A forming family?

As my homeroom class of seventh graders continually changes, we are still struggling to become a family. We have lost our German student and gained a new girl. I am still struggling to change this energetic and slightly wild group of middle schoolers into a family. There have been definite improvements in behavior, but there is still no sense of family. I still frequently have to talk to them about using kind words and taking care of each other. Despite my efforts to have times of sharing, prayer and games, there is still nothing like the solidarity in the 7th grade class that I see in the 6th and 10th grade classes. If nothing else, I have finally realized that I can do nothing on my own. I can plan as many team building activities as will fit into our schedule, but I need to spend more time praying for my 7th grade class. God is the only thing that is going to change these kids. I think about the college group I had and the small group I have at New Covenant and what an amazing blessing it is to be part of a group of Christians that are earnestly seeking God and fellowship with each other. I want them to experience a piece of God's family, but I need His help to teach them how to be a family. We did have a class lunch together this past Friday. About half of my 16 students crowded around one little picnic table. I am so busy here teaching 7 classes that I don't always have enough time to just enjoy my students outside of class. This was the first lunch where I could just enjoy them and I didn't have to talk to any of them about saying mean things to each other. I am convinced that the change I have started to see is due to prayer and my giving up the idea that I could think of the perfect activities and classroom management to create a family out of the 7th grade class. This past Tuesday we had an all school Independence Day Celebration. Each class sang a song, performed a dance or read stories to celebrate the history of the Dominican Republic. I was so proud of my seventh graders for their performance. It was well rehearsed and quite entertaining. Please pray that God continues to work in my seventh grade classroom. There are certainly the wildest class in the school at the moment, but they have great potential.

Women's Retreat

One of the biggest blessings I have found in the DR is an awesome women's bible study. I have thoroughly enjoyed our Tuesday afternoon bible studies. The four other women in the study are also from the US, but opposite ends of the country. From right to left the women are Kim from Maryland, Melanie from Tennesse, April from California, and Micky from Colorado. We have some how all ended up in the small mountain town of Jarabacoa, DR. At the end of January, we all traveled to the outskirts of the town for a weekend women´s retreat through our church La Vid. The retreat was held in a Catholic retreat center in the mountains right next to the river. It was a wonderful weekend. The retreat center was one of the quietest places I have found in this country. I thought I was a social person, but this culture is on a new scale. It is hard to find time alone and a quiet space to think. The weekend was a huge blessing. It was also my first women´s retreat. I never would have thought my first women´s retreat would be bilingual in another country! I was hugely thankful for a quiet garden where I could sit, read, and pray about the teachings for the day. I also met lots of amazing women.....a few of which are working in other ministries near by. The retreat center was beautiful and I spent Saturday hiking up to one of the local waterfalls I hadn´t had the chance to see yet. Hopefully I will have more of a chance to travel out of the town into the mountains this semester. I posted a few pictures on my web album.