The children in Caraballo, DR are filled with joy up to their ears. As soon as the recess bell rings, they run up to you and yell, Caballito! Caballito! Caballito! From then on, we would give the kids piggy back rides all over the playground. Some kids would play soccer while others played baseball. Several of the girls wanted to play with and braid our hair, while others wanted to play on the playground or climb on the slide. There was never a shortage of activities at recess, that’s for sure! 

One of the kids’ favorite things to do was take pictures. As soon as they saw me or my camera, they would strike a pose (or seven) begging for a picture. Even if I didn’t have my phone or my camera, they would still ask to take photos or videos. The kiddos would just flock to me! There were 3 girls, though, that consistently ran up to give me a hug every time they saw me. Their names were Josemarity, Merinda, and Sonia. 

Each time that I saw these little girls, their faces lit up. Thankfully, my high school Spanish paid off (thank you Miss Hayes!!) and I was able to have fun conversations with them and learn all about their families. One of the little girls, Sonia, really tugged on my heart. She has the most adorable smile (even though I had to tickle her to bring it out!), the cutest little giggle and is constantly full of joy. She constantly reminded me that joy does not come from our circumstances. No matter what we may be going through, we can and should always find our joy in Jesus. 

After meeting so many amazing people and playing with hundreds of kids for 2 weeks, my heart is filled with so much joy and purpose. I’m inspired to love others intentionally, be more disciplined in both personal and professional areas of my life, and dig deeper in Jesus to find pure JOY. If you want to join me in living a more intentional life this year, I challenge you to take these 2 simple steps with me! 

1. Choose 3 people to be more intentional in loving this year, whether that means grabbing lunch with them once a month or writing them an encouraging note. 

2. Choose one area of your life to be more disciplined, and commit 30 minutes to that activity a day. Personally, I’m committing to working out, eating clean and reading the word daily, so encouragement is always welcome! 

If you choose to join me, I would LOVE to hear about it!! Leave a little note below so I can send some encouragement along your way 🙂 For now, take in all of the adorableness that I got to spend my last two weeks with! Stay tuned for more about my trip next week! 

PS – I’ll apologize in advance for the iPhone selfies 🙂