Feliz Cumpleaños!!! (I got a baby)

March Birthdays!
Gabriel (19), Enel (15), Redando (14), Jenna (24!), Kate (13)
And Nana Rhonda celebrated this month, too!

The last couple weeks have held several big markers for me - the first being my one year anniversary of living in Jimaní (March 23!); the second, my 24th BIRTHDAY (March 27!); and third, A BABY (more on that later).

Year End State of the Family Address

 So another year comes to a close, but what a year it has been!

(...is there a way to escape New Years cliches?)

How to I summarize the year except to say CHANGE. I live a different life and in a different world than I ever thought I would. It is nowhere close to what might have been my post-college "plans" (I didn't really have any), but now, I can't imagine my life being anything but what it is. God SO knows best. :) More than nine months I have been in Jimani, and it has been a crazy ride of ups and downs and people coming and going and intense personal growth. My Papa Dios is a different person than I thought He was - and not because He has changed, but because I have. I am a little more tired, a little more worn, but a whole lot wiser, and still full of love.

I will be traveling stateside in THREE WEEKS and am super excited to see all the friends and family I have been away from for this time... and I am totally looking forward to pizza and ice cream and salad. Every day.   :)

I hope to share a little more in-depth soon, but here are some pictures  :)

It's a GIRL!!! ... Well... EIGHT of them!

Tomorrow brings big changes.

     I once said to a friend, "All I really want to do is be a mom..." 
     His response is one that has stayed with me and has proven true. 

     "Jenna," he said, "no matter what you are doing, you will be a mom."

     Since then, my jobs and other experiences have all put me in a position of "mothering" and now being in the DR, it is more true than ever. When I posted on Facebook the other day that I am going to be a mom (ok, so I admit to being kind of vague on purpose solely for the sake of creating questions), it was not alluding to pregnancy (I promise this is not yet possible) or to adoption (someday!), as some wondered, but to a shift in my role here at Chadasha's Children's Home.

Ever pray for a parasite??

Have you ever prayed for a parasite? I mean, prayed that there would be a parasite inside of you??
Foolish question.

But last week, I did.

"indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance"

How beautiful it is to be a part of the Lord's work all over the world! It is so encouraging to see updates of other ministries and know that I am bound in Spirit and Truth to the family of God across nations!

God has been doing a great work here in Jimani, Dominican Republic, in me personally and in our family as a whole. We are in a pruning time, transition, learning, growth, pain... all of the above, but I have such confidence that my Papa Dios is moving in profound ways. We have been seeing changes...