September…what a month! The last time I updated we were in Georgia visiting friends as our return flight to the DR had been cancelled. It was a refreshing time to catch up with them and rest. The jet lag from our return from Italy was a lot harder to recover from than when we flew to Italy. We were able to spend additional time with Jeff’s parents as well.

Upon returning to the DR, the kids started school. Braegan has 6 teachers this year, and she finally has a smaller class size. The past several years her class size has been 40-45 kids. This year there are 25 kids in her class, because they added an additional section. So far her year is going well. Our homeschool curriculum this year is covering American history. When I student taught in college, 5th grade was where I was placed. It was a very impactful year for me, and it is fun to be covering the same content from that year.

Brantley is enjoying his 3rd year of preschool. They’ve been learning some English too, which is really fun for him, because he gets to help his classmates learn. Yesterday they learned their colors in English.

Blue has grown quite a bit since we got him. He’s currently 20 pounds and a cuddly teddy bear. His hair has grown quite a bit too, and we can barely see his eyes. He loves going on walks and playing with the kids. The kids always laugh, because they know they can find Blue wherever I am. He’s typically at my feet. Puppy training hasn’t been as challenging as I thought it was going to be. He’s house trained and goes to his crate whenever we are sleeping or not home. In the last 2 weeks he has lost and gained new teeth.

Jeff and I have been busy with team and staff responsibilities. A new Maverick City song that we’ve been listening to a lot lately is “God Problems”. It has been a reminder that God has everything figured out, and we are to daily surrender our lives to him. He will carry us through. We’ve needed some extra carrying lately. What makes it better is that the kids will sing the words too, which provides even more encouragement in this season.

We have 2 more weeks of teams until our next break. Our family will be heading back to the states during part of the break to attend the fall SRI board meeting in Fort Wayne. We are looking forward to being with everyone and catching up. It’s an added bonus that fall is my favorite season and the time of year I miss the most by living in the DR. I’m looking forward to the cool fresh air, colorful leaves, and getting to wear jeans and hoodies. (It’s the simple things.)

I’ve been working on inputing the new sponsor students into our online database. When I return from the board meeting we will begin the photo and information updates at each of our 5 sponsor schools. I’m hoping to get the letter templates distributed for the students to write to their sponsors in the next week!

Prayer Requests

• Endurance
• Travels back to the states for the fall board meeting
• Upcoming holidays
• Health and rest
• Student sponsorship updates