Learning Las Partes del Cuerpo

Over the past many weeks, my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade English classes have been learning how to say, read and write

"The Parts of the Body" or "Las Partes del Cuerpo."

After much hard work and memorizing, I took my 4th graders on a special trip outside to trace their bodies and write out each body part in English. They loved it and had a grand ole time :)

Here is Idalia tracing Carlos Ramon

Angela writing out a few body parts

"...Eyes and ears and mouth and nose...Head, shoulders, knees, and toes, knees and toes!"

Ahh they make me so proud :)

My cutie patootie 4th graders and I

Normal but special nights with my family...

LIVING as a missionary in Banica also means sharing in the "normal" experiences of the daily life of the people.

I have been blessed to live with such a wonderful host family, who has really become like a family to me in so many ways.

Here is Hefredes and Virtudes with sons Nestor (almost 1 yr) and Dani (2 yrs)

Whether its helping Dani to brush his teeth at night, or learning how to make thread from cotton Dominican-style from Hecfredes, or sharing the joys and sufferings of the day with Virtudes as we wash the dishes... it's going to be hard to leave the little things that have come to mean so much.

Often when I come home at night the boys are up and running around, but often enough too they are exhausted from a long day. Here they are with their mom, Virtudes, both passed out on her lap :)

The other night I was blessed to witness the first steps of baby Nestor!! It was so exciting to be a part of such a special event! After building up the confidence, Nestor took turns walking from his mom to his dad to his older brother and to me... I think the most we counted was eight steps without falling :)