Hello Semana Santa!

Is it really already time for Easter break?!  I cannot believe it!

I did believe it a little more when I received my Easter Basket package in the mail yesterday :)  It was a small package filled with so much goodness! Thank you again so much family :)

This past weekend we traveled to Tegus on Sunday to get our visas renewed. School was canceled for Monday since we would still be there, so instead our day involved sitting in the Immigration office for 6 hours straight, and then taking our almost 7 hour bus ride home.  It was a LONG day!  We got to sleep in an extra hour on Tuesday and get to school by 8am, which was very nice!

I had my first (and last I am sure) observation yesterday with a lady from Tegus.  It went really well, and she was impressed with how much my students understand me and their behaviors.  It was very encouraging!  We finished the letters P and Q this week.  We had fun learning about pennies and quarters, pretending to buy fruit, and more!  Many of my students can count to 30 now too, which is as far as we need to go by the end of the year! 

Tomorrow is our last day of school before break, and we are having a normal day in the morning, but then the afternoon will be filled with an Easter egg hunt (I brought back plastic eggs with me from Christmas and filled them with candy) and a movie--Winnie the Pooh, which my kids just seem to love!  

Saturday morning Kiley, Amy, Tabitha, and myself will be taking off for our grand adventures to Nicaragua and Costa Rica! YAY!! I am soooo excited!  We will be doing a lot of traveling to get to these places, but we are hoping to sled down a volcano in Nicaragua and visit the beach in Costa Rica, with some other fun things in between.  I cannot wait to get back and share my experiences with you!  Please pray for safe travels for all of us teachers who will be traveling for break!  I will be home next Sunday and will update my blog shortly after!

I pray that you all have a beautiful Easter and remember the true meaning of it--Jesus+Nothing=Everything!!

Sequencing with Pineapples for the letter P!

New classroom verse!

Crosses for Holy Week we colored!

Practicing counting with Pennies and Quarters for P and Q!

Learning how to pay for something when you want to buy it!

During play time they sat together and pointed out all of the students in the numbers!

My newest creation for decorations!

New door!

Don't Kiss Me Because...I'm Not Irish!

Hello friends!

Geesh--God sure does use challenges to refine our faith in Him alone!  While it's a beautiful thing, it isn't always the easiest. I have been facing a number of challenges lately, but God continues to remain at my side, and He reminds me to stay strong in Him.  I love to embrace challenges, and I have continued with perseverance, and am enjoying all that I am learning at the moment.  I don't feel a need to share all that has been happening, but I do feel a need to continue to say: God is faithful, He is doing beautiful things here in Gracias, and He continues to bless me each day here.  I have three more short months to enjoy this amazing life here.  

Ready to celebrate!

Green french fries---yuuummm!!

Lots of green food!!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Mrs. Melgar and Camila!

My house church friends!

Me and Candido--one of Kiley's students I also teach on Fridays

Me, Raquel, and Mrs. Melgar's daughter Camila, the birthday girl!

Penguin waddle races for the letter P!

Wedding dress shopping!

The other weekend I went to a birthday party!  Kristi's assistants, Mrs. Melgar's, daughter turned three, and she invited us over to her house to celebrate!  There were lots of friends there and it was Strawberry Shortcake themed!!  It was a very fun time.

We are already to the letter P in the alphabet in my class, and my kids can almost count to 30!  They continue to impress me daily.  They sure do know how to help lift my spirits when I need them to.  You know you have a passion for teaching, and so much love for your students when you look forward to seeing them each day, and don't like when students are absent from class.  Who knew that I would prefer all 14 of my two and three year old students each and every single day!  How blessed am I by them :)  I taught a 7th grade Math class for the last three weeks--which shook me up quite a bit!  Talk about being thrown out of your comfort zone.  There were definitely a number of challenges with that, but I am very thankful for the opportunity itself.  It definitely confirmed my love for the much younger grades, where I feel I am more blessed with the gift of how to use my creativity.  I sure do have a heart of love for all the students at our school though!

Saturday a few of us went to Santa Rosa to go wedding dress shopping with Kiley!  While the dresses were a lot cheaper, but they were not the most beautiful dresses any of us have ever seen.  It provided for a number of laughs and entertainment, and was all in all a great day to celebrate Kiley!

Saturday night we had a St. Patty's day get together at the other girls house.  The night was filled with lots of green food and dancing and conversation.  It was a really good time! 

OUR BOOKS HAVE ARRIVED!!!!!

Our books from the States finally made it to our school in Honduras!!!  The students are very excited about their new classroom books, and sets of books, and are ready to fall in love with reading even more!

THANK YOU so incredibly much for all of your support in my first year teaching at ALCS.  These books will truly help both the teachers and students work on reading!  You have helped bring another smile to these already shining faces!  Gracias a Dios!!

Oh How I EnJOYed My Friends Visit!

I've decided to have this blog entry to be mostly through pictures.  My friends visit here was very short but even more sweet! We enjoyed Roatan and Gracias together--From ferry rides, zip lining, swimming with dolphins, bus rides, chocolate bananas, spending time in my classroom with my students, hot springs, castle tours and more, both Hannah and Holly love Honduras just as much as I do! 

I also have exciting news--Kiley and her boyfriend got engaged in Roatan!!!!! I was very excited to be able to share that weekend in Roatan with the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Coon!

Enjoy the pictures from our time together :)

I cried I was so happy

Kiley, Sean...and Dupree!

The happily engaged couple! :)