Not sure how to describe this last month – bizarre, perhaps? While some events were unexpected, the last few weeks have also been full of incredible blessings! Here’s our March in 31 pictures!
Mery with 3rd graders at their first weeklong camp!
Love that these kiddos can dig into God’s Word!
Elementary art show!
Students judged their classmates’ artwork!
Neat to see their creativity coming out.
Ms. Lizzy reading to 2nd graders!
A 1-day VBS in Lima, where it all began.
Miguel and his older sis Miguelina attend school with us!
Proud pre-schoolers!
Becky captured these fun colors/textures on the construction site.
Everybody loves “Baby Ana” who is growing up fast!
A team did some landscaping around the apartments a few months ago! So nice to come home to this!
Ang continued to spend mornings with teaching staff in training sessions.
Olga, Lillian, Marielys, and Jane working on an assignment.
On the way home from the store, we saw these guys putting up a mosaic.
Bummer – one of Mom’s new plates broke!
All smiles as we head over for our rabies vaccinations!
Waiting in line at the local hospital
Despite Scott’s face, this lady did an excellent job!
Noah likes to take a turn at drawing – here’s his attempt at the Celtics’ logo
There are just some strange creatures around here.
Noah working on his homework packet now that school’s out
Our kids are really beginning to enjoy board games! Yay!
People often ask me what I miss most about life in the States. Family and Kroger’s ice cream aisle are pretty high up there, of course. But – nerd alert – I think the library would make my “Top 10” list as well!
The last few weeks, I’ve been reminiscing about the endless hours I spent as a young girl in our public library. (There is a literal ache in my chest when I think of that place!) I absolutely attribute my deep love of reading to my camping out at the library. I felt such a sense of wonder every time I walked into the main atrium of whichever branch we decided to visit on a particular afternoon. It was almost overwhelming for my indecisive little heart – which section should I peruse first? Sometimes I’d stand there amongst the rows of books, not really searching for anything in particular. Just being in the middle of all that knowledge and fun excited me!
It hurts not to have that same access to physical books. I can’t check out a giant pile of good reads (with my very own library card, of course). There are no weekend trips to listen to an author do a read-aloud. While my kids humor me by taking part in reading challenges at home, it’s not the same as going through our library’s summer reading program. I’m much more thankful these days when I get my hands on a good book, and my Kindle quells the sadness a bit, too.
I’ve digressed. I’m supposed to be sharing about my March reads.
This month, I finished Paul David Tripp’s book, Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family. To be completely honest, I’ve been feeling a lot of “mom guilt” recently in regard to how I handle my growing kiddos and their various struggles. One of my biggest takeaways from this book was the reminder that, while I have the incredible responsibility to be an ambassador of God’s love, grace, mercy, and discipline, my children will ultimately be changed as they choose to walk with Him. My biggest criticism of Parenting is how repetitive it felt. Tripp could’ve gotten his point across in half the number of pages. Overall, I’m glad I read it – I was able to slow down and think intentionally about how I can better draw my babies toward Jesus in each precious, mundane moment.
Awhile ago, I was talking about The Boxcar Children series with Krista, a fellow missionary. I was fairly obsessed with those books at one point in my childhood. Freedom’s school library has a few of them in English, but I wanted to read the first one aloud to my kiddos to set the stage. I was elated when Krista told me her girls owned a copy! This month, Noah, Leyton and Cal were forcibly introduced to the enchanting world of Henry, Jessie, Violet and Benny. Such fun – for me, at least!
Below you’ll find a few of my favorite quotes of the month.
Since change is most often a process and seldom an event, you have to remember that you can't look for a dramatic transformational conclusion to your encounters with your children. 1
What kind of picture are your children getting of God's authority by the way you exercise yours? 1
It's not your weaknesses that you should fear, but your delusions of strength. 1
Parenting is about the willingness to live a life of long-term, intentional repetition. 1
If the mind developed through blind, material process of Darwinian evolution, then why should we trust it at all? Why should we believe that the human brain--which was the outcome of an accidental process--actually puts us in touch with reality? 2
What does national unity mean? It surely means that reasonable sacrifices of Party opinions, personal opinion, and Party interest should be made by all in order to contribute to the national security. 3
It is curious how the English-speaking peoples have always had this horror of one-man power. They are quite ready to follow a leader for a time, as long as he is serviceable to them, but the idea of handing themselves over, lock, stock and barrel, body and soul, to one man, and worshipping him as if he were an idol; that has always been odious to the whole theme and nature of our civilisation.... 3
1Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family, Paul David Tripp 2More Than a Carpenter, Josh and Sean McDowell 3Churchill: The Power of Words, edited by Martin Gilbert
Nine days ago, we made it back to the DR safe and sound! Our family spent the month of May in the States. Furlough is always a rich time visiting friends, family, and supporters. Each year, we’re forced to stop and consider all the ways the Lord has worked throughout the year. It’s so fun to share the miracle stories with others!
We visited Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Maryland. So many blessings from unexpected sources. Several people walked up to us and just handed us money. Others gave us cards, goodies for the kiddos, or verbal bits of encouragement. We were so spoiled with good food, wonderful company, and heartfelt prayers. Wow – God provides more than we need! This year, I left the States feeling refreshed and ready to get back to work here in the Dominican. Thankful!
Getting on a jet plane!
Checking out that big, wide world while waiting to deplane
Finally made it to our first stop!
Making breakfast with Aunt Suzy!
Scott in his happy place – playing bass!
Fun with Memaw!
Ice cream for dinner? Absolutely!
Happiness!
Good’s Ice Cream visit is a must!
Randomly running into another Freedom missionary’s family!
LCS alum speaking in chapel
Center court with Dad!
Posing under a poster of dad’s high school basketball team as ACSI state champs!
A wonderful breakfast with this sweet lady!
Precious and ornery all mixed up in one
A quick visit with Ang’s grandparents
Making homemade slime with Great Grandma!
Evening bonfire fun
Lunch with this amazing crew!
A chilly softball game
College friends!
Brand new kittens are the best
Their very own treehouse!
Leyton cuddles
Camping fun
Glow-in-the-dark glasses!
My favorite mother-in-law
A fun but muddy hike!
Family
The boys and their creatures…
Water fun!
A new experience – drinking out of a public water fountain
Missions talk with this awesome group at church
Our sweet friends treated us to a day at the aquarium
I could write a whole lot of words for each of these pictures. Thankful for all the people and all the blessings. Click on the photos below to get a quick glimpse into our month of March!
Freedom happenings
Rachel and Becca continue to do an amazing job working with their Accelerate! students
Getting ready to work on that tracing in PK4
PK3 in their element
Cute little watermelon slices
Neytan and Eyker eating some lunch before class begins
Miss Amanda stealing a hug and a tickle from Juan
Angel Grabiel
Kindergarten cuties
Beautiful Midelka
Cuddles from Becca in chapel
Alber says cheese!
Weighing sugarcane
Answering questions in chapel
Many of our missionaries use this cube as an evangelism tool in conversations with people here in the DR
Explaining the sugarcane cutting process
2nd graders Sebastian and Berwee at lunch
Alondra working hard
Mery with some of our littlest students
Cutting some sugarcane for a team to try
Gauri
Leyton and a new buddy
Our intern Nic working hard
Sharing the gospel again with our construction workers
Setting up a medical station in one of our villages
Praying for their new space
Dr. Alan sharing his testimony with the people of Bejucal.
We had our first medical team ever this month!
Playing and practicing English
Angela worked with Kristi several mornings to translate between villagers and doctors.
Third grade moved their classroom upstairs as construction continues on the school.
Lice treatment station!
This little one has struggled for a long time with severe lice infestation.
Yuleisy’s husband Johan joined the Freedom team this month! He’s working in the kitchen!
Little Angel got his ear irrigated. Many of our students get a lot of wax and buildup in their ears.
Family fun
We had a Memaw and Pepaw spend a week with us!
Batey visit!
Smiley girl
Leyton trying some sugarcane
Noah and his schoolmates being recognized for their good grades in Qtr. 3
A little friend in village Lima
A Dominican Easter tradition – habichuelas con dulce!
This boy could watch cattle all day
Thanks for your continued prayers for our family and for Freedom!
For lots of kids, birthdays feel different than all the other days of the year. They’re special. Noah’s 7th birthday was no exception. On August 24th, he woke up early, excited for the day and the upcoming celebrations. We sent him off to school like normal with hugs and promises of cake and presents that evening.
When Noah rushed through the door after school, his face was beaming. He had two balloons in hand and a backpack full of goodies. Surprised, I asked him who had brought him all the fun treats. He excitedly pulled the gifts out of his bookbag and explained in great detail each item that his friends had given him.
“Mom! Check this out! Weison gave me this colorful hacky sack! And he brought me those two balloons! One is green and one is orange! And look! Seba gave me a new coloring book. It has all these pictures I can color. Oh, and Berwee brought me all these things, see? I got a plastic baby car rattle, a turtle compass, and a whole army set!”
“Wow, buddy! That is so neat! I hope you told them how thankful you were for those sweet gestures. They probably worked hard to get those things for you. What good friends you have!”
Later, I was talking with Noah’s teacher, Emma. She said that his friends used their good behavior “points” they earn to “buy” those presents from the school store. As sweet as that was, she was especially touched by Weison’s gift of the two balloons. He had bought them at his village colmado the day before, specifically with Noah in mind. Weison had to put some thought into the gift – what a neat thing to see one of our students planning ahead to put someone else first!
Weison, Noah, Sebastian, Berwee
I am thankful for the unique influence that Noah has in the lives of his classmates. He already communicates with them in a way I certainly can’t. Oh, how I pray these four young men grow up to love the Lord with all they have. Such special boys!
The Mitcheners 