14 years in waiting

This was one of the last pictures Julian took with his sister not long before her adoption in 2011. I'll never forget that bittersweet day. 

My heart broke for myself to lose her permanently, but it ached for Julian and the empty hole she left in his heart. He loved her so dearly, yet he never even had the chance to officially say goodbye. For years we wondered where she ended up and how her life turned out. We kept her memory alive by celebrating their April birthdays every year and sending out bouquets of prayers for her on her special day. 

We finally found her and made contact with her in 2016, five years later, and made plans to visit her in 2017. It was going to be one of the most amazing moments of my life--me, Juan, and Julian all showing up in Spain to reunite with their sister. I had it all planned just right, purchasing the tickets right on Julian's 24th birthday, surprising him with the gift of knowing he'd see his sister again. 

And then the whole plan went sour (long story), and due to my own naive mistake that I couldn't fix, Julian did not get to join us. I have carried that disappointment in my heart for the last eight years. 

Twice I tried to do something amazing for Julian, and twice the plan failed that I couldn't fix, no matter how hard I tried. 

That boy (young man) has always had my heart, but I eventually had to surrender my dreams for him to God and trust that God loved him more than I did. 

We connected with him through video calls while in Spain, and I vowed to never stop hoping and praying for a way for him to also reunite with his sister someday. 

He will always be like a son to me. She will always be the daughter of my heart. 

For the last ten years, my heart has lived on three continents. In North America with my sons, David and Juan. In South America with Julian. In Spain with Laura (Viviana in the book). 

After ten years in Argentina, eight years since Juan and I went to Spain, fourteen and a half years since Laura was adopted, God finally guided Julian to Spain to be present with his beloved sister. 

I hoped I'd be one of the first people he'd send one of their first pictures together to. I asked Juan to let me know once he heard from him. But what a sweet surprise to get the picture straight from Laura. 

So much emotion and so many memories all tucked into this precious picture. 

And all I can think is, "Why me?" 

Why did God choose me to be the one to keep these three siblings connected across three different continents? It's such an honor to be a part of their lives and to have them as part of my life. 

I know this post leaves a lot of gaps for anyone who hasn't been part of the story over the last 15 years. But that's okay. Sometimes when I write a post, I'm just writing it for me. 

Today is a day I have been longing for.

Julian finally made it to Spain, and Laura was the first to let me know he made it. 

My heart is full. 

 

Fresh opportunity ahead

Fresh Opportunity Ahead

One last summer morning,

Soaking up nature all around.

Slowly sipping coffee on the porch

and the peace that I have found.

There's nothing like a summer reset

to reflect, recharge, and renew,

To redirect our focus,

and take vacations long overdue.

To gather new ideas

and let creative juices flow,

To pursue more education,

continuing to learn and grow.

To reignite a fire

For guiding others as they learn,

To get to mold young minds toward greatness

Makes a passion within me burn.

I look forward to a new year

and can hardly wait to meet tonight

The students God placed in my classroom

to whom I am to be a light.

I've already started to pray for them

Lifting up one student each day

Committed to seeing them shine

in both an academic and emotional way.

Challenges await us all

But I know God will see us through.

I pray to see them as opportunities

to always learn something new. 

Blessed by a POSH sale

When I think of women’s ministry, I envision women coming alongside one another for encouragement, prayer, and Bible study. I think of ways to bring women together from all ages and walks of life to build godly friendships that will help them each grow more intimate in their relationship with Christ. Women are the heart of the home, and when those women are in pursuit of Christ, the whole family wins. 

I just moved here three years ago, leaving behind a community of female friendships that blossomed and grew over many years of studying Scripture together and praying for each other. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to God for guiding me to a new church home with a thriving women’s ministry. I went to the first women’s event I heard about, a night out on the church lawn around a bonfire, and made two new friends right away. I connected with one over our adoption stories and with another one over a cup of blueberry pomegranate tea and a recipe for banana bread. 

I joined the fall Bible study that month and made several new friends through deep discussion over Scripture and then exchanging prayer cards at the end of each session. I had the privilege to pray for and be prayed for by a different woman each week. I’ve attended every women’s Bible study offered since I moved here and cherish all the friendships that I’ve gained in each one. Church feels like family more and more as that number of relationships continues to multiply. 

In addition to Bible studies and a ladies night out on the lawn, I learned that our women’s ministry also hosts a ladies night in with desserts and decaf coffee, an occasional game night, and an annual weekend Gathering with a deeper spiritual focus. Sometimes outside speakers are invited, while the last two years our own women have spoken and shared their testimonies. The more events I attend, the more I grow in my relationship with the Lord and the more familial the Church becomes as I grow closer to my sisters-in-Christ. 

I soon joined the women’s ministry team after about a year and found myself helping out with one of our largest events, the POSH resale for women. Now, I’ve heard of a yearly garage sale where a church fills up a parking lot with tables full of clothing, toys, and household items to sell to the community in order to raise money for a specific mission trip or other ministry. But this looked very different and solely focused on women, with the proceeds benefiting other women’s ministries in the community. I will admit to thinking this event had less of a spiritual impact within the church while requiring a lot more time and “lady-power” to pull it off. But after observing and helping to put on this huge event two years in a row, I stand corrected. The blessings and impact are so much more far-reaching than I originally saw.

First, all the ladies in the church have a chance to go through their closets and weed out the clothes they no longer need or want so they can donate them to the sale. Then we set up tables for sorting and ask the women of the church to pick a time that they can come to help go through the clothes and separate them into clothing categories (or decide what may need an extra wash or repair of some kind).  Some ladies come with their Community Group, with their Discipleship Group, or just join with random women. While sorting clothes, they are able to just talk and fellowship together. Serving together always creates the opportunity to bond in a new way. 

Once the clothes are sorted by category, new groups of women come to help hang the clothing up onto racks. We are blessed to have a community connection that lets us use a multitude of sturdy racks to display the clothing in a really nice way. After all the clothes are hung by size and color, another group of women come in to price the items, ranging from $1-5, with an occasional $8 ticket for a high dollar item. With such affordable prices, many women can embrace the blessing of several new items for their wardrobe. Meanwhile, all sorts of women have already been blessed with the opportunity to serve together while prepping for the sale. 

Finally the day of the sale arrives, and the ministry team comes together to turn a simple glassed-in hospitality room into the cutest boutique. We roll out all the racks and set up tables to display extra accessories like scarves, hats, purses, and jewelry to accent their new outfits. 

Women from all over the community line up at the door as soon as it opens to purchase armfulls (and more) of really nice dresses, shirts, sweaters, pants, and even athletic wear and sleep wear. A lot of them say they come every year, taking advantage of the one trip opportunity to revamp their wardrobe for the whole year ahead. Some ladies hear about it on Facebook, others come by invitation from friends, and a few just see the signs on the road and decide to stop in. Several come from transformational living ministries with coupons they’ve been able to earn to buy quite a few things. Everyone who comes shops with dignity to purchase clothing at yard sale prices but feeling like they’ve shopped at a nice boutique. They can comfortably try on clothes and know they’re buying something that fits nicely. They all leave with at least a bag or two in their hands and a smile on their face. Prices drop to $1 for everything during the last hour, letting the last shoppers leave with even more! 

Women give and donate their used clothing in order to bless someone else. They gather together to serve and bond in a new way. They come together from all walks of life within the community, connecting with friends, making new friends, and spreading word about a growing church in the area. Leftover donations are re-donated to another ministry that helps women and families get back on their feet after a set-back in life. All of the money earned at the sale goes straight back into the community, specifically to a ministry that helps women.

I personally felt blessed in several ways this year. I had deep conversation with one of the ladies on the ministry team while making a half-hour drive to pick up the racks. I got to know a friend from church a little better by spending a few hours together hanging up clothes. I found the exact blue sweater in just the right size that I’d searched for all summer to wear to work. I stocked my classroom “closet” with clothes for students who might need an extra sweater or change of clothes for the day. I met the woman who bought a faith-based shirt I’d donated and saw her beam with pride over the ability to wear it to an AA meeting as a tool to witness to her friends. I reconnected with lots of women that I don’t always get to see at church because we’re not in the same community group or serve in the same ministries. I was able to help our Spanish-speaking customers so they could feel welcomed and ask any questions they had. I grew closer to our ministry team by having opportunities to talk on a deeper level whenever there were quieter periods during the sale. I watched women give extra money toward a family experiencing an unexpected need. 

The blessings extend far beyond just a few women getting some clothes at good prices. It indeed carries a lot more spiritual impact than meets the eye.

Until the next adventure!

Two weeks ago, I visited my friends one last time here in Columbus before they moved on to their next adventure near Nashville, Tennessee. They just finished up a year of serving as houseparents at New Song Mission, and now Zayde has accepted a job as a new Dual Language teacher at a school not far from where her daughter and new son-in-law live. 

We met over e-mail shortly before heading to Colombia for the second time when we arranged to work/volunteer at El Camino Academy in Bogotá while we spent a whole month with Julian. Zayde was in charge of the English summer school program at the school, so she and I exchanged several e-mails ahead of our arrival. 

Little did I know that we'd be staying in the same apartment complex where she and her husband and daughter lived and that we'd basically be doing life together that entire month. They got to be part of our adoption journey, meeting and getting to know Julian and being so very present in our fight to reopen Juan David's adoption that summer. 

The adventures of the Alspaugh/Lopez family had only just begun. Now looking back over the last 13 years, we've built quite a few memories that have bonded us together like family.

• Bogotá
• Los Cipreses (the apartment complex)
• ECA (the school)
• Julian
• Juan David
• An afternoon together at a picnic in a park with both Julian and Juan David
• The Salt Cathedral in Bogotá
• Human hamster balls
• A dinosaur tour
• Teaching English as a Second Language
• Renacer (the Baptist Church in Bogotá)
• Merceditas (a lady from that church who knew and loved Juan David and Julian as children)
• Apulo (a weekend in paradise)
• Villa de Leyva
• Pozos Azules
• The emergency clinic in Paipa
• Swimming in Bogotá
• Juan David's adoption
• Staying with them our last week in Colombia
• Crepes and Waffles
• Santa Fe mall
• Ayuelos mall
• Church picnic
• COVID (Zayde got stuck in the U.S. while visiting her daughter)
• Colombia Adoptions Group where Zayde gained a lot of clients for her online Spanish/English tutoring business
• Spanish book club
• Columbus, IN
• Our first overnight guests in our new home
• New Song Mission (school and summer camp)
• Occasional lunches after church
• Fiesta Latina
• Teaching kids how to make arepas
• Terrace Lake Church
• Desserts and Decaf with the ladies at Terrace Lake Church
• Christmas lights in Madison, IN
• 4th of July celebration at our house
• Bilingual teaching
• And many more!

Sometimes it's just pretty crazy to see how God weaves our stories together and connects us in ways we never could have imagined. So although I felt a tug of sadness in my heart giving them that last hug, I knew it wasn't really goodbye. So I wrote in a card, "Until the next adventure!"

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New Year, New Theme, New Enthusiasm

We're only a week out until classes begin! I hit the classroom for the last two days, and now I am really looking forward to the year ahead. I'm not new, so I am not just along for the ride this year. I have a solid grip on the steering wheel, have my maps out, and am ready to be back in the driver's seat as a teacher who feels confident in what she's doing. I still have a few new things to navigate this year, like teaching more subjects--but I'm so glad to be more than just a reading/writing teacher! I can't tell you how much I missed teaching Math last year and just having some variety in my day (and a longer time period with the students in front of me). I have a Legado teammate this year (my sweet friend from church), and we have created a unique schedule that allows us to teach our own homeroom students for half the day and then each other's students for the rest of the day (but in the opposite language).

I ditched my old Alspaugh's Army theme finally and decided to create an atmosphere that felt inviting to me (and also to my students, of course). Since I would love to. own my own coffee shop someday (previous post), why not turn my classroom into one? I'm thinking for rewards, I might just have to offer cups of hot cocoa or something. I had a lot of fun playing around with new programs on the computer to create the graphics I wanted for the walls, along with some hands-on craftiness that I like to dabble in a little bit every summer. 

Got my flags and my pink lights up!

I have my own bathroom with a magnetic door, so I had fun putting up a few magnets to decorate it. The students don't use the classroom bathroom, so it's mostly just for me and for storage. I do keep extra sanitary supplies in there for girls who get a surprise "visitor" during the day and extra shirts, sweaters, and pants for kids who are cold, who break dress code, or who have an accident of some type at school. 

My classroom ended up last on the list for the floors to be waxed, so I couldn't get in to work as early as I would have liked to. But yesterday I worked one very long day and made a lot of great progress! It really helped clear my mind (and the growing piles of "things for school" in my house) so I can focus on the littler, more tedious things to be ready for school on Wednesday. 

My main color themes are blue/green for English/Spanish, purple for bilingual time, and pink, well, because it's just a necessity. 

The door so far (The language sign flips for English time)

The entrance

The front of the room

The Reading "Café for Spanish reading with lots of menus for learning throughout the year. 

I also put a Colombia scarf on that giant bear to show that he's bilingual and likes to travel, too. :) Plus he takes up so much space on the bench that I won't have to worry about kids sitting too close together. There's just room for one kid. I was shocked last year to see so many 11 year old boys flock to sit with the bear (who was on the floor last year). Those are all coffee cups on the bulletin board that I still need to write all of the kids names on.

The flag wall, where we'll add a new flag and study a new country each week. 

We're starting Week 1 with Argentina because it's first in the alphabet. I had a vision for this last year that I never did implement well, so I'm looking forward to a second chance to see the kids engage in this cross-cultural learning. I can't wait till we get to Puerto Rico since several kids are already signed up to go and have even started their fundraising!

Small group area with a travel wall and a Math wall. 

I purposely left these bulletin boards pretty bare because this is where I will keep a lot of my anchor charts and resources for whatever we're learning at the moment. 

The area behind my desk. 

Last year my desk was up front in the corner of the room, and it just felt so cramped and crowded. Then at the end of the year, I decided to move my desk to the back of the room by the windows, and what a difference it made!! I had space to move and breathe, windows and sunlight to cheer me up, and easy access to the bathroom. And I had a better view of those mischievous sixth graders who weren't always on task. 

My personal space to put pictures, etc. 

My little zebra board holds pictures of my very first bilingual students that I taught as first graders in Warsaw, my Pre-K students that I taught in Colombia, two high school age girls that I met in Guatemala (one who had to drop out of school because she couldn't afford books), and two cousins from my first fourth grade class in Garland, one who was killed a year or so ago. I even taught his daughter in Pre-K. Those pictures represent my WHY. 

The English reading area 

Spanish books are in the front of the room, English books in the back--hopefully they won't get so mixed up this year. The turtle has a Colombia hat on to show that he's also bilingual and loves to travel. 

The "coffee shop" area.

So, its a new year, I have a new theme, and I have renewed enthusiasm and excitement. When I was in the Dominican Republic on spring break, one of the missionaries prayed with us on our last night as we prepared to return to our own mission fields. Often times I've struggled to leave a mission trip because I felt like I was just getting started. But I remember feeling so clear that night about the mission field God has put me on, the American public school, specifically working with bilingual children and families. I mean, I had just found out that my friend from church decided to move up to sixth grade and be my teammate, specifically talking about how we could pray for our students together.  Meanwhile my other new coworker who started going to my church had just visited me at Freedom Christian School right there in the Dominican. It was pretty obvious that I'm directly where God has placed me. It's not at all the mission field I had envisioned when He so strongly called me to make the move to Columbus, as I truly thought I'd settle in at New Song and stay for a long time. But it's beautiful to see how He's woven things together to put me where I am, to draw me to my church here that would continue to connect me with the people He intended me to work alongside. 

So here's to stepping in to Year #23 on the mission field, AKA the American public school! I love looking at these pictures and seeing so many artifacts/gifts that bring back memories of other years. That's what makes teaching feel so rewarding. Students touch your heart and stay with you wherever you go.