It’s already (the end of) March???

I started writing this blog update two weeks ago and its focus was on what had happened in the month of February.  It is now the end of March which means there is even more for us to tell you about.  This is going to be a long one, I hope you can make it to the end!

I have been quite busy in the classroom.  Sixth grade has been studying the classification of matter (elements, compounds, and mixtures).  Seventh grade was in a unit on erosion in February and are now in the middle of their science expedition on caves.  Eighth grade was  studying classification of living organisms and created field guides on specific animals (one vertebrate and one invertebrate) that they shared with the fourth grade students (who had been studying classification as well and shared the books they made with the eighth graders).  It was so fun to see both 4^th and 8^th graders sharing their products that they had worked so hard on!  Now they are also in the middle of their science expedition which is focused on freshwater ecosystems.

February brought the first round of progress reports for second semester.  It seemed that over Christmas break, many of our students forgot how to behave in the classroom and what it means to be a responsible student.  Over half of all of our 6^th and 7^th grade students (8^th grade was the exception) were failing one or more classes.  Instead of meeting with each parent individually and saying the same thing over and over again, the middle school team decided to plan a meeting for all parents of students who were failing.  Our focus was to be on a number of things including test results, curriculum standards, student responsibilities (behavior, homework, quality of work), and good examples of student work.

We began the meeting by showing our parents the results of a country wide test comparing Doulos student’s scores on math, Bible, and reading comprehension to other students in public schools around the country.  The results were staggering and showed Doulos students scoring up to 50% higher on math and reading than their public school peers.  While I admit this test did not take many variables into consideration – the majority of public school students come from low socio-economic situations compared to Doulos where half of our students are on scholarship, or difference in class sizes – it is hard to say that students at Doulos are not far ahead of their public school counterparts, especially after spending time in the public schools on various occasions and talking to public school teachers. 

After starting on the good note of student test results we went on to discuss the curriculum standards that teachers must follow here at Doulos.  Because we are an ACSI accredited school, we have adopted the Washington State curriculum standards and must get through a certain number of standards per year.  Our middle school math teacher attempted to explain this to parents so that they do not think we choose whatever we want, but that we have chosen a curriculum that will prepare their children to continue their education in the United States if they so desire once they graduate from Doulos.  After, I was the bad guy and discussed the general problems us teachers had been seeing with our students.  This included laziness, sloppy, non-quality work, not taking work and tests seriously, and behavior that resembled that of baboons.  Our geography teacher, Maggie talked about rubrics and how we teachers give our students specific guidelines for all of their work (students like to give the excuse to their parents that they don’t know what to do on assignments and that is why they are getting low grades!)  Lastly, our English teacher, Justine brought the parent’s attention to a gallery of quality student work that we had put together for them to see.  Overall, the meeting went very well and we have seen a huge improvement in most of our students since then!  Report cards come out next Friday and we will see how many students were able to improve their grades after the progress report talk.

Katie, Heidi, & Eric Neel

February was very exciting especially for Joe and me because it meant the welcoming of our very first visitors here in the DR!  Eric and Katie Neel (friends from Tennessee) and their 4 month old daughter, Heidi, came for 9 days to see just what it is we do here.  We began their trip by picking them up late from the airport on a Thursday night and driving straight to the beach.  After a 2 hour drive we arrived at 1:30 in the morning and went to bed shortly thereafter.  We spent a long weekend in Cabarete and spent a whole lot of time on the beach.  Heidi was a trooper and loved the water.  She had a good time putting her toes in the sand! 

Heidi with her toes in the sand and looking so cool

Katie, Heidi, Me, & Joe enjoying the beach!

On Monday we headed back to Jarabacoa and spent a restful day preparing for a week of hard work.  Eric and Katie had planned their visit to coincide with our school’s Service Week – a week where students are out of the classroom and helping in the community being the hands and feet of Christ.  On Tuesday we headed to school, baby in Bjorn, ready for a hard day’s work.  Joe and Eric accompanied a work team up to Manabao to assist in the finishing touches of a classroom that was built for a school there.  Katie and Heidi hung out with me and the 6^th grade class and helped us prepare for our service project which included going to a local public school, Escuela Rincon, and spending time with students there.  On Wednsday, Eric and Joe returned to Manabao to finish their work there which involved a whole lot of laying concrete (the hard way).  The girls went along with the 6^th grade class to the nearby public school where we passed out food, played games, and made “faith” bracelets with 5^th and 6^th grade students there.  In the afternoon we walked around town picking up trash.  Thursday looked much the same except this time Eric and Joe accompanied the girls with 6^th grade.  The week was exhausting and Joe and I were so thankful for friends who were so adaptable.  Heidi was the true champ, going wherever we went and being such a good sport! 

Joe & Eric outside the finished classroom

The concrete sidewalk - courtesy of Eric

Katie & Heidi hanging out with a student from Escuela Rincon

God really used to this week to teach me a lot about myself and what service really means.  I had been talking to my students all week about why we are called to serve others as Christians, putting others needs before our own.  We talked about a servant’s heart and that when we serve others, it is what is in our heart as we do these things that really counts.  As you can imagine, it is difficult to communicate this to 11 and 12 year olds.  After Wednesday I was cursing whoever had come up with this awful idea of service week.  I had been so frustrated with my 6^th graders – they just weren’t getting it.  I was trying to teach them that God cares most about our attitude in serving…………… and then I had one of those “aha” moments.  My attitude sucked!  How could I expect my students to have a servant’s heart if I was not setting that example for them?  Wow!  I returned to school on Thursday with a whole new perspective – even if a single 6^th grader did not walk away from this week understanding the reason to serve, it was ok.  God called Joe and me here to serve these kids, and if we do not have good attitudes about that – only looking at the bad, being easily frustrated – then our service is deemed null.  With God, it is all about the heart, and man did He do a work in mine that week!

Ysmayar, Abel, & me setting up food for the students at Escuela Rincon

Setting up at Escuela Rincon

Saying goodbye to the Neel family was very difficult.  We had such an incredible time with them here.  Our days were filled with work that glorified God and our nights were spent in meaningful conversation.  Not to mention, there was a whole lot of baby play time with Heidi!  As we have readjusted back to our routine here sans Neels, we cannot help be give thanks to God for the amazing people He has placed in our lives.  The Neel family is one of many who support what we do here and we know they keep us in their prayers always.  We are already looking forward to seeing them this summer during our cross-country travels!  Even better, they are already thinking about a time to come back again next year!  Now, we are anxiously awaiting our Spring Break and time to relax and regenerate before the mad dash to the end of the semester.  April brings with it our second visitors, my grandparents, Chuck and Helen Benjamin, who will be visiting for 17 days!  We cannot wait to share with them as we did with the Neel’s all the awesome things God is doing here at Doulos Discovery School!

Katie & Heidi saying hello to friend's, Tim & Whit's, little one, Charlotte, who is just 10 days older than Heidi

Updating my Resumé

One of our New Year’s resolutions for 2012 has been to be better at staying in touch with friends and family back in the US.  Well, here we are in February and we’ve only posted to our blog once and emails and phone calls have been sporadic at best.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that we (or at least, I) have never been all that great at communicating with far off friends and family, so our resolution of “getting better” is still achievable!  Anyway, the following is some of what happened in our January 2012.

When we returned to the DR on January 6^th, we both knew we’d have plenty to keep us occupied.  We were both able to detach ourselves for the few weeks we got to spend in the US over Christmas break, but toward the end of the break, our minds often wandered to what this semester would hold.  Just before Christmas break, I was informed that the Cafeteria that serves lunch to about a quarter of the school’s 250 students (and snacks and drinks to the rest throughout the school day) would pass to the school and fall under our umbrella starting in January.  Not only that, but our Executive Director was on a three state fundraising trip to the US for the entire month of January – therefore the majority of the Café burden would fall to me and our Managing Director, Tim.  

While the Cafe had been run as its own business for the past three years, it had experienced numerous issues and struggled to break even.  Obviously, as the Finance Director, I was quite apprehensive about the undertaking.  A solid half of our operating budget at Doulos comes from donors who sponsor students to attend Doulos where they would (financially) otherwise have no such opportunity.  Needless to say, we are not in a position where we can afford to take on a money losing food service.  Therefore, since arriving back at school, I have been intimately involved in the daily operations of the Café Taino – from ordering, to cashiering/sales, to accounting (obviously) – I’ve done it all. 

Overall, the first month of running the Café under the banner of Doulos Discovery School has been a pleasant surprise.  January was a short month (only 13 days of classes where the Café served lunch) and we still broke even.  I am looking forward to gathering a full month’s worth of data to see where we stand, but it looks like with a little work and a few more tweaks, things will work out just fine.   I’ve also learned a lot about trusting God through this experience – I was fairly apprehensive about the possibility of the school losing money through taking this on, but God has provided for our needs as He always does.  It sure has been encouraging (although exhausting for the first month back).  The other positive is I get to interact with students of ALL ages at the school more now than I would have ever though possible.  I think I know more kids names now than some of the other teachers who have been here for much longer than we have!    

All this is to say that I have been updating my resumé this month – not because I am looking for a new job, but because of this big change that I’ve experienced in my work during the month of January.  I now have experience with Mergers and Acquisitions (taking on the Café as a new “business segment” of our school) and Restaurant Management.  One thing can surely be said for working for non-profits; you will never be lacking for titles. 

Christen has been busy in the classroom and continues to be a fantastic science teacher who all of her students really seem to enjoy.  (I will leave her stories for her to share, but I had to mention what she's been up to).  

As always, we hope this finds you happy, healthy, and living in God’s grace.  We LOVE to hear from you and are looking forward to our first visitors THIS month!

SDG

'Twas the season

Well we hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!  We were thankful to be able to make it back to the states for the holidays.  We spent Christmas with the Bykers in Philadelphia and rang in the New Year with the Rauschnots in California.  We had a great time spending almost three weeks surrounded by family.  We especially enjoyed watching our 15 month niece, Eliana (Bruce and Sarah) as she was has just begun walking.  We feel so blessed to have had such a long break and are feeling ready and energized to start a new semester.

Before we can move on to that, though, Joe and I wanted to catch you up on what we did the last couple weeks of school, starting with Thanksgiving.

For Thanksgiving we and 3 other couples (and Patch, of course), made a short journey to Cabarete beach for a weekend of fun and relaxation.  We arrived Thursday afternoon and instantly began preparing for our first Thanksgiving dinner in the DR.  It was a huge combined effort and was quite the tasty meal.  Joe was very happy that where we were staying had a tv and cable and was able to watch a LOT of football over our 4 days there - including Michigan's first win over Ohio State in 7 years!  We also spent lots of time on the beach and Patch had a pretty good time too.  The waves were HUGE but we eventually got him out in the water with us.  He was pretty exhausted and maybe even a little traumatized afterwards, however.  Overall it was a great weekend spent with friends and regenerated us for the next three weeks of school.

Our perf Thanksgiving spread!

Joe was so excited to watch College football for the first time all season!

Patch passed out after his first ocean experience.

December also meant my very first Expedition Night.  This is a night where the students at Doulos compile all of the information they learned during their expedition and put it into a final product form for parents and members of the community to see in an open house style.  As you may recall, 6th grade's expedition was on coral reefs.  We spent a week preparing for this night, creating posters, displays, and preparing a presentation.  I was so amazed at how much my students had really learned and their passion for sharing this with others.  They came up with all of the ideas for our final products - which was awesome for me since I did not have to do much thinking!  Their presentation was based on the "domino effect" showing how one thing leads to the next in the case of dying coral reefs as well as with healthy coral reefs.  I was so proud of each and every student as I watched them during their presentation and how much wisdom was in their words.  I must admit, when I began this expedition with this group of 11 and 12 year olds, I did not think it was such a good idea.  I thought that the information was way over their heads and that they would not appreciate the experience.  However I have been converted.  I totally underestimated the power of learning through experience and am still in awe at how much these kids really did learn - not just the ability to recall information, but actually applying what they had learned and teaching others about it.  Wow!

Ysmayar, our narrator for the night, explaining the different effects educated and non-educated people have on coral reefs.

Frailyn starting off the domino effect

The boys being boys

The whole group at the end of the night - I was exhausted!

Once expedition night was over it felt like we were on the downhill towards Christmas.  After just one week of classes, we were free for three whole weeks!  There was still much to do with getting grades out and passing out report cards.  The weekend after expedition night, we had a Christmas party with all of our neighborhood kids.  We had contacted our Sunday school class back in Tennessee who agreed to put together little gifts for 10 of our neighbors ranging from ages 4 to 17.  Joe let them all know that we wanted to have them over for dinner that Saturday at 7 pm.  Saturday rolled around and the kid's anticipation was palpable.  They were waiting around all day long for the party, none of them straying very far from the front gate of our house.  When 7 pm rolled around, we invited them all in and had dinner, soda, and dessert ready for them.  Once they had finished eating all of the chicken and tostones (fried plantains) they could possibly stomach, we pulled out the gifts and handed each of them their bag.  We wish every one of you could have been there to experience the joy on their faces  They were thrilled, surprised, and SO GRATEFUL for these gifts!  Each gift bag had some type of candy, a New Testament Bible, toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss, mechanical pencils or markers and a notebook or sticker book.  It was as if these were the best gifts they had ever received.  After they all had gone through their gifts and said thank you a thoasand times, they ended up staying around for several more hours.  Joe showed them all his TRX trainer and even let them try it out.  Then we taught them to play a game called Signs which they loved.  Finally around 11 they said their reluctant goodbyes, gifts in hand.  What a night!  I am not sure there is any greater joy than giving.  We are so grateful for our friends back in Tennessee who were willing to do so and enable us to create this lasting memory!

David, 4, enjoying food - I do not think anyone left hungry that night!

Evelyn with her gift!

The kids love sliding down our stair case - Cristal, Evelyn, and Clari

The girls and me watching the boys on the TRX

Frandi trying out the TRX

Group pic!

After our Christmas party the next week flew by.  We ended the semester by attending the wedding of one of Doulos' staff members, Jerry Cabot, to his beautiful bride, Leidy.  Jerry is originally from Puerto Rico and is a huge asset to our Doulos staff.  He knows how to connect to his students, and especially ministers to our middle school boys.  I know that I am expecially grateful to have him on the middle school team and have gone to him many a time for advice!

Jerry and Leidy, the newlyweds, with the Doulos staff

Jerry and Leidy's wedding was a beatiful finish to our first semester here at Doulos.  Sitting there and hearing them say their vows, Joe and I looked around, surrounded by our new friends we had made in the Dominican Republic, filled with joy at how God has provided for us here.  We are so grateful for all you who have chosen to support us in prayer and financially and are amazed at how God has blessed us.  As Joe and I were flying back to the Dominican Republic, we gazed out the window as we were leaving Miami and both agreed that we were excited to be heading back home to the DR.  Many of you may know the song by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes but home really is wherever Joe and I are together.

Soli Deo Gloria