December Newsletter!

So I technically never wrote my last blog post for my "blog everyday for a week, to make up for all the times I should have been blogging in the last two months" series thing.
So here it is! A copy of my December Newsletter I sent out to my supporters! Enjoy!

Christmas Rice & Beans!

I wrote this blog today for the Makarios website and I thought I'd share it on my personal blog as well!
One more day of the "blogging everyday for a week to make up for all the times I should have been blogging over the past 2 months" series. Hope you've enjoyed!
To see this actual post on the Makarios website click here, or just continue reading below. 


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Makarios was blessed once again this years with donors who are willing to help our children and families eat over Christmas Break! With the donations we were able  to buy  7 pounds of rice and beans for each student! Rice and beans is an essential staple in a Dominican & Haitian’s diet.  We’re so excited to help our students and family eat over the holiday break.

The students were so excited that  they pushed in line to receive their bag of rice and beans. We had to have several teachers act as “crowd control”

Pat giving our students from Chichigua their rice and beans for they left.	Profe Bella helping Pat hand out the bags to the children
Erickson	Aldiani realized how heavy her bag of rice and beans were as soon as she picked it up

The students showed their excitement in many ways: smiling for a photo, chanting “arroz, arroz, arroz” (rice, rice, rice), and by balancing beans on their head.

Francesca, Rachel, and Ruth with their beans	Carlos Alfredo & Pat
Carlos Alfredo and his teacher: Johan	Raidi
Profe Johan and Raidi

Blani (one of our Pre-K 3 students) was all smiles as she opened her bag. Check out the slideshow below:

And finally.. our Dominican and Haitian staff were surprised and blessed to receive their own bags of rice and beans!!

Profe Narolin celebrating with her bag of rice and beans

Profe Bella celebrating as well!

Rice and beans to all, and to all a good night!

Llegó Navidad en la Republica Dominicana (Christmas has arrived in the DR)

To tell you the truth, Christmas arrived in the DR about 2 months ago in our favorite grocery store: La Sirena... but we decided to hold off a bit in our actual lives.

First Sarah and I found our Christmas tree, literally on the side of the road in Santiago. It was across the bus station the day we were going to see Breaking Dawn. We spoke with the guy and asked him if he would be open later (we didn't think it would be the best idea to drag the tree into the movie theater with us). So we picked it up after the movie and took it on the bus with us. He (being the tree) sat next to me in his very own seat!
 The following week we invited Miranda over, and the 3 of us decorated the apartment.

The finished product-- I know very Charlie Brown Christmas Story like-- and that's why I'm in love with it!

The following Friday we had our Fiesta de Navidad at the school --complete with dressing up, a pizza party for each class, and performances for the children's parents. Here a few pictures from the "dressing up" part of our day:

Isn't Estaci BEAUTIFUL?

One of my favorite pictures of the day. 

Warner!

Ricardo & Antony are best friends. I was able to capture Ricardo telling Antony a secret before all the students started singing.

I always envision these two boys.. years and years from now, still best friends and hopefully doing great things for the Lord!

Blaini all dressed up!

Alturo

 Profe Nicole & Andy

Manuela and Profe Sarah.

Finally we had our Makarios staff Christmas party, where all of the families of our Dominican and Haitian staff members were also invited! It was a GREAT time. So great in fact, that I didn't have time to take as many pictures as I wanted. Here are a few from my point and shoot camera (which for w/e reason the resolution/tone is suddenly awful on).

This is Lismery. She is one of Yomo's (Yosmery is her full name) daughters. And Yomo is one of the Makarios staff members. I wish this photo wasn't blurry!

Surprise cake for the December birthday girls.-- Sarah, Yomo and Narolin.

And the night ended with Kelvin pretending to be Clark Kent.

I love my staff.

Thanksgiving Week in the DR

Day 3 of blogging everyday this week!

Thanksgiving for us in the DR started the Saturday before. We had a large family style dinner with all of our American, Haitian and Dominican staff members. Even though I'm not the hugest fan of typical Thanksgiving food.. it was really nice to have a turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, etc. etc.

Here's a few photos from the night:

Writing down what we're grateful for

Group shot.

(taken with Pat's camera)

Thanksgiving continued with our relaxing mini vacation to Lifestyles resort. After our half-day on Wednesday, Sarah and I headed to Playa Cofresi to begin our stay at the all inclusive resort (that we got practically for FREE through cheapcarribbean.com). Miranda, her sister Jamie (who was visiting from the States), Janelle, and her coworker Tracy joined us on Thursday.

Now, I wouldn't exactly put Lifestyles in the 5 star category.. but coming from our small town Montellano, it was just what we needed and more! My favorite parts included hot showers that you didn't need a hot water heater, relaxing on the beach side canopy beds, food being prepared for us, spending time with the girls, watching part of the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade, watching cable TV in general,  having time to read for pleasure ( ie discover my new love for "The Hunger Games") and being able to leave my cafe con leche on the counter without ants devouring it. 
It's the small things, ya know?

Here are some pictures from our long weekend:

The balcony of our hotel room

The inside of our room

She's pretending..

Bathroom

The beachside canopy beds!

Our Thanksgiving Day Dinner, at the Mexican Restaurant. 

Rainbow above the ocean.

Group shot.

AND Sarah and I ended our weekend by taking a quick trip to Santiago to see BREAKING DAWN! (which premiered a few days before Thanksgiving here in the DR).

If you're wondering.. it was amazing, and I'm ready to see it again (and again, and again).

That was our DR Thanksgiving: A relaxing/amazing time spent with friends. Grateful that God brought me to this country to live and serve him for the next two years!

Come back tomorrow for another post!
Imani