dwellings

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LOVE!

BLESSINGS.

friday morning lights

My old Bible study leader used to tell us that her prayer for us was that we would grow closer to the Lord each and every day. I love that prayer. But what does it really mean? GROW CLOSER. You can interpret it differently, for sure. I think that one way I feel closer to God is when I am consistently seeking his truth and will for my life which, is phenomenal and all but sometimes I get so caught up in the future that I completely forget what is happening here and now. Yes, I believe that goals are important. Big dreams are necessary. Prayers are essential. And I fail all of the time. I fail my friends, I fail my family, and I fail my students. BUT! I am learning. I am still learning after all of these years. Thank you Lord for your patience, I REALLY appreciate it. I also really want to be a great teacher and this past quarter has been muy interesante. I sometimes feel like I have NO idea what the hay I am doing and as I reflect on the past few months, I think of a lot of things I can definitely work on as an individual, teacher, friend and peer. More planning, less distractions. More love, less frustrations. More giving, less receiving. More laughing, less screaming. An opportunity is defined as: a situation or condition favorable for attainment of a goal. The large corporation I used to work for described your "weaknesses" as "opportunities." I want to make sure that I am constantly striving to improve my "opportunities," and use every opportunity that I am presented with as a chance to shine for His glory.

BOOM.

"It's not about perfection; it's about our intimacy with God, our connection, our relationship with God. Once we get through that, once we realize that we can be imperfect, flawed, broken; those kinds of things are the ingredients of spirituality." 
[Mike Yaconelli]

where the skies are so blue

Tropical storm Richard came and left on Sunday morning and fortunately did not cause too much damage or destruction here in Roatan. The power was out for the day, there were some downed power lines, debris and lots of seaweed. We headed to West End to meet up with some friends later in the afternoon and brought back a few to eat some of Amber's delicious homemade chili in the dark. We sat around candles and talked with our new amigos and when the power came back on around 9pm, there were victory dances to be had by everyone.

Monday we didn't have school and we woke up to the most beautiful day. 84 degrees, bright blue skies and no clouds. GLORY!! I believe yesterday was the first day in October that it didn't rain. The guys headed to climb big rocks and do manly things in the East End and the girls decided to walk to the gorgeous West Bay, which ends up taking about an hour. We trudged through some thick mud, Ali almost lost her sandals and Amber about face planted in the thigh-high seaweed dirt masses. HILARIOUSSSS!!

Man I love me some vitamin D. This week our students have half days at school as a result of their quarter exams. Where the junk did October go??!! Time is flying by!! And what should I be for Halloweeeeen....






I hear the Panthers finally won on Sunday.

DEUCES!

en route to... venezuela.

I love unforgettable Fridays. We strolled into school ready to start the beautiful day only to witness our Cafeteria chef beating said rat (see previous post) with a baseball bat, killing it in front of the audience of about 30 ninos y maestros. It was actually hilarious. Poured all day, per usual, and then the girlies had a home volleyball game. They were victorious in their efforts and it was an exciting competition.



Jaime drove the bus filled with screaming 6th graders over to the Alvarado's beautiful home on their own private beach to roast marshmallows, play more volleyball, worship and get to know our children during youth group. It was amazing. Harrison taught them how to make a proper s'mores (pronounced shhmore) which, they had never done before! We played some futbol and watched the sun set before Erin spoke to the group about the Samaritan woman at the well. She did an absolutely phenomenal job and really connected with the audience. Love her!



We headed over to Joseph's glamourous crib to hang out with the Roatan Rotary, eat pizza and devour some delicioso Garifuna chocolate pudding cake. We met his fabulous daughter Janette who was celebrating her birthday. John, Kelly and I decided to venture out to French Harbour to explore the nighttime social activities later on. As we were finishing our popcorn and walking down to the road to catch a taxi, we hitched a ride from 2 extremely generous Venezuelans who were also hitting the town. Danny and Alex were their names, cousins traveling together and had only been in Roatan for a day. They drove us to ROA and then we decided to head to West End, where the real party was. Every person we have met thus far during our time here on the island, was at this bar. We had a blast dancing and getting to know our newly found amigos. I also met a very nice group of people from Israel. I LOVE NEW FRIENDS. SUCCESS.

rat a tat tat

Totally about to gank some thunder from K. Swope (HAPPY 22nd CHICA!!) because I love her 1st graders. She decided it would be a phenomenal idea to catch some tadpoles from our puddles of rain near our casa and bring them to class to watch them grow. She is such a wonderful teacher. They decided to name the 5 little guys:

1. The little mermaid
2. Megaplaza (a shopping mall near our school)
3. Chuck
4. Umberto
5. Brownie

HILARIOUS.

I am also on a mission to find one of these for my sister, Katie, who wants one for Christmas:


I guess I will be climbing some trees.

We received some cray cray news today from our Academic Coordinator (Principal for all you Amuuricaaans) Nina. Apparently there is an epidemic of leptospirosis currently spreading through Nicaragua and Central America is taking necessary precautions. Our school has a pequeno mice and rat problema so they are investigating tonight, deciding if the issue is large enough to consider fumigation and if so, school will be cancelled for a few days. Hello anti-bacterial soap and lysol.

i love exploding dog

all my homies

The Lord gave me 7 special gifts a few months ago.

E Peezy, K deezy, Harry J, Z Stanke, Ali, Amba J y Dr. John.

They are THE BOMB.

God knew what he was doing when he handpicked each one of us to be here in Roatan for the year.

From Donald Miller's bloggy blog:

"Dr. Dean Ornish is a heart surgeon and has done extensive research involving heart health. His findings were surprising. What is most important to heart health, according to Ornish, is community. That’s right…other people. Patients who suffered from a heart attack were more likely to recover if they had a dog, and also if they were in a good marriage, and then also if they were part of a close-knit community. They could also take medicine, but the medicine helped about as much as the community, Ornish found. In other words, we were designed to work best when we were in loving relationships.

It’s no wonder that so much of Scripture is addressed to groups. We were designed to live in community."

We grow together. We cry together. We spray bug spray on each other. We cook together. We laugh ALL THE TIME together. I don't get sick of these people. I use their stuff like it is mine. We fold each others laundry. We sing and dance together. We wax together. (jajajaja) We encourage each other. We pray together. We ride deep in tailgates together.

I am obsessed with my community. Are you?