Feliz Dia de las Madres Dominicanas!

Sorry this has turned into a monthly blog and I will post an update of projects soon. Feliz dia de las Madres! My sister and I are planning to take our mom and other sister to dinner as a treat for all of their hard work and labor as wonderful mothers tonight. They are always working: cooking, cleaning, working in the community center, cuidando hijos and nietos and they rarely get a chance to leave, breathe, and enjoy a little down time. This is our attempt to give them a little bit of that and I am super excited.Pictures will be coming soon.

Other than that, I will post some pics from the last couple of months.... Enjoy!

 Part of my team of Deportes para la Vida trainers. My hermanitos!!

 A mezclave of some of my Chicas brillantes groups for our Soy Sana mini conference!

 Def a Deportes para la vida groupie! love this program

 my hermanito is going to college! we made him a cake....I promise you I did not put the alcoholic beverages there

 Soy Sano day with my Chicos superman group

 My org had a Satiago corre to raise funds for the work we do with youth...these are some of my boys!

 My chiquita chicas brillantes are making libros de sus suenos!!! They deserve to dream =)

MY girls made mother's day cards....Hopefully they give them to their moms' today!

My Chicos supermen! They make my wednesday every wednesday!! They also made mothers day cards and wrote a note saying why they are supermen to give to their moms!

  Extreme Needs team from our Youth group at the 2da Conferencia Nacional sobre NNA en Situaciones de Alto Riesgo

 Chicos Supermen de Accion Callejera! My babies!!

 Awesome camp!

 My girls made purses...they are so talented!

 Riding through Bani on the way to the beach with the love of my life and the love of her life

 my lifetime sister...def special check out the helmet

 obstacle course at chicos superman!

 All of the participantes at the 2da Conferencia Nacional sobre NNA en Situaciones de Alto Riesgo

 The Comite Comite of the 2da Conferencia Nacional sobre NNA en Situaciones de Alto Riesgo

it was an amazing experience and Hilary and I get to participate n the planning process again next year!

All of my loves but the 2 on the left...yea def have been essential to my sanity here!

Well that was another quick peek... Until next time

Pictures of the Last Couple of Months

Hey all,

I definitely owe you all a blog update soon and I promise you will have one by Tuesday. But I also promised to add pictures to show what I've been up to... so here they are... Enjoy! By the way these are not in date order...sorry!

50th Anniversary of the Peace Corps in the D.R. Some of my girls and I with our current Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams who is also a D.R. RPCV

Diona and I with Gail at dinner during the 50th Anny celebration. Thanks for paving the way for us Gail! 

 My birthday celebration in Dec. Thanks Rachelle for getting me an awesome cake!

 Loves of my life in the D.R. my mom, sisters, and niece here

 More of my fam with Rachelle, my host parents, sister and nieces and nephew

My Dominican parents....they take such good care of me!

 I went to Laila's site to check the graduation of her teacher trainer cohort...She did a fantastic job and check out the awesome cartulina Sabrill made!

 Sabrill and I enjoying Laila's scenery

 The wonderful women of the Calle program at Accion Callejera

 Volunteers of Centro Comunitario Accion Callejera

 Cooking locrio (rice, chicken, and vegetables) with my Sis Maribel

 My chicos Superman group...yes my Chicas Brillantes multiplicadoras are def amazing they help with every group I have!!

 fun in the sun!

 My chicas Brillantes group attempting to do the human knot

Some of my chicas presenting a dinamica

 Another group presenting a dinamica

Mamey girls love to have fun!

I went to visit Sam at the beginning of March for International Women's day. We did a charla about the first lady, taught the girls step, heard from professional women, and had a spaghetti dinner! It was a great time!

My chicas and I with the Chicas Brillantes Coordinators at the graduation/end of the Northern Regional Chicas Brillantes conference in early Feb. 

 oh yea, teaching Sam's girls about step!

 I don't do anything here without laughing

 I rode my first horse!!

 My team! The youth sector of 517-11-02 at our 3 month IST! All of us brought one project partner from our community...This training was at the end of January.

 Loves of my life: James, Sam, and I at the Chicas Brillantes regional conf

 Just me and my girls at the end of conference

 I told you I rode a horse...here is the proof!

 Feeling like I'm on top of the world in Jarabacoa

 the wonderful cartulina Norma made for my Chicas Sana mini conference in Santiago

Talking with the girls at the mini conference

Def my fav training so far in the D.R. Deportes para la Vida training! Its a program which has a lot of games that help youth learn about healthy decision making and HIV/AIDS prevention. I had a ball!! I was able to bring 5 people with me and we will be using this program to educate the youth in Santiago! Thats the goal!!

Well friends I hope you all enjoyed this peek into my world in the D.R!!