Casa de Fe

Well it started out to be a daunting task but we ended up finishing strong and are now snuggly moved into the new building! I can’t tell you how great it feels to live in what we’ve been imagining and planning for for the last year and more! I’m sure Patti Sue feels the same way and to a greater extent as she has been imagining and planning this for longer than all of us. This move started out with looooots and looooots of packing and organizing followed by cleaning and “de-bugging.” Here is our last morning at the old place

I can’t tell you how many roaches we evicted among other creepy crawlies. Not only did we have to scrub down walls, books, floors, furniture… we had to scrub down the kids too.

All of them got haircuts and a clean bunch of clothes, sheets, towels. New creature comforts for a new home!
Our new classrooms are amazing. Here are some early looks of what are now our classrooms

This is my bulletin board. I have to hunt down photos from other people who have photographed my classroom as my camera has decided to be moody about taking pictures. In fact all photos in this blog post are gratefully borrowed. A big thank you to Omer and Aleta! And here is the future teacher’s office.
It was such a blessing to be a part of this momentous day of finally being in the kids’ and Patti Sue’s permanent home. NO MORE RENTING! WOOOO! Here’s a picture of one of the girl rooms.

That first church service, for me kind of felt like the kick off of our year… even though we have been in school for almost three months now, I feel like it is officially started and that things are a bit more permanent and real now. Here’s the kids at the very first chapel of the new house!
And I saved this picture for last because it is my favorite and I want everyone to see one of the kids thanking God for blessing us with this new place and everything we are given here at Casa De Fe. THIS is what your support and prayers are going towards. I hope you were blessed by this post as we have been with everyone’s hard work and giving hearts!

I just wanted to post the happenings and projections of the Kindergarten class this year. I just got finished assessing what the already know collectively and individually AND what I need to cover over this year. I’m finding that I have some pretty active and smart kids… I guess I have my work cut out for me huh?
Let me tell you a little bit about my kids:
Here’s Eddy:

He is a hard worker and was my leader this week! He likes to go exploring at recess; digging in the dirt for bugs and making rock forts! He has an older brother, Ivan, who is in Miss Megan’s class this year. I really expect him to grow a lot this year.

This is Nicole:

She is devilishly cute and she knows it. BUT she is super energetic and enthusiastic about school… when she is focused. I love the questions she asks… For example, “Miss Dallas, why did you paint your eyes?” And I love how sympathetic she is. She saw her friend get in trouble and then kept shaking her head saying, “Pobrecita…” Anyway, she will definitely keep me on my toes.

This is Ruby:

Ruby has grown a lot from even the last time I saw her this last June! I just remember her being really sweet but I couldn’t understand a word she said. It could be the amount of time I’ve spent with her so far but I really do think she has grown this summer because I can understand her now and will be working with her on her speech along with her regular studies. She has real leading potential. Whenever they are doing a group project, she steps in and delegates. I really want to encourage positive leadership in her this year.

This is Kevin:

Kevin is the youngest of a family of four that we just got in mid-late August. I am going to have lots of fun challenging him this year because he is super smart! I was so impressed with this Math and Language assessments. He’s a bit shy and squirrely but he’s as bright as the day is long!

Here is Martin:

Martin is just amazing. He is becoming so independent with his new walker, thanks to the summer teams with various medical skills! He loves to kick a ball around at recess with his friends and it makes my heart happy to see that he can do that. In school, I think Martin knows more English than most of my students, which is really great! I want to use that in him to help others this year.

Here is Anthony:

We aren’t sure how long he will be with us so he will be hanging out with my kids until we know whether or not he will be staying with us indefinitely or not. He’s still figuring out how things go at CDF and in a classroom setting. It’s slow right now but he’s getting it. He calls me “professora.”

Here is Gilmar:

Gilmar has always been really quiet and pensive but this year, he has really been changing and growing sillier and more out-going. He is really smart too and he has the ability to be a leader too. I hope I can get him to use them both productively this year.

This is Greis (pronounced Grace):

Greis is just a rock of strength and determination. She has limited mobility and control in her hands and feet but you would never be able to tell from this picture. Even though you watch her struggle to move around and she gets frustrated sometimes and shuts down, over all she wants to do well and we all want to encourage her to do just that this year.

And this last picture I want to post is of my favorite part of the day… nap time! At the very last class of the day, there is little to no energy left in these little guys. So the last kind of 20 minutes or so, I give them a little power nap. It’s a magical and peaceful time!

This year will hold many more fun games, songs, art projects, and mastery of Bible, English, Spanish, Math and Physical Education. Hope you guys enjoy getting to know these kids with me!

Well as I am sure all of you have read, this school year has started off in a flurry of change and flexibility. I feel a little bit like a robot that just got switched to “go-mode” and God’s handling the switch… that’s a good thing, right? Lol. The year is still in it’s assessing stage (at least for me) and hopefully by next month we will have more of a solid teaching plan.
Anyway, not a lot of people know this, but just last week was beginning, I was struggling with trusting that I am where I should be at this point in my life and that God was going to provide everything I need to accomplish His will here this year. Well in spite of my lack of faith and verbal wrestling match with Him, I watched God provide exactly what I needed right when I needed it. I just wasn’t seeing Him move so I cried out to Him and asked where He was in my finances, asked for some prayer and help from our dear partners at Cornerstone and sure enough, within days, about $800 came in! And I was really humbled through it because as I was being really obnoxious and juvenile, God spoke to my heart, saying, “See how you were acting? And do you see how I blessed you anyway? Yeah, that’s how much I love you.” SO I wanted to share that with all of you so that you can keep me accountable and help me remember that I am here for a reason: to love on and show these kids Jesus… and maybe teach them a thing or two in the process. And not just that I am here to do these things but that God will take care of me as I do them. Without fail.

This is Dwight, Mike and the GREAT Ecuadorian workers putting a huge center beam up above the class rooms. It was amazing to watch.

These are photos from Dwight and Tandy’s blog but it is great how it shows the progress on the MUB. Thank you Lord for Dwight and Tandy

I am having a wonderful time in my new house with the girls and JP. Isn’t he beautiful!!!

Made by friends of Casa de Fe

Jessica, Rosa, Angel and Jenny are all doing after school weight lifting, some for longer than others. Recently at a local 5 club meet Jessica, Rosa and Angel won their weight classification and Jenny came in 2nd in hers. Jessica and Angel went on to a competition where completers from 12 provinces all over Ecuador competed and Jessica came in 4th and Angel 5th.