Belonging...

After I resigned at Jarabacoa Christian School (JCS) I was told that I would have to move out of JCS housing before I left for Christmas break. Thankfully one of my good friends Karen and Dan Speciale had offered me their extra bedroom at their house. My initial reaction was excitement but then following after that I felt a little nervous. Now that I have almost 3 months of living with them I feel blessed and over joyed to be where I am right now.

I was worried about the transition to a new job and at the same time transitioning to a new home. I knew I was at the right place though because I had so much peace about the whole situation. I got picked up from the airport back in January from Dan and Karen and that's when my journey started. As I sat in the car heading up the mountain I knew that my new normal was soon to start. I got home I was received by Danny and Anthony, Dan and Karen's kids, and immediately I felt a sense of BELONGING. These past few months I have been so thankful for having the opportunity to live with a family.

Coming home from work and having a 5 year old run up to give me a hug as if he hasn't seen you for weeks is beyond what I could ask for. Having a couple who isn't afraid to ask me the tough questions and having a couple who allows me to share my frustrations with them. The sense ofBELONGING is constantly evident and is such a blessing. Needless to say I know this wasn't just coincidence I know for a fact that God knew exactly what I needed and when I needed it.

Something's that I have enjoyed/hated/loved/laughed at, etc is the numerous was that I have been woken up on a Saturday morning. Saturday's are usually my sleeping in days but when you live in a house with a 5 and 9 year old and a 10 month old you are bound to be woken by numerous things. Anthony who is 5 is mostly known for always waking me up in some creative way. I have my top 3 Saturday wake up calls. They're as follow:

1. Cap Gun

2. Whispering in my window "Miss Gomie come play with me"

3. Singing "You're Elmo's Sweetheart, Elmo loves kisses" (this happens to be what Giuliana's Elmo toy is constantly saying)

So, kids have their own way of making you feel like you belong. There hasn't been a Saturday in which I have woken up angry at anything but instead I am constantly reminded that this is the place where God wants me. I am blessed because my sense of BELONGING doesn't just stop at home but it continues on at work as well. It's fun coming to an office and being excited to see my co-workers. Excited to see what else is to come of the rest of my time here at Students International.

Here are a few pictures of the Speciale Family and my life here this month.

Estefan and I playing at school.

Speciale Family

Danny (Top Left) Me, Anthony (Top Right) and Giuliana

Hanging out

Turning Frustrations into Joy...

This was written a few days ago but still wanted to share this.

Yesterday was one of those frustrating days for me. Nothing seemed to be going as planned or even as I wanted them to be. Somehow and for some reason when I would get frustrated though it would somehow turn around into joy. Let me give you one example of how this happened.

I left my house as soon as I heard the rain stop and prayed that the rain would stop for just 15min. That’s all I needed to get to work and after that everything would be just fine. Having a motorcycle as transportation here is a luxury but sometimes I think it’s not really the case. As I drive away from home I start to feel it sprinkle but still in my mind I believe I can make it to work dry. Three minutes later it starts to pour and the moment I arrive to work not a single spot on me is dry except for my head because I had my helmet on. (Just for you Mom and Dad)JMy inner child comes out and I stomp upstairs frustrated and angry. I try and pull myself together so my face wouldn’t say it all when I went down for breakfast. All I wanted was to be dry and here I was standing in the middle of the office soaking wet with no dry clothes to change in and home is about 10min away and I only have a motorcycle. Needless to say I felt miserable and cold.

One of our cleaning ladies was wearing a pair of sweatpants over her jeans because she was so cold. She saw me and without even asking she took off her sweat pants and told me that I could use them while she took my jeans downstairs to dry my jeans. This is when I started to feel joy. Joy because I knew that this lady without knowing me for very long was already willing to serve me. Joy because I realized that the place that I am currently working at is not just a place that only serves the community but staff helps each other out. Joy because our entire staff is there for one purpose and one mission which is to show Christ to those around us and to serve our communities.

Things may not have been going the way I wanted them to yesterday but I know that I am here for a purpose and I know that this is exactly where I am supposed to be right now. More frustrating things happened throughout my day but somehow every frustration yesterday turned into joy. I am happy to be in a work environment where I don’t feel like I am constantly pouring out to others but also feel like others are pouring into me and I am challenged to keep finding out more and more about the God we serve.

Most of you know this about me but I hate change so coming into a new job, new home, new friends, new environment, new community, new co-workers, new life has been really hard for me. The only difference this time is that God is teaching me how to find joy, happiness, and peace through change. I am beginning to learn this and experience this but one thing that is different of what has come is the fact that I continually find a reason to smile and a reason to be happy.

This is my new life. This is my new community and this is my new ministry until God calls me somewhere else. Here are a few pictures of what my story is all about for now.

The painting right outside our window which I fell in love with the first day I arrived at El Callejon.

My new community El Callejon. Paintings were done by SI Art site a while back. These paintings are all along the walls of this community. They all have a Bible verse on them.

The back of the pre-school.

The front of the school.

Some of the students at the school.

My first team this year. (Matt, Michelle, and Bre) My group of students decided that at the end of our work day we would find a new spot in the community where we would take a "boy band" picture. This is just one of the 10 that we have taken. Sadly my first team has quickly come and now will be leaving soon.

Thank for all your prayers and encouragement.

Love you all!

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!

DR 2011 in Pictures

Since I am not very good at this game called blogging I have decided that I am just going to upload some pictures of what I have been doing during these past few months here. Most of the pictures are not pictures of me during class time but are some of the things that I do when I don't teach!! I do have a video of my kids singing the song Might To Save! I taught them this song a while back but thought I would share this with you guys. If you would like to watch it click here.

These pictures are not in order!

My friends Ryan and Caroline welcomed baby James into the world at the end of January! I got to spend valentines with my surpervisor's kids, Anthony (left), Danny (right) and James and babysat with my friend Natalie!

Motocross Competition

Natalie, Me, Lorraine, and Rachel at Motocross

Soaking wet after it rained at the motocross!

Carnaval 2011 (The Dominicans do this every year during the month of Febuary)

It's crazy don't even know how to describe it really.

Hanging out after school with one of my favorite third graders, Randy.

Me, Jessica Stanley, and Jessica Ensing hiking

I made it to the top!

Motorcycle ride with Natalie on a Saturday afternoon!

Samana beach!

Natalie and I on the whale watching boat!

Humpback Whale!! :)

(We got to see a mother and her baby)

Emily and I

Emily came to visit the last week of Febuary! It was the highlight of the month and definitely had a lot of fun having her here!! :) Thanks for the surprise Em!

This is basically what has been happening here in the DR. God is still stretching me and maturing me which has been hard at times but I know will be worth it in the end! Still loving the Dominican culture and for the most part loving my time here. The end of the year is coming up soon which is scary and exciting at the same time. Saying goodbye to teachers that I have gotten close to this year will not be easy for me but trying to trust God with whats to come next year.

Prayer Request:

1. My students

2. Patience for me as a teacher. I seem to get easily frustrated lately and need to learn how to be patient with my kids.

3. Strength to make through the rest of the year!

4. Peace and understanding of why people come in and out of our life! I have struggled with this question a lot so this would be a big one that you can pray for!

Thanks again for all your support, love, and prayers during my time here! I could never do this without you guys!!

Jamie Rodriguez

First day of school Jamie's Mom came to school to tell me that Jamie was in the hospital and couldn't come to school but she wanted to pick up the homework so that she wouldn't be behind. As the days went on the more anxious I g0t to meet my student, Jamie. Finally the second week of school Jamie showed up to school ready to learn and completely healthy.From day one Jamie got a piece of my heart and I fell in love with her. I never understood why she was so quite and why she was so soft spoken. I tried to interact with her during recess but I could barely get a sentence out of her. The quieter she was the more I wanted to know what she was thinking and what was going on in her mind. Jamie rarely participated in class and rarely would she complain about anything. As I started to teach Math I quickly realized that Jamie was going to have a hard time with this subject. She had a hard time understanding the material and was always one to finish her assignments last or just simply not turn them in. She was probably one of the students that I easily got frustrated with because in my mind I was thinking "Multiplication by 2 digits is not that hard, why can't she just do it?". She would never come up to my desk to ask me a question and I was the one who always walked by her desk and noticed that after 15 min of individual work time she had yet to complete a single multiplication problem.After long hours and staying in from recess Jamie had finally started to understand Math. She was finally feeling comfortable with coming to my desk to ask me questions and was finally talking to me. Finally she had an assignment turned in and it was a C-. We finally have a grade in and after much hard work Jamie is smiling because she has completed and understood her math worksheet.
Jamie spent numerous hours working on a card. I didn't know who she was making this for until she came up to me and told me "Miss. Gomez I have a gift for you but I havent finished it yet... but don't worry you will get it soon." Days went on and during her free time I would always find her working on this card. Finally one day she had finished this card and she came all excited one day to school and she came up to me and said "Miss. Gomez I finished your gift.... it's in my backpack but I will give it to you at a special time". It was then that my heart melted. Jamie was putting all of her efforts to make me this card. I finally got the card that day and when I read it I remember feeling so loved. This is what the card said:

Dear Miss Gomez,

Thank you for helping me understand Math!
You are my favorite teacher!
I love you so much!

Love,
Jamie

As school kept going Jamie slowly started to skip class. Her mom always had the excuse that they had to go to the capital so it was hard to get Jamie to school on Friday's and Monday's. 5 months had gone by and her mom couldn't not bring her to school everyday of the week. As I talked to the director about Jamie I explained that Jamie was failing every single class. Jamie had yet to turn in an assignment to me and she was so behind that there was no way that I couldn't get her caught up on all the work. The more I learned about Jamie's mom I realized this precious little girl simply didn't have a Mom!! This was when my heart broke for Jamie and I wanted to do everything in my power to love her and care for her.

About 3 or 4 weeks ago Jamie's mom came to school and the Director and I had a meeting with her to tell her that Jamie would need to repeat 4th Grade if she skipped any more days of school. As I sat in the office telling her that her daughter had a 12% in Math she seemed to care less about the issue. I tried explaning to her that it wasn't that her daughter was dumb but it was the fact that she skips too many days of school and is so behind that she doesnt understand the material. During this meeting all I wanted to say to this mother was "Let me adopt your daughter." but I couldn't. Soon a week went by and Jamie missed another day of school and then another. Finally the director informed me that Jamie would no longer attend Jarabacoa Christian School. Her mom had decided that she would be better off at some public school instead of a Christian school. My heart had been torn into pieces. The student that I loved so dearly would no longer be in my class.

There was nothing left for me to do but pray that God would be there for her and protect her in her new school. I didn't understand why God would allow me to fall in love with a little girl who would just eventually not be in my life anymore. I didnt have a way to contact her and I had no idea where she lived. I just thought that I would just not see her again. It's funny how God works though. One of our spanish teachers works part-time at the school that Jamie attends which made me so happy because I was now able to ask her how she is doing every once in a while. Today my class had a pizza party at my house and I sent an invitation for Jamie with the spanish teacher. I crossed my fingers and prayed that she would make it.

Today as we watched a movie and waited for the pizza to arrive Jamie walked through my front door and before I could say anything my entire 4th grade class got up and gave her a group hug. Finally after praying for several weeks I was able to see Jamie. God is faithful and eventhough there were times that I was angry and frustrated with Him he knew the desire's on my heart. As much as God is taking care of me he is doing the same for Jamie! I have learned that I am not here because God needs my help but instead I am here because he simply wants me to be part of his work. I won't be able to fix everything and I wont be able save every kid or take care of every kid I come in contact with but my job is to show them Christ love for the amount of time that God allows me to. The rest is out of my control.