Te Alabaré

From my office here at the school, I can hear many of the classrooms and what they are working on. This is a blessing (and some days a curse :) ).

Today I was listening to our preschool classroom and I kept hearing the same phrase "te alabare". Its a short part of a popular worship song here. Translated it means "I will worship you". Our classes sing frequently, but I kept hearing this phrase in the same sweet little voice, so I decided to investigate. Turns out it was coming from one of our newer students. She is autistic and when she started here in the fall she said very few words, and she said even fewer words without being asked to do so.

Hearing her sing today made me say "te alabare". God is at work here. It is small moments like this one that help me to know what I am doing here is making a difference.

"I will worship You"

In 2008 I helped Melvin put pen to paper and we (mostly he) wrote lyrics to 11 songs. they are worship songs that are an expression of Melvin's relationship with God. Some are straight worship, one is basically his testimony to music, and others express his desire that others come to know Christ.

I have very minimal talents when it comes to composing music or playing the guitar, so for a long time we were stuck. enter Richard. Richard, a friend of mine from college, befriended Melvin on a mission trip long ago. He agreed to help us put music to Melvin's lyrics.

The CD "Úsame Señor" went on sale this week! We are selling copies here at the SI base and it is now available online at Amazon and on itunes. I am super excited to see this project fulfilled!

All the money from the CD's we sell at the base goes straight to Melvin. We are using some of the online sales to offset the cost of producing and recording the CD.

To God be the Glory!!!!

teams, teams, teams

It seems like there is no longer a season that is not "teams season" here at Students International. This spring we have already hosted 4 teams. We have been blessed by students from Joshua Wilderness Institute, ladies from Wintonbury, Connecticut and norther Indiana, students from Jupiter, FL and James Madison University and we are finishing up with this week's team from CA and TX. It has been a blessing to have all of you here at Centro Especial Genesis. The kids constantly ask where are the "americanos". Our kids love having the groups and we love seeing you students connect so well with the kids here at our school!

Christmas time is here again?

Recently we received a phone call from a member of the community asking if they could send gifts to the kids. Today we received really cool cars and dolls for all the kids in Genesis!!! Seems that they like their new toys!!!

Dios es Fiel (God is Faithful)

About a month ago, I sent out a letter asking for financial support. We needed $1000 to cover an old debt and to pay for the transportation of one of our kids for the rest of the year. God provided $1500!!! A week ago, I was able to look at a basic curriculum in spanish for math, reading, science, and health. Yesterday it arrived costing us $540!!! God is faithful to provide for our needs even before we know them!!!

This is My Son in Whom I am Well Pleased

Who said, "This is my son in whom I am well pleased?"

This was the first question posed to our parents at a recent parents meeting. Our speaker, Steve Spicer, has a unique perspective on this question. Steve has a son, Scott, who has a disability. While in the DR for a men's conference, they kindly agreed to come share their story with our parents.

Our parents answered the question with "Dios" (God). Correct!

Steve went on to say that as parents of children with special needs, they needed to say this about their own sons and daughters. Steve shared with our parents the story of his journey with Scott and encouraged them to see the blessing that they have been given in the form of their sons and daughters.

By the end of the meeting, many parents were in tears and many wanted to share with Steve and Scott. This was by far one of our most successful parent meetings in recent history.

In other news, the kids are back to school for our spring trimester. There have been a couple of changes in the faces as some kids moved away and others joined in to fill their space.

The biggest change is that Fausto Ramos has stepped down from his ministry here in the DR for personal reasons. He will be greatly missed. Amy Green is now the director of Centro Especial Genesis.

We covet your prayers during this transition and are excited to see those of you who have plans to visit us this year!!!

Hey friends,

I need your help, well the school needs your help. We have a student, Anibal, who lives pretty far away from the school. Due to rising gas prices, and the cost of transportation here, the school owes quite a bit of money to the bus driver. Would you consider helping us keep Anibal in school by donating toward his transportation? We need $1,000 to pay what we owe and cover the rest of this school year! Please pray about helping us in this.

You can send a check to the home office of Students International

Students International

PO Box 2733

Visalia, CA 93279

Please include a note with your check "for Genesis transportation project"

Thanks so much and God bless,

Amy

"SNOW" DAY

When I was a child, there was no greater joy than to wake up one morning to find out i could go back to bed (which i hardly ever did) because there was snow on the ground and school had been cancelled. Being from Arkansas, this was a rare treat!!

In the Dominican Republic obviously we don't have snow. We do have hurricanes! We have been watching Tomas for the last several days and it seems if we are going to get hit, today is the day. Right now it looks like our area will receive little more than rain, but just like a predicted snow in the south, a hurricane prediction here will send people to the grocery stores and then to their homes to hide out for the day!

We did not originally cancel school for the day but by 930 only Fausto, myself, my semester student Rachel, 2 teachers, and 3 students had arrived. We decided to call it a day and take the kids home!!! only 2 kids had gotten on the bus this morning and before they got to school one family had called the bus driver and asked for that student to be returned home! Today we will sit and watch the windows to see if we get to "meet" Tomas.

Please pray for those in Haiti as it seems they will bear the brunt of the storm!

recent happenings

Quality computers at a fair price are often hard to find here in the DR. The computer we had been using at Genesis was getting really old and really slow. Recently a team from The Chapel in North Canton, Ohio came and brought with them several new computers to donate. What a blessing it has been!!! Thanks!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago, Henny decided that she was not going to leave her classroom to go outside for the morning flag raising ceremony. She threw herself on the floor and managed to break her arm in the process. What a day! Sissy and I (thank God Sissy was here) took her to the hospital and got x-rays, talked with the doctor, and were able to involve a team member (an orthopedic surgeon) in order to take care of her arm. True to form, things did not turn out as planned. She did not have insurance and was not able to have the surgery that the orthopedic recommended. Instead she now has a cast and is staying home until she is all healed. We are praying that her bone heals well and there is no nerve damage. We visited her at home about a week ago and she seems to be doing well! Thanks to all those who have prayed!!!

During our last outreach we were fortunate enough to snag Amy (above with daniel polo) for a day. Amy is a speech therapist who specializes in swallowing disorders. I was happy to have her at the site for a day to evaluate our kiddos with down syndrome. Many times, kids with down syndrome have feeding/swallowing problems. Our issue here is that most doctors i talk too don't even know if it is possible to get a swallow study done here. Amy was able to feel as the kids swallowed and helped me decide if we needed to take action. Thankfully all of our kids seem to be doing fine!!!! Thanks for your help Amy!!!!

if you are still checking in on this blog...congratulations! your waiting has finally paid off!

The kids a Centro Especial Genesis are doing well! We are finishing up the summer and the kids were asking this morning "y los americanos" loosely translated, "where are the americans?". They love having students from the teams and enjoy learning from them and teaching them as well. Pray for this final outreach to go well. Pray that as we send the kids out for their "summer" vacation that they are safe and well cared for.

We are finishing evaluations on the last few kids. This spring/summer, we have been working hard to evaluate each child, using a global developmental assessment. Those are really big words that basically mean we are looking at each child and how well they do in a lot of different areas. While the kids are on vacation, Fausto and Amy will be writing individual plans for each child for the coming year. We are excited to have a better idea of the kids' true abilities along with the tools to help our teachers improve their abilities to meet each child's special needs!

Stay tuned for photos of kids with their new teachers and classrooms once we start back in the fall!!!

Graduation

Every year at the end of the school year it is our pleasure to host a "graduation" ceremony to share with our parents all that the students have accomplished during the school year. Usually it is a big production. All the kids come dressed up, parents too. We share what God has been doing in the life of the school and each child receives a certificate for a specific goal met or character trait that has been developed during the year. Enjoy the photos (there are a lot)!

All Good Things Must Come To An End

It is true. Summer has ended. The kids are now out for their "summer vacation" and we are preparing for a new school year.This summer Centro Especial Genesis hosted over 30 students in our classrooms and in therapy. It was an amazing summer. During our last outreach of the summer we had a few days of "VBS". We had extended worship times in the mornings and a craft activity from the kids. One day a group from our local YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base came over to help. All in all it was a wonderful summer with many lives changed. Thanks for coming, praying, and supporting what God is doing here in Jarabacoa.

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!

More Spring Happenings

During the spring outreaches we were joined for a couple of days by a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) outreach group from Tennesse. This group came with games, toys, candy, songs, and a presentation for our students. We had a lot of fun playing with parachutes, jump ropes, and new balls!!! Thanks guys!!!




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