Day with the Lord

Once a month, our team takes a day to reflect on what God’s been doing in our lives. This month, we decided that there’s no better place to experience God’s glory than at a Caribbean beach! We went to Playa Caribe, located just about and hour and a half outside of Santo Domingo. This was my first time outside the city unescorted by locals, so it was an adventure too.

My favorite thing about this beach are the waves. I had a blast riding them on boogie boards we could rent. Thank God I didn’t get stung by anything this time!

 

Something God reminded me of during my time with Him (which was awesome as I got to watch the waves and the horizon and crystal blue water that He created!) that He loves me with unfailing love. What a cool picture it was to meditate on this verse while sinking my feet into the sand:

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
     They cannot be numbered!
     I can’t even count them;
     they outnumber the grains of sand!

     Psalm 139:17-18

That there is nothing I can do for Him that will make Him love me more, not is there anything I can do that will separate me from His love. Having felt inadequate and discouraged at times, holding myself to my own standards of success, this was so relieving to hear. It’s been so tempting to entertain thoughts of who I wish I was like, who could handle this job more gracefully than I could, what I should be like. In His goodness, God gave me this reminder as if to say, “You are everything I could want in a daughter. Why are your thoughts so harsh towards yourself? I chose you because it brings me joy and glory to see you, specifically, carry the message of my Son to this place. Even if you stumble, I will lift you back up. There is nothing you lack that I can’t provide.” He is so good!

Does this mean I’m entering into the honeymoon phase?

I suddenly have the urge to put up pictures of how beautiful of a country I live in. When our team was at briefing back in August, we were told that we would experience peaks and valleys with how in love with life here in a different culture. They explained to us that during the first two months, you will likely go through the “honeymoon phase” where you are thriving off of the newness and excitement of starting life in a new country. Well, I can’t say that I’d describe the first two months being in the DR that way (it was pretty tough!) But I’m glad to say that I think I ‘m starting to really enjoy myself in all areas—being a part of the team, getting to know students and witness to them, and learning the culture. Praise God!

So, without further ado, I will now brag about how beautiful this place is through pictures:

View from our patio of the Caribbean Sea. Granted, this is what it looked like during Hurricane Tomas:

Colonial Zone, where Christopher Columbus resided back in the day.

National Botanical Gardens

View from my bedroom window. Kind of reminds me of that scene in Aladdin…

And these pictures are just from places within a ten mile radius of where I live! We haven’t even been to a proper beach yet!

Witness of the Best Playoff Game in NFL History!

Back from our weekend road trip to Phoenix for the Cardinals-Packers playoff game. We were all a little nervous since our last visit consisted of us crying on the way home after getting a beat down by the Packers. Fortunately, the Cards showed up and won in overtime 51-45, making the game the highest combined score ever in an NFL playoff game. Warner threw more touchdown passes than incomplete passes. The coolest part was listening to some of the players' interviews after the game. Some, like Michael Adams and Kurt Warner gave praise to God for their abilities and for what happened on the field. A cool thing that Kurt affirms is that God is still looking out for him even if his team has a bad game. I just hope it's in God's will for them to beat the Saints this weekend :)
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On the way home, Dad got pulled over for speeding...although all of us were pretty sure he wasn't. We thought it was going to put a damper on our fun, but thankfully he got a warning! The cop even offered to let Nathan see his car, then to make matters even more hilarious, Mom got out and took a picture of him with our new friend. If I were this cop, I'd be either really relieved that something interesting just happened, or really weirded out! I would put the picture up, but my mom promised the cop that it wouldn't end up on Facebook...so I'm guessing he doesn't want it to show up in anyone's blog either.
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Also went bowling with the Chadwicks before we left for Vegas. I forgot how much I stink at bowling. Only scored a 57 on the first game. Fortunately I got a few pointers from Angie and got a 123 on the next game!
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Project Life

Began an exciting, yet intimidating process of documenting each week of 2010. Why take on the task this year over any other?

Last year at ASU.

Anticipating a lot of great travelling stories: Hawaii, Europe, Dominican Republic.

Because Mom bought me a really cool scrapbook to do it.

Check it out here. My mom bought 4 of them. Her goal is to take a picture every day. I'll be lucky if I get one a week, but I'll give it a try.

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On another note, my dad and I have been tirelessly planning our 18 day trip though Europe. I can't believe that 6 months from now, I'll be backpacking through 5 countries with my daddy. So awesome. We've been using the Rick Steves' guide books, which help alot, but sometimes can be overwhelming. As long as I don't have to sleep anywhere with bed bugs I'll be happy!