It Was Time For Something New

Welcome to the remodeled blog of me, Brooke.

I decided that since I am going to stay for one more year I better make my page a bit more user friendly. I am going to be slowly adding rearranging things on the site for the next few months. but the background and the header are here to stay I think. I like them.

On the right you will find everything to know about why I'm here, mailing address, past posts, and how you can help. I hope to be working up some charts for everyone to see where their support is going.

I am very excited to be staying another year because that allows me to continue the bonds I have made with students and some families here. Also the school is in transition as we will be saying goodbye to several teachers at the end of the school year. AGAIN if you need a job or knows someone who needs a job please e-mail me!

This past week has been spring break aka Semanta Santa (Holy Week). Holy Week pays homage to the Catholic society that dominates the DR like many Latin American countries. Unfortunately it isn't used to celebrate Christ's resurrection instead it becomes a week long party to drink and be crazy. This weekend will mark my 3rd Easter in the DR. It is so crazy to think that two years ago I was just setting foot on this island for the first time. God has been so faithful in those two years and continues to show His hand in many situations.

I headed off to the beach earlier this week with 5 girls. Thankfully there was no RAIN this trip! We set off on Monday morning armed with lots of bags and eagerness. We made it to San Fransico our first stop of the trip to head ot the grocery store; exciting I know. But here where our grocery options are limited it's nice to just browse the seemingless never-ending aisle of goods.

Then it was off to Nagua for some ocean-side basketball; none of us were amazing, but we had an amazing time soaking up the sun and playing with on of the little boys who stopped to watch. When we left 30 minutes later we had quite the crowd gathered to watch.

Then it was the final push towards Las Terranas. Sadly I have no pictures of our incredible adventure as again another camera has seemingly bit the dust. My "new" (6 month old) camera now only produces pictures in purple with black lines through it. I have not dropped it or gotten it wet so I am very frustrated. It's very discouraging to buy something when money is tight and then have it not work. Please pray that Kodak will help fix it or replace it.

Once we arrived in Las Terranas we unpacked into one of our apartments for the few days we were there and split up. Some of us going shopping for food and others going to the pool. It was nice to be away from Jarabacoa and unwind. Monday night involved a beautiful sunset (I promise to steal other people's pictures to share) and wonderful spaghetti dinner made in our tiny kitchen. Then it was off to bed in our nice big beds after wonderful hot showers.

Tuesday involved one thing...sunshine! I spent as much time outside as possible doing devotions on the beach, reading, snorkeling (first time) and then some wonderful pool time later on. I wish I could say that snorkeling was a success, but not prepping myself for the experience mentally was a poor choice. Perhaps some other time now that I can know what to expect.

Then Wednesday it was back home after one more moring on the beach. After our drive home we were all ready to crash and sleep.

The rest of the week has been pretty low key lots of reading and relaxing and avoiding the sun now that my back is nice and red. I spent this morning at school lesson planning for the week to come. I'm hoping that I can jump back into teaching with few problems.

I will do my best to get pictures to show you what a great time I had so stay tuned for more. Also, please be patient with site rearranging; it will probably take some time.