The Give and Take

Week one of school? Finished! It was less crazy than either of us expected, and definitely went pretty smoothly. We took a trip to the beach the weekend before, which turned out to be restful and a great way to start of the year. So far, Nick's students seem to be intimidated by him and his threat of extra homework for people who complain about class.  He also asked them to answer questions on Friday to say how he was doing so far as a teacher. He got a lot of really positive feedback! We were both encouraged by that and it seems to be confirmation that we are in the right place doing the right things. (It's always good when you realize that).

I have fallen back in pretty easily to Doulos, even though my role is different. I get to teach the 11th grade English class, which was my favorite group of students to work with last Spring. It's great to be back with them! I am also providing ESL support in 5th and 6th grade English. I love working with that age group. It is just so different than high school (although I love high school too). I have just realized how much more quickly younger students trust adults in their lives. On the second day of knowing the 5th graders, one of the girls ran up to me after school and gave me a big hug...it was adorable. You don't get much of that from high school students!

Although week one of teaching went well (and we are so thankful for that) it came with some personal struggles and hardship. On Tuesday, we found out we had to get rid of Kenya. Our landlord told us we were not allowed to have pets, even though the couple who lived in our apartment before us had a dog. Thankfully another teacher at Doulos really wanted her. She picked her up on Thursday. Though it was sad, I think it is for the best. It gives us a lot less responsibility as we begin here, and we can go visit her if we want to.

Then on Thursday evening, I received a message from my mom telling me that my great grandma had passed away during the day. She had a massive heart attack, so it was unexpected for us. It seemed like everything was going so well at school, but then all of this was happening in my life, and it was a lot to take in. I also cannot be back for the funeral, which is sad, but I know my Grandma Bailey had a long life and that she loved the Lord. So there is that hope still. She lived for 91 years, and I am honestly just so thankful and blessed to have had my great grandma be a part of my life for so long. I know that is not the case for many people. But, if you think of it, be praying for my family. While things are going really well at school, these other events this week show me that life is hard and will be hard. And God is in control. I feel like God is showing me that although I may feel I have it all together and don't need any help, I do need him. I hope to keep that perspective throughout the school year. 

Here are a few pictures of my Great Grandma Bailey...she will be greatly missed!

This is her and her dog Heidi, who kept her company after my great grandpa passed away. She spoiled Heidi, and Heidi was perfectly fine with that! :)

Her 90th birthday party. I didn't make it to this one, but still am very thankful that Nick and I were able to go with my family to visit her this summer before our wedding. He was able to see how friendly and gentle this woman was to me growing up. We will miss her!

Settling in.

What a whirlwind. Nick and I have been living in the DR for a little over two weeks, and we have been married for one month. It feels like we have been here longer...it even feels like we have been married longer. I think it has to do with the fact that we have crammed in so many big events into such a short time frame. While some worry that going through so many changes so quickly after marriage can be detrimental to your relationship, we have only found it to be encouraging. We have had a great time here so far, despite some little blunders on our part here and there.

Nick and I moved right into our apartment when we arrived. We love it! Here are some pictures of the apartment:

This is our kitchen. We have already been able to cook some really good food in this place :) We also have had people over for dinner two different times. Which reminds me...I have a funny story. The first time we had people over, our power was out. This is typically a normal occurrence in the DR, so we let it go. However, it lasted much longer than usual, so we began to wonder. I walked out on our porch and realized everyone else had power except us. Turns out we didn't pay our electric bill! There is no mail service in the DR, so the way you get your bill is someone brings all of them in a bunch and puts them in the handle of a door near the front gate of our apartment. We did not really know this...but, thankfully we took the bill in the next day and it was fine. We could still cook because we have a gas stove, and the fact that the power was out gave us a great excuse to make shadow puppets and lay on our hammock.

Yep....we are getting plenty of use out of our hammock here. It probably looks like we don't do any work, but we do! I promise! But, I'm not going to lie, you should probably be a little jealous of the hammock, because it is pretty fantastic. 

Also, here is our room! We like the colors a lot. 

For those of you who don't know, we rescued a street puppy! We named her Kenya, and she is adorable. We are thankful that she is amazingly well-behaved for a puppy. She does get hyper, but she listens really well. She already knows how to sit and that she is not allowed to go into the kitchen. She's pretty much the cutest (see below).

The only bad part about having a puppy is that Nick and I now spend our time at home doing voice overs for what we imagine Kenya would say if she could talk. Not that she would, because she doesn't even bark! 

We love her :) 

Just want to say thank you to all of the people who helped us get here! We hope that we can make good use of our time here and really make a difference for our students. School starts Monday, so we are busy preparing for the craziness to begin. Keep those prayers coming! We love you guys.