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!!!