Yay Ducks and Yuck Ducks

Sometimes, life here is really great. Like spending two days in the coolness of Jarabacoa with Jenilea and Julie-Anne, watching English and reading classes and relaxing. Or dinner parties with friends (I have been to about five of those since I arrived!). Or spending some time with Brian this week. Or getting laminated fall leaves not once, but twice, in the mail. Or FINISHING my very first sponsorship project and handing it to the people from the Kids Alive home office today. Or getting a kitchen table, a stove, and a refridgerator all at once!

But sometimes life is not great. Like when the same strange bugs invade your living room every night at 7:00 or so and you break all the rules about applying DEET. We may or may not have sprayed it into the air multiple times in our living room and into a fan... you do what you have to do! Or when the power goes out right when you want to cook dinner. Or when the tour bus company is running an hour behind. Or when you are trying to convince yourself that it really is November 13th even though it's 95 degrees outside. Or when you have to go to the ER with your roommate because she has a giant infection in her leg. We did that last night. She's now taking antibiotics and we'll probably make another trip on Sunday to get it drained, and the ER was a fairly traumatic, tearful experience. Thankfully Brian was there to keep us laughing, and Alberto and his family met us at the hospital to drive us to the pharmacy and home.

Please pray that Lauren's leg will heal quickly. Pray for our transitions - we learned about the Chaos stage of culture shock at SPLICE, but learning about it and trying to survive it are very different things! Pray for Lauren's upcoming trip home for Thanksgiving, that it will be good and restful. Pray for our work and our life together, that God will continue to encourage us and guide us.

Why snackrifice?

Where do I even begin? The past week and a half has been a whirlwind. It already feels like I've been here forever! I guess I'll begin by explaining my post title... Lauren and I went to La Sirena, the Dominican version of Walmart, to buy pots and pans and groceries, and we spotted a box of Wheat Thins. This was VERY exciting. And on the back of the box it said, "Why snackrifice?" So we asked ourselves the same question and bought the wheat thins. Definitely a good choice!

I arrived in the DR last Saturday and spent a few days in Jarabacoa getting oriented and translating for a dental team. I spent the day and night Sunday with Molly at the YWAM base, which was great fun and a good birthday treat for her! I arrived in Montellano on Tuesday (a little over a week ago). Lauren and I have been having fun setting up our apartment, which still lacks a lot of furniture, and just spending time together. We spent Friday night sitting on the floor eating dinner by light of a citronella candle, and it was wonderful! The power has been terrible here, so tonight we are getting an inverter. Essentially that means that when the city power goes out, we can power our lights and fans with two car batteries. We're hoping that means that the fans will stay on ALLLLLL night and we won't get eaten alive by mosquitos any more - I seriously look like I have the chicken pox right now.

My daily routine... I get in the gua-gua (that's a 15-passenger van) to go to school at 7:35 every morning. Normally I will spend my mornings working on sponsorship stuff and my afternoons teaching English or music. Just today I found out that I am going to get the chance to start a reading program here in Caraballo to help the kids learn to read and learn to like reading, which is exiting because I love to read!

I spent this week doing our Christmas sponsorship project. Each sponsor receives a Christmas card from his/her sponsored child, and I am responsible for making sure the kids make their cards. We think they came out pretty well!

I feel so blessed to be back. It was really fun to have kids that had been in my class see me, give me a funny look, and then ask "What you name? Did you come before?" (the second one in Spanish). Then I tell them my name and they say "Oh yeah, you were my teacher!" One boy even remembered that I had taught them about Australia! Amazing! I have felt at home here since I arrived. I am blessed that I can communicate and get around on my own, I am blessed to have a wonderful roommate in Lauren, I am blessed that I get to go to school every day and spend time with beautiful children.

Please continue praying for my adjustments to life here. Pray that Lauren and I would get our furniture soon, for our physical health and safety. Pray for wisdom and patience and grace as I figure out where I fit in at the care center and in Kids Alive. But mostly, praise God for his blessings and provision.

The pictures at the top are from our card-making extravaganza and also of my desk in the office. The picture below is what the apartment looks like when Lauren and I are eating/living by Coleman lantern and citronella candlelight!