Christmas happenings...

As most of you know my family and I went to Costa Rica this Christmas. It was so much fun to reconnect with not only my cousins and Tia Gina and Tio Osman but also with my parents and siblings. We visited different places and got to see a lot of San Jose and numerous places of the outskirts of San Jose. On days that we didn't go site seeing we spent a lot of time hanging out at the house and laughing as a family. We literally were laughing the whole break. As soon as I arrived on the 24th (which is the most important day for us latinos) my uncle went out and bought fireworks so we could set them off right at midnight. I was excited to get back into the Latino tradition but since there was a 2 hour time difference and I usually go to bed at 9pm as soon as it hit 9 I was starting to feel like a zombie because back in the DR it was 11pm. Needless to say Christmas time was a blast. Once we were all together it felt like me and my cousins had never been apart and we all had things that we wanted to share.

2 weeks in Costa Rica quickly came and went and it meant that we needed to head back home. After living in a house with 11 people and a very needy dog, the idea of heading back to the DR was not necessarily the most exciting thing.

I am thankful to have had the time I had with my family and I am happy that we all have so many pictures and memories to look back at and simply smile and laugh!

Thanks Mom and Dad for such an awesome Christmas gift, of flying me down to Costa Rica!

Here are some pictures of my time there!

I forgot to mention that my cousin Paola brought her boyfriend from the

states to Costa Rica. My Dad and Uncle decided to have him fill out an

application. Just so you kinda get an idea of what kind of application it was,

at the end of the application it read "Please wait 5 to 6 years to process.

Please do not try to contact us, we will contact you" We had lots of laughs

over this.

The whole family together on new year's day.

Hope everyone had an awesome Christmas break and I hope you have all had a great start to your new year!

New Beginnings...

It's the beginning of a new year which can also mean the beginning of a new blog. At least that's what I keep telling myself. Some of you have sent me emails asking "Why haven't you updated your blog?" and "What is it that you are doing with your life now?" So for all of you who have been asking here is an update on what has happened.

The fall of this year was basically hell on earth for me. After only 2 months of work I kept wanting to quit. I was not getting along with my boss and I was not getting along with other co-workers and I just felt like it was beginning to become a drag for me to go to work. Since the end of last year I was already wanting to find somewhere else to work. I kept praying in the fall for guidance and understanding through this all. I did want to quit my job just because it was an easy way out but I didn't want to continue at this school if that's not what God wanted me to do either. I met with a couple of directors of different organizations and different schools to see what my options would be or what possibilities would be out there. I sat down with one of my friends, Tim and Whitney, and got some good advice on how to push through December and to maybe start thinking of ways to make it through the entire year. So October came around and I kept trying to just focus on my students and focus on loving them as much as I could without worrying too much about the administration. November came along and was still holding on but then some things happened that made it clear to me that it was time for me to leave Jarabacoa Christian School because I no longer had the same mission or vision as the school did. The end of November I turned in my letter of resignation without really knowing where I would go from there. I had several options but didn't know if any of them would go through.

December I sat down with the director of Students International, a missions organization here in Jarabacoa, and we talked for a while and he talked to me about the possibilities of working with them. I also met with the YoungLife Area director and also talked to her about job possibilities. After that I then proceeded to also talk to the director of another christian school here in town and we also talked about other possibilities there. Long story short God was opening up some doors and shutting others and giving me a lot of peace of my decision of leaving JCS. Christmas time came along fast which meant it came time to tell my students that I was going to be leaving and that was the hardest part about my decision of leaving the school.

Both Students International and YoungLife had offered me jobs by mid December and I decided that I would not make any final decisions until I talked to my parents. I knew I was going to be seeing them over Christmas Break so I felt the need to wait to talk to them and go from there.

So here comes the fun part. Christmas break came along and after such a long time of being away from my parents the day finally came to spend some time with them.

Our family got together in Costa Rica where my mom's youngest sister lives. Her and her husband have 4 daughters who we have always been close to and felt like this would be a good meeting point for the holidays.

On January 5th I emailed the director of Students International (SI) and told him I wanted the job for sure. I got an email back from him shortly after that and he said "awesome, meet me at my office Jan. 10th at 9:30am". Tuesday was my first day of work and I am currently still trying to get adjusted to this new transitions. Tuesday we had staff meeting and when I got introduced to the new staff a lot of them started cheering which made me feel welcomed and encouraged to work here. Then yesterday I had my first bible study with SI and got some time to get to know more of my co-workers. I am really excited about my job and excited to be where I am now. I am working on my Newsletter which will then be posted on here, it will have more information and pictures of what my role will be at SI. I will also try and put up more pictures of my time with my family. This Christmas was probably the most memorable Christmas I have had with my family. It was awesome and will hopefully be able to post more pictures of that trip later today or tomorrow afternoon. Thanks for your prayers and support thus far. I am excited to see what God has in store for this year.

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great time with your families and loved ones!