Happy Easter!

This week was Spring Break at NPH and was full of activities for the children. The nuns organized outings with churches in towns along with outreach activities in which some of our children went to serve in neighboring communities. It has been a full week, but today is a day of rest, a day of being together, and the boys in Santo Domingo are fairly calm, I mean, as calm as you can be for 20 boys. 

A couple of weeks ago, right after my last post, we celebrated our house birthday! 8 years complete- we are Santo Domingo! The day started early, where I took 4 boys into town to shop for all of the food and materials for the day ahead. Esmerlin, Yomelvin, Kendy, and Antony were all waiting at the door at 745am ready to go, while the bus didn’t leave until 815am. Very excited boys if you ask me. Well, we go to the supermarket to shop for supplies for pizza. Although it wasn’t much, because they only wanted, SALAMI, on their pizza, we still enjoyed our time going up and down the aisles of the market. They picked the supplies, chose wisely and were very ‘price- sensitive’ about the items they chose. Pushing the cart, dressed in their best outfits, I said to them, ‘do we want to put any veggies on our pizza?’ Of course they looked at me in disgust, why would I even think to ask that, and NAME replied, (mind you, in his man changing voice) ‘NO. SALAMI. ONLY SALAMI’ alright, so we had salami packed pizzas. men eat meat. men hungry. NOM. 

 We celebrated our day with 4 homemade pizzas, a cake, and activities in which included; water balloon toss, pin the tail on the dinosaur, and a game in which made them dizzy so we quit early because they didn’t want to puke. awesome. The day ended with chocolate cake and candy, with glow sticks that the Kerrigan family sent for the boys, and prizes for all. It was really fun to be with our house, celebrating Santo Domingo and to be with one another. It was nice to celebrate with just our family. 

We also had a group that came and visited us from a church in California. Two of the visitors ate in our house, and they brought new light to the home. They came in with open arms, ready to learn, and ready to help. But in a way where they came to listen, they came to hear, and support. It was just comfort- nice to be in the company of people who come and give things that aren’t those tangible things, those items. Rather they are going to just love, be here for us, and one thing I thought was really cool was how they acknowledged the tias. Because usually when groups do come down, the reason is for the kids, but they came down acknowledging NPH as a whole, the people who make NPH, well NPH. Rebecca, a visitor, she really touched my heart, said something that really stuck with me, she said about this type of work- it’s hard. It’s not easy- but know that at the end of it all, Jesus is going to be there, hugging you, and telling you what a good job you did. Powerful, no? 

Okay, so obviously St. Patrick’s Day passed, but for those who know me, hi. i’m Irish. I taught Irish Dance in Colorado, and Irish Danced competitively for 10 years. So, OF COURSE on St. Patty’s Day I brought a little Irish loving to the DR. Taught my boys how to jig, as well as some of the other volunteers. 

I heard great things about the Martin Percival Dancers- I am so proud of you guys! Great Work!! And a BIG congratulations to all of my dancers who competed in the World Competition especially Mary Teresa! She did an amazing job!! 

Lastly, I have to share this story because it kills me every time- Madelon wakes up around 6am every morning to go for a run. This particular morning, she was very tired. She sleeps with earplugs in, so she doesn't have to hear anything, right so, I start waking up because I thought I heard one of my kids saying, Magdalena.... Magdalena... wrong. groggily, I get up, then I hear it again. I think to myself- wait. wait a minute. Is that my alarm? I get back in bed and set my alarm for a minute later. Alarm goes off, and it is saying- Magdaaalenaaaa, wake uppp. MAAAGDAAALENNNAAA WAKEE UPPP. 6am in the morning, I wake up to this. I thought I was going crazy. One of my boys (Ricardito) took my phone and set me a personalized alarm to get me up in the morning. The kids, they just kill me. That night after prayer before dinner, I call the boys around the table and say, "Alright- WHO TOOK MY PHONE. This morning I woke up and thought I was crazy because one of you took my phone, set my alarm, and I woke up to someone saying my name. Who was it?" Some of them started laughing, others were looking around, Ricardito put his head down, and when he looked up I said, RICARDITO WAS IT YOU? He shakes his head, nervously because he thinks he is in trouble, and then I say, "well played buddy, well played- there is chocolate for you inside" Oh they kill me. How funny is that? And my phone is cerca BC, set in english- who knew that you could do that? So. funny. 

Welp, the rain is coming in- time to watch a movie and make some popcorn with the boys. 

best snuggler in the house, Frank

toothless smile kills me

You're about to be Pitch Slapped.

What a couple of weeks. From friends, to work, to kids, to even family- it has just been all a blessing in disguise. So, last week I met up with a really good friend of mine, Hannah. She was spending spring break here with her friends and invited me to come and visit for the day. It was so great to see her, catch up, meet her friends, and just be with someone from home! She brought lots of little goodies, from hazelnut coffee (a dellicassy) to this delicious new invention I have never heard of, a rice krispie treat roll up (?) with peanut butter and chocolate inside. TO DIE FOR. it was amazing. Best thing ever. So good. 

The day after, I was up bright and early to travel north to visit the Regis crew who were down here on an Immersion trip for their Spring Break. A trip in which I had partaken in twice and is one in which I can say gave me a completely different perspective on life. My life, how we ought to live, and the path to follow. I stopped at the hotel before heading up to the mountains to grab Carol Ann, a wonderful mentor, inspiration, and loving person. She works in the Service Learning Office, where I did my work study. She and I were roommates for the trip and it was honestly a blessing- she was a friend, a mom, and someone who just gave great advice, perspective, and someone to laugh with. When we got up to the campo, I went in to see Pablo (the man, the myth, and the legend) also- my boss the previous years and a true inspiration, and we were welcomed with hugs, coffee, and pure joy. I headed over to see Peyton and then Claire came over where tears of joy started streaming down everyone’s faces and it was just such a warming moment. We were all on the trip last year together, so it was a really special moment to be able to share with one another. A house down, I went and greeted Ellen, the type of person who will never fail to make you laugh, where we caught up, talked, had more coffee, and it was just so great to be with everyone. Jesuit Loving. Although those were the only 3 girls I knew, it was great to get to know the rest on the trip. Everyone had something to offer, something to share, and it was cool to be a part of. To be there to watch them go through their first time and to be able to process with them. 

The week was unforgettable- from quoting Pitch Perfect (shout out Ellen & Grace) to being in the comfort of the Jesuit environment, and just in good company. The rest of the week we worked hard but played harder. From catching up to laughing (credit Ellen) to being a part and invited on a trip, it was just really fun. Kind of put things into perspective. I am not going to lie, when it was our time to work with the kids in the Batey, I avoided them. I work with kids. All the time, so instead I spent time with the friends I had made in previous years, catching up with them. It was really hard to see them go, one friend in particular, Claire. She did a really great job leading the group and providing an amazing experience for the rest of the group. It was just really nice to be with friends from home. From Hannah, to Pablo and Carol Ann it was just a really nice vacation. 

Other than that, boys are good! We have been going to the Batey on the weekends to play basketball, look for sugar cane, and fly kites. This weekend we are celebrating all of the boys birthday's, movie with Avriel's boys and lots of activities. It's going to be a jam packed weekend- but so fun. eeeeee 

Enjoy! xo

The Face

Hannah :) 

Host Family

Home 

yittle baby

Claire! 

Little nugget... 5 months and really sick :( 

walk to the batey! 

Sugar Cane

On Top of the Roof

Where to go and think? top of the roof. to sit, think, reflect, and just be still. Listening to the crickets, looking up at the stars, and my favorite night is when the moon is full and you don’t feel like you are in complete darkness. But my all time favorite thing is, to get to the moon, the cross of the chapel illuminates the sky. Especially when there is no moon, when there are clouds and no natural light from up above, there is the cross. The cross on top of the chapel is hope. It’s faith knowing that there will be light again tomorrow. That when the days get rough, that cross will always be there, lighting up the sky, even during the darkest nights, it’s always there. But to get to the moon, you have to look for the cross. You have to have faith to get to something so beautiful, so serene, and to arrive to that place of peace with the light of that cross. 

So what’s been going on here? Same ol with work, along with some serious quality time with my boys but balanced by talking to family and friends from home. i.e. ‘me time’. 

Avriel is home! Vacation got the best of her but it’s so great to have her back. Best Valentine’s Day present ever! Well, okay, yes- BUT funny story. It’s 730am. I am running to get to my boys house before they head to school. I get there, out of breath, and ask, ‘WHO HAS A GIRLFRIEND OR A WOMAN OF INTEREST?’ *all kind of looking around, staring at me like yeah right am i going to tell you* ‘Listen- women LOVE chocolate. I have chocolate. Now, who has a girlfriend or woman of interest?’ .......ME! ME! I DO! I HAVE ONE! MAGDALENA ME! so we made little baggies of chocolate kisses and tied it with a pink ribbon for the boys to give to their valentines all in a span of 15 minutes. awesome. 

We just had an awesome group here from Washington. It was so nice to have such a great group, one in which interacted not only with the kids in such an independent way, where they wanted to actually got to know the kids, they worked hard during the day, but not only that- they got to know the volunteers. They took the time to know us, who we are, and our purpose of being here. That really meant a lot. Something not many people do when they come down here. I mean, for good reason, we are here for the kids, but it just felt nice to have some good company. 

Not much else to report. Regis is coming down for their Spring Break to do a service learning trip and they invited me to join them. I am really looking forward to it! It will be a small dose of home and much needed time away. Also, a close friend of mine, Hannah, will be coming down here to with her friends to spend some time to relax and I am going to visit her on Sunday. I am really looking forward to seeing her, catching up, it’s going to be a fun couple of weeks. Really excited! 

Sorry it has been so long. I have been taking a lot of time to think, that time to relax, and that time to process. Wherever it may be, find your place, find an outlet, and look at the moon. Through the darkest of nights, there will always be something that lights up the sky, it’s just up to us to find it. 

Go & Set the World on Fire

"In 1535, St. Ignatius Loyola founded the society of Jesus. A man of tremendous vision and unflagging zeal, Ignatius called for a clear awakening in the Catholic world to respond anew to the call of Christ. In the midst of the Counter-Reformation, he expressed his vision with such uncompromising clarity that many joined him in his missionary efforts, eventually making the mission of the Jesuits one of the largest and most far reaching missionary efforts in all of Church history.

Whenever Ignatius would end a meeting with young members of his Society or would sign a letter to missionary priests in another land he would nearly always close with the charge to, "Go, and set the world on fire." This fire is the most potent force on earth: love. Like fire, love expands and grows; it changes its environment and gives light to the darkness."

So, where is this going? Where am I going with this? To be completely honest, I don't really know. It's just something to think about and something to reflect. It's such a powerful passage in such simple words, but words I feel like no one really ever puts together nor takes the time to think about.

This past week has been a little crazy, but also really fun. My boys and I did our discrimination activity, the one I mentioned months ago in regards to racial slurs, and it went really well. The boys were divided into two groups, one group was superior and the other, inferior. The superior group had all of the power, they were the 'kings' while the inferior group was garbage. The superior group, or the green group, could eat outside, go to bed later, couldn't do the purple teams (inferior) dishes because they were disgusting and didn't want their germs, etc. You get the point. Well the next morning, I went to the house at 6:30 before school and told the boys that during snack time, the inferior group (purple) changes to the superior group and you guys are the kings, while the green group is the garbage. We did the activity until Friday night and finished with a pasta dinner while we reflected on how the activity went and what we learned.

Surprisingly, the activity went really well. I told them, if you don't want to participate, don't. It's your choice. But for all those who took part, will enjoy the dinner tomorrow night. I mean, they are boys. Food= everything. The other thing was that they could not do anything physically. It was a huge risk, the boys could have been really mean, really awful, but I was really impressed on how the activity turned out. How the boys did and handled the situations they were in.

Following the activity, on Saturday, Kristen & I took 42 kids to a farm a little outside Santo Domingo. Hands down the best excursion with children. Kids from every house went, the older kids were given more responsibility caring for the younger ones, and let me tell you- they had them on LOCK. It was SO cool to see. Everyone just enjoyed their time. We went to a bee and honey farm where we watched the cows get milked, were able to pet the baby cows, see HA-UGE horses, saw bees, donkey's, the kids were able to ride the horses, and the older ones had the same amount or even more fun than the little ones. It was just so fun.

Those are the highlights of the past 10 days. Work hard, play harder. We work, we play, and through it all, we love. Which goes back to the passage- Go and set the world on fire. Simple words, but what does it really mean? The last paragraph in the journal says, "Ask yourself: Where is the kindling in my life? Where- in myself and others- is there lifelessness that should become something vibrant? Where are the souls ready to hear the truth? Where do I find my courage lacking? Do I live as though life is just one pointless trial after another, or as one fleeting pleasure followed by the next? How does the Lord want to fulfill my deepest desires, to fill my heart with His desires, with His Love?"

Go and Set the World on Fire this week. 

Big shout out to Jen Kerrigan- She is the one that gave me the journal that had this passage and has been wonderful support. xoxo

relay race

Knuckleheads

4 days old! 

learning moment

wittle baby cow

Horses were HUGE!

“Our destiny lies within us, you just have to be brave enough to see it”

It’s true. Our destiny does lie within us, but the question is- how do we get there? This weekend I watched the movie Brave with my boys- if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. It’s a great movie, great message for kids, and even me- I’m 23 years old and the last line of the movie is the quote above. One that I have been thinking about since Friday night. It’s powerful, it puts things into perspective and gives me the reasoning to be vulnerable at times- all of us for that matter, because in the end of it all, we have to be brave enough to see it, to know who we are and to stand behind ourselves. 

We celebrated our 19th anniversary over the weekend with our local sponsors. The kids are pooped from all of the recent activities, and even the volunteers for that matter. Towards the end of the day, I was sitting on a park bench watching kids run around and play, honestly just being tired. Out of no where, two of my boys start running towards me saying Hi Magdalena and Kendy just plops down on my lap and Ricardo right next to me, under my arm all cuddled up. These 14 year old, teenage boys, just all cuddly wanting to just hang. Mind you, Kendy is the tallest in the house, almost as tall as me, and it was just a moment I will never forget. How tough and ‘cool’ these boys can act, but then they go through phases of pure sweetness, pure youngness, and just keeps your heart tender. They sat with me for probably a half an hour and at one point, I said to Kendy while sitting on my lap, ‘you will always be my baby- no matter how tall you get or when I go home, you will always be my boy’ and his smile grew ear to ear. Just one of those moments- parents, you know what I’m talking about. 

Sweethearts 

And of course- we had to :) 

Finally the mural is finished!!! SO GLAD! Can you guess who it is? The one and only Psy- with over 1billion hits on youtube. We are also putting up things we are proud of underneath the mural. Right now, we have artwork, which is really cool to see and they just want to share what they did, even if it’s something as simple as coloring a picture out of a coloring book.  

I had a great talk with Kristen the other day. Just processing with her, processing out loud. Here, it’s really hard to have a life of your own. We live in community, we live where we work, and we don’t have the luxury of just getting out to blow off some steam, or to go for a drive, or just to take a minute to think, breathe, and process. This experience has really forced the emotions out of me. I am not a patient person and I realize that and have to get better at that, but along with it- I have zero tolerance for ‘BS’,  (according to Tim) which is not always a good thing, but it goes along with how it’s hard to take that ‘you’ time here. It’s hard to essentially get away- ‘go for that drive’ and just think without someone looking for you, without hearing your name yelled across the compound, which essentially forces me to share my emotions when I am frustrated, when I want to giggle, or when I have to break down. Does that make sense? I guess it’s not something I can really describe, just something to experience. Anyway, we all have flaws, we all have strengths, but it’s how we handle it and I guess here, I am much more forward with my emotions than I have ever been in my life.  But that goes back to the quote- brave enough to see it. And with that comes emotions, comes the challenges of life and comes the intelligence in which we gain after the experience. Standing up for what you believe in, not letting anyone taking advantage of you, and living with a purpose. That's just it- with destiny comes passion, comes motivation, and comes purpose. So how will you tie it in together? 

Enjoy- xx

I get to wake up to this every morning while running. Blessed? I think so. 

Brothers, Bruthas, Brufahs?  

Talk about some serious swag with these 3. 

Heart palpitation. I get that from Tim... HE WOULD NOT APPROVE! 

talk about a TARDY

Sorry for the tardiness! Loco around here is an understatement, but as I wrap up this wonderful weekend off- I have the time to sit down, process, and write. 

Considering my last post was the day after Christmas, a LOT has gone on since then. We have had visits upon visits these past couple of weeks. We are celebrating our 10th anniversary and things are just really busy- but after the 19th, I can officially say that ALL of the craziness will be done.  Well, not really, but it's just the next big thing that will be checked off my list. The kids started school this past week and a bit of normalcy has started to set back in. Kids in school, no more presents from Christmas and Three Kings Day, and the routine has been established. Moms out there- I know how you feel when you say, "IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL." I am glad it has started again. 

The newest thing I have to report, which to most I am sure this won't be that exciting, be we are changing the mural in my house! Of course it has to be cool and hip, so after a long couple of months with just a white slab of wood in the house, we have started to move forward. Each of the kids were allowed to pick a famous person or whoever, and I did 'faceinahole' which is hysterical. However, I think it meshes well with our background character of Psy- the unreal artist of the hit on youtube of Gangman Style. 

So what next? No clue. I know that I love my job and throughout every day there is a challenge, but it's a challenge worth fighting for, a challenge that makes everything here worth it. Through the ups and the downs, it's everything. It's just so much more than I ever expected. 

Not much else to report- sorry this is such a lame blog. I promise to be more detailed oriented in the next one. 

xo

Here are some pictures: