comunidad.

Community. 

Deliberately sharing life together. 

Eating. Living. Working together. 

Profoundly interdependent. 

Carrying burdens. 

Sharing with one another. 

Speaking truth in love. 

Serving one another. 

Confessing to one another. 

This is how were were made to live. This is how Christ intended it. All of those things I wrote above I have seen and experienced firsthand within the past 3 weeks. 

When I think about this community that I have been given I am nothing short of overwhelmed with gratitude. With joy. With pride in my God. 

A couple of weeks ago, when I went to Portland for the Expeditionary Learning (EL) conference, I was able to step out of this life I had been a part of since August, and really truly come to see the beauty of it. Much to my surprise, there was not much of a "Christian community" within EL. I was blown away because every one of their design principles [self-discovery, having of wonderful ideas, responsibility for learning, empathy and caring, success and failure, collaboration and competition, diversity and inclusion, the natural world, solitude and reflection, service and compassion] are so biblically based in my mind. I came back not just ready to use these new great teaching ideas, but more importantly to be back in my community and to share what I had seen and noticed. I left the conference and wahs able to be at home in Dallas for a few days and once again blessed by community. 

Since I've got back every single day I have been been 'wowed' by our God. This verse pretty much sums it up: 

"But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goddness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. One you had no identity as a people; now you are God's people. Once you received no mercy; now you have recieved God's mercy." 1 Peter 2: 9-10 

"We are a community. 

We are not ourselves by ourselves. 

We are born into communities, 

we live in communities,

we die in communities.

Human beings are not solitary,

self-sufficient creatures." 

-Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson

life in the month of march.

Ok so here's a rundown of my life this month. So much for the more frequent posts. Now I am here doing a really long recap! I would like to say that March has been absolutely incrredible. And here's a few reasons why:

1. Went to Samana (beach on the north coast) and went whale watching with a great group of ladies! Saw a mom and baby whale while we were on the boat tour! It was pretty exciting!

2. Got to play "skip bo" (or something similar..I'm positive we were not playing by the correct rules) with some new neighbor friends! 

3. Got to take some engagement pictures for Brittany (an intern this semester at Doulos) and Matt! They were such a joy to photograph! 

4. The same day, me and Stef (also an intern this semester) took photos of Brittany and Matt, and since her boyfriend was in town we snapped a few photos of them too! They are so precious and so fun together! 

5. Doulos had service week. 2nd and 3rd grade went to a public school, Escuela Rincon, and did activities with the elementary kids. It was really great to see our kids grow in being selfless and what that looks like. I just wish we could do this every week! It was incredible! 

[the 5 staff from Doulos that went the conference. Robyn, Tim, Patrick, me and Abby]

[Instead of staying at a hotel we had the wonderful opportunity with staying with this couple, Roger and Karen. They were such welcoming hosts that made our time in Portland so much better.]

[morning view on the way to downtown Portland]

6. Went to Portland, OR for an Expeditionary Learning conference. It was nothing short of spectacular. I gained a lot of knowledge to take back to Doulos, and also it also reinforced a lot of things that I already knew and loved about Doulos. And of course we got to play a little in Portland and eat some killer food! 

7. On the way back from Portland I had a couple of days to spend in Dallas. Of course it called for a dinner at Babe's with this great crowd.