing

Yunairi and Bianca Nicol

Wili and Raidi are new friends

The End! Por fin. It was a great/crazy/hard/full/fun day.

Looking forward to day 2 after 10 hours of sleep tonight!

Back in the D.R.

This was quite the welcome home for me.  We missed our boys…my how they’ve grown in only one short month of us being in the states.  I felt that this was one of those photos that you couldn’t keep to yourself; it makes me smile every time.

The Chichigua boys {bernito, emilio, jeson, memo, estiven & ambiorix}

Some cute kids!

Yesterday at school we had some cute kiddos:

Jeson
put the soccer ball under his shirt and acted as though he were
pregnant. He then went around pushing people with his big belly.

Does it get cuter than Wilson? He came to school in this visor that matched his shirt!

Here’s Luis Fernando with Amanda.

ropa rapido

we’re doing a unit on health and hygiene at the school.  each of the preschool classes have been talking about the necessity to wash their hands, bathe and drink clean water, brush their teeth, and wear clothes.  if you have ever come down to the DR with MAKARiOS in a group then you probably saw a little nudity.  so we’re trying to make sure the kids know why and how to wear clothes 🙂

here’s a few pictures of how the activity went.

jeson and wilcency

bernito and luis fernando

franchesca and marileiny

rebeka and regina (this one is my favorite!)

hearty party

1)  Say, “Feliz Navidad”  on a card.

2)  Make a Christmas cookie.

3)  Have some rice and beans… duh.

I give it two thumbs up.

But don’t forget the “Santi” hats.

Hope you had a merry Dominican Christmas!