May Days

I feel like I haven't written about the girls or show photos of them lately. Life has been just GO GO GO ever since we got back from our trip.  I just want a post with a bunch of photos, is that ok? Thanks

This last weekend, was crazy, dance recitals, child dedications, Norah's birthday party, mothers day, parents leaving, and me sick the whole time, oh well.

Maya's recital was so cute and fun!

so serious

So proud of our big girl

Papa & Yami Loved it

papa & yami gave Maya a new necklace

  We dedicated both Norah and Sarah to the Lord this past weekend, something we feel is important for all of children, to give them fully to the Lord, to be guided by him and to have the Lord guide us as parents.  We chose a life verse for both of the girls.

Jos 1:9
⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

Phil 4:4-7 ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Our little family of 5

still hard to believe this little bug belongs to our family. We love her

We also had a small family birthday party for Norah. I made an executive decision that the girls will get a big birthday party on their even birthdays (2,4,6 etc). So for Norah this year it was a small one.

I found the idea for these cupcakes on this site

I couldn't resist getting her a princess ballerina dress. (Norah doesn't like clothes unless they spin)

Cutie

Painting grammy's toes

and papa's....

and the best part for Norah, the cupcake

My little almost 3 year old, I can't believe it!  Carrisa would have just loved and adored you so much. You are a treasure.

And we celebrate mothers day

well we tried...

  and we had to say goodbye to grammy and poppy....

we LOVED having them

 and my final photo, is just Norah being Norah

Dominican Republic {CSP Day}

Ok, so I am going to give you a little more of the nitty gritty on Compassion (I am no expert though).  One of the really great programs Compassion has started is called the CSP (Child Survival Program).  This program is to help moms and babies, it is suppose to help babies survive through some of the toughest years and actually make it into some of the other programs Compassion offers.

Well, that was about all I knew about the CSP program before going on this trip and when I really saw what they did I was A.M.A.Z.E.D and it was so much more than just helping babies survive!

I was more than thrilled for this day, to see all the little babies and encourage the moms.  I mean, when I was missing my little babies at home this totally filled my heart!  The whole day was more than I could have ever anticipated!

We were greeted so warmly!  As soon as I entered the church, there was music, clapping and cheering, one of the moms with her little son just grabbed my arm and brought me to the front, I had no idea where Brett even was. The room was just filled with joy, so many smiling faces, lots of momma's and little babies and toddlers everywhere! 

When looking around the room everyone on our team just had the hugest smiles, we all L.O.V.E.D the kids! see

They performed for us, sang, and embraced us, and I had the best seat in the house.

We got to visit with the moms, ask about how Compassion has helped them (all with a translator of course), and just encourage one another.   The women talked about the hope they had ever since joining the CSP program with Compassion, they talked about how they have learned how to take better care of their children and be better mothers, they talked about having a community, knowing other women (loneliness isn't limited to Americans) and being encouraged.

Compassion doesn't send people from American to teach the women this, they empower the people within the country, this is a brief on how it works.

• Compassion Headquarters in the Dominican Republic trains/hires women from the churches that partner with Compassion.
• These women are extensively trained on child care development, etc
• These trained women go back to their churches with lots of education, knowledge, and huge hearts.
• Depending on the finances, space, and help, the church allows so many mother/child pairs into their CSP program (the one we visited had 75 moms/babies).
• Starting during Pregnancy the CSP women get education, health check ups, advice and encouragement
• They keep a detailed file of the mom and child (like what you would see at a doctors office)
• All of this is done in the name of Jesus

IF YOU READ ONE THING ON THIS BLOG READ THIS

What I loved

1. Compassion is creating jobs, for lots of people

2. Compassion is empowering people from the Dominican to help each other

3. Moms and Babies who may have died are now surviving, and thriving

4.  The women who are involved with the CSP program are sharing their knowledge

5. Compassion is giving hope to those who may have otherwise been hopeless

6. This is what Jesus had taught us to do, and I love seeing it lived out

One more thing that I loved, is that once a mom has gone through the program she does not get to do it again, she now has the knowledge to move forward and the system does not get abused.

Let me tell you, there is a HUGE difference between seeing families with this help, versus without .  You could just look at a family and know the difference, hope in the eyes of a person is unmistakable.

So here are more photos from the day

every toddler needs a snack

Some of the mama's and babies we chatted with

 

 We were served a very yummy Dominican lunch outside

I am not sure who all of these guys are (helpers at the church), well anyway, they begged me to their

 photo

 

Prayer

 

They like to put everything in their mouth too

We also got to visit the home of one of the mothers and see how they really lived. To say the least it was very humbling and eye opening.

 This is the mom's house we visited. I guess the best description of the home we saw would be a shack (r this woman's home was much nicer than man others we saw.)

Our Translator, Raysa on the left is helping us have a discussion with the mom  

melts my heart

  

I love the hand photos

And my Favorite Photo

 

ready to sponsor a child yet?

The Domincan Republic {part 1}

My husband has worked for a child sponsorship program, Compassion for over 5 years now.  We had the incredible privilege to travel to the Dominican Republic with them to see first hand what Compassion really does, to be in the front lines, to see where every dollar we donate goes, and to meet one of the children we have sponsored for over 8 years (and yes she is very real).

My mind has been going over and over what to write, because really, how can I put into words what we experienced first hand?  How can I tell you about the depth of poverty we saw, but also the hope for so many because of the wonderful work of Compassion?  Words do not suffice, only those of us who experienced the trip can truly know and understand anything I say or write, but I am still going to write.  I will write in hopes that maybe someone will just understand a small sliver of what we experienced, maybe one more child will know what hope is because they are sponsored.  Maybe just one more person will decide to write to their child, to change a life forever simply from the words they say.  I also write to remind myself, to never forget this experience and how it has touched and changed my life, and help continue to mold who I am.

One of the best things about the trip was that it was just not Compassion employees, it was also several sponsors, people who make a monthly donation to a particular child to help change their life (and they all got to meet the children they have sponsored).  It was quite the mix of people, young, old, families, single people, couples, and people with all different personalities.   All strangers on the first day and friends with an incredible journey together by the end.

This post is just an introduction with mostly just photos

Our first stop a Pentecostal Dominican church that is a partner with Compassion.

For me there was nothing better than to see the children.  I just LOVED LOVED LOVED the kids!  Three precious girls sat next to me at church, we did not know how to speak to each other ( I know like 4 Spanish words) but we smiled at each other and were just happy

we all worship the same way

just hanging out with my new friends

 

a precious little baby came in and his mother just kept telling me "infermo" which I knew meant sick, but I had no idea what was wrong.....

and this little miss personality just came an plopped herself right on my lap, she was like a little Norah (I just loved every minute!)

 I brought a photo of our girls and the kids loved to look at it!

hi down there

an older woman asked me to take a photo of her, it was so sweet, she probably doesn't have many photos of herself and I just loved capturing her with her age and beauty.  Dominican's age well

Since this church partners with Compassion we got see where the children meet during the week and meet some of the staff and enjoy a delicious lunch they made for us.  We really only got to see a tiny glimpse of the hard work they all do

 

The church service was going for about 4 hours (yes, that is 4 hours for one service) we had various translators throughout the time and then the pastor said "just 2 more minutes" which in Dominican apparently means another hour because the service continued for another hour !!  Gosh I get impatient at a 1.5 hour service and this was 5 hours, the stamina of the Dominican's is amazing, I think I need a little of it.

  The next 4 hours were spent on a bus, getting to see a lot of the country and getting to our next destination. I can't wait to share about the next day, with mommies and babies and really seeing what Compassion is doing in peoples lives!

Please feel free to ask questions by leaving comments, I want to answer all of them!

Oh and I tried to pick one favorite photo from each day, but this day I had to pick out 2

 

On another blog!!

I am back in the states, tired, busy and I have so much to write about!  But today I am being featured in this blog! I can't believe I am being featured somewhere!! It is practically like I am famous!! Or, not really at all...... Sigh

 Anyway, Callie is another really sweet hygienist and has the sweetest little boy, she does a post every week about moms and their babies and features a different blogger, and this week it is me!  so check out her blog to see what I had to say ( I think I wrote half of it asleep so if it doesn't make sense that is why).  you can also check meet one of my favorite little girls I met on the trip, her name is Princessa (who wouldn't want that name?), she was seriously so beautiful and so sweet