What a year!

Where to start! I know most people review their years in January when the year changes. My year review is going to take place now.

As I sit here writing this today, I am amazed at what God has done in the last 12 months. Last year at this time I was in Haiti working with my band program and finding a growing joy in working with the special needs program. This time in Haiti ended in November when I returned to the states. I returned on a last minute trip to Haiti right after Christmas and over New Years. I started student teaching only a few days after returning from Haiti. I had a wonderful experience at a small school district in Ashland, KY. During Spring Break (or what should have been SB but was cancelled due to snow days!) I returned again to Haiti for a week, this time working at an English Immersion school. I had a great time there being able to teach music and fellowship with the other teachers there. I finished up my student teaching in May and following that, graduated from college 6 years after starting in the fall 2002. I ended up with 3 degrees and a lot of uncertainties of what I was going to do! I quickly got a summer job working with special needs kids in Lexington and during that time ended up getting a music teaching job in Midway, KY for the fall. School starts on the 14th and I am going to be a for real teacher.

As if this wasnt enough to keep me busy for a year…

As most of you probably know by now, while in Haiti (the first time!) God brought someone very special into my life. This was not something either of us had planned and really tried to avoid for a long time! But it was just right. As we continued to learn more about each other and our passions and callings in life, we knew that God was blessing this 100%. Leaving in November was one of the hardest things ever, but knowing that if this was God’s will, everything would work out. We began discussing his desire to be trained in Physical Therapy to help the special needs population in Haiti. Looking deeper several options became available for schools in the states. The process began in January and went for a long time with doors opening and closing all the time. To make a long story short, in June, God put everything in place better and anyone could have imagined and last night at 11:50 pm, Rolgard arrived in KY tired after a long day of flying. Classes will begin for him on the 25th as he begins to work toward that goal of a degree in Physical Therapy Assisting. We both greatly appreciate the prayers and support of everyone around us during all of this process. 

Who would have imagined a year ago that I would be in this situation and extremely happy! I can not wait for the school year to start to be a real teacher. I can not wait to see what God has in store for the future. And I can not wait for the day that Rolgard and I can return to Haiti together and work to make lives better for those who are disregarded and not given a second look because of their disabilities of challenges. I am looking at getting my masters in special education to be able to help in this calling even more. We would appreciate your continued prayers as we continue to look to God and follow what He has for our lives. 

Thanks and God bless!

 

Job Search = OVER!

Yes that is right. I am officially a teacher. Well I have not signed everything yet because I have to do that at the board office and they only do it on certain days and times of which I have to work, so I am still working out those details. Anyway, within the last three weeks I have had a job interview, which did not hire me but sent my name to another school in the district who called the same day, scheduled and interview for two days later and was offered the position the next day! I accepted. It is pretty much perfect. It is in my home district of Woodford County. It is an elementary music position at Northside Elementary School in Midway. The one drawback, but could also be a positive is that it is a 7/10 position which means I work 3.5 days. So I have ever Monday off as well as Wed mornings! This could be a good thing in doing KTIP that I will have that extra time available to work on things. I will keep updates on this as my room develops and all that good stuff.

Camp… is over halfway over. WOW I can not believe that. I said I would post pictures, but we have been informed that because of consent and privacy, we can not put pictures from camp online. If you would like me to personally show you pictures sometime feel free to let me know and we can work something out. I have loved this summer. It has been totally different for me since I have been away for every summer since 2004. But it has been a pleasant change.

Room… is painted (sort of). The first coat is on and I love it. I guess it is a good thing since now I will be living in it for a while with my job being in Woodford County. I have decided to just live at home instead of trying to worry about finding and apartment in the same county and rent and all that. I can just save money and live at home. With that in mind we are going to get some new furniture for my room that can last me a while since the ones I have are falling apart and have been in my room since I was about 8 years old! It is time for some new stuff. I will try to put some pictures up as the changes take place. 

Life is still kind of crazy in other aspects. I want to be able to share it with all of you, but at this point I am still going to hold off. If you know me well you know what is going on, for the others of you, hopefully I will be able to update you on everything in the near future. What I can do is ask for prayer. Specifically for timing. That God’s timing would be perfect and His will would be done. 

God bless

Camp has started… plus Kings Island and my 2nd Haitian meal!

Hello again…

I was thinking it is about time I posted something again. A couple weeks ago I got to go to Kings Island with my family and we met up with a bunch of friends there as well. It was a nice relaxing day, mostly spent at the water park. It was kind of ironic because that was the day that the first group was going into Haiti for the summer and the group I was at Kings Island with had all been to Haiti at some point! So it was a nice transition for me to spend the day with them since I was not going to Haiti. Thanks for the fun guys! Here are a couple pictures of the group from the day!

  

Also in the last couple weeks I have made my second Haitian meal. I really messed up the plantains, but the Creole chicken was really good!! Here are the pictures of that!

   

The biggest thing this past week has been the first week of camp. God has blessed me with the amazing opportunity to work with some great kids. It is not every day that you see a child completely entertained by hitting a small book against their face or dragging a five foot piece of yellow yarn behind them or making traps on the trees out of sticks and strings. These are the kids I work with. They all have different backgrounds and stories, but are amazing to work with, even though they run and wander and can be difficult. It is a rewarding experience none the less. I can not wait to the next five weeks to see what I can learn from these kids. Not only are the kids great, but I have also been blessed by a great group of fellow counselors. It has been neat to share our own stories with each other. We all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences, we keep learning new things about each other. Thanks you guys. I can not wait for the rest of the summer!  ** Pictures soon to come **

On the job front… I have had a phone interview with Jefferson County, but outside of that, have heard nothing. Other than the fact that positions are not open anymore. I may be making some personal visits to schools to see if I can find things out and get myself in the door. We will see.  

Friends, wedding, renovation and… mangos!!

Well, it is about that time for another update, I guess. No new news on the job front. There have been a few new postings for the Lexington area so I have sent in an application for Fayette, Woodford, and hopefully Oldham County. Still waiting. This past weekend I was able to go to Louisville with my sister and spend some time with some KCU friends during the day on Saturday. It was nice to not feel rushed to anything. Saturday night was a wedding of one of our friends from home. It was such a nice wedding. One of the men from our church described it as “a completely God honoring wedding.” I think that pretty much says it. My project here at home has been taking the wallpaper down in my room. I am about halfway done with it now. Here are some progressive pictures of that.

  

  

This past week has been hard just because people keep talking about going to Haiti. I see the countdowns on facebook and hear people talking about packing and leaving. It will be the first time since 2005 that I have not gotten on a plane that first weekend in June and gone to Haiti. Now some of you may be thinking 2005, well that wasn’t that long ago… no, but since the summer of 2006 I have been in and out of Haiti 5 times. This will be the first summer that I will not be there with the groups (as crazy and maddening as it can be sometimes). I am going to miss it! So today I went into the Whole Foods store in Lexington to see if they had something I have been looking for. To my surprise as I was walking around the fruit section a yellow/green fruit caught my eye. I thought wow that looks like a mango from Haiti. I thought no, they don’t sell those here. The mangos here are always red and a different type. So I went, picked it up, looked at the sticker and sure enough right there on the sticker it read “Haiti Mangos”. I could not believe it. $2.50 for a mango that in Haiti the boys just knock off the tree for me!!! But man, it is worth it. So through this summer, and dealing with missing Haiti, at least I know where I can go to buy a mango when I need it!!!

     

I dont know if you can read the sticker or not, but the orange sticker says “Haiti Mangos”

On June 3 I start my summer job with Lexington Parks and Recreation working as a camp counselor for the special needs camp they have. I am excited about that. It will be a good thing for me to stay occupied during the summer and keep my mind off of not being in Haiti. I am also going to try to help with the music camp at my church as well and playing in the pit orchestra for our community theatre production of “Oliver.” I played when they did the “Wizard of OZ” and had a great time. I am excited to have that opportunity again. There is a lot more going on, but details to come at a later date!!

Sad news…

Please be in prayer today for the Steven Curtis Chapman family. I read this article tonight. His youngest daughter was killed while playing in the driveway when her brother backed out and did not see her. I can just not even believe this. Be in prayer for this family. They have been big advocates of adoption and this little one was the youngest of three that they had adopted from China. 

Also kind of on the same note. There was an accident outside of Sonlight Academy the other day as their generator was being filled with diesel. It spilled out and one of the ladies outside of the gate, cooking, was severly burned and later passed away. Please keep this situation in your prayers as well. If you want to read more of a first hand account of this, check out either Ashley or Cady’s blog (linked on the right). 

What a sad post. I am sorry. It was on my heart to get people praying for these situations though. Maybe tomorrow I will have something a bit more uplifting. 

 

Summer Update #1

I have officially been a college graduate now for one week and two days. (I still don’t have a diploma, but it is official!) So what have I been doing??? 

Well, my major project this summer is going to be redoing my bedroom at home. We are going to strip the wallpaper, paint, pull up the carpet and put down new carpet. So I have spent much of this first week just trying to get my junk into boxes and out of my room. 

I have also gotten a summer job. I am so excited. I will be working from June 3 - July 18 with Lexington Parks and Recreation Department as a camp counselor. I am going to be working with special needs children at their Therapeutic Recreation camp. I figured if I can’t go to Haiti and work with the special needs kids there, why let that stop me from working with them here. It will be the perfect time frame for the summer in case I get a teaching job. I have been applying for jobs all over the central and western Kentucky area. Still waiting….

Some random events from the past week…

1. I got a Haitian cook book. I have decided to try a meal a week from the book. Here is the result of my first one. It was a fried fish meal with sauce and a mashed potato dish

         

2. I went to see Kerwin, who was adopted from the mission, play some baseball in Lexington. He plays for the Bluegrass Miracle League which is a league for special needs kids. It was so much fun. Here are some pictures and a video from that.    

         

3.  On Sunday my mom and I went back to Ashland where I went to the band concert for the school that I taught at this semester. It was nice to be able to get back for their last concert and be a part of that with those kids.

 Middle School Band    Jazz Band

          High School band

 

That is a brief update of what I have been doing since graduation. I will try to keep this update throughout the summer as the job hunt continues and various other things happen!

 

 

They are growing up!

Two summers ago (2006) while I was working in Haiti, we had two babies come in that would eventually be part of the baby orphanage, although at the time it was not yet open. Markinley (who we called McKinley at the time) was first and Jacob was second. You can see their pictures from when they first came below.

           

 

They both began to grow and develop, but Jacob, the smaller one, seemed to be growing and developing at a much faster pace. I began to realize that something may be more wrong with Markinley than I had originally thought. He was very stimulated by visual and sound and would flail his arms and legs around, but never had much meat on his bones and could not support his own weight to crawl. He would scoot himself along on the ground. Below are two pictures from this past summer (2007). As you can see Jacob began to walk, run and become quite the escape artist. While Markinley was still just kind of laying around and scooting, not putting any effort into learning how to stand and walk.

          

That was then… Yesterday I received the following video from Matt, an intern at the mission. Take a look at Mr. Markinley now. I really was losing hope that he would even have the ability to walk, that maybe he had a disability that would impair his ability to walk. Looks like he has proved me wrong!!! 

 

 

I love to see this kind of progress with these kids. I just thought I would pass it along to all of you

Mwen Preske Fini…. Ok… M Fini!

Yes that is right… I am almost done…. ok I am done. I am done with my requirements, with my student teaching, with my exit interview (well, one left). I finished my student teaching yesterday (Tuesday). It was bittersweet. I have grown to love those kids. They will always be special to me as my first group. Thanks Fairview for an awesome experience. Coming back from Haiti I was dreading this last semester. I did not want to be in the country much less having to finish school stuff. There had been all kinds of problems with getting my placement into a school that would suit what I was looking for. But wow, 14 weeks flew by. I learned so much in these last several weeks, not only through student teaching but in life situations as well. There is a lot going on right now, that I am not going to get into on here just yet. Things that are making me trust God more than ever before. Just when I think everything is going to work out there is another brick wall that gets hit. It has been an enjoyable semester and a frustrating semester and a growing semester. The only thing left is to walk across the stage on Saturday. 6 years and 2 (well, 3) degrees later, and I am finally graduating. it really doesn’t feel like 6 years have gone by. There have been so many people in and out of my life in the last 6 years and there will be many more, I know. There are those that I am sure I will stay in touch with and those that will probably fall off the radar. There are friends from school, but so many more friends from Haiti, and to you guys I am forever thankful for your support and friendship. Well this is becoming longer and longer. I will end it for now. Updates to come as the job search goes on (well, begins)!!! 

Story on 60 Minutes

So directly this does not have anything to do with Haiti. But there was a story on 60 Minutes last night about an orchestra program in Venezuela. This program started 32 years ago with 11 students. Today it has more that 15,000 INSTRUCTORS and 300,000 STUDENTS!!!! AMAZING! It made me think of my own little band that I started. Maybe one day those 25 that started with me will be able to do something like this for the country of Haiti. Check out the article, it is really inspiring. 

 

 

More Pictures

Some girls in the school yard before school started

My boy Steven up at Northwest who finally decided to be my friend again after I showed him the DVD I brought!

Some high school boys waiting before school started!

Sonel, who was paralyzed this summer from a fall out of a tree, and all his cool new clothes.

The students singing the pledge in the yard.

Where’s Erin… me and the second graders that I worked with during the week.