I feel like this month completely flipped over and I am like what just happened.
JESSICA
My friend Stefanie was in town earlier this month and blessed us with a stay in Punta Cana for the night. Jessica was living 30 minutes from there so we decided to make the 6 hour drive to bring Stefanie to meet some friends flying in. We contacted Jess before hand to come stay at the beach with us, but she didn't want to. Her public school class had changed to online because they didn't have enough teachers for the 6th grade class. She asked me to bring her a phone or computer to do school work through WhatsApp. We stopped by and Jessica ran to the truck laughing and smiling. THIS WAS COMPLETELY opposite of all our visits to see Jess. Then, she wanted to come with us to the beach but she was already in charge of babysitting her 4 nieces while her sister was in school. Her older sister is back in school getting her GED. I left her the cell phone to communicate with us. She had been texting in the night and talkative.
The next morning, we had lunch and I was about to bring Stef to her resort and drive the 6.5 hours home when I got a text from Jessica.
Can I go back to Jarabacoa with you?
What do you mean?
Can I go home with you?
You want to live with us?
Yes.
Are you sure, Jess? We will not live with violence. We cannot live with you screaming and yelling.
Yes, I am not going back to before. I will follow your rules and listen when you talk.
We dropped Stefanie and headed to Jessica! She had all her stuff packed and spent a little bit of time talking to her sister, then started on our long journey home. Jessica left on her own merit and she was always allowed to come back when she was ready to live with us. It might sound crazy to let an 11 year old decide, but at the time, she was already deciding by running away, living outside, and quitting school. In order to keep us all alive, seriously, we prayed and let her decide to leave.
All has been calm and to be honest, Jessica is completely different! I am not going to say that she is perfect and all is well--what I can say is that she has had the biggest revelation in her life. She hated her life living with us to the point of wanting to die or kill us and now after being gone for 7 months, she can verbalize that life here was so easy and I never was asking too much of her.
WOW.
When she lived with Ana, she had to help take care of her 4 nieces and nephews, wash dishes, and clean the house. SHE WAS BUSY ALL THE TIME. AND, IT WAS LOUD WITH ALL THOSE KIDS.
She got back to the house with us and the first thing she said was that this place was quiet and she could sit and relax.
We were able to enroll her in Dani's school and commit to math tutoring. We have been beyond impressed with their new school. Jess was so excited that on the first day the Director took the time to find her at recess and give her a welcoming gift. Do you have any idea how busy this man is!? Yet, he set a timer to find my kid at her recess hour to welcome her to the school. He didn't even know anything about Jessica or my family at the time, he literally just wanted to welcome a new student. Dani says he has come in to her class to pray for them. So much more to write about him, but I have too much to write in this blog!
Anyway--Jess told us on the ride home from Punta Cana that she prayed to God to not let me leave Punta Cana without her. She had been texting me in the morning and it wasn't going through. After her prayers she realized she had done some block on me. She clicked it off and sent me a text, just as I was about to stand up from the restaurant table. INCREIBLE.
I also needed many things for Jessica moving in and I posted on a missions group here and someone had by accidentally ordered an extra pair of sandals last week. Isn't that incredible that God knew and provided for her before she ever knew that she was coming home?! I also had another friend that has an extra pair of black sneakers for her for school!
Last thing I wanted to say about Jessica is that she is way more open to God. She led the dinner prayer last night and my heart just overflowed! She has been really open with her emotions and thoughts with us. Every time she becomes angry or bothered, she comes and tells me what is going on and we process it. This is HUGE for her. Sounds crazy, but it's like everything I ever taught her and her counselor Wanzie taught her is finally being put into use. She just came to me right now saying she is getting angry with Dani. Dani has her hair tie that is special to her and she wants it back, but it's in Dani's bun right now. I was so amazed she came to me about this. She was about to burst into tears telling me that she shouldn't be so upset. We discussed how Jesus also cried and was sometimes upset. We can be emotional, but how do we deal with that? We talked about how mature and wise she was to seek counsel like Fausto preached last week. We discussed how she handled this exactly the way she is suppose to! Identify why she is upset and find someone to talk to-- to process it. She wasn't angry or violent and she didn't stuff it into her shoes to hold against Daniela for weeks or years! I am really impressed with her this week. Jessica and I were super close her first years with me. Then, as she went through this rebellious period, she has pushed me away the last 4 years. It's exciting to see her loving and talking to me again.
SIBERIAN HUSKY
Daniela's new best friend raises huskies. For weeks, she has been asking if we could have one and I keep saying NOOOO. I don't even like dogs and I have 3. Jessica moved in and the day she started school, I picked her up and did her physical therapy. She has some muscle injury or we think it could be her crazy growth!! and they are doing some muscle manipulation stuff to get the wrist tendons to open up. We headed to grab Daniela at her friend's house. I sent Jessica down this dead end road because it's hard to get my truck in and out. Dani got in the car with a FREE Siberian Husky. WHAT!
Now, let me tell you the back story. Who do you think has had an OBSESSION with SB her whole life?
Jessica.
This is literally a gift from GOD.
I looked at Dani and pulled away. Loki is now a part of our family-- she's pure and expensive! But she was FREE! I still cannot believe we now have 4 dogs.
TEACHING
The kid's school is the school I came down here to teach at in 2012. The principal sent out a message the other day saying that he will be teaching high school English because the teacher had a family emergency in the USA and was leaving. I felt bad for him because he is doing a fantastic job leading the school, but figured they would be fine and God would provide another teacher.
The next morning, as soon as I opened my eyes, I could feel God leading me to tell him I could help. When God asks me to do something, sometimes I get shaky and I have this urge to speak it. However, I wanted to keep it a secret. I do not want to commit to another job. I already have a job as the Director of FIGHT. And because we have been waiting on Conani to certify us, I can't hire positions because I have no idea when we will ever open! So, I am the counselor organizing the programs for Conani, office manager, and the HR person, and the teams coordinator and whatever needs to be done for Conani certification But there I was on Thursday morning-- knowing I am suppose to email Perez and tell him that I can help if we can work with my schedule until SOMEONE FILLS IT IN. I have no experience in high school English language arts! But, my colleagues didn't name me Editor in Chief and Ms. Google for nothing 😉. I really love information and writing.
I went in to speak to Perez and would you believe that the exact days and times I could give him....are the exact times he needed covered? Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. I mean, I can. I knew God was asking me to help, so I knew it would work with my schedule. Perez is still the head teacher and is in charge of lessons/grades, but I have 6 periods that I am covering while they do work. Can I say that teaching is really my heart's desire? I miss the classroom so much, but I know it isn't what the Lord has had for me the last few years and I am thankful to help through Christmas in the class. I really don't think my teaching career is completely over. Even when we open, my butt will be found in the classroom helping the teacher on my off time from being the Director. 😉
FIGHT
So, just as I left Jarabacoa Christian School (JCS) and headed home, I contacted my lawyer and told her to call Conani and get permission to open the orphanage while we get certified. She wrote back that at her meeting the day before CONANI said OPEN.
OH MY WORD.
I thought, God why did you just let me commit to JCS! We will never understand His ways, completely. So here we are! About to hit the ground running with hiring! And, once we are fully staffed and trained--we will welcome girls at our safe house site.
Let me plug this real quick: we need people to commit to donating to FIGHT monthly! THERE IS SO MUCH TO BUY! Go to www.fightministries.org/donate and become a monthly supporter of the ministry!
