Hello friends and family!

First I would like to confirm that I am, indeed, alive and well. I'm sure a few of you were wondering about it since it has been about two months since I have posted anything on here.

I have been a teacher for a full month now! I can't believe it.

Progress I have made so far in my teaching:
-I have already made about a million changes to my syllabus. When I created the syllabus everything was hypothetical: the students, what I wanted to expect from them, the materials I required, etc. Now that I have met the students and have worked with them, I have noticed how inaccurate my syllabus really is. So there's that... but, hopefully by next year we will have a much more accurate one :)
-Pacing was my first and has been my biggest struggle. Periods are 43 minutes long, which doesn't leave enough time to do a whole lot. I have learned to not only think about each period as a lesson, but figuring out if I need to spread the lesson out in two or three days in order to give them enough time to practice the skills themselves. I already feel like planning is a million times better than it was that first week, but I still have SO much further to go. That is one thing that I am realizing is the greatest and worst thing about teaching- teachers are constantly learning and adjusting. It keeps things fresh yet makes it hard to settle in to things.
-The students. I love the students! They are hard working and respectful, for the most part. :) The area we are working on now is diminishing and eliminating the talking while I am giving classroom instruction. I continually have to stop talking and wait until they are quiet. At the end of last week I was very stressed about this because one of my biggest fears in the classroom is that I will lose control of it. I talked with many of the veteran teachers here who have great classroom management skills and they have been so generous in sharing their thoughts, advice, and recommendations. We have made baby steps this week and have gained little victories here and there... I am thankful for that!

There have been so many moments where I have felt completely overwhelmed with what is being asked of me. Many times, I feel inadequate and inept for the tasks of the day. It is at these times that my quiet times with God are crucial. He gently reminds me that He is with me. He has provided colleagues and co-workers that have been such amazing resources, mentors, and constant encouragers for me.

Isn't it incredible how God always has our back? Just when you think you can't keep going, God steps in and leads you through it. I hope that encourages someone else out there, because I have to remind myself of that every day.

I love you guys so much and am thankful for your prayers and support! I will try to not let two months go by again before I post on here.

Lean on God today. He will not disappoint. :)

This is a picture of my roommate (Melissa) and I on our 'hurricane day' where we got off school for a pretty mild storm by the time it came through here. 

Dearest Family and Friends,

Orientation is well under way! I thought I would give you the highlights so far. 

Saturday (flying day) went super well. I only had two layovers and they were both under an hour long of a wait. I had hardly any trouble getting to my gates. The only hang-up I had was one of the carry-ons I decided to bring. I chose to bring a back pack and a big duffle bag as my carry-ons. Though the back pack was heavy, it was not a problem. The duffle bag... was well, huge and HEAVY. Let's just say I must have been quite the spectacle walking through the airport. I mean, it took me a few tries every time I lifted it to just get it up on my shoulder (ask my mom and Alyssa Downs, they witnessed it after I went through Lexington customs).  Not the ideal way to walk around airports all day. I got it to my second flight through much effort (and thanks to moving sidewalks- they're the best), only to find that they could not check it under the plane and I would have to put it up in the stowaway compartments above the seats. 

Well, at this point I really didn't have a choice. Might I add that the best way I found to hold the bag was to hug it against my chest and share the weight with both arms. So I 'hugged' the bag all the way to the compartment above my seat which was, of course, full. As I moved further back in the plane to try to find an empty spot, I asked one of the attendants if she could help me lift it up so that I wouldn't drop it on the lovely passenger's head. Nothing. She just looked at me. I repeated the request because I knew there was no way I could get the bag up above my head myself. (Of course, in the back of my mind I was hoping that some strong male would hear my cry for help and come to my rescue, but alas, no one came). After the second stare, I decided all I could do was try my best. So, I hoisted the bag above my head and tried to stuff it in to the compartment. There was a long moment of struggling and even a moment where I felt like my arms were going to give out, all the while with sympathetic stares from the passengers all around me. I felt like I had been doing the arm weight lifting session of P90X and was on my last, unbearable set. Then guess what happened?!?! Yeah, it didn't fit. Someone suggested that I take it up to the front to get it checked for free. Although I had already tried this, I knew that there was no way it was fitting back here. I took it up to another attendant who proceeded to check my bag until my final destination! What a relief! Done with that bag until I arrived! Thank goodness for helpful attendants! 

Why did I tell you that story? I honestly have no idea. But I did, so I hope you enjoyed it! :)

That night I got to my apartment and met my roommate Melissa. I was surprised to see that she had a dog! This was a small thing that actually made me very excited because well, I love dogs! Another wonderful surprise was how nice and big the apartment is. It is beautiful. On top of everything the school had already provided in regards to furniture for us, they also provided me with some start-up groceries. The school has been so great in transitioning us into our new lives here, it has been a huge blessing.

The last few days have consisted of mornings at the school, learning about procedures, policies, and beliefs of the school and our duties there as teachers this year. Our evenings have been spent mostly getting familiar with the city. We have taken several shopping trips to get the few odds and ends we needed for our apartments and just hanging out, getting to know one another better. 

Cameron's parents and family have been so wonderful! They have the same kind of open door policy that my family has, and it has been so much fun to go over their house to just chill (much like Sundays at the Rehner home in good 'ol Wilmore). I am so grateful for the hospitality they have already shown us new teachers, especially Mrs. Boehning's willingness to drive us around everywhere to get more acquainted with the area. 

I am really looking forward to working with everyone here. They are so welcoming, encouraging, and it is clear that they have their hearts in the right place, and their eyes fixed on Jesus. I know that I will be inspired and challenged this year in a wonderful way. 

I was going to post a few pictures on here, but instead I will post them on facebook soon, so stay tuned! Thanks so much for reading!

Patience

Hello dear friends and family! 

Oh, how I will miss these beautiful faces

It has been quite a while since I have blogged and that is simply because I have been living in the States finishing up with my undergraduate degree at Asbury. For those of you who don't know, I ended up going to Asbury for five years, and although it wasn't my preferred option coming into college to be there that long- I wouldn't have had it any other way. I played volleyball all five years (red-shirting my junior year) and double majored in Spanish (K-12) and Math (Middle and High School) Education. 

The reason for the continuation of this blog is that I am two days from flying down to the Dominican Republic to start teaching there for the next 2 years. How did I ever come to hear of a teaching job in the Dominican Republic, you might be asking yourselves? Well, I thought I might share the story with those of you who haven't heard it, and if you have you may want to skip down a few paragraphs because it is a bit long. :)

Pastor Steve at First Alliance Church always encourages the congregation around Christmas-time to pick a word for the upcoming year. I felt the Lord putting the word Patience on my heart for this year. I knew that there were a lot of big moments that were to occur this past semester. Among them: student teaching, graduation, a niece being born, and starting my first real 'big girl' job. God knows me so well, and he knows that I get very excited when I look ahead to wonderful life events coming my way. Choosing this word to focus on reminded me to be patient in ALL things. It was like God was telling me, 'Just sit back and let me do my thing. Be patient and wait on my timing.' This was especially important when it came to thinking about my job for next year. I didn't know when I should start applying for jobs or how to even go about it. That is when I got a text from my good friend, Cameron.

He studied in Spain the same semester I did, and he'd been finishing up his Masters in Illinois. His family moved to the DR last year and his mom works at a Christian school there. It was about a day or two before the Superbowl when Cam texted me saying that there was a math position opening up at their high school for the next school year. At the time, I wasn't really thinking that I would go, but I figured it didn't hurt to fill out an application and send it in. 

I did, and heard back that they wanted me to continue with the application process, which included a Skype interview. At this point I thought, 'this seems like a wonderful opportunity, but there are so many things happening here (the biggest being that it is my niece, Hazel's, first year out of the womb)- kind of an event I wanted to be an active part of. I guess I will just bow out because I don't want to make them think that I am serious about the job when I am not.' I told this to my dad and he convinced me to change my mind on the basis that if nothing else, it would be good practice to interview with them. 

I went ahead with the interview, and one thing led to another and soon enough they were offering me the job. Even at the point of the job offer, my selfish heart was holding on to the fact that I didn’t want to be away from my family. I prayed about the decision for a good week, and it was amazing to feel God changing my heart. He kept reminding me of all the wonderful people that have selflessly poured love, wisdom, and kindness into my life and influenced me greatly without asking for anything in return. I realized that I wanted to do my best to create that for someone else, to pass it on. God has blessed me immensely with family and friends that have loved me unconditionally all my life. This teaching opportunity at a Christian school in a foreign country (to me) gives me immeasurable chances to provide that for my students. I don’t know if any of that made sense, but basically it dawned on me that what I want to do more than anything else is to simply pass on what has been done for me, and that is to show God’s unconditional love to the future generation.

I also heard someone say recently that, ‘God doesn’t call us to a place, or a people group. He calls us to obedience.’ So, that’s what we’re doing… stepping out on a limb and trusting that God will be there every step of the way. Which I know He will be. 

I encourage you to come with me on this journey. I will do my best to update you on what God is doing and how He is working. Because after all, that’s what it is all about! I leave this Saturday and will be arriving in the DR that night, ready to start the three-week new teacher orientation on Monday morning. That’s all for now. Thank you for your love and prayers. You guys are the best.