Meet Honu...

Meet Honu [HO-new]...
our new class pet for the 3rd grade class at JCS! 
Honu is a red ear slider turtle, and is about 4 inches long.  I honestly have no idea if Honu is a boy or girl, but I just say "he".  He was a gift from a family moving back to the states from Escuela Caribe, where Brian works.  AWESOME!





Honu and my third graders hit it off really well.  First, during Friday Free Time last week my students voted on the name "Honu," which means "turtle" in Hawaiian (I teach my kids a new Hawaiian word every week, and I guess "Honu" for our turtle seemed fitting).  The vote was narrowed down between Honu or Lorenzo, and the name Honu won :) 



The students warmed up to him quickly.  They first observed him in his tank, and later everyone sat in a circle and watched Honu walk around (and he walks REALLY fast!).  How fun!







We hope to continue playing and learning about Honu until the rest of the school year (only 20 more school days!!!).  What a great class pet!













**Please pray this turtle stays healthy...I'm nervous about keeping him alive! 

Opportunities

Opportunities. 

God gives us so many of those "opportunities" to bless us to show His love to others huh? 

I've really felt blessed to be a blessing lately.  As many of you know, I  L O V E  to take pictures.  I had the opportunity to do some photo shoots with a few friends in the last month - one for a beautiful, amazing couple I work with that are having their first baby next month, and another photo shoot for a single mother that works at JCS, whose daughter had her first birthday party.  

First - Kristin and Dave.  Shot at Playa Cabarete in Dominican Republic - they turned out great!

For more, check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.725505783584.2144997.15302738&type=3&l=2dab483869 

Dave is the art teacher at our school, and Kristin was one of the first grade teachers (except now she's on maternity leave).  They are also both involved in a ministry called Alianza, which is a ministry to try to get young women out of the sex-trafficking industry in the DR.  They both have amazing hearts for God, and I'm so excited to meet their new baby girl! 

I also got the opportunity to photograph one our preK teacher's daughter's first birthday - Yocasta's daughter, Inessa.  In one of my blogs last year there was a picture of me holding her a couple weeks after she was born.  Now she's one year old! How crazy time flies! She is probably the happiest baby I've ever seen.

For more, check out this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.733939861624.2145971.15302738&type=3&l=432cfb4e59

They all turned out so well! I was so thankful I got to take these for Yocasta. She works so hard to take care of her daughter, and it made me so happy to take these beautiful pictures for her!