What have I been up to?

Good question...Let me fill you in  :)

So school ended here back in mid-December. The school year here goes with the calendar year: early February to middle of December. Between that time there's "summer" break (though don't be fooled, up here in the mountains, it's anything but summer during that time). Ben, Frances, and I all went back to the US for the holidays. So before we left we did team evaluations. Personally, I feel like things like team evaluations can either go really horribly or really well. Praise God, they went really well. We each evaluated ourselves and each other and answered some questions about the past year. Then we went down to the city to get out of the cold and talk about them. Most of the time we sat on the side of the road overlooking the valley and discussing the evaluations. We each had a chance to ask any questions about the evaluations others did on us. I have a tendency to get defensive and I'm very aware of that. So I decided instead of getting defensive to ask the same basic question for any of the areas that I was scored lower on: What are some ways I can improve in this area? It turned out to be a really encouraging time. I felt honestly cared about and appreciated. I was encouraged to be more open with my team and lean on them more for support. It hadn't been an easy year, but God used this time to draw us together as a team and love on each other through constructive criticism and affirmation.

We also took time to write down the many miracles God performed this year and the many ways He pulled through. You can check that out here. It's definitely important to have time to reflect. Having that time made coming back after a great time in the States easier.

Our Christmas tree

Christmas Eve with my favorite people :)

I then went back to the US for about 3 weeks around Christmas and New Year's. The very first weekend, I got to celebrate a winter wedding in Blacksburg with my MC friends. I then spent a week helping my clean the house and set up for Christmas. You should have seen us as we picked out a 10 ft Christmas tree and then somehow carried it up the stairs in our house just the two of us and laughing so hard. My dad called and was leaving a voicemail on the home phone when we were midway up the stairs. I'm surprised we didn't break anything! Kirsten then came home and we got to spend lots of time together. It was a great Christmas with family and also my friend Kathy spent it with us (taking Nicole's place, though don't tell Nicole that). Throughout the holidays I was able to spend a lot of time with so many of my great and faithful friends from home. I even was able to spend New Year's in DC with some of my best friends from Tech even though we're now all scattered.

New Year's Eve hike with my Hokies

On the 2nd of January, I came back here to Costa Rica to prepare for the group from my old high school (DCCS) to come do a Spanish immersion trip here. You can read all about that in the blog I wrote for our ADE blog.

Since then we've been preparing for the start of the new school year and settling back in here. As you may have hear, our house got broken into while we were all back in the US. After many hours of cleaning it looks better than before (minus the money and few other things unfortunately stolen). We found out through all the cleaning that the robbers left some of my stuff (from upstairs) in Frances and Ben's room (downstairs), like a cheap necklace and the little remote for my ipod player. But that's not the strangest part...they also left a pocket knife, a set of keys, and a shirt in Frances and Ben's room. So weird. We're trying to find the owners to the keys now.

Anyway, the school year is about to start. We've been busy with meetings and working on hiring new teachers. If you think of it, pray we get some great new teachers for this year and money to pay them. God is good and faithful. I'm excited to see the many ways He will display that this new year!

DC in the CR

The beginning of this month we got to host a Spanish Immersion group from a high school in the States...but not just any high school: my old high school! It's sort of funny as I studied German throughout high school and was now hosting the Spanish group. God has a great sense of humor for sure.

Read this blog post I wrote about it for the ADE blog: Students Learning Together

A Few Life Updates

Hi friends! I've got just a few life updates to share with you all. Things here have been overall uneventful as our main focus has really been on the school and our students. They have national exams that they have to take in order to pass their grade in that subject. So English and Spanish were last weekend and now the rest of the subjects (math, science, social studies, civics) are this weekend. Potentially all of our students passed the English exam, which was really exciting! If you think of our students tomorrow or Sunday, keep them in your prayers. Because of these exams, I've been doing lots and lots of tutoring mostly for math. I've enjoyed working with them, though I'm a little worried for most of this year's new students in math as so many came to us so far behind in math and have learned a lot but I don't know if they've really caught up. We'll see though.

Students: At least pretending like they're studying hard

What else is new with me? Some of you may know (and some of you may not yet know) that I'm working on applying to grad school for next fall. I'm looking at schools all on the east coast between VA and NYC for either an MA or MPA in International Development (or something similar as they all have slightly different names). So on my own time, I've been researching and contacting schools, working on my application material, and praying a lot for guidance throughout this whole process. So (si Dios quiere) I'll be back in the US for grad school in August 2012. (Don't worry...my dog will be coming with me). I'll be back for a few weeks in December due to some great gifts from some great friends and family, which is when I'll hopefully get to visit the places I'm applying to. Please keep me in your prayers in all of this and if you have any connections or suggestions definitely let me know!

My sis and I when I was back visiting her at VT.
I love this picture and it reminds me of moving back!

Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

I think it's important to get away sometimes and just be with the Lord reflecting on who He is and what He has done. I'm getting a chance to get away for a few days at the end of this month. It'll be sort of a solo vacation (which I've never done) but really just me and God and a time to reflect and praise. I'm excited and will report on how it goes  :D

Día de la Independencia

The 15th of September we celebrated Independence Day here in Costa Rica! It was sort of like the 4th of July, but then again not at all the same. It involved a parade, kids carrying homemade lanterns (most with real lit candles), a torch running across the country and some music and drama by our students. For me these type of activities are not fun because of the hour long walk to nowhere and back, but because it's a community activity that I get to be a part of. All of the kids are out and most of the moms and a few dads. You get to see people out sharing together for a celebrated day. It was really fun (and not just for the 2 days off of school)!  :)

The parade

My friend Julianna's two kids and me

Some of my students after their drama

Two more of my students

On a side note: I've been having some of my girl students over to my house recently, just to enjoy time together. It's been fun watching girly movies, doing hair, eating junk food. I really enjoy getting to be like a caring big sister to so many of these girls!

Gaby and Sandra showing off their pretty hair

ADE Happenings

Over the past few months (with the help of one of our summer interns and the new focus of one of our staff members, we have been a lot better at keeping the general public up to date on ADE Happenings. There's been a lot going on over the summer. I wanted to share with you all some of these blog posts to give you an ever growing and developing understanding of ADE and what I'm doing here.

Check out the ones that seem interesting to you!

ADE's Zero Down Development and Economic Sustainability Projects
If you ever ask the questions: What is ADE? or What on earth is Lindsey doing in Costa Rica? This should help answer those questions a little. It should at least give you a good little overview of what we as ADE are working on and how. It should also give you a good idea about some of our most current projects.

The Role of the Church During a Disaster
As a seminary class did research up here in this area, one woman wanted to share her findings with our local church. This same woman is now one of our very active Costa Rican board members!

Organic Garden and Fruit Co-op
Something we as ADE are working on as week look to use our hands and the land to serve the Lord and others better here in this community.

Vara Blanca's First Strawberry Fair
Our town (along with some partners) put on a strawberry festival. As this area is full of just that - strawberries - it was a great way for people to really come together over a mutual fruit! We, as the high school, put on a few fun activities that surprising went off very well.

ADE Girls Soccer Team First Game 4-1
Our students are now playing indoor soccer (both a girls team and guys team with a few other community members). I'll be writing more about this, but hear about the first game and how awesome my girls are!

New Talent Search - Congrats to our students!
The students in our school participated in an art day at a local business. Though we as a staff aren't the most artistic group, our students LOVE any type of art they can get their hands on.

Tropical Agriculture and Mission Class
Here you can hear about the class that we hosted here in May called "Tropical Agriculture and Missions" put on by Au Sable and taught by a professor from Eastern University.

My US church & CR church

From the 16th to the 24th of July, I had the awesome chance to see God connect and work together through my home church in the US (Church of the Saviour - COS) and my church in Costa Rica (Iglesia Vara Blanca). The high school group from COS - that I was a part of way back when - came to spend time with our high school students here and be a blessing to this small rural church.

It was an odd convergence of two of my worlds where many things are different, but Christ unites.

• COS is a church of like 2000 people  -  my church here is about 30 people
• COS is all in English  -  my church here is in Spanish (obvious difference)
• COS brought a group of all high school students  -  the church here doesn't really have any youth involved
• COS is in the Philly suburbs in a pretty wealthy area  -  here we're located in rural Costa Rica

The differences are many, but I really believe that the church here was incredibly blessed and the youth and leaders who came from COS also left blessed. It's an amazing picture of the diversity of the Church. These are often things that divide and separate, but in Christ they can be things of incredible beauty and peace and fellowship. Praise God for how He unites! Galatians 3:26-28

The whole COS group

Helping us with our house  :)

Sharing with our students

Sharing testimonies with the church

Let the extracurriculars begin!

This week, was a whirlwind of reading stories, studying together, and creating poems. Here is the ADE high school schedule for extracurricular classes:

Monday: Creative Writing (led by intern Leigh Anne Coble)
Wednesday: Tutoring
Thursday: Spoken-word poetry (led by intern Angeley Crawford)
Friday: Soccer

**Click here to read and see more about the classes**

Tropical Agriculture & Missions

For three weeks, the TAM (Tropical Agriculture and Missions) class by the Au Sable Institute was led by Dr. Unander into the strawberry fields of local farmers, up to the top of volcanoes, and into the ADE classroom to share their presentations. Not only did these U.S. students learn first-hand about local agriculture, but they also had the opportunity to travel for three days to the beach, the selva, and all around. After living together at the ADE center and riding in the green van for hours on end, they experienced Costa Rica together and became close friends.

**Click here to read and see more about the trip**

Job Ebenezer and "Technology for the Poor"

“The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” -Matthew 25:40 

** 

Dr. Job Ebenezer came to Vara Blanca for two days with a suitcase, a grin, and a plan to share his area of expertise with the ADE high school students. Originally from India, this gentle elderly man received his masters in engineering and has used his knowledge to “develop, innovate, and disseminate appropriate technologies for the poor.” As a boy, Dr. Ebenezer was fascinated by the inventions of American agriculturist George Washington Carver, who made 350 products solely from the peanut. Like Carver, Dr. Ebenezer is a huge proponent of simplicity. He used a quote from the man that inspired him which describes the reason behind “technology for the poor” and Carver’s own philosophy: “Let all the methods of nature study be brought down to the everyday life and language of the masses.”

Along with simplicity, Dr. Ebenezer also believes in going to talk with the people he wants to help, and he has done this in many corners of the earth. He has traveled to India, Tanzania, Zambia, Belize, and now to Costa Rica (for the second time,) teaching sustainability and technology. Why does he take his ideas and inventions and teach them around the world? He has a simple explanation, a verse from Matthew 25: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.” Dr. Ebenezer serves others, particularly those who are in need, in order to serve Jesus.

**Click here to read more about Job's awesome visit**

Hope to Hope

In the short time (1 ½ years) that ADE has opened the high school in response to the 2009 earthquake, there has been a string of not only temblors that periodically occur in the region but also natural disasters around the world that increased the feelings of overwhelment and powerlessness. Students who do not have much contact outside of the jungle rainforest have gone from examining not only their own earthquake disaster (human made and natural) to examining that of Haiti, China, and now Japan.

**Click here to read more about ADE students' response to the earthquake in Japan**

School 2011 Starts!

We just started our second year of our school here. Check out this ADE blog post to see what we've been up to and the main things we've been doing recently and even some awesome pictures  :)

ADE Blog

Viví. Vivo. Viviré.

So I lived in the cabin, then moved into the Dozier house for a week and now I'm down living at the center! Let's just say it's been an exciting few weeks. The owner of the cabin that I was living in (that had been free rent for the past few months), just sold it. Then we had a visitor and all lived at the Dozier house. Now Kim, Mikki, and I are all living down at the center.

You can watch this video that Tim, past intern and awesome writer, just put together the other week. He was living there, but now he's gone and us girls are there. Enjoy :)

Video of Spring Break!

Hope you enjoy and it gives you a good understanding of the week with our college student visitors.

Lots going on...Sorry

Yet again, I'm sorry for not having written in like forever. Things have just been so busy here, but they're moving forward, which is awesome and exciting! I don't even know where to begin.

Well Jason (a good friend of mine from college) came down January 20th to spend a couple of months volunteering/interning with us. He's been working hard and helping out a ton where we need it. It's also nice to have someone that I've known for more than a few months around. Jason is living down at the ADE Center - meaning he is the first official ADE Center resident. We're still doing a lot of work on it but it's definitely come a long long way!

Jason and his roommate.

Shortly after Jason arrived and started working I actually headed back to the States for a week. My grandfather was turning 90 and we were making a big deal about it (as it definitely is a big deal). I took advantage of being home and spoke to all the Spanish classes at DCCS, which was sort of funny considering the whole time that I was a student there I took German. I also met with a biology professor at Eastern and spoke to a grad class there as well. Overall it was a good week, but very very busy and I was excited to get back here.

Once I got back, it was full force ahead getting the center and everything ready for school to start a week later. The night before we were up late as a team building desks and benches and talking about schedule.

And our school started February 10th, 2010! It was so exciting to actually see some of our hard work begin to be played out through the lives in this community. We only had 8 students this week (we'll have a few more soon), but they are awesome! Kim (my roommate and the "School Director") just kept talking about how our students are such angels. They're all between 13 and 16 with most of them just starting 7th grade. It's so exciting because most of them would not be going to school at all if this hadn't opened. This week was mostly orientation and going to get books. On Monday we'll be having biology professors from the University of Costa Rica come and see what we're doing, meet our students and families, and discuss how they can partner with us. And then Tuesday will begin more normal classes. So it's definitely an exciting time!

The bridge on the way to the ADE Center.

Now you should be at least sort of up to date on what's going on here. I did want to share with you a few random stories that have happened here that at least I find interesting:

*Walking back to the cabin at night, we often turn off our flashlights and things when it's clear outside and you can see so many stars it is ridiculous. You can often even see the Milky Way. I've also seen bats fly right in front of us and then learned that this is one of the few places in the world where there are real vampire bats...a comforting thought :)

*This is a large dairy area. So though you don't usually smell it (which I'm very grateful for), you pretty much always know as there are often cows or cute little calfs right on the side of the road. One little funny story that just happened the other day: I was walking up from the center and there's a little wire gate that was open because a truck had just gone through and so I left it open. A little while later as I'm hiking up the huge hill I look back and see 3 cows following me in a line on the gravel road! They had gotten out of their fence and weren't stopped by the wire gate and just kept following me. I didn't know what to do. So I turned around and started shooing the first one back and it starts to go...Until it gets to the second one that decides he's just going to walk passed me. So two cows are walking up the hill towards the main road in front of me and one behind me. I try and get in front of the two but they start running faster. I'm about to break down, thinking that it's going to be my fault that a family loses 3 of their cows. Then the son of the family sees and runs down the hill to put them away. I was so sorry and so grateful for him!

*Oh and I just wanted to share that my puppy is doing well and growing so so fast. She's great and I still love her a lot (even though she beats up on the other puppies and the now only one kitten).

Well thanks for reading and Happy Valentine's Day! I'm so grateful for such incredible support and encouragement from the people back in the States. You guys are awesome :)