Graduation, Summer Vacations, June Birthdays, Canada, New Volunteers, Etc.

Whoaaaa baby. So undoubtedly, it has been WAY too long since I last blogged (as exhibited by the lengthy blog title). So much has happened in the last couple weeks that I’m not sure I’m even capable of remembering it all. Here’s a quick recap:

8^th Grade and Preschool Graduation

On June 12^th, we celebrated the graduation of 20 eighth graders along with a few of our youngest in preschool. This year, a new tradition was started where the 8^th graders could choose a ‘sponsor/godparent’ to walk them in to the ceremony. I had the honor being Jaime’s madrina! I spent the morning in the capital working on some visa stuff and rolled in ten minutes late to the ceremony. Thank GOD, I live in the Dominican Republic and nothing starts on time. In my house, there were also 2 girls who graduated: Katerin and Franchesca, so I also got to feel like a proud mom along with my tias!

Walking in Jaime!

Katerin with Kieran and Rodhesia!!

Joel Jose looking good!

Yay! Preschool graduation!

Johan was the life of the party...he had the whole crowd laughing as his hat and stole keep falling off!

Godmother-godson! Madrina-ahijado!

Katerin with her sponsor, big-bro, Noel!

Franchesca and me!

The Santa Ana crew...family photo!

Milena with her babies!

Pili, Alex, me and Jaime!

Me and Miguelina!

On Friday night, us volunteers put on a big dance party for all of the older kids (incoming 8^th graders on up!) We ate hot dogs and danced the night away. Of course, an 8^th grade graduation party wouldn’t be complete without a surprise dance number put on by the volunteers. So after a couple weeks of late night practices done in secret, we showed off our stuff to the roars of the crowd! It was quite a success!

A late night practice caught on camera!

Doing one of our new moves!

Attitude!! I'm the one on the right all in red!

Check us out!

Sistas (or so they say!)

Some of my favorite kiddos/godchildren, Wilson and Jacqueline!

Special Needs Graduation

The Friday prior to actual graduation, the special needs class put on their annual end-of-the-year party. Erika LOVES her special needs class and professor more than anything and really got to show off her stuff that day. The kids put on a program complete with dances, games and cake! It was a blast!

Talk about a fun party!

June Birthdays

Santa Ana’s biggest birthday month is June with four girls celebrating their birthdays! The lucky cumpleañeras are Josi, Carolina, Eridana and Luci and both Josi and Luci celebrated their 15^th birthdays which are a BIG deal here since that means they will be celebrating their Quinceañeras this fall and are officially mujeres instead of niñas! We celebrated with cake in the house for all of the girls plus us five did a special pizza and brownie supper together one night!

Josi, Carolina, Luci and Eridania!

Yup. She totally cleaned up the pan!

Pizza and brownies!!

Gotta love Eridania's eyes!

Soccer Camps with Av's Friends, Kaci and Maurice!

This month two of Avriel's friends visited and put on some soccer camps for the girls (that's right, just the girls!) So with all of my past soccer experience (I've actually NEVER played a game of soccer) I got out on the field too! It was actually a blast and obviously, I learned a lot even if my team didn't win the game! Plus Kaci and Maurice brought tons of clothes donations which my girls were more than happy to receive. It was a super fun visit!

Santa Ana getting their futbol on!

SELFY!

Yep, there I am out on the field!

The Sta. Ana crew with their new clothes!

Belkis looking good!

Carolina laughing away!

Coming back after our sugar cane walk!

Nelio and Alex Go to Canada!

One of my happiest moments in the last couple weeks was seeing Nelio and Alex off to Canada! For the first time ever, we had kids travel to North America. The boys finally got their visas last Monday and by Thursday were on the plane to spend the summer in Nova Scotia thanks to some generous Canadian sponsors! They will spend the next couple months volunteering their time at a Bible camp there and learning English! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Leaving NPH!

Punta Cana airport...it was their first time flying and they were just a little nervous!

Kids go on Summer Vacations!

Currently, we have about 75 kids on summer vacations. When the kids have family members that are capable of and willing to take care of them for a short period of time, we send the kids with them for part of the summer in order to keep that family connection alive. So that means that Sta. Ana has gone from 20 girls to 10 girls…talk about a change in pace! Actually, you can feel it big time with the amount of kids on site in general. I was lucky enough to be able to take Franchesca to her house in the capital the same day we went to pick up the Canadian visas. It was such a cool experience to meet her family members and see where and how she lived before coming to NPH. I was also able to visit Esperanza at her house. Again, I felt so blessed to be able meet their family members and really see firsthand how many opportunities our kids have that aren’t available to most.

Me and Franchesca from my 2nd month here in the DR, well over a year ago! Talk about time flying!

My favorite photo of Esperanza and me!

New volunteers/summer school

In other news, we just had a group of 7 new volunteers arrive with 3 more on the way. Nearly all of us volunteers who have been here the last year or two are on our way out, so NPH is about to experience a major transition. I gotta say it’s really nice having this new group here. Us ‘old volunteers’ are able to train them in plus we can leave in peace knowing we’re being replaced by some awesome people! On that note, summer school also started this week, so for the kids who aren’t on vacations, their mornings are now full of sports, English and other fun stuff!

During the summer, we take lots of trips to the nearby batey to play basketball and run around a little bit! Belkis was there for a couple weeks on vacations so we went to say hey to her this day!

Making braceletes in Sta. Ana...Erika seemed to really catch on!

We went to mass in Monte Cristy with the visiting priest...naturally, it started to downpour on the way over and we got soaked (despite having this little umbrella!)

Milena returned to Germany :( But she left us with some really cool, really Dominican name necklaces!

Forgot to include this on my last blog...my one photo from my trip home. Greeted at the airport by my sisters in matching shirts after I texted Michelle from Texas to tell her someone had commented on my Drake t-shirt!