Acceptance

"Acceptance is taking from God's hand
absolutely anything he gives,
looking into his face in trust and
thanksgiving"

~Chuck's Swindol~

(thanks Julita for sharing this with me)

A child's prayer

I love watching the little ones (those just developing
their language) pray. There language is VERY limited
so they pray the words they know.
This morning I had a pre-primary class right before lunch
and before they leave each student says an individual
lunch prayer before they leave the room.
This was one of the prayers prayed today:
Sorry. Love. Mother. Father. Teacher.
Wrong. Play. Punish.
AMEN!
Makes my heart smile every time:)

All School Sports Day

This year I have been lucky enough to get in on 3 sports days!
They are always such fun days and the kids get SO excited.
I love seeing them try so hard then being so proud
and excited when they receive there medal/ribbon.
This was the first (and may become an annual) "all school" sports day.
Our 3 cccd campuses (mobay, kp, kingston) were joined by maranatha school
for the deaf, and JCSD (Jamaica Christian School for the Deaf).
(these pictures are in random order and you can see more at the shutterfly site)

Towards the end of the day I needed to get out of the sun.
When I went to sit under the trees my little friend Daphawn
came to find me and of course wanted to take lots of pictures
and sit on my lap:) I was okay with both!

the little boys race

the sack race

the principal's race

3 legged race

older boys race

the "dodo" race
(the name is self explanatory)

the egg race

in the end Mobay school wins!
A very long day but SO worth it!

Pictures!

I have set up a page that you can now go to and look at all the pictures
I take instead of the few that get put on the Blog. Blake set a page (see I give you
credit when you really deserve it:) and I thought it was a good idea. And it was easy
enough for me to figure out (with some help from Blake) so now you all can go to www.erinsjamaicalifepictures.shutterfly.com and look at pictures that way. I have
spent the majority of the last few days uploading pictures and I will try to continue to
add from my massive collection as well as adding the new pictures that are taken.
Enjoy!

An Afternoon at Hanbury

Last Monday I took the team to Hanbury Childrens home so they could play
with thekids and get cultural experience that way since the CCCD KP kids
were not yet back from Easter Holiday.
I love going to Hanbury Homes and wish I could get there more often
then I do. Here are a few pics from our time there. I didn't get a lot
of time to play and take pictures as I was "interpreting" the kid's patios
for the team:)

Meet Seffner

This past week I was blessed to be working with Seffner School from Florida.
I have been working with Linda (the team leader) since I have been down here
and it was nice to reconnect with her again. This time down she was joined by 8
junior and seniors from the school where she teaches (and 2 other adults). They spent the week mixing and pouring concrete to put in a new gate to the farm, painting, putting in screens, and other odd jobs that were found.

A Big Change

After months and months of little to no rain/water the rains have now come!
We are praising Jesus that everyday for the past week it has rained. The rains usually
appear in the afternoons but today is has been raining the entire day!
(great weather to catch up on sleep in:)
As we drove home from the teams free day yesterday I took a picture of the roads
to show how quickly things go from dry and dusty to the roads becoming water ways
becuase there is so much rain it has no where else to go:)

It is RAINING...

All around me... I can feel it... its alotta rain...
call on Jesus
... Please send more rain...

until we are wet until we are soaked in alotta rain!

wet wet wet wet

soaked soaked soaked soaked
Praise Jesus the rain has come! Both Yesterday and Today the clouds have
come in the afternoon as we have enjoyed the showers from above!

O... To Have A Social Life!

Tamara's Back!!!!


or she was until about 1:30 this afternoon when my heart was broken a little
as I said goodbye to her at the airport.
I praise God for the gift of her in my life.
She is SO good for my heart!
(I'm a huge fan of her if you can't tell:)(Love this "effect" on the photo program because its what
I see through my "rose" colored/coolest glasses ever at the beach)
She got in Late Thursday night/Early Friday Morning so we spent the
first few days of her trip enjoying the beach.
Sunday we were able to go to church at JDV then get in on the Easter
Meal at Church so she could catch up with all her friends at the village.
Monday we had our "Easter" meal as a team over at Hubers.
This consisted of an afternoon with LOTS of food and fun games
and great fellowship.

Tuesday we were off to Y.S. Falls for swimming

Enjoying the cold salt free water at the falls.

Then we went to Little Ochie for supper where I was able to enjoy
festival and Okra
(something I haven't eaten since living with Grandpa.)
while the rest of the group enjoyed jerked/steamed snapper.

(before the construction of the beds)

Wednesday we drove down to Kingston to take Blake home, so Tamara
could see the campus, and to help assemble the new bunk beds the factory
made for the team dorms.

That afternoon we constructed 10 bunk beds...
we did it real quick too!
I was impressed with our speed.

Pictures were then taken since Blake was staying in Kingston

Gunnar (intern) Blake, Tamara, and I
Thursday we spent the day around home setting up for the work team,
making homemade ravioli's and Italian bread, putting up bulletin boards
in the school, laundry and cleaning.
Then Friday and Today we spent as much time at the beach as possible
Enjoying the PERFECT Jamaican Days and meeting Warren and Jen, Gunnar,
and Marie For supper Friday Night and Breakfast This morning.
A great Week!
A Social Life!
How Blessed I Am!