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!

Work Team, Anniversary, Year Two, and MORE! (Aug and Sep 2012)

It's been a busy two months since returning to the DR at the end of July.  Here's a brief recap and some pictures:

From July 22 - August 1st, Joe hosted a work team of 20 high school students and 5 leaders from Hill Country Bible Church in Pflugerville, TX (just outside of Austin if you're as confused by the name as I was).  It was an absolute pleasure to serve alongside this group and get to know them during their ten days in Jarabacoa.  They did a great deal of work both on the new classrooms on our schools campus as well as helping prepare the campus for the new school year.  Although it's a lot of work and long hours hosting a group, both Christen and I came away feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and encouraged by all of the good folks from Pflugerville that gave of their time to serve alongside us at Doulos!  Thank you HCBC leaders and students!

Giving HCBC group a campus tour - at this point of the construction site

After a long week of work, the building and construction site looked a LOT different!

On their final night in town, the group prayed for us as we began our second year.
The entire week with this work team was an incredible blessing!

Saying farewell to a great group of folks at the Santiago airport.

Immediately after dropping the work team off at the airport on Wednesday, August 1st, Joe joined the rest of the Doulos staff for our annual two week orientation.  This time included days of service preparing our campus for the new school year, reviewing school policies with both new and old staff, and professional development days to help teachers get back in the mindset of educating and equipping servant leaders at Doulos for another year.  We wrapped up our two weeks with a staff retreat outside of town at our director's home in the mountains.  It was a great way to refocus our vision on Christ and remember why we all have been called to serve at Doulos.

Before our second school year started, we celebrated our four year wedding anniversary.  As we reflected back on the past four years, we thought about all of the people who have challenged, encouraged, and been a part of our marriage and were reminded again of how truly blessed we've been.  So, thank you for being a part of our lives and the role of encouragement you've played!  

Celebrating four years of wedded bliss!  (at least most of the time, anyway)

School started on August 22nd and it's been non-stop as usual!  Just a few days into the new school year, both Christen and our Managing Director, Tim, celebrated their birthdays.  In typical Doulos fashion we held a joint theme party for the event.  You may remember that last year, we did a GI Joe party (if not, you can read about that one here).  This year, the theme was "The '70s," and boy, were there some great outfits!

Christen, me, and Keren (our Exec. Dir. Krista's daughter) at the '70s party

Tim and Whitney's adorable flower child, Charlotte

The Brady Bunch even made an appearance!

Since then, we've had our first visitors for this school year - Joe's parents came through from September 10-24th.  It was a great time visiting with them and we even got to share in the celebration of Joe's dad's 60th birthday!  For the special occasion, my mom took us all to a beautiful restaurant up in a very nice development called "Jamaca de Dios" (or, God's Hammock) with a great view of the entire Cibao valley that surrounds us.  It was a very special time spent together.  We also put them to work during their time here - dad fixed up and painted a room at school during his week here and mom helped Christen in her classroom both weeks AND made us some curtains for our guest room that any and all visitors will very much enjoy in the future!  Thanks, mom and dad!

The view from Jamaca de Dios.  Impressive.

Happy 6-0, Pops! So glad we got to celebrate with you!

One of my (Joe's) goals for this year was to hike Pico Duarte, the tallest mountain (elevation 10,128 ft)  both on the island and in the entire Caribbean.  So, two weeks ago,  several other men who work at Doulos and I embarked on a Men's Advance weekend hike to summit Pico Duarte.  We left at 5am on a Saturday morning and returned the following Monday (Sept 24th was a national holiday here) at around 4pm.  All told, we hiked a total of about 35 miles in 3 days and by the end of it, we were pretty doggone tired.  It was, however, a great trip and I am glad that I did it!  

Valle del Tetero, the beautiful valley we stayed in the first night of our hike up Pico Duarte

Scenic view along the trail

Almost there - the peak is in sight!

From the top ..... not the best view, but that's what happens when you
summit in the afternoon during an impending thunderstorm :) 

The men of Doulos after hiking Duarte!

This past week, Christen and I participated in our second "Outdoor Education Week," this year as the leaders of our particular trip.  We traveled with the 6th and 7th grade classes to the same coffee farm / camping area we went to with students last year.  It was another fantastic opportunity to interact with students.  Now that we have solid relationships established with many of them, it is all the more enjoyable to spend time with them outside of the traditional school environment and also witness growth in their lives.  

6th and 7th graders at the secret waterfall in Manabao

Christen and Joe at the waterfall

Last, but certainly not least, we are thrilled to announce to the entire blogging / facebook world, that Christen is PREGNANT!  She is now 18 weeks along and we are expecting our little bundle of joy sometime around March 10th.  To answer a few common questions: 1)We are not planning to find out the sex and 2) Yes, the baby will be born here in the DR.  Please pray that the baby continues to develop healthy and strong and that Christen has the strength to make it through her daily schedule while carrying this growing "load" :) 


Thank you for all of your love and support!  Please feel free to write, comment, facebook message, etc with news from your lives - we love to hear from you!  

Blessings, peace, and Soli Deo Gloria

Playa Fronton

I've decided to give you a picture tour of our time at Playa Fronton with 18 sixth graders for their coral reef expedition. We started early Monday morning and drove for 5 hours to the Samana peninsula. Things were a little packed on the bus and students were FULL of energy! When we arrived, we were dropped off on the side of a dirt road literally in the middle of nowhere. The beach we would be staying at was not reachable by car so we had to hike for two hours to get there! When we finally arrived, it was amazing to see the faces of several of the students - some had never seen the ocean before. One girl, Noemi, stood with her mouth open in amazement for at least 2 minutes. A whole wave emotion flowed through me during that time as I enjoyed their reactions as much as they enjoyed their first view of God's marvelous creation.

Hiking in

Noemi (front) & Eliezer (back)

When we arrived at the beach which would be our home for the week, it didn't take much time for the kids to get in the water, clothes and all.

Students enjoying the ocean (some for the first time!)

Eventually, we had to round all the kids up to set up our campsite. We had 5 tents that needed to be set up along with our very own (and my first ever) BIFF - Bathroom In Forest Floor. The first day passed by quickly after setting up camp, dinner, and the requisite campfire.

Our tents

There was always endless amounts of sand in our tents - very uncomfortable to sleep on!

Our first day began with a review session - "obstacle course" style.  Basically students had to make their way through an obstacle course and answer different questions along the way.  If they answered incorrectly, the teacher asking the question got to make them do any embarrassing thing they wanted.  It was a lot of fun for both students and teachers!

Priscylla doing the limbo on the way to Station 1.

Frailyn doing sand stars after answering a question incorrectly.  He always has a smile on his face.



Geremias climbing a tree for the last challenge!

The rest of the day was spent waiting for our experts from the non-profit, Reef Check DR.  We passed the time un-knotting the human knot and even had French class.

Satisfaction - human knot just about cracked!

Joe finding a moment of solitude - always needed when
 surrounded by 11 and 12 year old kids for a week

Our experts finally arrived late afternoon on Tuesday and gave a class on coral reefs.  This included review for the students as well as some new information.

Ruben (from Reef Check) talking with students and teachers.

The next day was what all of the students were looking forward to most - snorkeling!  Before we could get into the water though, the kids had some work to do.  One way marine biologists around the world are helping coral reefs is through coral nurseries.  Ruben informed the kids that they would be helping out by making coral "cookies".  The step by step process (with pictures) is below.

Step 1 - Mix the cement.

Step 2 - Cut out the mesh centers.

Step 3 - Create coral "cookies".

Step 4 - Let them dry.

Step 5 - Pop them out.

Final product - Coral cookie with attached (in this case, dead) coral.

These coral cookies would be used to attach live coral which would then be transplanted to a coral nursery.  In these coral nurseries, marine biologists are trying to re-grow coral and increase genetic diversity of the different coral species - pretty cool stuff!

After making our first batch of cookies, we gave snorkeling lessons and then the students were let loose into the water to actually see the coral reefs that they had been learning about!

6th graders out in the water having a great time!

Adriana being silly!

That night before bed we had one last activity - Plankton fishing!  Using our makeshift nets of pantyhose and strainers, student went plankton catching and used flashlights to see these tiny organisms that are the main food source for corals. 

Joe checking out plankton with Isabela.

Following the very full day we had, everyone was exhausted, so after gathering around the campfire for smores and songs, we went to bed anticipating the next day of adventures.  Day 4 went by very fast.  We made more cookies, snorkeled some more, and students collected loads of data on water quality, beach width and slope.  It was hard to believe that the next day we would already be heading back home.

Taking water quality measurements.

Our snorkeling group pick - can you spot Joe?

Our last day began the same way as every other day - with our daily devotions with students.  That morning; however, we awoke early and did a sunrise devotional time.  Our devotions topics throughout the week all had the theme of water and so we ended on Friday with a more symbolic action with water - Jesus washing His disciple's feet.  It was quite breathtaking sitting on the beach with my kids, talking about God and seeing his beautiful sunrise.  When the sun did make it's first appearance on the horizon we all stopped and soaked it in for some time.  We culminated the trip with washing our own student's feet and gave them the opportunity to do the same for each other. 

Our breathtaking sunrise.

Washing one another's feet

Prayer before leaving Playa Fronton

Boat ride (perhaps the most fun part of the trip for me) back to civilization - the waves
were still quite large from a storm that was raging near the Bahamas

We ended the trip by picking up trash and taking boats (instead of hiking) to the town where our bus was waiting to take us back home.  The bus ride home was much quieter than the one to the beach.  Kids slept or recapped the week.  Joe and I were incredibly exhausted - ready for a shower and a real toilet.  As I look back at our week in Playa Fronton I don't really think about everything the students learned about coral reefs - which was a lot.  Instead I think about the relationships that were formed or strengthened.  Of course I would not like to spend every week in seclusion with 18 sixth graders, but it was the most unifying experience I have ever had with students.  I know that Joe and I made the right decision in answering God's calling for us  in the Dominican Republic.  This blog cannot tell you half of what we experience here and I wish you all could live it with us!

I hope all of your lives are as fulfilling as ours are - that you have found purpose in all that you do, which can only come from God.  As always we enjoy hearing from you and are thinking and praying for you all.

Soli Deo Gloria