Welcome, Brianna!

Since we found out that Jessi, the school nurse, was going to return to the US mid-September, I have been asking the Kids Alive directors to try to find a new missionary to come work at the Care Center. And they found someone! This is Brianna:

She has jumped right in and worked hard this week! We have been prepping our Christmas sponsorship project (that's what she's doing here - shaving crayons), and she weighed, measured, and de-wormed all the kids this week! She is wonderful. So much fun to be around, sweet, and a great coworker - I have really enjoyed showing her around and talking with her and watching her love the kids. She will be here until just before Christmas. Please pray that God will bless her time here. Pray that our friendship will continue to be encouraging and a blessing. Praise him for providing perfectly, as he always does, a new friend and coworker for me. God is good!

America

I went to America. Shocking, I know... it was hard to explain to my coworkers that I was going to America but not to my house! I managed to get lost 3 times in the Miami airport, stare at skyscrapers like I had never seen anything that tall, sleep on 5 different couches, FREEZE on a Chicago architecture boat tour, step on lots of crunchy fall leaves, go to Concert Choir rehearsals, and spend wonderful time with my family, Aubrey & Jeff, Erica, summer interns, and Wheaton friends and professors. It was definitely refreshing and relaxing, and it was also confirming that I am where I am supposed to be. As I walked around campus, I didn't wish I were still a student, and I didn't feel nearly as nostalgic as I anticipated. Yes, I have wonderful memories from my time at Wheaton, but I don't belong there anymore. The thing that struck me most about America is how easy it seems to live there. I can't describe it, and I know that some Americans live incredibly hard lives, but my life in America seems really easy and comfortable compared to my life in the DR. I am still sorting through that observation and praying that God would reveal ways for me to live in America with the consciousness and faith that I live with here. Another incredible part of my trip was being blessed with teaching manuals/idea books/resources and lots of games, supplies, etc for my new first grade class! See the next blog for more on that... I came back to the DR feeling equipped and excited about teaching and using all my fun new things. I geeked out in the teacher store - it was pretty hilarious - and Molly said it was like I had been shopping for new clothes, showing her everything I got! It was so good to see my family and spend time relaxing together. I also got to spend four days in Milwaukee with Erica, going to school with her and seeing what her city life is like.

America is nice, but I was ready to come home. Maybe not ready to return to the heat, but ready to return to Lauren, my apartment, my students, and this culture that in so many ways feels more normal to me than American culture. What a blessing it is to have "home" in two places! My next trip to the States will be for Christmas, and I will be in Quakertown on that trip.

what DO we do on the weekends?

I often am asked what I do on the weekends here. Well, this weekend was a three day weekend thanks to Saint Mercedes (whoever that is!). On Friday we slept in and then went grocery shopping. We were going to watch a movie, but our friend Joe called wondering if he could shower at our house since he had no water at his house. We said yes, so he came over, showered, ate dinner with us, and then we ended up hanging out and talking until 11 or so - no movie. Today we slept in again (seeing a theme here?), had our traditional Saturday Morning Pancakes - this week they were banana - and I did some work on child sponsorship. We skyped with some people, called some people, went for a long walk, played a game with some friends, and worked on our homework from our Beth Moore Bible study on Daniel. Tonight we will go to the Makarios team house to watch Glee on the big projector! On Sundays we go to church; I arrive an hour early to practice with the worship band; church is at 11. After church we sometimes go out for lunch; tomorrow we will pack veggies and hummus and tortillas and head to the beach after church (yesterday and today were cloudy/rainy). Part of tomorrow will probably be devoted to lesson plans and prep for the upcoming week of teaching. Sunday nights I skype with Erica, my best friend from Wheaton, to finish my weekend off well!

So there you have it - my weekend in a nutshell!

Back to School!

The most important part of a 1st grader's school day is, of course, breakfast! On the first day of school, we started them off with nutritious hot oatmeal drink called Avena. They proceeded to make milk mustaches with it and make me smile!

One Year with Lauren

On August 3rd, Lauren and I went out to lunch to celebrate one year of knowing each other! Our missionary training program started on August 3rd, 2009; we met that night and have been roommates, close friends, and traveling buddies on this road called missionary life ever since. We celebrated a year of paradoxes, tears of joy and tears of sadness, hope and anger, loving life here but longing for the comforts and family of the States, experiencing the pain of broken relationships and the healing of grace and reconciliation. We have created a physical home here, intentionally living in community and sharing everything we have, making our apartment an emotionally and spiritually safe place. We have pushed each other to grow, held each other up through times of crisis, learned to navigate Dominican culture together, worshipped together, thrown the rubber "yuck" duck against the wall together, and done a LOT of laughing together! I am so thankful for Lauren, for the wisdom and joy she brings to my life. I so clearly see God's providence and work in putting us together and binding us together - it's amazing and mind-boggling how He knew we would need each other and provided for us. He is faithful. He is good. He has done great things for us, and we are glad.

A story that illustrates the hilarity of our lives here: after our celebratory lunch, we went to La Sirena (the grocery store) for frozen yogurt. We have a club card for Sirena, and we had earned two plays of their giveaway computer game. I think for buying the right brand of lunch meat? So we scanned our club card to "play" the game, and we won! We won $1000 pesos, which is about $30 US, to spend at Sirena! The man in charge turned on a loud flashing buzzer and stuck a microphone in Lauren's face and said, "How do you feel?" It was crazy and surreal, but we were very excited! Perfect end to our roommate celebration!

Construction Update

As usual, it's been awhile! I wanted to share this link to Brian's blog, a Kids Alive missionary who spent the summer with us leading work teams. He gives a great overview of all the construction and other work the teams did this summer!

If you would like to receive my email updates (or think that you do receive them but didn't get one this week), you can email me at emily.jamison@my.wheaton.edu and I will add you to my list!

Check my facebook page for lots of pictures of our new playground!

Slip-n-slide!

We set up a slip-n-slide for the kids with a team one day - it was hilarious to watch and the kids LOVED it! They still ask me when we're going to do it again!