yup, that's right, one more outreach has come and gone! This time we welcomed back some old friends from Turlock, Country Bible, and Hopewell, along with our favorite independent traveler Morgan!!! We had a great 2 weeks with these ladies. We managed to go back to the pool for a day which was wonderful in the heat! The ladies working in Special Education also helped a ton on "clean up" day when all the kids were outside picking up leaves and trash from the yard! The kids had a great time with this group from bubble blowing and piggy back rides to Vladi's daily "phone call" at lunch when he would removed the ice pack from the cooler and use it as his phone. I think it may be visible in the photo!

thanks again ladies for a wonderful 2 weeks!!!!

no new photos yet!

i somehow never seemed to have my camera with me during this last outreach! However, I wanted to give a great big THANK YOU to the gals from BCHS and JCS for all their help during this last outreach. Our kiddos decided for whatever reason that they wanted to be bad during this past outreach! Thank you girls for your compassion, patience, and resilience!!! We took a trip to the pool during this outreach which was wonderful because the midday temperatures here are getting really hot!!!!

Thanks again ladies...i hope to add pictures soon!!!

Well, Centro Especial Genesis had 2 weeks off...well from teams that is. In what may be a first in our history, we did not have students assigned to our site during a summer outreach. While we did not have the "americanos" buzzing around the site, we did manage to stay busy. Vanesa received the final portion of her walker: forearm rests to help give her better balance and stability while walking. Here is a brief video clip of her trying it out for the 2nd time and taking a walk down the hall for the most part independent of any help (although it will be a while before we trust her to use it completely on her own!)

SUMMER HAS STARTED

Its that time of year again! Summer teams have begun and we are moving full steam ahead. This first team brought 4 ladies to special ed and 4 to therapy. We had such a great time with this group. The worked together very well and connected well with all our kids! We laughed a lot and got a lot of work done. This summer in the classrooms our students from the states have goals to work on with the kids and the new system seems to be working out well. It will be great to be able to track the progress of the kids over the summer!

Vanesa is the proud recipient of a new walker and while we still need a couple of new parts, we are hopeful that this is the start of a new level of independence for her. Please be praying for Vanesa. She has been sick off and on a lot as of late.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Mother's Day in the Dominican Republic usually falls a couple of weeks after Mother's Day in the states. So yesterday we celebrated all the moms. Friday at the end of the school day we had a special presentation for all of our moms. A couple of the classes joined forces to sing a special Mother's Day song. Each child had a flower and a card to present to his/her mom. A couple of the moms shared what challenges and unique blessings come with being a mom to a kid with special needs. There weren't many dry eyes when they finished! After the moms ate lunch we took family photos to be able to present the moms with new photos at a later date!

Donations

some of the new braces from Cascade


new wedge and stool...thanks Marilyn they work great


Nelo and Vanessa with their new hand splints

Once again we have been blessed with many new donations in the therapy site and its time to say a huge THANK YOU!!! Thank you to Benik, Cascade, and Marilyn Collins for all the new goodies. Our kids (and therapist) truly appreciate your generosity!!!

Spring Cleaning

From time to time we all have to clean up. This holds true for our school as well. We have been extremely blessed to have a large yard with lots of trees and plants that provide both shade and beauty. The downside to all the beauty is that when we leave for extended breaks, like the one we just had, we come back to lots of leaves, branches, and some trash all over the yard. So last week when the power went out and it was too hard to see to teach inside, we all went outside to lend a helping hand and clean up the yard. From the biggest to the smallest, all the kids had a job and most stuck with it, even if just for 5 minutes!