Mema

Meet Jesus Maria, aka Mema. He's the residential old man at the Jaibon orphanage. 

Some of us leaders made a quick day visit out there on Wednesday. One of my favorite parts of the day was afternoon story time with Mema. I think the best story he told was when Coco asked him if he knew how to write and he said,

 "When I was a school boy, I learned about writing, but I didn't understand what it was for. Then, I saw that the other boys were using their letters to write love notes to the girls. THAT'S when I realized what writing was for!"

Christina y Nena

We had an activity time with the kids yesterday afternoon. I was hanging out with Mery/ doing some theriputic activities with play dough to work on her gross motor skills. Different kids would periodically come up to me to show me something, ask for help, tattle-tale, etc. 

I didn't think too much of it when Nena came up and started playing with some play dough as well. She was minding her own business, so I kept my attention more-or-less on Mery as we worked away. After a few minutes of being there, Nena tapped me on the shoulder and told me to look at what she had made. I responded with an, "Okay, wait just a second" type attitude.  Imagine my surprise with I finally looked over and saw this...

I'd also like to mention that I didn't have a name tag on, she just spelled it out from memory. She's so cool.

 

The Face

See the face?

Clock Tower

This is the Clock Tower here in Monte Cristi. It was designed by Eiffel and brought over from France in 1895.

Adios Elizamen...

Elizabeth a.k.a. Elizamen has been here with us in the DR since October 2009. She came on the O.O. team to lead out the Health Corps program this spring, and she's been one of my two roommates for the past 7 months. Tomorrow, she heads back to Kentucky. We're gonna miss her down here, but she's not too far from Tennessee, so I'm hopeful our paths will cross again :o)

Overwhelmed

How is it that these kids fill me with so much joy by simply existing? Sometimes, I just look at them and tears come to my eyes as I'm overwhelmed with love.

Click the following link if you want to watch a slide show I made of them.

 Slide Show of My Amazingly Awesome Children 

Cheerleaders

These kids put a big smile on my face today as I was walking back from school with the group I'm leading this week. As they saw us coming from a distance, they began to chant, "Americanos! Americanos!" and enthusiastically continued utill the last volunteer had passed by. It's nice to have a cheering section every now and then, especially one as cute as these guys!

Laci's Look-A-Like

 This little girl came to one of our English camps this week, and I just couldn't get over how much she looked like Laci. I got so excited I think I scared her a little bit...