The 5 [or 7] standard ballet poses

We just hit 50%.
12 of the 24 people in my family here are/have been sick.
Yikes.


But, aside from the illness running rampant, celebrating Christmas with these people has been the best ever. As anticipated. It's crazy how natural it is just to get right back into the swing of things. I know I'm not quite there yet, because break is not the normal swing of things, but because of how they prepped us for coming home, I was picturing a more difficult transition already. I guess that's good. I just don't want it to be such an easy transition that the Dominican Republic becomes an amazing dream [which it sometimes feels like] rather than the life-changing adventure it was. I want to hold on to what I was supposed to bring back with me and leave there what was meant to wait until my next Dominican journey.


How is J.R.R. Tolkien so brilliant? I know I'm a nerd, but The Return of the King is on tv right now. And sometimes I just have to stop and marvel at the genius of that guy and his epic trilogy.


Also, I just figured out why I'm not struggling more with the transition. Because I have the best family/boyfriend/friends in the world. So it makes sense that it wouldn't be difficult to come back to them and all their wonderfulness.


Highlights of my day so far: 

• winning Compatibility with Haley
• watching my little cousins tell Jordan stories on skype
• painting nails with Maggie and Ellie...and using four different colors for each of them, one for each hand and foot....hey, you only live once 
• witnessing my family's good sense of humor even despite the sickness
• Squabble and Psych with the older cousins

I hope this big group family time happens again before next Christmas...

why moms are the best...

So, yesterday I wanted to make some brownies for a Christmas party.


And its been a while since I've made these one kind of brownies. [You're probably thinking, its brownies, how hard can it be? And you would be right, except this one tricky step that I always forget] Long story short, I added the egg too soon and my too hot and recently melted shortening decided to fry that egg a little bit. So, in my five-year-old-I-messed-up voice, I went and told my mom the situation. And ever so graciously, she said, "How bout you get a new batch going for your friends, we're out of freshly baked desserts around here, these can be for us." And so my beautiful mother [and really my awesome family] shouldered the weight of my mistake. And really, once I mashed up the egg whites, they still tasted not too terrible ;)


And though this is a silly little analogy, I appreciate the reminder of how wonderful it is to live in community with those you love and who love you back. Where burdens are shared and undeserved grace flows like a river. 


Also, all these little mom things that my mom knows....I hope I learn them before I come to that stage of my life. Or I hope my kids have grace with me if I learn them along the way.

home...

I'm home. 


And it is such a beautiful thing.
I'm still not even sure that I know how to explain what I'm thinking and feeling, so I'll probably continue to blog over break and in the spring as I talk with people and more of my seeds of thought grow into sensible, shareable thoughts. 
But for now...


I know that I am going to miss DR families and team like crazy.


I also know that I'm so incredibly grateful for all the support and encouragement I received from those I love while I was gone.


I also know that it was absolutely incredible to hug my friends and to hang out for a couple days with the one with whom I'm more comfortable being me than anyone else in the world.


I also know I need to get those essays out of my way so I can soak up the time I get to spend with these beautiful people in my family.


I also know that I never want to lose focus of what's worth pursuing in this life...
        Life          Hope

                    Love                            Justice

                                                             peace                       JOY

...and so on.


I also know that there are still unconquered fears in my life but I never want to let those fears drive or control me. I want to live with reckless abandon to the One who gave it all for me.


I also know that I love Christmastime. I always love Christmas, but this year it's even sweeter to have all this family time because I've been away for so long.

We just said goodbye this morning...

...and I already miss them...

Agridulce...

I'm so ready to be home again.
And so not ready to leave this home. 


As the day draws nearer, I keep thinking about the bittersweetness of it all.
This is what triggered my thinking mood the other night:

To most of the world, this might be a strange thing to make you miss home, but the lacy cloth reminds me of Grandpa and Grandma's house and I can't wait to be there again. The music one looks like something that would be at the Giffords house, and I'm so pumped for Roth Christmas. And finally, if you can't tell, the movie on the TV is The Kid [Jordan, we still have to finish watching that someday]. Though I've never watched it in Spanish with them, that is totally a my-fam-movie and I can't wait til we're all in the same house again.

I'm going to miss mi familia:

And I can't wait to see mi familia:

I'm gonna miss this girl coming over to my house to hang out with me all the time:

And I can't wait to hang out with this girl over break all the time:

Also, I already miss being roomsies with Rach, and I will miss being roomies with this girl:

And, I can't wait to be roojmies with this girl:

I'm sure gonna miss my curly-haired friend and my Taylor friend along with the rest of my team:

And, I can't wait to see my curly-haired friend and my Taylor friend and all my other friends at home:

And, as much as I love our amazing wetsuit pictures:

I can't wait until we are on the same side of the ocean and can take a picture together again:

So, all things considered, I'm thinking more sweet than bitter. There's just a ton of amazing people in my life. All mi gente at home, I'll see you in a week!!!! Until then I'm going to be hugging on my bros and my preschoolers and pajama partying it up with the ladies of Mata Gorda :)

I should be doing homework right now. 
But, after about half an hour of trying to coax myself into a Faro a Colon-paper-writing-mood, I gave in and decided to watch a movie with Amy, Neil, and Rachel instead. Old habits die hard.


However, in light of my decision to procrastinate, yet again, I decided to multi-task and blog while watching my movie. 


Tonight we're having a Christmas party at Josh and Vicki's. I wonder how long it will take me to realize that it is actually December and we're now in the Christmas season. This semester for me has been a continuation of one big long summer straight into Christmas break, so I'm still a little disoriented. But I'm pumped to hang out with these awesome people tonight...

This last week at my home in Mata Gorda is going to fly. by. There are too many things I want to do before we move out. Like make bracelets for my preschoolers and get recipes from Kati. And figure out a way to fit lots and lots of coffee into my suitcase. 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsoBoru5Y9Q


I love this video. The amazing Jazz concert I attended last week reminded me of this video. And I miss that kid. Good luck with tryouts this weekend Broski!!

Mi escuelita

I wanted to blog on Thanksgiving, but then was overwhelmed by the multitude of things for which I am thankful. Due to the massiveness of my list, I opted for eating and playing games with my friends here and skyping with my family and Jordan instead of blogging. But, just know that I am incredibly thankful for all of you, and your love, encouragement, and support.

..........

This blog entry is dedicated to my amazing preschoolers and the ways they brighten my days:

Angel gets so excited for the interactive lessons we have on Thursdays. Its awesome. And his voice cracks me up. Its not really a lisp, but he puts some extra sound in there so manzana becomes manshana. SO funny. 

Yocaira. I feel like it would be fun to watch her narrate what was happening as she played with dolls or something at home. She seems really good at entertaining herself and I always wonder whats going on in that little head of hers.

Enmanuel's mom is close friends with Kati so he is always over and its so much fun watching him laugh and wrestle with my brothers and want to be like them. And at school everything he makes/finds is for Jenni, his step-sister. So cute.

Kyarolin has perfected the art of pouting, BUT aside from those times, her big beautiful smile is contagious and I love it. When she gets excited about something in class she's really expressive and animated. She should probably be an actress someday.

 Smil. Such a funny kid. He's really good at his letters, but gets embarrassed when you acknowledge him in front of other people. I love the mornings [namely this morning] when he is still tired and just wants to sit on my lap during song time.

Jaelis. I think she has toughedned up a bit since I first got here, but she is just a delicate little girl sometimes. But, super sweet as well. She sits next to me and snacktime and shares with me. And she invited me to a picnic she's having.

Isaias. Where to begin? He's a thinker and a question-asker. I have tons of Isaias stories, but one of my favorite moments was when he was over at our house and sat on my lap to eat soup and picked out the parts he didn't like and handed them to me.

Katerin has the biggest most beautiful brown eyes in the world. She [and actually a lot of my girls] have really low voices, but I'm not making fun of them, because I can totally relate :) And, when I smile at her she always has the hugest smile on her face and then gets shy and looks away.

Stiven is the quietest kid ever. And we he actually does speak, his voice is super quiet except when I push him on the swings. Then he has a huge smile on his face and laughs super loud and I love it.

Moises is one of the little ones, but he is very good at tracing the letters we're learning. And every time we read books, he wants me to read him the same tractor book. Pretty soon he will be able to read it to me.

Luis Angel is our tiniest little guy. He LOVES the swings and everyday during recess I hear "Miquita, rempujame" [empujame means push me, but I love how he says it, wish you could hear his voice] and then when I ask him to share with the next person, "¿una sola oiste?" [Pretty much means, alright you can push them once, but then I want my swing back :)

Daniela. Preciousness. She's so well-behaved and quiet but when its just the two of us, she tells me stories. She's always the first one asleep during naptime and its so much fun to wake her up as she squints and rubs her little eyes.