Algunas fotos

My gramma gave me her digital camera (THANK YOU, GRAMMA!!) and I brought it to Chichigua one day. Keep in mind that I'm not photographer and when I do take pictures it's noramally of objects (buildings, trees, etc) and not people. But I got some cute ones of the kids. We will begin with Wilne's photoshoot:


Haitian in a bucket! So cute and cheesy. He has a bad skin infection on his arms and legs.


He figured out how to pose for the camera


Doesn't he look like an actually baby in this photo? He normally looks and acts like an old man, but here he looks young


Is this kind of the face Zoolander makes? He likes raising his eyebrows at people...little tiguere at the age of 2


so happy in a bucket of dirty water!


cheesy smile!


Ronal's beautiful face


Memo's laughing


Typical Ambiolix look...confused?


Marleini's hair was not fixed that day. But her smile was presh


Wilson (Marleini's brother) was having a rough day. Apparently everyone kept taking the ball away from him


Rebecca was super excited about the mango she was eating


Her eyes look huge in this photo. Cara Jane calls her "queso" because she has this super cheesy smile. and she's so pudgy!


Jeson and Rebecca (siblings) are both very funny


Ahh, Jeson's too cute (and quite intelligent)


Like a handful of our studnets, Franchesca is missing some teeth


Here she is looking at something that caught her eye


maybe something gross...


apparently something she disapproves of (I don't actually know what it was, I just capture the funny faces)


Wilne...he's probably laughing at me


...just minutes before getting in the bucket


Estiven


Big ears and toothless!

I hope you like my babies; (is that the proper use of a semicolon? I don't know the rules that accompany it) I think that they are pretty cute.

I HATE SAND!

If you didn't believe me, here's proof. We were taking a great picture with all the girls and Ashley laying across our knees when someone *anne boon* decided to push us to the ground. Riley was snapping the photos and happened to capture the moment I hit the sand. Aside from looking like a great white whale, my face tells it all...I HATE SAND!!! Sorry, Cara Jane, that I apparently drug you down with me.

The last month

I haven't written a blog in over a month! Sorry about that. I go through phases of posting lots and then post little. I'm going to try to keep up with posting. Over the last month we've had 3 groups come. They've all done various things (VBS, field day, repainting the school, helping with graduation, etc) and we really appreciate all the work they have done and how much they have helped us! We have had 2 weeks of literacy camp with the preschoolers. We have watched lots of movies and played Boggle and Scrabble a lot. Katy, Riley, Jody and I have watched 24 season 2. It's been fun. And HOT! Really, really, really hot. Here are some pictures of the last month:


Wilne! Have you ever seen anything so cute? He was bathing in a mop bucket and hamming it up when I started taking pictures of him. He's 2 and an orphan living with a woman in Chichigua. Here's typical conversation between us:
Wilne: Americanne
Robin: M' rele Lubi. Di Lubi (My name's Lubi. Say Lubi)
Wilne: No
Robin: Wilne, vini (Wilne, come here)
Wilne: No

But recently it's gone something like this:
Wilne: Americanne
Robin: Di Lubi. (Say Lubi)
Wilne: Dubi...(and then some mutter in Creole that no one can seem to understand)

I just love him, even though he's sassy and disobedient and likes to hit and bite.


We all get a text message saying, "Leave Monday night open. The guys want to make dinner for the girls. Entertainment will be provided." YES! This is going to be fun. And fun it was. The guys set up our very own Alamo Drafthouse in the Mak house. The food was AMAZING! and the entertainment was perfect. We watched some "So you think you can dance", Celine, and a few other things before the feature presentation of "When Harry Met Sally". It was a perfect night filled with lots of laughing and some delicious food.


Watching Celine during our appetizers. It was SUCH a FUN night. Thanks, Makarianos, for serving us a delicious meal and providing GREAT entertainment!


Look who's back...


Look who she brought with her this time. So little and cute! It would have been a lot cuter if the night after this picture she hadn't been tied up next to and stepping on a plastic bottle, literally outside my window, all night. It was not a good night's sleep.


We no longer have a backyard, just piles and piles of construction materials (sand, gravel, steel, etc)


The guys were working on putting the steel down on the roof for the pour


Here's the inside of one of the classrooms


When the guys started construction there was a banana tree already in bloom, so they decided to leave it up until the bananas are full. Here it is inside one of the classrooms. It's funny the things we work around in this country


Squished but still alive and growing


Chepe and Miguel talking about something. Probably the pour which took place the following morning. The guys were at the sight at 4:30AM to put the roof on. It's been drying for a few days now. I cannot believe how quickly the school is going up. Apparently these guys know how to build a school!


Even Dominicans felt the lost of "El Rey de Pop". His music was very popular here before his death but then after his death it has taken over. Even our kids from Chichigua "know" the "words" to his songs.


Katy's going away party. We went to a restaurant that has real fajitas and then back to the MAK house for more Katy celebrations. It was a week before she left but we had a group her last week. I love love love Katy. She's SUPER funny and great to spend time with. I'm going to miss her a whole heck of a lot. I cannot believe that 6 months have already gone by since she moved down here. If it weren't for Dave I would totally steal her passport and make her stay here longer. Te quiero, Profe Katy


On sale now at La Sirena! SICK!

Ok, that's all I have for now. Going to the beach with the group and then Café Boon to hang out with Katy on her last night.

Más Construction

The guys have been working SO hard to build this thing. Here are some recent pictures:


Just a picture of a plátano tree. Can you see the purple flower in the center of the tree? That's where they begin growing. It's a big flower, hopefully that means lots of plátanos.


They are starting to put the block and cement in the footings (I sound so confident...I could be totally wrong)


Avile standing in cement while mixing it.


Can you see what it will look like when it's finished? We can't wait

The Hard Times

So my blog is generally a pretty happy one and filled with fun stuff because, let's be honest, my life is filled with fun stuff. Not everyone gets to live on an island and hang out with cute kids all day. Though living on an island is not my favorite (it has to do with not liking sun, sand or salt water) living in an area a beautiful as this is wonderful. There are a few downsides to living here, though. One is being so far away from Target (kidding!). But really, it's hard to live so far away from friends and family. I grew up close to my family (lived on the same street most of my childhood with my dad's side) and the friends I made during my college years are a big part of my life. Not to mention that my church, The Austin Stone, is my community of believers that encourage me so much and I can't attend it while I live here.

All that to say, while life is filled with lots of funness (not a word) there are some hard parts. And I'm going to share a few with y'all now.

Over a year ago we found out that my grandad had lung cancer. I found out over here and it was hard to not be near my family. It was hard to be there with those who would understand the specific situation. He then started treatment and had a hard time recovering. His speech got slower and he lost all of his beautiful white hair. I would cry everytime I talked to him on the phone or would go home to visit and see him. It was hard...


Fast forward 6 months or so and you come to the summer. That's when we found out that my dad has MS. I sobbed. Again I found out while in this country. That one was tough to hear and process while away from family and best friends.


Fast forward another 6 months and I find out that Grandad not only has lung cancer but also Parkinson's. I don't think that I cried as much, probably because I was thinking, "Bring it on...I was just waiting to see what else would happen..." Good attitude to have? Absolutely not!

For now, both Dad and Grandad are doing well and taking medicine. And I'm done being angry/upset. I still don't like that people in my family are sick and I don't like having to be here when finding out things like this, but, as cliché as it might be, Jesus is peace and I just have to keep running to Him when sadness and anger take over.

Sorry if this is a depressing post. I just felt like sharing with my blogging world some emotions beyond those joyous one that I normally have.

Visiting the Suh Family

I got to visit Halim, Angela, Malachi, and Evangeline twice! It was so much fun. The first time the Carters, Fabs, Ronnie and Leslie Peck came over to eat steak & potatoes and hang out. I loved it! And the next time Anna and I went over just to hang out and we got to see Yuna! Here are some pictures:


Oh my, doesn't he just melt your heart??


Malachi loved the strawberries that I brought over


I didn't realize that I had taken so many pictures of him. But, honestly, how could I not?


Angela and Fabs enjoying the lovely weather on their porch


All the kids playing outside


Here she is: Evangeline Piper Suh! SOO precious!!!


She's only 6 weeks old and has that much hair!! It's so soft...aahhh, she so cute.

I just love the Suh family. Halim and Angela have been and continue to be very encouraging. Before I moved here (2 years ago!) I had the chance to go to Israel with the Melvins, the Carters and the Suhs. While on that trip I got to spend some time just with Angela and Halim (in the mall's foodcourt...after a crazy taxi ride) and they were so honest and encouraging about me moving here and the hardships that would be faced and the work that it would take. I haven't ever forgotten that. And it's been true. And now every time I go back to Austin I see Angela. And though we do funny stuff (3 CVS runs in a day) she also just listens to me and points me back to Jesus. That's really who they are in my life: People who remind me to look to Christ when I so often want to be focused on myself.

Thanks for spending time with me and encouraging me and continually pointing me in the right direction!

A trip home

I took another trip back to Austin the last week of May and saw lots of people! Here are just some of the pictures:


Robert, my brother, with Garrett, my cousin


the landing....


The Jester side of my familly (minus Aunt MaryBeth and Bryan)
L-R: Robert, Garrett, Erin (Robert's wife), Gramma, Uncle Dan, Mason, Mama, Jay


I got to visit with the Inks family as well (minus Aaron, Adam, and Riley, the recent college graduate [CONGRATULATIONS!!])
Ticki and Grandad, with Walter, the puppy in the front
Bruce, Aunt Jeanna, Thomas, Mary, Uncle Bob


Myself with Ticki & Grandad and Thomas & Walter


I got to meet precious Ainsley Bean! She slept most of the time but I still got the chance to hold her. I spent the evening with Bradley & Amy Bean and Aaron & Shauna Mullins. I really just love both of these families and cherish the little amount of time that I do get to spend with them when I'm in Austin. I'm also very appreciative that the make time to spend with me!


And I got to see my "niece" Sophia Mae! I arrived on Friday and the Jaspers were due to move to Dallas on Saturday. So after arriving and hugging Gramma, I jumped into my car to get to see the Jaspers. We spent some time catching up and then spent some time watching/playing with Sophia Mae. Oh man, I'm sooo going to miss seeing Annie during my trips home!!

I drove to Houston the first weekend that I was in town to go to my stepbrother's wedding! It was absolutely lovely and I so enjoyed spending time with my daddy and Georgene. Here are some pictures:


Georgene and her mom, George Ann


Me with my daddy and Georgene


And the bride and groom: Christi and Brandon. It's the only pictures I got of the wedding...sorry I don't have more!

I also got to stay at Camille's house but I don't have a picture. When she emails it to me I will definitely post it.