Casa Del Play

I live with two of my friends, Lorraine and Heather.

Lorraine is from Dallas and teaches 5th grade at Doulos.

Heather is from Chicago and teaches PE at Doulos.

They are wonderful in so many ways.  

As I have mentioned before, 

we live very close to a baseball field.  

If you are anywhere in the house

you will have a play by play of the game from the announcer.  

I love it almost always :)

I'm not much of a project girl.

I'm not crafty or handy.

But living here I've had a strong desire to create a place for myself.

A place where I can feel at home.

A place where I can go when I need stability.

A place that is constant.  

So I've been attempting to create one.

We've been doing project in our house,

Casa del play… The baseball field house

Little by little, project are completed.

My list keeps getting longer of things I want to

build, buy, paint…

I'm growing to like it.  

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I hung four clipboards on the wall.

It's fun to be able to display letters, cards, and pictures

that I have received from home and here.  

And I can change things every-so-often!

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Before I moved in we had dreamt up the idea of a chalk board wall.

This process was not such an easy one.  

After several failed attempts,

we now have a very fun and well used wall.

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A coffee table was something we needed.

Why not build it ourselves?!

Lorraine and I spent the day learning from our friend Curt.

Heather and I spent another day painting the top

and staining the legs.

We love it!

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My mom sent us a large map of the world.

Heather bought an inspiring wall quote from a pulga (rummage sale).

We had an empty wall.

Perfect for our next project!

We bought some wood, traveled across town on a motto,

stained the wood, nailed it together, and up on the wall it went!

Thanks Danny G. for the help :)

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Stay tuned for more Casa Del Play projects!
Have you been working on anything lately? 

Gracias a Dios

This week has been SO up and down.

I'm amazing myself even.

Happy one minute,

crying the next.

Absolutely ecstatic one minute,

wanting to run to Sioux Falls the next.

It's exhausting to say the least.

But things are looking up.

It's the weekend.

Fun plans are on the horizon.  

Bugs are dying in my bedroom as we speak.  

It's only up from here :)

But even if it does get worse,

God is still good.

He is.

[I need to remind myself sometimes]

Even if the bugs come back.

Even if my job gets harder.

Even if I get sick.

He is still Good.

God is good to me in so many ways.

Can I share a few?

okay.

Lord, thank you for...

1. a bed to sleep in

2. a helmet from selfless friends

3. natural light

4. extremely cute neighbors 

5. our spiral staircase

6. roommates that have patience with me

7. kindergarten selfies 

8. top knots

9. fans to keep us cool

10. friends who save a spot for me 

11. b&g ice cream 

12. snap chat

13. cookies that are full of home 

14. traditions 

15. my kick-butt family 

16. knowledge being passed on 

17. children who listen

18. the chance to serve with my kiddos 

19. seriously, like so dang cute

20. my sweet Hanalei growing up [not pictured]

21. my sweet Liam's videos [not pictured]

22. friends who stay up late together

23. community

24. chicken 

25. my watch and my ring

26. becoming more and more like my parents 

27. the simplicity of life here

28. administrators that value us

29. comfort food [and drink]

30. the face that numbers 1-29 could just go away

and God would still be good.  

Because.

He died.

For me.

And that's all it takes for Him to be good.  

Has life been rough this week?

What is one thing that's been good?

Tour [Spring Break 2014]

Spring Break 2014 is officially over.

It was so good.

Restful.

Chill.

Productive.

Of course it wasn't perfect.

Tears were shed.

I got bored.

I missed my family and friends back home.

But it was good.

Naps were taken.

Books were read.

Projects were completed.

Over all it was a wonderful week.  

Want to take a little look?

 Friday started out with a quick trip to Santiago for groceries,

Sushi, and the movie Divergent!

Saturday we enjoyed a beautiful and relaxing afternoon at the pool.

Sunday was filled with too many cockroaches

and lots of clean cabinets.  

Sunday night meant a night of basketball 

in the middle of town.

Monday was chatting with these girls on Meredith's porch.

Monday night we had a nail painting and 

scary movie night.

Tuesday and Wednesday there was a road trip to the north coast

that was filled with rest and exploration!

Thursday I received a thoughtful package from a kind friend.

Saturday was of course for dying eggs and searching for them.  

Saturday night was filled with baseball, competition, 

and lots of little bugs.

Sunday topped it all off with a 6:15 sunrise service at the rivers

complete with song and scripture.

Some of my favorite parts were the trip to Santiago,

the nails and movie night,

and the basketball game.

What was the best part of your break?

That time I said "no" to going out into the ocean.

We don't go to the ocean a lot.

Less than I thought we would.

I have been to the north coast 4 times this school year,

for 1 or 2 nights each time.

And for me, that is pretty much perfect.

Not too much, but often enough.

I found myself on a very tiny island a few weeks ago.

[it's about the size of large house]

Two of my closest friends, Curt and Alicia, invited me with them 

to Punta Rucia for a one night trip with a guest they had in town.  

I said yes and we were in the car and on the way!

The trip was wonderful,

but that is not the point of this story.

I knew we were going to be snorkeling on this trip,

and I was excited.

Bring on the adventure!

We put on our masks, snorkels, and fins 

and into the water we went.

After the first underwater breath

anxiety hit me quick.

the waves…

the hugeness of the ocean…

the speed of swimming…

the breathing underwater…

the bravery of everyone else….

I panicked.  

"Alicia!  Wait for me!  I'm really nervous!"

The waves were tossing us and 

we were treading salty water to keep our mouths empty of it.  

After lots of encouragement and several more tries

I felt defeated and swam to the tiny island.

I sat on the sand

with waves rolling into me and my snorkel gear

from 3 directions,

and I thought about a lot.

I was basically living out the song "Oceans" by Hillsong.

"You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find you in the mystery 

In oceans deep

My faith will stand

And I will call upon your Name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace 

for I am Yours and You are mine"

I felt so scared.

I wanted to trust my friends and my equipment 

and my God,

but I felt so scared.

It was an adventure I said "no" to.  

Thankfully I can say that I said "yes" to a big adventure 

God had for me in moving to the DR.

BUT I still think I struggle with this.  

I like safety.

I like comfort.

I like the known.  

I do believe that adventures include these things sometimes,

but it's the ones that pull me into the unknown

that I fear.  

I'm going to work on saying "yes" to 

adventures more often.

After taking some time to gather courage 

I did go out into the beautifully scary ocean.

It was a wonderful adventure in a whole new world,

a world I would not have seen up on the sand.

What adventure is before you?

Will you say "yes" or "no"? 

"In the morning, when I rise…"

"...give me Jesus."

Over the past several weeks I've felt something missing.

I pinpointed what it was while skyping with a friend

a few weeks ago.

I had been reading my bible.

I had been having conversations about God.

I had been learning about God. 

But I had not been knowing God.

I had not been spending time 

listening and talking with Him. 

[that might not make sense to you, but that's okay]

I'm not sure how this next part happened.  

I do not like to wake up early.

I sleep until the last possible second

and kick myself later because I'm rushed.

It's not a fun way to start my day.

I was wanting to spend some alone time with the Lord,

so why not early in the morning?

[because I don't like mornings, that's why] 

So I bought a Greca 

[coffee maker pictured in the previous post]

and decided to watch the sunrise.

I made it VERY clear to my bible study girls and roommates 

that this was not a permanent plan,

just something I was doing while I had the gusto.  

[fun facts! the bottom right window is mine

and all of these photos are on different days at the same time]

It has been a joy to wake early.

My alarm goes off around 6am

and I roll out of bed taking my blanket with me.

I quietly gather my coffee grounds and creamer 

from the fridge on the back porch.

I carefully put two spoonfuls of grounds into the filter,

fill up the bottom with water,

and screw the pieces together.

After I have lit the stove and put the coffee on

I climb the spiral staircase in front of my building.

To get the best view I sit 10 steps up from my front porch.

In about 5 minutes my coffee is ready

and I am sitting on a step, 

wrapped in my blanket,

with my coffee warming my fingers,

and watching the sun begin to light up the sky.

Neither God nor I have done a ton of talking 

over these last few weeks.

That's not really what this is about.

I just want to know Him and spend time with Him.  

so far

so good.