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Sweet New Friends, Mystery Roads, and a Day of Romance

What a day I just had! I started out by going to our VBS. VBS has been awesome so far (see mohhaiti.org) We had 500 kids today! Literally 500 kids! So great. I am usually so exhausted by the end all I can do is sit for a while, but today I decided to go to Cabaret with group who were painting houses. We arrive and of course precious kiddos come running up to greet us. It really is the best thing ever. One little guy so sweet came and we start chatting it up. He told me his name was Bebe. We walked around. He told me he liked to play and he knew that Jesus loved him. Can you picture my melting heart? I asked him to show me his house and he lead me to the house the group was painting. (Love how the Lord works) I met his sister Frigline, brother Anderson, and mother Jazzila. They are a beautiful family as you can see in the picture below.
As if this isn't enough, my friends Drew and Jaimie (awesome interns) and I decide to explore this random road. On our way down this mystery road sweet kids greet us, mommies are outside doing laundry, and we saw some of the coolest yards I've seen in Haiti. With our buddy Bebe at our side we continue and as we did we realize we are on the road that goes right past one of the biggest homes in Cabaret. It was awesome. I felt like our little jaunt would put Dora the Explorer to shame. :)
Bebe never left our side. We painted his house, took him on an adventure, and walked all over the little village with him. Poor little guy will sleep good tonight. He is a beautiful child and I was blessed to spend the day with him. It is moments like these that I am truly blown away by God. He can romance our hearts by sweet four year old friends and walks down mystery roads with dear friends. Something so simple and yet my God knows what that does for my heart.

I do not even know where to start!

I have so many things to blog about hopefully I'll be able to blog some more stuff. I have had a really great last four weeks. My students and I had a great time learning and growing through summer school. We went to the beach, tie-dyed t-shirts, and practiced for the Stanford test. It was great! One of the greatest things we have did was the Epic Johnson prank of 2011! :) We have a group of about 15 interns here at Mission of Hope. Three of my students and I planned this great prank that would get them! We had about 20 minutes to prepare. So we filled up water balloons, water bottles, and put on eye-black. The interns were having a meeting, so we hid in the weeds waiting for the code. The code being given by the intern leader saying, "Oh and one more thing." :) We waited and then we heard the code. We went ape, launching water balloons. The interns scattered and it was as if we pulled the prank of the year. So great. Beau couldn't stop smiling. I have never been able to be apart of such a great prank. Best ever!

It's not good-bye it's see you later...

I've never really had to say good-bye. I do not really know what that looks like. Today was a hard day! Today we said bye to some dear family members of Mission of Hope. The Van Der Marks! These people are precious. Laurens Van Der Mark has done so much work around the mission keeping things done and in ship shape. Dr. Cheryl Van Der Mark has educated, helped, and healed so many Haitian people. They have five amazing children who have been best friends to my four students for the past three years. It makes me really sad for my students. Living the "missionary lifestyle" is not easy for anyone, let alone kids. The VDM kids were solids in my student's life, so to watch my kiddos have tearful good-byes with their friends was really hard. The VDMs are returning to Canada to continue ministry and to continue living the faithful life the Lord has called them to. They will be missed more than they can ever know and we are thankful for who they are.

Thriving or Surviving...

A theme I commonly referred to going through my first two years of university. I felt often times I was just surviving. I would turn in papers, go to class, and do homework. I did what I had to do to survive. I still often find myself doing that. Although, I think tonight I may have had a little bit of a reality check from my precious Father in Heaven. Teaching, going to school, and just living in Haiti is no cake walk. I love it!!!! As you can tell from the last blog post, I do adore everything here. In addition, I would not trade this for all the riches in the world, but it is straight up, downright hard sometimes. The truth is that thriving does not always look like all your homework is caught up, you read your Bible exactly one hour, and your house looks like you hired a maid. My mom calls this “having your ducks in a row”. I know it may seem a bit farfetched, but as I discussed with my roommate what the past few months have been like I became scared. I thought, “Oh no, Have I just been surviving?” I thought a little further into the question and prayed. Then like a ton of brick, it hit me, thriving is more than just feeling so great about yourself and what you are doing. The true definition of thrive is to grow or develop well or vigorously! Wow! Me thriving looks like the Lord growing me. We all know growing is not the most comfortable thing. Sometimes it really hurts. Sometimes it looks like a struggle. Sometimes it feels like an uphill climb. I can honestly say, if thriving looks like being molded to look more like Jesus. I’m all in.

Refuse discipline and end up homeless;
embrace correction and live an honored life.
Souls who follow their hearts thrive;
fools bent on evil despise matters of soul.

Proverbs 13:18-20

Butterflies in My Stomach

Today I took the time to ponder the past week I have had and honestly it gives me butterflies in my stomach. It is not the kind of butterflies you get when you are nervous or afraid. It is the kind of butterflies you get when you have been romanced. The kind when the person you are madly in love with sends you flowers or spends time with you. It would be really fun to tell you I have a boo that has been writing me love notes. The truth this week I have been romanced by my King, the lover of my soul. The Lord has been whispering his sweet words in my ear all week. It sounds so cheesy, but sometimes I just find myself smiling about who He is. How strong, wise, and how eager He is to spend time with me. I by no means deserve this kind of love. He just gave it because He wants to, just because He felt like it. Amazing! I cannot express my gratitude for this love. It is because he gave Himself, not just his time, not just his word, His entire being he gave so that I could sit at His feet and hear Him sing over me. What a precious father, lover, and friend. I often find myself trying to figure out who I am and what I am about. The Lord tells me who I am. He says, You are my daughter, my pride, my love, my ambassador, and my friend. I am fighting for you and your heart, because I want you to find rest in me. I could just get lost in all of this. This week has reminded me of Jeremiah 29:12-13. You will seek me and find me if you seek me with all my heart. I have really felt that this week. The Lord is pouring himself out. I don’t have enough hands to catch it, or enough space on a blog to write about it. It just is, He just is. I can’t get over His love and the way He pursues us.

Discovery Learning

In all of my classes I have had we always talk about discovery learning. Discovery learning is when the students learn through self discovery with guided help from the teacher. A couple days ago my students were talking about how fast their heart beat. They were curious as to how they could make it beat faster. Lucky for us, our model of the human body just happened to come with a stethascope. I love when toys come with great things like that. From there we all listened to our heart. The kids were so cute. "Mine is beating like lightning", my first grader said. I later had the kids run to up the hill as fast as they could to see how much faster their heart beat would get. The younger of the two went up by twenty beats. The kids loved it! They felt like they had really accomplished somethings and so did I. It was not even planned. Loved this moment and wanted to share it. :)

The joys of teaching it Haiti!

I remember almost all of the field trips I took when I was in elementary school. The Science Center, the zoo, Jesse James Museum, and many other fun ventures around Northwest Missouri. As a teacher I want my students to always have the opportunity to go on fun learning adventures.My students worked really hard to earn this very special field trip. This is the first time I have ever taught in Haiti. So...Where is it that you go on a field trip in the great country of Haiti? The Sugar Cane Museum in Port-Au-Prince. It was seriously one of the coolest things I have ever been a part of. Sugar Cane is one of the main crops in Haiti. It brings in a lot of income for many people. It is sold on the streets and in markets.My students love it! It was so great for them to learn how Haitian people used it and how they manufactured it in other ways to bring profit. It is more then just a sugary stick of goodness. Our tour guide shared with us, that many times the sugar cane would be melted down into syrup to be shipped to France. It was really exciting for my students who are all Haitian to learn that their country had a booming export at one time. We also got to see many other historical artifacts from Navtive Haitans and a former president who owned the sugar mill. It was a precious time! It was beyond what I could have asked for. It was such a rich learning experience. It was children of this country learning about their country. It might sound cheesey, but I think this is what its about. What we did in that time you can not get from books. It was an experience an awesome experience. I hope that can provide more of this for my kids. It was one of the many joys of teaching in Haiti.

It's ok to have a rough day...

It is funny how when you feel like you have the best job, the best family, the best friends, the best set up, you think there is no way you can have a rough day. Often times, I think that automatically rough day equals negative. On Thursday in Staff meeting, we talked about conflict and what it means to form, storm, norm, and perform. I honestly did not think that applied to a classroom of children. Little did I know it totally does. I have the greatest students on the planet, but we all need direction and sometimes a swift kick in the b-hind. So we spent some time talking about direction and standards and what it looks like to represent Christ even in our work. It sounds like a rosey converstation, but it was hard. It was hard to look into their face and say get it together. It was hard to have to be the "bad cop". It was hard to look into the precious faces I love and be upset with them. I finished the day on that note and I was drained. I then hurried to my house and hurried to kickboxing. After kickboxing, we went out to dinner for my friends birthday (super fun). I felt like Finally, I set down in my chair for some sanity(aka skype, e-mail, Facebook) and the internet did not work! All of sudden, I sat there and my lip started to quiver and the tears started roll down my checks. All I could say to my roommates is I'm so sorry! I felt stupid for crying because I thought the day was just hard and to say it was a rough day would be negative. Truth is the stormy day we had was good. Not good in the way that it felt good, but it was good to have that talk with my students. It was good to lay some stuff out on the table. It was good to cry and feel burdened for my class and for life in Haiti. It was good to be able to be real with the people I live with and to hurt in front of them. I learned through this that it's ok to have a rough day. That some times conflict can be for the greater good on your work, your class, and for yourself.

A real life Tom Sawyer

Sometimes God puts people in your life that just rock your socks. Praise the Lord, for me I have four of the greatest people in my life, which I marvel at. I marvel at them to the point I can not believe God would allow me to be their teacher, sister, and friend. (p.s. these people happen to be my students) Today I was compelled to write about a third grade boy that I am pretty sure is the real life Tom Sawyer. It is a rarity that you would see him with out some creature in his hand, a sling shot, or a very old Swiss army knife carving away at a stick. This boy is special; by no means do I favor him. Trust me there will be many blogs to come with my other three incredible people. Beau is an original. I know that he is going to have something great to say, when he starts a sentence with “Hey, Bailey…I was thinking.” He is always pondering, questioning, and brainstorming these ideas. To some it is just a little boy dreaming, but I can completely see this real life Tom Sawyer come alive. Everyday I try to share with my students, how our education can change this world. I think Beau is starting to grasp this more and more everyday. I was brought to tears when we were doing math and he said, “Hey Bailey, will this math help me be the next president of Mission of Hope?” Wow! Thank you Lord! No book, no teacher, no curriculum can teach that. What a blessing! You can see why I marvel at my kids! I know I have said it before, but I have the best job in the world; and how amazing I am teaching the real life Tom Sawyer.

Luvin' Day!

Oh Luvin' Day! February 14th marked a great day for our North American students here at Mission of Hope! At about 9:00, eight of the kids from the other class came down the hill decked in red, pink, and hearts to join my class. They were ready to party! It was great nothing like pin the heart on the girlfriend/boyfriend, make your own love song, and some sugar cookies to celebrate such a fun day. We also spent some time talking about 1 Corinthians 13. It was precious. The kids went on a hunt to find a heart with a component of love (patient, kind, does not boast). It was really sweet. I am super proud of our kids and to celebrate their hard work with a "luvin' day" was such a blessing.

Update Yahoo!

As you know I am here in the land I love! :) I am here teaching four amazing missionary children who I love even more than I love the land we are living in (which is a lot). We are into our third week of school! We started school out on the family's porch because our classroom was not finished. Now other then painting it is finished! Let me tell you it rocks! It is so nice each of my kids have their spot with their own fantastic wheely chair. We also have electricity in it and rest assured that is a gift from God! So far we have enjoyed some math, english, reading, science, social studies, and some awesome recess! :) The kids are doing well! I am super proud of them and I can tell it is going to be a great year already :) To the left is our first day in the classroom picture! Check out the photos tab to see more great school pics!

I'm here! I'm here!

I'm super excited to be here in Haiti! Today was a blessing of its own, but super funny as well. To start the day I went through Florida security. My backpack is the size of a small child, and my rolling suitcase. I get to the secruity check in and they say my rolling suitcase is too big and I need to put some of my clothes on. Are you kidding!?!? Nope, please put some of you clothes on ma'am! So I do and I waddle through security, drag a million things to the gate, take my clothes off, repack my suitcase...all to find out there is zero room for carry-ons and they check it! Bahahahahaha! I had to laugh otherwise someone would have not known I love Jesus. Crazy, but nevertheless I am here! :) It is great! I am blessed! Stay tuned for more!

Worst Blogger Ever...

So yes I realize I am the worst blogger in the history of bloggers, but I'm leaving for Haiti tomorrow, therefore I will have more interesting things to write about. I can't wait to be able to tell about my adventures. Stay tuned the good ones are coming!

So here's what's been going down...

So I'm terrible at blogging! It has been forever. I have been super busy. I sub, waitress, and go to school at night. It's a little nutzo at times, but you just gotta role with it. So I am moving to Haiti in January. It is official! I am so pumped. If you see my about me page you'll understand my love for Haiti a little better. I am going to teach four of my most favorite people in all the land. I can't wait. I never pictured myself teaching missionary children, but by golly I am and I can't wait. Last night was my first night to waitress all by myself. I only dropped one plate and it was in the kitchen, not bad I say. Today I am getting homework done and going to my cousin's pee-wee football game. I hope you have a great one and enjoy some crisp September air.

Wow what a day?

So today was a rough on to be honest. I don't want to go into to detail, because truth is it not important. I just want to end it on a great note. I feel like it is only right to thank Jesus for what He has done regardless! I am disappointed in myself, but never the less I am made by a Great Creator. I got to spend the day with my friend and help him put move into his new apartment. I am blessed to have great friends. I was able to eat three solid meals and had clean water. I drove my car all over town and filled it up with gas. I have all four of my limbs and am able to get up and walk, run, and dance. I have a wonderful mother and I am about to lay down in a nice warm bed! Thank you Jesus for all you have blessed me with and everything you have in store for tomorrow.

Write it on your forehead.

So I have been studying Paul. I am very interested in his Jewish childhood. I learend that 13 is the age to be in the Jewish culture. At the age of 13 Paul (well, Saul at this point) would wake up every morning and place phylacteries (straps and boxes) on his head and arms. He knew he belonged to the Savior and therefore did this every morning to remind himself of this. The law of the Lord was his heart and soul. He would quote the Schmone-Ezre. In addition, every Jew knew by heart Deuteronomy 6:4-9. They put it on their doorways. I love this. How many times a day do I forget who I am and where I stand in the struggle, I can't even tell you. So I guess from now on I will follow in Paul's footsteps and write it on my forhead. :)

A blog with no name...

So here I am blogging. I didn't think this would ever happen. I feel like so many people have them, and I'm kind of an against the grain person. I don't want to do what everyone else is doing, but the more I read the blogs I loved the more I thought I needed one. I want to have a different blog. You see, I really love a lot of things. I can't possibly write about just one thing. So I am hoping to be super organized and have a new post or thought of the day everyday. I want to have new pictures and sayings to put a smile on your face.

So you may be wondering why my blog is called Nameless and this post is "the blog with no name". 1) I couldn't think of clever name 2) I want to blog about life 3) So many times things are so funny, hard, interesting, crazy, fun, silly, insane, hopeful, wonderful, and amazing you just can't say what it is.
4) Maybe I'll think of title but for now my blog shall remain Nameless :)