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!

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

Two Weddings and the GRE

This month I got the awesome gift of getting to go back to the States to be in the wedding of one of my best friends. Melissa and Caleb were getting married and I HAD to be there! So due to some wonderful friends and family I was able to come back to be a part of their special day (and do a lot more while there).

In the first half of my trip...I celebrated birthdays: Uncle Ken's, mom's, Brittni's and my grandfather's. I spent a lot of time with Melissa preparing for the wedding and all that goes into that. I spent good time with my parents and my grandparents and ate out way too much (gaining like 5 lbs in 2 weeks). I enjoyed the beautiful and Christ-centered wedding of Melissa and Caleb. We also danced a lot at the reception and had a great time with all our families from when we were kids.

Throughout that time, I was also studying to take the GRE for the Monday following the wedding. I studied a ton, but still had moments of freaking out (in particular the night before). God is so good though! Thanks for your prayers, because between others praying for me and my own prayers, God was faithful as always. I woke up Monday morning, spent some time stretching, reading the Bible, praying, singing, and eating a healthy breakfast. I had a great lunch with a friend who worked by the testing center and she paid for me. (Side note: God's given me some great friends and I'm reminded of that every time I go back to the States - oh and not just because they pay for me). So I went into the test a little nervous of course but really trusting in the Lord's sovereignty and knowing that His hand is over everything that I do even a "randomized" computerized test. I took the exam with that peace (and all the studying I had done) and came out on the other end alive and well. Praise God! [On another note for future blogs I'm sure - If you're asking why I took the GRE, well I'm looking into grad schools for International Development or something similar for the future and that was the first step.]

The second half of my trip...I spent in the great state of Virginia. I got to spend some amazing time with my little sister at my alma mater, Virginia Tech. It was of course interesting staying with her in her dorm room and pretending to be a college student. I was always able to use her ID and people knew I was her sister even without seeing us together. I also got to spend time with lots of people who are still in Blacksburg who are really important to me. That's still a home for me!

Friday afternoon I left Hokie Land and spent the evening at Smith Mountain Lake with Josh and Todd and Todd's parents. It was probably the first time in the whole trip that I actually got to relax. I was also (as usual when I hang out with my Young Life friends) so encouraged. I do miss having such awesome brothers in Christ who love me so well surrounding me and encouraging me regularly. Thanks, guys :)

Then Saturday, through the hurricane, we drove to Richmond for Kerry and Stafford's wedding. Our plan was to stop somewhere to eat and change into our "cocktail dress". Unfortunately the road we were on didn't have anything for so long and by the time we finally found somewhere (a Subway) Irene was in full force and the Subway was out of power with the two employees sitting outside on the sidewalk. Instead we went into the Food Lion next door running on generators. As we walked in with my dress and the boys' fancy shirts, the lady asked us if she could help us with an odd expression in her voice. We said we wanted food and to change for a wedding. She questioned whether the wedding was cancelled, a thought which hadn't even crossed our minds. Gladly the wedding was not canceled and though the power was out in both the church and the reception, nothing could have brought down the joy of that day and what it signifies for Kerry and Stafford. It was so great to get to be there and to share such sweet time with so many of my good friends from college who are still such good friends despite the long distances between us. I'm so thankful for all of you!

Our hotel that night did not have power and neither did my parents' house when I finally arrived home Sunday night. (Thanks for the rides Laura and Alex!) I packed up all my stuff and the hundreds of gifts to bring to the Dozier family all in the dark but with lots of candles (see the picture below). I slept for a few hours and then headed back here to Costa Rica to continue the adventure that God has thrown me into.

Thanks again for such a sweet and encouraging time in the States :)

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**

Little Updates

So this stretch of not updating my blog has been longer than ever before. SORRY! The summer was crazy busy and then I was back in the States for most of the fall with my family. Well to be a little better I decided to try something a little new and hopefully more interesting than a somewhat monthly update. I'm going to try to regularly update an album on facebook with a lot of the daily type things that occur in my life here. I just started, but hope to keep up with it better. It should give you a greater glimpse into my daily life here.

Check it out here: Life in the CR is always interesting

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 :)