twenty.four.

Yesterday was my 24th birthday. First of all, I cant believe I'm 24. So many things have happened this past year that have been life changing (like, the decision of coming to the Dominican Republic).  God had shown Himself in new ways while I was 23 and living in Hawaii again, and I'm thankful for all that has happened in life and who I've met and stregthened relationships with. 
Anyway, my first "Dominican" birthday was fun. My students have been talking about my birthday for months now, and they were so excited when the day finally arrived! One of my students made me a cheesecake with cherry topping (it was soooooooooo good), and others made cards and some gave small gifts as well. When it's someone's birthday in this country, it's tradition to get the person soaking wet with water....I think this is what my students were waiting for the whole time :) So, instead of having science class at the end of the day, we had a 3rd grade dance party, ate some brownies, and I let all the 3rd graders get me soaking wet. Here's some pictures!
   

It was Spirit Week, and Melissa
and I dressed up as twins for
twin day on my birthday!



All the 3rd graders getting me soaked!



3rd Grade Dance Party!





My aide, Rovian, thought it would be
fun to fill a bucket of water...



Little did I know, the water had ice and
paint chips inside of it...JERK.



...I still forgave him.





Me and the girls at Pizza &
Pepperoni for dinner :)

mmmm shrimp pasta

Oh baby...

This past weekend was a fun celebration for Tim and Laura Stanley, a young married couple that I work with at JCS. Laura is pregnant with her first child - a boy named Abram due to enter the world on March 15. Saturday was Laura's baby shower, which i photographed, and Sunday I photographed Laura's pregnancy photos down by the river and other locations in Jarabacoa. So much fun! Here's some pictures from the baby shower and the photo shoot...






Baby James: Born in January to another couple that is friends
with Laura. He's so tiny!

 


Laura, with the Hawaiian outfit I gave her :)

 



Everyone praying for Laura to have a safe delivery!



There are SIX pregnant women on the staff at JCS. Here are four of them! (Kylah, in orange, doesn't work at JCS, but she IS pregnant ;))

 

Here's some of my favorite pictures from the photo shoot with Tim and Laura. They are a great couple to photograph!...



congrats tim and laura! cant wait to meet Abram James!

incredibly INCONVENIENT.

So, basically for the last two days I've been living without running water in my house. This means no flushing toilets, no showers, and not being able to wash dishes, and no filling up our water filter for safe drinking water. 
What happens is that we have something called a tinaca on the top of our house that holds a bunch of water in it. In order for the water to run upstairs (where we live), the electricity from the downstairs apartment needs to be working properly.  So what happened was that our "neighbors" downstairs didn't pay their electric bill, and they cut the electricity for downstairs - which in return affected us in the way of us not having running water in our house.
Let me just tell you. I don't think I realized how much I expect to have running water in my life.  Just simple things like washing hands, flushing toilets, rinsing my coffee cup - none of this was possible! It's SO CRAZY, and humbling to think.....
                        "wow. so many people in the world never have running water."
I also kind of realized how important water is to LIVE. Now, I know you're probably reading this and are like "oh my gosh.... Jess is just realizing this now?" Well, no. This was just kind of a reality check.  You truly never know what you have until it's gone. Not having running water for two days straight was tough, but not unbearable at all.
           Just...... incredibly inconvenient.
That's the way we, as middle-class Americans live though.  Where things are always convenient.  Where frustrations occur when things as silly as the store didn't have the right kind of soap I wanted or the color shirt I wanted to buy. 

Maybe we should start getting rid of these silly conveniences in our lives and start thinking about what really matters.....God gave us one life, and we can't waste it by worrying about silly, pompous, "convenient" things.

Let's go out and DO SOMETHING worthy of what God gave us!

Baptism

All the Roommates :)

Today, my roommate Elissa got baptized! I was very happy to be a part of her special day and play the role as photographer :) Congratulations Elissa!


Here's some pictures..


Elissa







With Pastor Jeff

"In love, he predestined us to be adopted sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will..." Ephesians 1:5 


Many things to look forward to for the rest of this month...
1. finishing my ocean unit (which I LOVE to teach! Makes me miss home though...)
2. Valentine's day tomorrow
3. Mid-term 3rd Quarter grades :-/
4. Turning 24 years old...on the 24th of February
5. Going to the beach the weekend after my birthday with my BFF Melissa :)

More Blogs to come!