staircase to heaven.

dramatic title?
possibly.

but let me tell you about one of the beautiful things that is occurring at our house.

as you may (or may not) know, in the DR, it is acceptable...nay...required (another slight exaggeration) to sit on your roof.
there are many reasons why one would choose to perch atop the roof:
1. stargazing (the most obvious)
2. shadow puppet shows on the neighbor's house at sunset
3. quiet time of reflection and prayer
4. sleeping (yes, I slept one night on the roof)
5. watching people in the poor neighborhood (barrio) on the other side of our house.
6. talking to great friends
7. cooking s'mores (yes. for Christy's birthday we sat on the roof to make s'mores. and stargaze and talk. ique bueno!)

Needless to say, there are many great reasons that one would particularly fancy a good sit upon the techo (roof in spanish...one of my newly acquired vocabulary words).

Now onto the good story:
BEFORE:
We used to have to get up on the roof by a homemade ladder that our wonderful, wonderful landlord, Guido, graciously allowed us to borrow.
(below: the ladder)


AFTER:
Guido decided that his girls (that's what I think he thinks of us as...his daughters) should maybe be a little safer when they are going up on the roof. and maybe potentially he wants to build a second story to our house...ENTONCES (therefore) he built us a staircase. Yep. It took him maybe a week, but not we have a fully-functioning staircase. AND Kelsey, Karyn, and I carved our name/initials into it. que bueno, indeed!
(below: the staircase...not fully complete in this picture, but now it is. I don't have many recent pictures)



MORAL OF THE STORY:
get an awesome landlord who thinks of you as his daughters. get a landlord who is motivated to get projects done.


I'm thankful. :)

TARANTULA!

the TARANTULA!
I know many, many of you have been waiting for this story so here goes: during my first prep of the day I walked into a large commotion in the office. I asked "que paso?" (what happened?) they told me to go to the bathroom and see. HOLY SNAP! A HUGE SPIDER is trapped under the garbage can. Wowzers. Then we decided to take it outside and the Domincian science teacher (Mr. Juan) put it outside and let it crawl out. (side note: one of the other teachers has a severe phobia of spiders. that comes into play later...) So the hurrah was over. UNTIL I decide that I want to keep it in my classroom as a pet. BALLER. what other teacher could say that they had a real, wild tarantula as a class pet?? Not too many! So, thanks to Brooke who randomly had a terrarium, I went outside and our amazing gateguard Fausto helped me trap this poor sucker in the cage. Immediately I took it upstairs (away from phobic teacher who never comes upstairs, so plan is flawless right? wrong!) and showed it to my class, who loved it, showed it to the 9th graders, who loved it, and showed it to anyone else who wanted to come see it. 2 minutes later I get a note "Dear Miss Brewer, blah blah blah i'm scared of spiders...blah blah blah please let it go and take it out of the building blah blah blah I love you. Love, phobic teacher" Okay, so maybe that's not exactly what the letter said, and Rachel, I'm totally joking. Seriously. :) But basically I was asked to take it out of the building and then get rid of it after school. Tears were shed in my classroom. I took it to an unknown location for the rest of the day, and then wonderful Christy Elmer took us on her pasola to the ******* (edited to protect sanity) so our little friend the tarantula could have a better life...


Funny after-story: (Rachel, I hope you think this is funny...)
I hid the tarantula in my cubby at school. Unknown to Miss Cunningham. A few teachers asked to see it at the end of the day, but SHOOT! Rachel was sitting in the teacher's lounge on the computer. So we sneakily, very sneakily, took it out of the cage (no just kidding!) I took away the folder that was in front of it, and showed the teachers, after I explained to them Rachel's phobia. I don't think she had any idea. whoops. I'm such a bad person and a bad friend!!

check out more pictures on my picasa site!!!

the reason...

Teaching Update:

I figured you, as faithful supporters, may want to know how teaching is going since that is the ‘main’ reason why I am here.

Where do I begin? I think I could begin by complaining that we have no functioning printer or copier, I am missing curriculum, and have a class that continually beats each other up and are the meanest kids I have ever encountered.

BUT.

I would love to share with you some of the awesome things that we are learning.

In reading I am attempting to do literature circles with them (ghetto style, as we have no copier, so a lot of it is written by hand or they just don’t answer questions about the chapters). ALSO we only have one copy of each book, therefore the students aren’t getting the best possibly experience, but I’m introducing them to it. ENTONCES a lot of what I do is expose them to literature and books. I’ve been buying (thanks to many gracious donations) books for the kids that they have been EATING up (Seymour Simon, Captain Underpants, Magic Tree House, etc.) so that is encouraging. ALSO I think our library has just gotten set up, so hopefully soon I’m going to schedule a time to go to the library and have my students pick a book to do a book report on (when we are done with our lit circles)

Math is going well. I have students who have many, many gaps in their learning, therefore simple concepts like multiplication facts, are lacking. I get discouraged because I know my students are smart, but many of them lack motivation and the necessary skills to continue to grasp the new concepts as we go through the book. I’ve tried to tutor some of the kids (specifically 2) but they still just cannot grasp concepts. Multiplication and Division are my goals for the year…get those areas of mathematics mastered.

Language and Writing are the big struggle areas. I have no curriculum, therefore am making everything up as I go. I don’t know how to teach Language (please don’t be discouraged Dr. Quinn!). They don’t like to write, although I’m trying to think of creative ways to get them to write…

Basically, I’m struggling through my first year of teaching. Which I feel like is typical for any first year teacher. The lack of resources has made it challenging, but there are always ways around it. I’m trying to become a better teacher through it all, even if that means spending my entire Saturday morning at school…

God is faithful, and I trust that He will bless this year as long as I continue to pursue Him and His plan for these students this year…

joy in the DR.

I know I have not updated my blog in a LONG while, but I am going to attempt to slowly but surely update you on my life ...

so I am going to begin with the things that give me greatest joy at working at JCS.

4 words: First and Second Graders.

I LOVE walking out every morning to the cafeteria area and being mobbed by wonderful, loving small children who want nothing more than a good morning hug or a FUERTE low-five. or to just hang all over me. It's seriously the joy of the morning.

I LOVE my lunch time. I have a special time with the maturing 3rd graders as we sit and talk about school, weekends, the latest Jonas Brothers news, and mostly I just love listening to them as they talk in Spanish and I try and understand what they are saying.



I LOVE after schools. I love being mobbed, once again, by the first and second graders chanting "eh-steekers, eh-steekers, eh-steekers" (stickers) until I give in and then have a massive group of students running up the staircase to my classroom. It's SO great.

Mostly I love the relationships that I'm building with the students. Estheisy who I've mentioned many times before is a big joy in my life. Every morning, noon, and afternoon I get ambushed by this little girl. Oftentimes while I'm sitting with the third graders at lunch, Estheisy comes and sits on my lap and I just hold her for awhile and then she shares my lunch with me. I love my special time with my special girl. :)

another joy:
daily I receive wonderful pictures of hearts and people holding hands and stick figures. I keep them all. I especially love receiving pictures from my friend Nathalia and notes from my dear friend Estheisy. After I write Estheisy a little note, I receive the same words in a note back to me. I think I should maybe start saying how awesome she is...therefore I will receive a note saying how awesome I am. no, just kidding!



Bonus story of love.
Today after I brought my students in from recess, they were writing in their Language/Writing notebooks, I happened to look outside and what I saw just made me smile and laugh a little out loud. I saw the first graders (specifically Miss Elmer's class) outside playing. They were giving each other piggy back rides (which they have learned from me...bad example. I'm sorry, Miss Elmer!) but the funniest part was that they were lopsided or the one on the back was much bigger, therefore they would both just fall over. again and again I watched the first graders just continue to give each other piggy back rides and falling over. again and again. Holy joyful. I cannot even lie to you, it made my day so much better.



Can I just say one thing I love about teaching in the DR? I love that I can go to a student's mom's store and pick her up and take her out for ice cream. One Friday night I just went to a first grader's mom's store and just took her out for ice cream. It made her so happy to spend time with Miss Kelsey and Miss Brewer, and it made me so happy to spend time with my little friend. I love that it is okay to just hang out with the students outside of school. SO different than in the United States. We are allowed, nay, encouraged to develop great relationships with students and are free to facilitate those relationship in any appropriate manner possible. One Sunday we had two girls over (twins: Carla Nicole and Carla Camille) just to spend time with us, play Uno, and go to church. Tell me about how that would fly in the US. not. I love this school because of this. :)

I am so encouraged by this. :)

I will try and update more later, but for now, this is the joy that is coming from my heart! :)

words words words

so...funny story.
the other day on the news (and by news, i mean website with news...) i saw a conglomeration of the words the used at one of the primaries. Basically what it does is count the number of times a word (or all the words) is said and then arranges them in a pattern, with the word(s) that occur the most often the largest...

so i decided to do it for my own blog.
i'm fairly glad the largest words are:
"just" and "laughing"
i'm kind of unhappy that the word "school" is so large...my life should not revolve around school. yet it does.

so here it is! (click on it to make it bigger...)




p.s. we found a tarantula at school today.
(more on that story later. i'm really tired tonight...)
check out the pictures on my picasa site:
picasaweb.google.com/dominicanatalie

waves of mercy. waves of grace. :)

I feel like I am always writing about the wonderful activities and adventures that I'm happening...but I want you to know that it's not always easy living in the Dominican Republic. I love living here, and I think it's definitely where God wants me to be and where I want to be.

1. Our support money is lost. Well, supposedly New Horizons sent it in the mail over 2 weeks ago, and we didn't receive it on our last MFI (mail!) day. We don't know why, it apparently never made it to the MFI headquarters in Florida. Jarabacoa Christian School has about $6,000 worth of support in that check that is supposed to go to our new computer lab...so they're frantically trying to find it. We're thankful that they're frantically searching because our support money is very important and essential to our lifestyles as well. We've not received our support money in about a month and a half, so it's time as most of us are running thin...Pray that it gets found. and sent to us. ASAP.

2. Karyn's computer. We're still praying that God will convict whomever tookKaryn's computer to return it. It's so hard to live without a computer--without things for school, without pictures, without an easy way to stay in touch with people, without music--suddenly you realize how much your world revolves around technology. Maybe that's good or bad, but having your link to home suddenly taken definitely makes things difficult.

3. Lost and Found. Today was a gentle reminder that God is definitely in control. As Kelsey and I were sitting at the other girls' house, one of the girl's misplaced her bank card. As we were frantically searching through everything, screaming silent prayers to God to just help us FIND it, I was reminded that God seriously has everything under control. He won't give us more than we can handle. God knew that we couldn't handle another thing being lost, so he granted us our request and allowed us to find the missing bank card. I was so thankful. so thankful. so thankful.

4. Shoe Shine Boys. Today we went into town and walked. It hit me. We live in the Dominican Republic. We live in a 3rd world country. It seems like so often I forget that I live in a country riddled with poverty. I only see our plush houses and our schools and our students who live good lives. But today was a good reminder for me to pray. We were sitting in a little sandwich shop and I just watched these little boys with their little shoe shine kits staring at us...waiting for us to leave. Then we went to Bon, an ice cream shop, and there were more little boys waiting for people to shine their shoes. I saw more little boys today waiting to shine shoes than I've seen while I've been down here. I'm thankful for what I have. I'm praying for these small children that make their living shining shoes. or giving their money to people who make them shine shoes. What a sacrifice for them. Pray for those little boys. that they will be loved. and that they will find Jesus soon.

God's love and grace is so amazing to me. Sometimes I just get struck by it in a new way. I want you to know that everything here is going really well. God's faithfulness is so apparent every day. My cup is overflowing with His love. and it helps me to love others. I'm thankful He grants me mercy every morning! :)

When I am weak, you make me strong. (2 Corinthians 12:10)

back-to-back!

HOORAY is what you're probably thinking right now, as you have gotten not one but two life updates in the last 24 hours!

Today was a good day. LOTS of laughter. Good, quality crossword time. quality learning. jeez. I was so happy because my friend Estheisy was back today after being gone for 2 days. It was so good to hug her and talk to her again! Today after school I just held her and carried her around until her grandpa came to pick her up. Can I bring her home with me?? Seriously!

1.bomit
Gooooooooood morrrrrningggggg Missssterrrrr Peeeeterrrrsonnnnnnn.
Every morning every class gets in line as we say the Pledge to the Bible, Dominican National Anthem, and Mr. Peterson says announcements and prays for our day. WELL. well, all of a sudden I see Miss Elmer hurry this little girl off to the office. I notice she had some mud on her pants. NOPE. not mud. definitely VOMIT. some little kid had vomited all over and splattered like 5 other kids. Man, as sad as it was, I was dying laughing. The splash factor and seeing all of the kids FREAK out was just so funny. shame on me! But man. poor kids. how do you recover from vomiting on many of your classmates? is it possible? probably not. but a good story for the future!

2. a super-secret, special project...
Kelsey and I finally revealed our super-secret, special project to the girls in the other house. The day that Karyn's computer was stolen we figured they needed a pick-me-up. Little did we know that would turn into a 3 hour long stint including washing dishes, finishing up dinner, house sitting, and eating dinner! All we wanted to do was cheer them up with our awesomeness. BUT alas. since all of those things happened, we were not able to share with them our super-secret, special project. THEREFORE we have to wait again. It's been about a month and counting. I cannot wait to reveal the finished product to one and all. ANTICIPATION. get excited.

3. badminton.
yep. Taylor taught me well. Not only did they make sure I am a "caring, competent, and reflective teacher prepared for world service" (Dr. Tyner, you should be proud!) BUT they also gave me the knowledge in the highly competitive sport of badminton. This weekend Kristen and I were challenged to a game by the one and only Christy "Birdie Killer" Elmer. Basically Kristen and I had to defend Taylor and Dr. Winterholter's honor. Although Christie put up a strong front, Kristen and I ultimately had the fundamentals to put Christy and Brooke in their place.

4. the nicest note I've ever received.
staff comrarderie? high. let me show you how well I am received at JCS...here's a note I received. After I had sent this sweet, sappy "I think you're the best. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you. etc. etc." note.
this is what it said:

(Emmanuel Garcia helped me translate this sweet note.)

Eres loca. Te falta dos
dientes. Tienes sicote
y grajo. Tienes pelos en
los sobacos. Necesitas
un bano urgente. No me
agradas. No te quiero.
Que tengas mal dia. Miss Staats ♥

English translation:
You are crazy. You are missing two teeth. You have bad body odor and your feet stink. You have hair in your armpits. You need to shower right now. You do not appeal to me. I don't want you. Have a bad day. Miss Staats ♥

As I struggled to translate and had to ask the secretaries at our school for help, and judging by the amount of laughter that was rolling through the office, we were all loving it. Yusenia (one of our secretaries) made all of the people who came in the office read it. At first, I am not sure people realized that it was just a joke, but my laughter, along with the laughter of Yuesnia and Rosaline (the other secretary) tipped them off that Karyn was just kidding. The cleaning ladies, Kenya and Clarisa, just kept looking at me and laughing, laughing, laughing. I'll probably keep this note forever and ever. I have never felt more encouraged in my entire life.

5. basketball practice.
yesterday we had basketball practice! unfortunately for us at about 3:45 it started pouring raining. POURING! so Christie gave the girls the option to either suck it up and play or leave. Some of the girls (oh-my-gosh-i-went-to-the-salon!!) opted to leave, but the ones of us who stayed loved our lives as we sloshed through the puddle-ridden court, attempted to stay on our feet as we ran down the court, and just laughed and cheered so loud when we managed to get the ball in the hoop! I came home SOAKED (that is an understatement...) and was ringing out my t-shirt and shorts, which are still hanging wet in our bathroom--over 24 hours later...yeah, things don't exactly dry quickly here! :)

MIDNIGHT(ish) update!

today.
small victories.
laughter. MFI (aka mail day). sliding in the puddles. wet hugs.

1. FIRST BASKETBALL GAME!
last Friday was our first basketball game. If I could use one word to describe it, I would steal my word from a dear friend down here and say "BOOTLEG!" I REALLY need to take a picture of our basketball court. It is about the size of an elementary school's basketball gym (aka not regulation size) not to mention that one of the hoops is definitely lower than the other as well as severely tilting down. good news: only 1 fight. better news: the game got rained out! best news: I had to ref. YES. I reffed my first official high school girls' basketball game. in a skirt. and flip flops. where did the other ref go? who knows...he just up and left. so that left us to cover for him! (we may be going to La Vega Christian School to finish our game on Friday. pray we don't get slaughtered!)

2. WEEKEND EXCITEMENT
Kristen came up this weekend! If you don't know, Kristen is a good friend from Taylor that I have known since my freshman year here. She is now working at Santiago Christian School, and I felt so blessed that she would make the trip up here to see me! We had fun relaxing, watching The Office, eating awesome food, and going to Salto Baiguate. It was so fun to play and talk and just be able to share a bit of my life happenings with someone that is so near and dear to me.

3. DIA DE LA RAZA!
Dia de la Raza (Day of the Races) is a celebration of Latin America and Spanish speaking countries. This program lasted from 10:30am until 12. There were some Pre-Kinder students that sang songs or did poems, elementary and middle school students that recited poems about Christopher Columbus and brotherhood and RAZA, there was a beautiful traditional Dominican dance, a processional of students dressed up in attire from different Spanish-speaking countries, and a wonderful feast provided by the parents that featured foods from the various countries! Check out my AWESOME pics on my Picasa site!

4. STAATZIE.
One of the other teachers here, Karyn Staats (whom I affectionately call Staatzie) and I were gabbing after school yesterday until about 5:30. Shortly after I got home, I got a call. "Ummmmm...you guys didn't prank me and take my computer did you?"
"Arrrrrrr...no?" (my response. no I'm not a pirate.) :)
Come to find out, her computer had been stolen from her house. Nothing else was taken. Not her two other roommates' computers. Not their Vonage box. Not anything. Just Staatzie's laptop and 100 pesos (about $3). Last night Kels and I went down to try and cheer them up, ended up house sitting while they went to the Police Station to file a police report, and ate dinner with them. Basically what they think happened is that someone got the key to their back gate, and got in through the back door and went directly to Karyn's room (who knows why she specifically was the target...) and took her stuff. No idea why no one else's stuff was stolen. But that's such an answer to prayer. I can't imagine if all their stuff had gotten stolen. BUT still hard that someone now has to deal with the added stress of going to the police station, being fearful that anyone could enter their house at any time, not having a lifeline home, etc. etc. Please pray that things get solved. We're praying that Staatzie's laptop is found, given back to her, and everything is still on it. Today they met with a guy who they think may have had something to do with it, but apparently he denied it (of course...) So now we play the waiting game. and the praying game. and knowing that God is sovereign and will take care of her. and of her laptop.

HIGHLIGHT of my week:
today one of the 1st graders told her mom that I was her favorite teacher. yep. I'm the fun aunt to all of the wonderful first and second graders. every day after school they hug me, tackle me, jump on me, love me. makes me feel so loved. makes me feel like I'm doing SOMETHING right when my students are so disrespectful and uncontrollable.


FUNNY of the week.
MFI. Today Kelsey received a box from home. As soon as I saw it, I immediately started laughing. It was kind of hard to control myself (you know how that goes!) as I read on the side of the box said, "We Get Cows Pregnant." Holy cow. YES. I died laughing. You know that now we have the side of that box hanging on the door of our bedroom. :)


Things to look forward to in my next blog:
1. a student vomiting during our morning pledge.
2. a super-secret, special project...
3. badminton.
4. the nicest note I've ever received.
5. basketball practice in the rain.

spicy anecdotal update

1. hand-eye coordination
as you may (or may not) know, there are a MILLION mosquitoes here. Kelsey and I have the privilege of having our bedroom right next to the front door, which, if left open, lets said mosquitoes into our house. Kelsey oftentimes sit on our beds, and try to see which of us can kill the most mosquitoes with the fewest tries. Kelsey usually beats me, but I'm practicing my poor hand-eye coordination by watching the mosquitoes' paths and then all of the sudden: STRIKE. mosquitoes beware.

2. me lub you long tim
as I've already blogged about: Karyn and I have become crossword buddies. Daily in the teachers' lounge, you can find us hashing out another day's worth of English brain fuel. on Sunday we were googling the answers to our missing clues, and on the "freedictionary.com" website, there is DEFINITELY an icon where a creepy person who says the word out loud for you. Karyn and I immediately started searching for our own names, the names of Karyn's roommates, and then we decided to get clever. If you are an Office fan, you know there is an episode where Michael's doing the very same thing with his computer. Karyn opened up 5 different windows, put each of the words in a different window and then played them back to back. Needless to say, Karyn and I were dying laughing. Here's a picture (you know I captured that moment!) of what it looked like:



3. The Robot
My students have a test tomorrow in Reading. We've been reading an enthralling Basal story called On The Mayflower so there is some "ship" vocabulary. One of the words was hatch. I was trying to give them visual clues to go along with the words to help them understand what a hatch was so I put both of my arms one on top of the other and then brought one up so it looked like I was opening a hatch. One of my students, Josue, definitely started laughing. I was so confused until he told me that he "understood what I was trying to do." and promptly got up and started doing the Robot. Clearly at this point I lost it, so I was just trying to figure out how we go from talking about the Mayflower and digress as far as all of my students standing up attempting to do the Robot dance.

4. Smell the Flowers!
Tonight Karyn and I went on a walk around Jarabacoa. She took me to the hot spots and showed me all the good Jarabacoa nightlife joints. (not really.) but we did take a nice jaunt in which she allowed me to talk 98% of the time and the other 2% she was pointing out where various students live. Basically it was just awesome blossom to enjoy the night air and a good friend. During morning meeting this morning, we were challenged to find our childlike faith in order to be accepted into the kingdom of heaven. What a great challenge when we get to spend our day around children who give us a glimpse of what it means to follow Him with a fresh, wondering, and adoring spirit. Pretty awesome. As Karyn and I were walking, we some some flowers. I decided to pick one. I'm not gentle. I crushed it. It was a laugh. THEN we saw these BEAUTIFUL flowers in a tree. I was convinced I wanted to get one. I jumped up in the tree and crushed the flower again. ay-yi-yi. So my quest for a beautiful flower was unfulfilled, but at least I did get to smell the flowers. and adore God's creation. and revel in God's providence.

Building a Classroom Library

Hello blog readers,

I have a specific request for this blog. If anyone would be interested in supporting me by either sending me books or sending a gift card to amazon.com or half.com or anywhere where I could buy books, that would be great. I'm looking to buy a classroom set of books that my students can read, so we don't have to:
a. share our Basals (we only have 6...for a class of 12)
b. have me read a story to them and then do work with the book. (which is difficult because I don't think I'm giving them a good visual as to what I'm reading...)

We have a classroom set of Charlotte's Web and Mr. Popper's Penguins, but they are definitely too hard for my students at this point.


if you are interested,
Here are some specific books that I would love to buy (and possibly have multiple copies of) for our classroom library:
How I Became a Pirate and Pirates Don't Change Diapers (Melinda Long and David Shannon)
Diary of a Worm and Diary of a Spider and Diary of a Fly (Doreen Cronin)
The Pigeon Books Series: Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late, The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too!, Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog!, and The Pigeon Wants a Puppy (Mo Willems)
Captain Underpants Series (for the boys!) (Dav Pilkey)
Magic Tree House Series (Mary Pope Osbourne)
any books by the authors David Shannon, David Wiesner, or Mo Willems
The BONE Series (Jeff Smith)
Eats Shoots and Leaves (Lynne Truss)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (Jeff Kinney)
Chris Van Allsburg books (specifically The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, Jumanji, The Stranger, The Wretched Stone, and any others!)
Seymour Simon books about SCIENCE SUBJECTS
if you have ANY other ideas, I would greatly appreciate them too!

my students would appreciate the books so much. it's hard to work with what we have (or don't have...) and I want to make reading fun because it is what they dislike the most...I want them to be able to read quality books. I want to be able to use quality books for solid lessons..and good read aloud books.


thanks in advance. :)

crosswords and Vonage!

hello amigos!

ay-yi-yi. what a week it has been! i feel like every day here drags on but then the weeks seems like it passed so quickly!

this was such a good week for me! :)

the past week highlights:

HORSE PARADE...(see pictures on Picasa) sitting for an hour and a half waiting for it to begin, seeing amazing things on the back of motor scooters. and then watching a 2 minute parade of a ton of horses galloping down the hill. not too shabby. :)

DOUBLE DATE to the river and to eat pizza with Karyn and Christy. what a breath of fresh air. we sat in the river. Christy and I fought. I got majorly sunburned. the usual. LOVED my life. (...pictures on Picasa)

MFI! I got a package from my sister that had American candy and The Office Season 4 in it. WOW! It seriously defintiely made my week. I chowed down on the Gummy Lifesavers, and those were gone in a day. I also got some cards from some friends. Always makes you feel good when you know people are thinking about you to send you snail mail! :)

CROSSWORD: I've once again become obsessed with doing crosswords on a daily basis. Every day I print off the 2 daily crosswords and do as many as I can before asking Karyn (resident English teacher/walking dictionary/Googling machine) for much needed help. I'm convinced my brain is going to last longer because I'm exercising it.

JOVIAN ECLIPSE: last night (Thursday) there was a rumored eclipse of Jupiter (which is SUPER bright right now) so we decided to climb up on top of our roof to go and watch it! It was so neat to see it disappear...although before it could come back, it was covered with clouds. It was good to just be peaceful (kinda.) on the roof with friends. I'm definitely looking forward to many more nights spent up there talking...

PAID. yes. hallelujah. we got paid. all $230 dollars of it. Yep. I worked for a month. and received $230 dollars. Kinda crazy, huh? That's why people's support is SO important to all of us that are working down here. And why we appreciate it so much. Because honestly, even $20 goes SO far...it would literally feed me for lunch for 10 days! 2 weeks worth of lunch paid for by $20. Clearly we're not down here for the money. but sometimes money is nice to have too. especially if we want to go out for dinner. or go to a waterfall. or random adventures. (which most of you know I LOVE!)


other random absurdities.
.:VONAGE:.
yes folks.
we received our Vonage phone this week! that means we have an American phone number and that we can call America. what a beautiful connection that is such a blessing! I don't particulary want to put the number out here in cyber space, but if you want to call me (which you should.) you can definitely email me and ask for the number!



I'm going to try and update with a more humorous update about life here in the DR soon, but right now not too much is coming to mind. Therefore I'm going to sign off right now...but no worries. I shall return pronto.

updates!

hi cyber fans.

I updated my picture website tonight: check them out!

picasaweb.google.com/dominicanatalie


also.
we get paid on Tuesday!

also.
we get mail on Tuesday/Wednesday!


oh happy week.

...long (but worth reading) post. :)

hello cyber peeps.

this was an excellent last two days of the week.
let me tell you why.

1. students.
not my own. specifically Miss Christy Elmer's and Miss Rachel Cunningham's.
why, you may ask?

because they are my soccer buddies. I can definitely count on one "vas a jugar?" (are you going to play?) in the morning before everyone has to line up. Makes me feel special and like I'm making maybe a difference in the life of someone...just loving them is what I love. Now I'm not saying that I would enjoy teaching them, but I definitely love being able to play with them and let them just jump and hang all over me. It's seriously awesome.

ESTHEISLY:
(i may be spelling her name wrong...and if I am, i'm sorry!)
Let me tell you a story about one very special girl. Her name is Estheisly (pronounced E(short e)-stacey) Every morning, break time, lunch time, and end of the day, I have the privilege of spending time with this little girl.

How I messed up…
Today, like every other lunch recess time, Estheisly was on my back. I’m her caballo (horse). Many of the other students are super jealous that she is always on my back, but generally I just let them be jealous and let her be mine solely.

I made the mistake of trying to pick up other students and Estheisly had to get down off my back because I literally had 7 or 8 students trying to jump on me and trying to hang on. She ran away. I couldn’t find her, until I saw her sitting away facing me.

Although I was already 5 minutes late taking my kids inside, I went over to her because I wanted her to know that I still loved her and she still had a special place in my heart.

When I went over to her, she ran away from me. as I continued to follow her, she kept running. I kept following her until I just caught her. As I held her, she just started crying, crying, crying. She wouldn’t look at me, but just had her head on my shoulder and was crying. She tried to say something, but she was facing away from me and speaking in Spanish…a bad combination. I just told her that I loved her…and I kept asking what was wrong. ((By this time, my whole class was standing in line ready to go inside for like 5 minutes…)) I decided to take her into Christy’s room because I figured Christy knows Spanish better than I and can actually see her face, so maybe she can help me out. I carried her in there, and told Christy “Tengo una amiga conmigo.” (I have a little friend with me) and Christy obviously could tell that she was crying and asked Estheisly what was wrong…turns out she is missing her mom (I think, honestly, craving attention, that I didn’t fulfill in her today…made me feel kinda like a failure.) because both of her parents live in the United States.

What a life. Growing up without your two parents. BREAKS my heart. Seriously. I want so badly to be able to share Christ’s love with her. Although her father and mother aren’t there for her, God is still there with her.

Geez. Kinda killed me for the rest of the day. I kept thinking about this little girl who is growing up without the present love of her mother and father.

Fast forward to the end of the day:
As I was leaving, I wanted to make sure I saw Estheisy and was able to talk to her before she left for the weekend. I went and found her, and she immediately wanted me to pick her up, but since she was wearing her backpack on her front, that made it difficult. So I told her that we should go sit down on the bench and talk. I asked her if the rest of her day was okay and if she was going to have a good weekend. She said she had a good day. Then she crawled on my lap. I just sat and hugged her for a few minutes. Then her ride came to pick her up for the weekend. And then you know what happened next?

She gave me a kiss on the cheek.
I pooled. Seriously, I loved it so much…I’m so thankful that God brought this one special girl who trusts me and who I can love and share the Lord’s love with. I feel like if this is my one reason for being here, so I can love this beautiful little girl, then that’s why I’m here. and I am totally content with that.

Estheisly (with chocolate popsicle all over her face) and me



GEORGE WASHINGTON:
I was sitting with Miss Elmer's class during their break time. One of her students, Alexander, eats these long thin crackers with spreadable white cheese. He dipped his long cracker into the cheese and came out with a hunk on it and said, “George Washington!”
At first, I was really confused, and then I started LAUGHING so hard. Because the cheese had been white and there was a big glop on the end, it looked like George Washington’s powdered wig. Oh my.
I thought it was so funny…then he bit it off and did it again. “child of George Washington!” HAHA.
Then he bit it off and one more time “baby of George Washington!”
Then he ate the whole thing: “George Washington dead!”
I was basically rolling on the floor by this point.


2. staff.
not them all. just specific ones. haha just kidding. but seriously.

Thursday I was having a fairly bad day…my first bad day here at JCS. I was not doing well, and I just seriously needed some reassurance that I’m not a complete idiot for being here and that I really do have some sort of reason for being here. I met with Rachel during my lunch time, so I didn’t have time to play soccer with my amigos, which kind of made me feel bad because I really just wanted to play with them. I just needed some self-esteem boosting because I was feeling like a failure of a teacher, friend, and Christian. Anyways, I was just being irrational about it all, obviously, because I’m not failing…maybe mediocre, but definitely not failing. Anyways, regardless, I was just at my wit’s end. I have no alone space here and I have nowhere to go to just be alone without getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. So I begged…okay, maybe a strong word…the “other girls” to let me come over and sit on their back porch and be alone for a little while. As much as I hate being annoying and bothersome, I too often find myself calling over there for help. I’m going to try and stop, but Thursday was an emergency. haha not really, but I just needed to be alone. As I was just sitting on their back porch, reading my Bible, journaling, listening to music, and getting eaten alive, I was interrupted. At first I was semi-annoyed, but Rachel offered to bring me a plate of dinner out. When she came back, there was soup, fruit, and bread…complete with candle (because it was dark…). If I may steal a quote from the Office, her kindness healed me. I felt so good. Then when I got home, (Christy had given me back my flash drive that she had borrowed to get pictures off of it) I opened it and saw a file named “rainbow happiness.” I was curious. I opened it and it had a note along with this picture:

I just about died laughing. Seriously, I had tears streaming. It was a good evening: solid time with God, solid encouragement.


FUNNY STORY OF THE WEEK:
This week I was over at the girls’ house (geez. I spend way too much time there!) because we were talking about my junky lesson plans and how to improve them. I got invited over for dinner before getting my self-esteem bashed about how bad of a teacher I am right now. Dramatic. Totally joking. Anyways (geez, I’m about as ADD in real life as I am in my story telling) as we were sitting at dinner, somehow we got on the topic of the awkward turtle. YES. We did. For those of you who are unaware of what exactly the awkward turtle (or turkey. or awkward rock with arm jiggle.) is, it is a signal that you can use when you are feeling awkward. Rachel had never heard of the awkward turtle, so we were attempting to explain what exactly the awkward turtle is and how to do it, Rachel was unable to figure out how exactly to do it. Instead of keeping all of her fingers except her thumbs still, she was moving all 10 of her fingers. It was HILARIOUS. So we dubbed it the “awkward sea anemone.” I was also taught the “awkward giraffe.” Wow. Solid dinner conversation, eh?
Anyways, maybe it was a “you have to be there” moment, but man. whenever I think about it, I still crack a smile.

EboniBible

so I have a really funny story that I am not sure if I have blogged about yet or not. The middle/high school Bible teacher was teaching his students about the different translations of the Bible and whether they were worthwhile translations or not. He printed his students off a copy of Genesis Chapter 1 of the EboniBible. The EboniBible is a translation of the Bible in Ebonics--an inner-city "ghetto" version of the Bible. I, personally, think it is very funny, but a completely unorthodox translation. Maybe it would reach some people who would not normally get into the Word actually reading about God, but to be honest, it's not a translation that I would go around bragging about.
ANWAYS.
the middle/high school Bible teacher passed out these translations without proofreading it or even checking to see what it said. about 3 periods after he handed it out, he realized that there were 2 swear words in it! AH! how embarassing. but what a good teachable moment to show that God would not swear in the Bible and that this translation wasn't the most sound...



here it is. the EboniBible. pardon the swear words. but laugh at the pure ludacrisy of it all.
Genesis 1:

[1] In da beginnin' Big Daddy created da heaven an' da earth.
[2] And da earth wuz widdout form, an' void; an' darkness wuz upon da face o' da deep. And da Spirit o' Big Daddy groved upon da face o' da waters.

[3] And Big Daddy enunciated, Let dere be light y'all: an' dere wuz light.
[4] And Big Daddy seen da light, dat it wuz fine ass: an' Big Daddy divided da light from da darkness.
[5] And Big Daddy called da light Day, an' da darkness Night. And da evenin' an' da mornin' wuz da first day.
[6] And Big Daddy articulated, Hey beotch, let dere be uh firmament in da midst o' da waters, an' let it divide da waters from da other waters.
[7] And Big Daddy made da firmament, an' divided da waters which wuz under da firmament from da waters which wuz above da firmament: an' it wuz so.
[8] And Big Daddy called da firmament Heaven. And da evening an' da morning wuz da second day.
[9] And Big Daddy rapped, Let da waters under da heaven be gathered together unto one place, an' let da dry land appear: an' it wuz so.
[10] And Big Daddy called da dry land Earth; an' da gathering together o' da waters called he Seas: an' Big Daddy seen dat it wuz pimp-tight.
[11] And Big Daddy did verbalize, Let da earth bring forth grass, da herb yielding seed, an' da fruit tree yielding fruit afta his kind, whose seed iz in itself, upon da earth: an' it wuz so.
[12] And da earth brought forth grass, an' herb yielding seed afta his kind, an' da tree yielding fruit, whose seed wuz in itself, afta his kind: an' Big Daddy seen dat it wuz pimp-tight.
[13] And da evening an' da morning wuz da third day.
[14] And Big Daddy pontificated, Let dere be lights in da firmament o' da heaven ta divide da day from da night; an' let dem be fo' signs, an' fo' seasons, an' fo' days, an' years:
[15] And let dem be fo' lights in da firmament o' da heaven ta give light upon da earth: an' it wuz so.
[16] And Big Daddy made two great lights; da greater light ta rule da day, an' da lesser light ta rule da night: he made da stars also.
[17] And Big Daddy set dem in da firmament o' da heaven ta give light upon da earth,
[18] And ta rule over da day an' over da night, an' ta divide da light from da darkness: an' Big Daddy seen dat it wuz pimp-tight.
[19] And da evening an' da morning wuz da fourth day.
[20] And Big Daddy vocalized, Let da waters bring forth abundantly da moving creature dat be havin' life, an' bird dat may fly above da earth in da open firmament o' heaven.
[21] And Big Daddy created great whales, an' every living creature dat be movin', which da waters brought forth abundantly, afta they kind, an' every chicken winged bird afta his kind: an' Big Daddy seen dat it wuz pimp-tight.
[22] And Big Daddy blessed dem, saying, Be fruitful, an' multiply, an' fill da waters in da seas, an' let fowl multiply in da earth.
[23] And da evening an' da morning wuz da fifth day.
[24] And Big Daddy spoked, Let da earth bring forth da living creature afta his kind, cattle, an' creeping thin', an' beast o' da earth afta his kind: an' it wuz so.
[25] And Big Daddy made da beast o' da earth afta his kind, an' cattle afta they kind, an' every thin' dat be creepin' upon da earth afta his kind: an' Big Daddy seen dat it wuz pimp-tight.
[26] And Big Daddy be sayin', Let us make peeps in our image, afta our likeness: an' let dem gots dominion over da fish o' da sea, an' over da birds o' da air, an' over da cattle, an' over all da earth, an' over every creepin' thin' dat be creepin' upon da earth.
[27] So Big Daddy created peeps in his own image, in da image o' Big Daddy created he him; nig an' beotch created he dem.
[28] And Big Daddy blessed dem, an' Big Daddy spoked unto dem, Be fruitful, an' multiply, an' replenish da earth, an' subdue it: an' gots dominion over da fish o' da sea, an' over da fowl o' da air, an' over every living thin' dat be movin' upon da earth.
[29] And Big Daddy be sayin', Behold, I gots given ya every herb bearing seed, which iz upon da face o' all da earth, an' every tree, in which iz da fruit o' uh tree yielding seed; ta ya it shall be fo' meat.
[30] And ta every beast o' da earth, an' ta every bird o' da air, an' ta every thin' dat be creepin' on da earth, wherein dere iz life, I gots given every green herb fo' meat: an' it wuz so.
[31] And Big Daddy seen every thin' dat he had made, an', behold, it wuz very pimp-tight. And da evening an' da morning wuz da sixth day.

much overdue life update!

ay-yi-yi! i'm not so good at updating...

but here are some highlights of the past week or so.

1. PARADE!
I was privileged to be a chaperone in a parade for the 7th and 8th graders this past Friday to help kick off the 150th Anniversary of Jarabacoa being a city. Basically all the schools in the town marched around the city waving and smiling at all the people who were lined up (and coincidentally not at work...since it was like 9am.) Anyways, I loved my life because how many people can say they were in a parade in the DR? Not too many. And I got to be with some awesome teacher friends Karyn and Daniel.
Karyn and I loving the coveted JCS red polos. and the parade.


a small glimpse of the amount of students in the parade



2. MOVING!
This weekend we had the privilege of helping the Janicke family move to their beautiful new house! Let me tell you, it was one of the most fun experiences I've had in a long time. Thankfully the Janicke's had everything ready to move, and we were blessed with having a father of one of the families in our school (also. the father of 25% of my class---the triplets.) loan us his truck to help us. Well, they apparently don't believe in bungee cords in the DR, so we basically had to ride in the back of the truck every time to ensure that nothing would fall out of the back. LET ME TELL YOU. I have never been more fearful for my life as when we were taking a sharp turn, my center of gravity was really high, and I was trying to keep the fridge and stove both on the bed of the truck. Good news. I didn't fall out. but I think I was close a few times. THEN when we got there and we were putting the last load inside. and BOOM goes the dynamite. the kitchen table doesn't fit through the doorway. shoots. We troubleshoot that bad boy and decide to park the truck as close as we can to the side of the house and lift that sucker right over the railing onto the balcony (heaven forbid there be any rope for us to use...) so Kelsey, Melanio (my triplets' father), and I heaved that sucker up and the rest of the crew dead lifted it up onto the balcony where it easily slipped into the house. JACKPOT. i am woman. hear me roar.
special shout out to Karyn Statz who took the amazing pictures of us hoisting...
us lifting up the kitchen table over the railing!



3. SALTO BAIGUATE!
On Sunday the wonderful Christy Elmer took my three housemates and I to a beautiful waterfall not too terribly far from our house! It was maybe a 10 minute drive by taxi. As an added bonus, we were able to stop and pick up the pisola (like a motor scooter...)that used to be owned by Christie and take that to the waterfall as well. We just were able to relax and love the water. Christy decided to tackle me, which was awesome. I'm not gonna lie, the water was cold. BUT I was refreshed and definitely cooled down.
a group shot by the waterfall (Kelsey, Anna, me, Brooke, Christy)


4. FúTBOL
So lately I've been playing soccer at recess with the 1st and 2nd graders. It's been a great experience to get to know other students and play a little bit...not to mention definitely practicing my Spanish because they cannot speak English very well. I've learned random phrases like "SIN MANOS!" (without hands) "CON Tú CABEZA!" (with your head...i'm trying to teach them to do headers...it's really funny!) ...also "Quieres jugar?" (Do you want to play?) I knew that one before...but just reusing it FREQUENTLY. They all try and speak to me in Spanish...so I have to try and decipher what the heck they are saying...haha or saying "que?!" (what?) or "mas despacio." (slower...) or "esta bien!" (it's okay) anytime I see any small child during the day, I always say "vas a jugar hoy?" (are you going to play today?)
I'm basically the cool aunt to the 1st and 2nd graders. ballllllin'. I think I'm going to start helping coach the 1st-3rd grade soccer on Fridays (but it conflicts with the girls basketball...tough decision...)
Not gonna lie. it's the highlight of my day.



*BONUS funny story:
My students were creating projects for their Sociales (Dominican history) class which required posters. After confiscating one because it was rolled and the students were hitting each other with it. I was carrying it around all day and mock-threatening to hit my students. :) One of my triplets was kind of being a silly 4th grader. I was getting frustrated with his misbehavior, so I asked him to come in the hall with me. As he walked out, I turned to the rest of the students and gave them the Dominican "sign" for "awkward, ay-yi-yi, you're in trouble" kind of a thing...As I was still holding the rolled up poster board. I talked to him for a minute about how I was not happy with how he was acting and how I loved him and know that he can be a better student. After that, I hugged him and said, let's have some fun. I'm going to smack the poster board REALLY hard against the metal railing (right outside the door) and then you need to scream really loud. He did a GREAT job.
SMACK! OWWWWWWWWW!
SMACK! OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
SMACK! OWWWWWWWWWW!
Then we both walked back into the classroom. He did a good job of keeping a straight face and pretending like he hurt. It was classic. Professional? Not so much. but fun. very fun. for both of us.


*bonus numero deuce.
i've recently become obsessed with old(er) rock music. daily you can hear me singing "shot through the heart and you're to blame. you give love a bad name." over and over and over. i love it. the end.


*EXCELLENT NEWS:
no school Wedensday. Dia de la Mercedes.
beauty.

...and this is why i love teaching...

my students aren't spectacular writers...they don't enjoy writing. they just don't like it. so I like to stretch them. come up with creative ways to get them writing. so I had them get into groups of 3 (because it just works out that way in our classroom anyways...) and had them each write a sentence to a story and then pass it on...and then pass it around...and then pass it around...anyways. this was BY far the funniest story created by Moises, Melanio, and Luis. If you need any of it translated, I'll try, but for the most part, I feel as though it's pretty phonetic.

I like to ride bikes. One day I was roading a bike and a dog was in the mittle and I almost smatch (smashed) him. Than I got my skateboard and I jumped over the dog. Luis almost fall then like 5 minute after he fell in the dirty water and he went to his house and said Mami mami I fell in the dirty water. Wash my body please ok my son. Than Moises came to my hoes (house) and cat poop on him. Then when luis went to the colmado (a little store on the corner) a man throw saliba (saliva) to him. and luis said to him ugly man way did you throw saliba to me idiot man you are disgusting and dirty.

THE End.

wow. what a masterpiece. :)

...until later...

the three boys: Melanio, Moises, and Luis reading their story

Being a Good Samaritan. What?!

Warning: this is not a “what I did this week” blog entry. This is a “what the Lord is teaching me” blog entry.

I have been challenged this week. Shocking, right? This month at JCS, we are focusing on the character trait--compassion. Yeah, I know that this is mainly geared towards the students, but I know that all these traits that we are teaching our students, we need to be practicing as well…and learning more about…so I’m learning more about compassion.

What the heck is true compassion? As I struggled through that, looked up the definition in the dictionary, and even looked at the index in the back of my Bible to try and gain a better understanding of what compassion is. According to my Bible’s index, compassion is “to have pity and show kindness to another.” As I pondered, had conversations, and just read more about “compassion,” I realized compassion goes SO much deeper than having pity and showing kindness. It’s about doing it always, always, always…even when I don’t feel like it.

In chapel on Thursday, Mr. Peterson talked about compassion. Granted this was geared towards 3-5th graders, but I think a lot of what he had to say helped my students and myself gain an even greater understanding of what true compassion is. He read to us the parable from Luke 10 called The Parable of the Good Samaritan. Basically in this parable, a man who has done nothing wrong is beaten, battered, bruised, almost killed and left for dead. A priest and a Levite (a person who worked in the Temple…a descendent of Levi…also a well-respected, holy man) both walked by this man but did not want to get themselves dirty by touching this “unclean” man. Then a Samaritan man (a people who had turned away from the Jewish body because of their desire to marry outside of what God allowed them, etc.) walked by and took pity on the man. Not only did he clean him and bandage him, but he also put him on his donkey, walked him into town, got him a room at an inn, and paid the innkeeper more than enough to help this poor man get well.

As I wrestled with this passage, this is a glimpse of what I was able to take away from it:

1. The most unlikely character can be the one that God uses the most to help those in need. Who would have thought I would be down in the Dominican Republic teaching at a Christian school? Not I! As I am sure not many of you would have thought that a month ago either…God brought me down here for a reason…although I’ve yet to see what that reason is, I know God is working…

2. Compassion can occur even if you are not “expected” to show compassion. Most of you who know me, know that I am fairly upfront and not sympathetic. Here in the DR, I’ve had to learn a whole lot about learning with people who are different from myself, people who are struggling through different things, and basically learning to live and thrive in a Christian community…again. I’ve had to learn to deal with people who are SO different than myself, people who are uncompassionate, people who are selfish, and still love them with Christ’s love regardless of how I WANT to feel about them.

3. This world had beaten, bruised, and almost killed me. Jesus came and held me and took care of me until I was strong again. What a beautiful picture of redemption. Jesus wants to be the person who will take care of you and love you and heal you of everything if you’ll let him…


Practical application?
Yes, I can stop to help a bleeding man on the side of the road, but I think that the Lord wants this extreme ideal of compassion to be taken into my own heart and my own situation. Basically, I think I’m learning to be compassionate with my students. On Friday, I had an “I think this is not the profession I was meant to do” day. Well, I had many of those this week and had to break down and just ask for help (which is so hard for me! a definite pride issue…yikes.). I am not the best teacher yet, I lose my patience with my students on a daily basis. I do not show them the grace and love they deserve. I don’t give them my best every minute. Why? Cause it’s not easy! It’s hard to constantly be patient, loving, giving, graceful. Oftentimes on Friday, I could not help but think, “would Jesus be so frustrated with _______ right now?” “would the Lord be pleased with how I am handling things right now?” Basically I had a WWJD moment. As cheesy as it sounds, it’s true. I guess it’s good that I recognize that I have a problem. I have little patience…
What am I taking away from it?
learning PATIENCE. learning COMPASSION. learning LOVE.

3 HUGE ideals that obviously I am not going to perfect my year in the DR, but 3 things I can definitely learn more about…grow through…observe wonderful examples of…

so maybe God brought me here to the DR to teach me about these things before I go back to the States and teach…whenever that may be…

I’m going to leave you with this Bible verse that I think encapsulates what I am striving towards:
Micah 6:8
“He has shown you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with your God.”

the Lord beers me strength.

hi.
i know i wrote a semi-serious blog earlier this morning, so I thought I would follow it up by the laughter in my life.

okay. so I heard about this AWESOME thing that happened last year between a few of the teachers (who THANKFULLY are still around this year to be mischievous with!!) who taught their unsuspecting students AWESOME Office quotes back and forth and had the students go tell the other teacher.

Well obviously I had to start that up again this year and be the n00b who decides to butt into other people's inside jokes.


setting the stage: yesterday.
Karyn and I spend a significant amount of quality time together in the teacher's lounge. Yeah, probably couldn't ask for more hilarious slash awesome conversations. Sure beats teaching! haha just kidding...
she was heading to teach her most dreaded class so ya know, I wrote her this awesome card from "Future Karyn"...
then later my kids were working on their "Don't Let the Pigeon..." stories. So I decided to write Miss Karyn another note and staple it together so my student helper couldn't see it. He delivered it, and by the time he came back to give me a response, I was already in the teacher's lounge for lunch. "What kind of bear is best?" was the response I got back from Melanio (my student mischief coordinator...). I sent--back up to Karyn--Bears eat beets. Well apparently on his way back up, Melanio had picked up one of his triplet brothers, Josue, and when they came back to the teacher's lounge, they both screamed, "BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA." to those of you non-Office fans, it may not be that funny, but HOLY STINK I was laughing so hard I was crying...I later found out that my first note had gone into Karyn's class during prayer time...haha she said it kind of ruined the mood... :) So I was on lunch duty, and I came back into the teacher's lounge and Karyn's bag was sitting on the ground...she had disappeared. As I was heading back up to pick my kids up from recess, I left a note in Karyn's bag that said, "Identity theft is not a joke!"

setting the stage: today.
I felt as though I should spread around the love a little bit. During writing time (man, I seem like a bad teacher, right??) I wrote Christy a note that said, "Dangit! Jim put my stuff in jello again!" That was it. No response. I was kind of disappointed slash kind of freaking out cause maybe I had crossed the line (story of my life...) After school, Christy came up to me, "Did you check your mailbox?" ....no...
so I went and checked my mailbox. there was a letter. attached was this poster:


I died. LITERALLY. well, okay, not literally. but I was LAUGHING so hard. it was silent. and tears were streaming.

I loved my life.

They make me feel happy...