Friday, December 6, 2013
Our first visitors
Our first visitors came over Thanksgiving. (Mom, I know that you, technically, were our first visitor when you flew down with us when we arrived!) It was nice to have such familiar faces in our house. Robin Inks (dear friend and former co-worker) brought Hill Country grad Ashlee Mora and two Hillco Seniors, Aimee Mora and Andi Bandow. We went up to Mount Isabel, had some yummy BBQ in Jarabacoa (it was no Rudy's, but what can we do??), they worked at school and the Mak House, they watched the 'Makarios softball team' gets destroyed by a local church (some of those 'Makarianos' I'd never seen in my life!!), visited the villages of Pancho Mateo and Chichigua and Robin did her best to catch up with dear friends in the short time she was here. Oh, yeah, and we squeezed a couple trips to the beach. :) We are so grateful for their willingness to us in watching our kids so Joe and I could go on a date! Thank you so much for your generosity in dollars and pesos while here, girls. We had such a nice time during your visit. Robin, Andi and Aimee--see you in March!! :) SLEEP OVER!
First visitors and a trip to Chichigua
This is Sergio and Levi. Sergio lives in Chichigua and is in class with Levi. We went to visit this village when we had our first visitors. The boys had not been to this village and I wasn't sure how they were going to respond. They jumped right in with the makeshift toys the kids made--the cut up plastic bottle that is attached to a stick that they run along keeping a bike tire rolling. It was fun to see Sergio just take Levi's hand and invite him to play.
I could not be more thankful for the chance we have to live in the Dominican Republic. I pray that through living here God develops in Sam and Levi both a heart for people. Right now they just wanna play and that's fine by me!
I could not be more thankful for the chance we have to live in the Dominican Republic. I pray that through living here God develops in Sam and Levi both a heart for people. Right now they just wanna play and that's fine by me!
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Like Harrison Ford I am Frantic....frantically seeking a Dominican
Ministry of Education Code
Back in the early days of Makarios, I remember as a board member having discussions and making decisions about whether or not we would try to become recognized by the Dominican government, which we decided to not pursue. What this means is that our students still go to the public school in the afternoons (there are two sessions) since the government doesn't see Colegio Makarios as a recognized institution. If a student were to move they would have no credit for their time with us if there were to go to Colegio Makarios exclusively We were really at a place where we needed to decide if we are going to merely come along side of the public school or if we were going to pursue being a recognized school and not need to share our students any longer.
I am really pleased to share that we decided to pursue recognition by the Dominican Ministry of Education. This is actually no small task. It has involved many conversations with many schools on the island and a change in curriculum school-wide. Our first step was to obtain our non-profit status in the D.R. We should have that officially in a few weeks. My vice-principal, Johan Castillo, and I have been working on a hefty document that is needed which is basically our school on paper.....and in Spanish! Who is Mak, why is Mak, who does Mak serve, who has worked with Mak, what did they do, how have we grown, what do our buildings look like, what are our resources, what is our mission, what are our values, what is our vision, how are people hired, what do we teach, what are our goals, etc.
While we have been piecing together this document, we also realized that a lot of our students were in a different grade than they were in the public school—for various reasons. We needed to remedy this, so on Monday, 18 November we basically started school again. Some students had new classrooms, new teachers, and new grade levels. We had to actually add a class as our students in 4th grade are in 5th grade in the public school. We had to put them someplace on a campus that really had no more space—so, Makarios bought a piece of land right next to our existing land and now the 5th grade is in a casita which is super fun! :) I am humbled by the Makarios staff and how they have handled all these changes and were able to make the Big Day o' Change seem like any other day! It was a seamless transition and all the credit goes to God and the outstanding teachers of Colegio Makarios.
Please pray that we can get our code and be able to better serve our students by having them all day.
Back in the early days of Makarios, I remember as a board member having discussions and making decisions about whether or not we would try to become recognized by the Dominican government, which we decided to not pursue. What this means is that our students still go to the public school in the afternoons (there are two sessions) since the government doesn't see Colegio Makarios as a recognized institution. If a student were to move they would have no credit for their time with us if there were to go to Colegio Makarios exclusively We were really at a place where we needed to decide if we are going to merely come along side of the public school or if we were going to pursue being a recognized school and not need to share our students any longer.
I am really pleased to share that we decided to pursue recognition by the Dominican Ministry of Education. This is actually no small task. It has involved many conversations with many schools on the island and a change in curriculum school-wide. Our first step was to obtain our non-profit status in the D.R. We should have that officially in a few weeks. My vice-principal, Johan Castillo, and I have been working on a hefty document that is needed which is basically our school on paper.....and in Spanish! Who is Mak, why is Mak, who does Mak serve, who has worked with Mak, what did they do, how have we grown, what do our buildings look like, what are our resources, what is our mission, what are our values, what is our vision, how are people hired, what do we teach, what are our goals, etc.
While we have been piecing together this document, we also realized that a lot of our students were in a different grade than they were in the public school—for various reasons. We needed to remedy this, so on Monday, 18 November we basically started school again. Some students had new classrooms, new teachers, and new grade levels. We had to actually add a class as our students in 4th grade are in 5th grade in the public school. We had to put them someplace on a campus that really had no more space—so, Makarios bought a piece of land right next to our existing land and now the 5th grade is in a casita which is super fun! :) I am humbled by the Makarios staff and how they have handled all these changes and were able to make the Big Day o' Change seem like any other day! It was a seamless transition and all the credit goes to God and the outstanding teachers of Colegio Makarios.
Please pray that we can get our code and be able to better serve our students by having them all day.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
First Blog Entry--Let's see if I can do this. :)
HOLA from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic where we are serving with Makarios (makariosinternational.org), an Austin-based, non-profit organization. We have been here for a little over 2 months now and seem to be making a decent transition to our new life.
Sam (4-years old) and Levi (3-years old) are doing well at Colegio Makarios (the Makarios School) and both love their teachers. I (Laurie) am working as principal of the school. Joe and Sarah (8-months old) are hanging at home and working on their Spanish.
Since we arrived in August there have been many opportunities to make some big decisions to establish our ministry with a school to a school with a ministry. Our school is growing and doing a great work--we were at a crossroads to pursue some official recognitions. We are mere weeks from being granted non-profit status in the DR. We had several educational obstacles as we share our students with the public school since we are not formally recognized by the government as a school. This means that our students' records with the Makarios School don't carry weight if they move to another town or want to go to college.
This recognition by the Dominican government will give us a code that students' grade level will be in the system and seen by the school they go to if they move. It will also mean that we could extend our day for a higher educational experience. This is a big step that has implications that have put us into the midst of MANY changes.
The bottom line is that the Makarios staff is the best staff and they will handle these changes with grace and poise. They are sharp and very flexible. I would ask that you pray for this process though as it brings much change in much of what we do--changes like this are not common in late October/early November.
There will be more on this as progress occurs. We highly value your prayers for this situation.
Please also pray with us as we are still not fully funded. We have been very blessed by the gifts that have sustained us so far. Thank you for that sacrifice on your part so we can serve here. 1 Samuel 12:24 "But be sure to only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully; consider what great things He has done for you." Y'all are part of that 'great things He has done for you'!!
Thank you for your prayers and concern for us, Laurie for Joe, Sam, Levi and Sarah
Sam (4-years old) and Levi (3-years old) are doing well at Colegio Makarios (the Makarios School) and both love their teachers. I (Laurie) am working as principal of the school. Joe and Sarah (8-months old) are hanging at home and working on their Spanish.
Since we arrived in August there have been many opportunities to make some big decisions to establish our ministry with a school to a school with a ministry. Our school is growing and doing a great work--we were at a crossroads to pursue some official recognitions. We are mere weeks from being granted non-profit status in the DR. We had several educational obstacles as we share our students with the public school since we are not formally recognized by the government as a school. This means that our students' records with the Makarios School don't carry weight if they move to another town or want to go to college.
This recognition by the Dominican government will give us a code that students' grade level will be in the system and seen by the school they go to if they move. It will also mean that we could extend our day for a higher educational experience. This is a big step that has implications that have put us into the midst of MANY changes.
The bottom line is that the Makarios staff is the best staff and they will handle these changes with grace and poise. They are sharp and very flexible. I would ask that you pray for this process though as it brings much change in much of what we do--changes like this are not common in late October/early November.
There will be more on this as progress occurs. We highly value your prayers for this situation.
Please also pray with us as we are still not fully funded. We have been very blessed by the gifts that have sustained us so far. Thank you for that sacrifice on your part so we can serve here. 1 Samuel 12:24 "But be sure to only fear the Lord and serve Him faithfully; consider what great things He has done for you." Y'all are part of that 'great things He has done for you'!!
Thank you for your prayers and concern for us, Laurie for Joe, Sam, Levi and Sarah
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