Major changes

This is a letter we sent to friends, family, and supporters a few days ago regarding our plans for next year.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support and for being a part of our lives and our story!

Friends & Family - 

First and foremost, we want to thank you for all of the prayers you have lifted up on our behalf, all of the thoughtful emails and phone conversations you've encouraged us with, and for all of the ways you shown your love for us as a family in the past two months.  Thank you for walking through this difficult time with us and for being such an encouragement to us.  Our God is GREATER than any obstacle that might ever come across our paths and we experienced that in a BIG way through Hannah's birth and consequent health complications.  Again, thank you for being a major part of His master plan for Hannah's life.  

We are writing to share some bittersweet news with you with regards to our long-term plans.  Due to Hannah's condition and after much prayer, thought, and painful deliberation, we have decided that we will not be staying in the Dominican Republic for our third year with Doulos Discovery School.  This was an incredibly difficult decision as we have so enjoyed becoming a part of this amazing community of believers and been continually humbled and encouraged by the work that God is doing in this community and through Doulos for the advancement of His Kingdom.  We honestly do not WANT to leave here, but given the new realities of life with Hannah, we feel at peace that God is calling us back to the US.  

We want to express our heartfelt thanks for your generous support for the work we've been about for the past two (school) years and ask for your continued prayers for us as we transition back to life in the US.  It definitely will not be easy.  As of right now, we are unsure where we will be ending up, but I am currently focusing the job search in three primary areas 1) Bay Area of California 2) Denver, CO and 3) Nashville, TN. 

If you've been supporting us financially, we thank you (again) for your partnership with us and Doulos Discovery School.  As I said, it's been such a blessing to be a part of this great organization and to share in the "educating and equipping" of Christian "servant leaders to impact the Dominican Republic."  At this point, we have enough financial support in our fundraising account to get us through the next three months.  While we personally don't need to raise any further funds, there are many continuing needs at the school (including other missionaries) and if you are looking for a very worthy cause to continue to support, we would LOVE for it to be Doulos!  If you'd like to hear more about some great opportunities, please let Christen or me know - as we said, our hearts will always be in this place!  If you would prefer to simply stop your donations, that is obviously fine as well (if you are currently a direct donation monthly supporter, please just let me know and I can help you through that process).  

Again, thank you for all of the tangible ways you have supported us throughout our time in the DR.  We would never have been able to make it through the past two years without such a wonderful support structure back in the US encouraging us, funding our work, and lifting us up in prayer through the difficult times.  We love you and are privileged to have been sent out to this work.  We expectantly wait to see what God has in store for us next, wherever that may be.  

Love and peace in Christ,

Joe, Christen, and Hannah Byker

Soli Deo Gloria

Reflections from Fall Semester

Some of you may have realized that you haven’t heard a whole lot from me (Christen) this past semester; whether it was my lack of blog updates, emails, or phone calls.  I apologize for being so distant – that was not my intention.  We began preparing for the school year in August and I feel like I have been running on pure adrenaline ever since then!  As most of you know, I am pregnant and due this March.  It has been such a joy going through the different phases in this process and learning to trust the Lord when I clearly have no control over my situation.  The month of August was a rough one for me though, filled with nausea, vomiting, and being way too tired.  Plus I was scared all the time – how much of what I was feeling was because I was pregnant?  What if I had eaten something bad and that’s why I wasn't feeling well and it was hurting the baby?  Is this how you’re supposed to feel when you’re pregnant?  My mom never really experienced much sickness while being pregnant and I figured that it would be the same for me – man was I wrong about that one!  It doesn't help that my doctor speaks only a few words of English and I am in a developing country – it was very easy to let fear begin to sink in and take hold of my life.  On top of all these crazy changes going on in my body, I had a school year to prepare for.  They don’t teach you what the first week of school is supposed to look like in student teaching and I feel like last year I failed at it miserably.  My goal this year was to present a clear classroom management system that would help students know my expectations in all situations and more time would be spent learning instead of dealing with behavior problems.  Any time I was not sleeping (whether on a couch or the desks in my classroom), I was figuring out just how I would communicate that to my middle school students. 

A constant theme for me this past semester was how God is so faithful.  It seemed that whenever I was lacking something – whether ideas in the classroom or rest – He would provide; it was just a matter of my asking Him and giving up my control to allow God to take the lead.  One of these ideas came in my classroom management.  Last year was a huge learning experience for me and I felt like my classroom management was constantly changing – I never had a clear set of expectations for my students.  This year I spent the first week of school clearly communicating to my students what I would be expecting of them this semester from their behavior to school work and how I would be pushing them not only in science but also in their English development.  I am confident that my classroom management has been an area of success for me this year because of my ability to listen to God’s voice and allow Him to be in control in my classroom!

I had three classes to prepare for this semester – 6^th grade devotionals, 6^th grade physical science, and 7^th grade Earth science.  I figured planning would be a breeze this year compared to last year since I've done it all once before, right?  Wrong!  As I took out my plans from last year and began to prepare for this year, I realized even though everyone else thought I had everything together last year, I really didn't.  My plans seemed like a big joke to me!  What had I done?  My students must not have learned anything!  There was so much to change, so much to improve upon.  I instantly began to recognize my need to completely re-vamp all I had done last year.  I realized that this second year of teaching that I thought would be such a breeze was actually going to be filled with many nights and weekends of taking work home.  Although there was so much to change I found that I was able to create clear learning targets for my students that were actually aligned with curriculum standards.  There was some awesome learning that went on in the classroom this fall where students were active participants instead of instruction being teacher-centered.  It’s amazing the amount of learning that takes place when students are active learners instead of just waiting for the teacher to feed them information!

Last year my least favorite class to teach was my 6^th grade devotionals class – probably because I had never done anything like that before and really felt unqualified to do it.  It is tough when it’s just you coming up with curriculum and the Bible is so vast – where do you begin?  And what do 6^th graders need to know?  This year, to help me be a little more on top of my game, I met early in the year with our discipleship director, Patrick Pace, and asked him for some advice.  I knew the theme I wanted to incorporate for the year – What is true about God? – But how do I teach that?  Last year we received training from ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) for Biblical integration in our classrooms – he suggested I start with that.   We began the year discussing what is truth?  What is the difference between absolute and relative truth?  Then we started to dive into the Bible and see what is true about God, creation, mankind, moral order, and purpose.  Students learned specific biblical principles that they will (hopefully) begin to look for in their content classes and the world around them.  We closed out the semester by talking about what is true about the Nativity story – many kid’s (and our own) perceptions of Christmas are skewed by gifts and stories of Santa Claus they have heard growing up – but we looked deeper at what events really took place leading up to, during, and after the birth of Christ.  I plan to continue the theme of “Truth” when we return from the holidays as we dive into the Gospel of John.  

As many of you may remember, Doulos is an expeditionary learning school.  Each semester students have a unit of focused study that involves learning through experience whether that is field work or learning from experts in a particular area of study and culminates in a night of celebration sharing work with parents, community members, and Doulos staff.  This semester I was tasked with being in charge of two expeditions at once.  7^th grade would be focusing on a unit on caves which was the same as last year; however, 6^th grade’s expedition changed this year and it was my job to create/plan their new, more curriculum-aligned expedition.  I already knew that there was much I wanted to improve upon for the 7^th grade cave expedition.  I wanted it to be much more curriculum-based instead of purely informational.  With help from our new Curriculum Coach, Danae LeMoine, I was able to focus our cave unit on building upon what students had learned throughout the semester.  By activating prior knowledge, students were able to apply what they knew about Earth’s waters, rocks and minerals, weathering and erosion to help them learn more deeply about caves.  We were unable to find any cave experts this year to talk with students but were still able to visit a cave on the North Coast which included a lagoon that you could zipline into!  The kids had a great time and it was so fun to see them applying what they learned as they saw in real life the different cave features that we had been discussing in the classroom.  Our final product was a brochure that the students created for the Cave we visited (Cueva Dudu) that will be passed out to future visitors.  Expedition night found our students acting as tour guides for the life-size model cave they created in a corridor behind our amphitheater.  Students did an awesome job and took so much ownership of their work – I hardly oversaw any of their work but was so impressed with the quality of what they did.

7th grade students in front of the entrance to the cave

Students swimming in the lagoon and checking out the underwater  stalagmites

Abel jumping from the zipline!

The life-size cave model packed full with Middle School students!

Although the 6^th grade expedition was a work in progress and there is much to be improved upon for next year, it still was very successful.  Students were able to apply what they had learned about energy transfer and use the steps of the scientific method to help them investigate applicable questions on energy.  Students were able to plan an experiment and test their hypothesis thanks to a ton of collaboration from my fellow middle school teachers.  Their final product was a brochure they made for parents with recommendations of different products that used less energy (light bulbs, fans, vehicles, batteries, etc.) based on their findings.  Students also wrote lab reports that were based on high school requirements and made exposition posters that shared their work in Spanish for their parents.

Annaly, David, and Frandi comparing amperage between an incandescent and CFL lightlbulb.

Ariela, Marcos, Heidi comparing amperage between a box fan and rotating fan.

Maria Jose and Ashley compared MPG between cars with a diesel and gasoline engine.

6th grade students presenting their findings

Overall the semester went great.  Although it required a lot of work and I was exhausted all of the time, it was so awesome to hear students literally PLEADING with me to give them a test because they understood the learning targets!  It was also amazing to see our community rise up to help me in any way they could, whether it was for expedition night, lesson planning, or a friend being there when it had been a tough day.  Finally, I felt most blessed to have Joe.  His support this past semester has been unmatchable.  Many nights I would come home, unable to do anything but lay on the couch.  He would take care of dinner, take care of dishes, our dog, and sometimes even help me grade papers.  I am constantly amazed by the love Joe has for me and the servant leader he is in our family and at our school.  God has truly blessed me and I cannot help but give Him thanks for all I have!   My prayer is that you would experience His abounding love as I have and pass it on to others.  Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Joe, me, and snowflake baby B at a Christmas party!

I am Pharoah

Several weeks ago, I was reading the story of the Israelites leaving the land of Egypt and their exodus from the slavery they suffered under the Pharoah.  As I read through the plagues suffered by the Egyptians and the terrible circumstances they endured before finally (reluctantly) allowing the Israelites to leave, I starting to feel a little bit sorry for them.  Yes, they had subjected the Israelites to harsh treatment, killed Israelite male babies, and probably been involved in countless other examples of incredibly poor treatment of God’s people. 

The Great Pyramids of Egypt

But did they really deserve to have ALL of their water turned to blood?  To be covered in frogs?  In gnats?  Or flies?   To watch all of their livestock fall sick and die?  Be covered in boils?  To have most of their crops destroyed by hail?   Then, the remaining crops eaten by locusts?  To live in complete darkness for 3 full days?  Witness the death of their firstborn?  When I list it out, it sure sounds like a LOT to endure, right?   

Silly Pharoah, just let the people go!

However, as I looked deeper, God spoke a truth to me.  Time and again, after God had given a respite from a particular plague, Pharoah hardened his heart and denied the immense power that God had just demonstrated.  He promised to release God’s people, but as soon as the hard times had passed, he decided that he just enjoyed having the Israelites around to do his bidding too much to let them go freely.  Surely what he and his people had just endured was the worst they would see.  Then came the next plague and again, he would remember his own insufficiency to protect both him and his people from whatever the “plague du jour”  was.  He begged Moses to pray to his God to deliver them from whatever they were suffering.  Then, wash, rinse and repeat, he hardened his heart and refused to release the Israelites from their bondage.  How dense could Pharoah have been? 

As I reflected further, God revealed a second truth to me.  I DO THE SAME THING!!!  I am the same as Pharoah.  I’ve never had to endure a river of blood or watch all of my livestock die – shoot, I don’t even have any livestock – but I act the same way.  God has blessed me so abundantly and when things are easy, my mind wanders to what I don’t have that I think for some reason I need.  What am I missing out on?  Where could I find “X”?  My heart is hardened just like Pharaoh’s was.   When things are hard, I turn to God and ask Him to get me out of this situation, to relieve the pain, to take this obstacle out of my path.  And when he does, how do I respond?   I return to complacency and my heart is yet again hardened.  

My prayer is to live consistently – that I will give thanks, rejoice, and be content in the good times but also that I will persevere and trust our good, all-powerful, and loving God when I go through trials of all kinds.  Solely by God's grace is this great challenge possible.  Will you join me in this prayer today and ask God to soften our hearts and continue to mold them for his purposes?

Soli Deo Gloria (To God ALONE be the glory)