July and August 2016 in Pictures

Tick-tock! Time marches on – our babies are growing, our ministry is changing, our students are maturing. There’s nothing we can do but take advantage of each moment. Here are some pictures of life in the DR from the last two months!

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Digging out the footers for new schoolrooms
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Such hard work!

 

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Heather talking with Estaylin after a trip to the office. He recently chose to accept Christ! This little boy’s life is changing!

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Smiles from Meroli as she enjoys spending time with short-term team members
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Some of our littles took some time to get accustomed to school. Cuddles with Elle!
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Summer teams built the walls of these two new classrooms
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Noah working at his technology center in 1st grade

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Noah says Jose Miguel is his best friend at school

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July was Caleigh’s 10 month

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One of the MK’s favorite pastimes is toad-hunting

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It’s neat to see Mery as she grows as a teacher. We co-taught our first years in kindergarten.

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This little girl loves getting into everything

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My little laundry helper

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Our newest good behavior incentive – a book giveaway!

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We’re loving Anna Luisa’s smile as she picks her book to take home

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Caleigh loves to play peek-a-boo

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Smiley girl!

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Noah leading his class in the Spanish alphabet

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Sebastian and Noah

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August was Caleigh’s 11th month

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First-third graders are beginning music class with Mr. Scott

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Carla is learning about musical instruments and their families – she made her own “maraca” out of paper plates and rice!
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Fernancia and her classmates continue learning and growing!

May and June 2016 in Pictures

Wow! Life. So full! Two months of pictures. Praising the Lord for all He has done!

Mother's Day
Mother’s Day Celebration in May!
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Students and mothers worked on a craft together
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Caleigh completed month 8!
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Noah graduated from Kindergarten!
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Yeifrey and Caleigh at graduation
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Our last Parent-Teacher conference of the ’15-’16 school year.
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Abby and Yuleisy talking with families about student behavior and achievement
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Two of our students from Batey Campiña
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We moved! The MK’s did a ton of work helping us get out to Freedom’s campus.
Road Progress
The road to campus was upgraded! No more potholes or standing water!
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Furlough has changed to May! Headed back to the States!
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Scott shared at an interest meeting for a future DR trip
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The boys enjoyed the Columbus Zoo with Grammy and Grandpa
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Ripley’s Aquarium with Memaw
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Our amazing interns joined us soon after we returned to the DR!
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A shower house was built to the side of the apartment building
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Leyton and Noah on their first day of the ’16-’17 school year!
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We’ve enjoyed life with several short-term teams so far. Six weeks left in the summer!
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Caleigh passed the 9-month mark in June!

 

April 2016 in Pictures

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Our 1st and 2nd graders enjoyed their first-ever field trip to the National Aquarium
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Alfredo, Woobens, Achuchu
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The kids were in awe of everything – the bus ride, the fold-down seats in the theater, the exhibits, the playground…
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Noah is almost finished with Kindergarten!
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April was Caleigh’s seventh month
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Noah lost his first tooth!
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Leyton is all boy – he ran into our sideboard and got a fun little cut one afternoon.
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Scott and our intern Patrick had one last weekly meeting at our favorite pizza place before Patrick headed back to the States
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Ang worked on sponsorship letters at the end of the month
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1st grade students drawing pictures for their sponsors
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Our $12,500 matching gift was met! A new road and drainage system are being put in!
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The pad in the middle of the school’s octagon was leveled out. A multi-use building will eventually be built here.
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Our family is the last to move out to our campus! We are packing everything up!
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Caleigh helping Daddy fix the laundry room walls before the big move.

March 2016 in Pictures

A few pictures from our month of March!

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A Christian school here in San Pedro came out for a community service project – they did a fantastic job working with our students!
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March was Caleigh’s 6th month
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The apartments are tiled!
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Our sweet Yuleisy is moving soon!
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Freshening up her new place with some paint!
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Rachel and Yuleisy
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This little man isn’t so little anymore – Yeifrey is almost finished with 2nd grade!
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Missionary bonfire on Freedom’s campus!
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The girls hanging out in Caleigh’s new room one afternoon while Daddy did some work
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Beautiful sugarcane fields
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Caleigh visited Yuleisy’s family in Lima. Basilio calls Caleigh his “Americanita”
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Caleigh and Wilmin
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Hanging out with Yuleisy’s parents
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It’s ash season! The sugarcane factories are making sugar – and they’re making my floors dirty too!
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Easter Sunday breakfast on the land with the team
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Happy Easter from the Mitchener family!

January 2016 in pictures

Oh, how my heart has been aching to write. But alas, life is running a mile a minute. I’ve been feeding sweet babygirl, playing momma to the boys, driving to school several times a week, emailing, making phone calls, cooking, planning, and washing (our clothes, our dishes, and our children). Life has been so beautifully and wonderfully full, and I’ve been enjoying this fleeting season. It’s been impossible to find time to splurge on writing. So for now, I’ll post some pictures of this first month of 2016 and try to be more intentional about sharing life over the next 11 months.

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Freedom’s first Field Day was a success!

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Photo booth cuteness

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Sibling love

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Caleigh helped us pick out our new bathroom floor at the tile store

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Students wrote letters to their sponsors

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Mommy’s little helper

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January = Caleigh’s 4th month

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Noah loved the Carmel Christian team visit

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Counting practice in kindergarten

March 2011 in Pictures

Earlier this month, we took a vacation to Gatlinburg, TN with Scott’s parents.  It was so relaxing to put aside the stresses of work and support-raising for a week and enjoy spending time with family!

Noah had fun looking at all the fish and penguins at Ripley’s Aquarium!

The Noah-man loves getting into everything now.  He just started sitting up and crawling a little, too.  Time to “babyproof” the apartment!

Noah with our newest supporter!  He must be happy because he’s one step closer to moving to the Dominican Republic.  🙂