Not a coincidence

Life is never dull, no matter where you live, but it's been an interesting ride for us this last year and a half. As I recall our life has been a ride ever since I was told that we were having twins 14 years ago. This last week was very interesting. My brother's buisness partner knows a guy- Walter who happens to be doing some mission work in the DR, and give him our contact information. Who knows if we will get together or not!?! Long story short is:
- we meet up with Walter and he gets us a great deal at the hotel he is staying at on the coast (We went to pick up Terry and Jill at the airport)
- While we are driving Terry's vehicle, it get's impounded. (long story)
- Walter talks to the hotel manager who helps us turn a full day adventure into something somewhat shorter and not as legal. (long story)
-Walter introduces us to some of his friends (Friesens from Manitoba- Bob went to school with their neice)
- Walter hopes to buy a vehicle and wonders if we know of one for sale- One of our Dominican staff members is selling his vehicle and can use the extra money to help with his father's medical bills
- On the way home, our vehicle fights for it's life, and ends up having to limp home, only 15 minutes from our town!!
- We realize how small our world is, and once again, how big our God is.

The picure is horrible, none of us look good, but see Walter.... what a small world!
C

Ethan's 10!!

Our little man has now entered double digits!! 10 is huge! We had a birthday party yesterday that consisted of friends, pizza and birthday cake. It sounds like a normal birthday doesn't it? What made me laugh was what made Ethan's day special was that we allowed him to pick out whatever he wanted from the grocery store to help make the day memorable. Our son walked out of the store, pleased with his purchases. He bought: Gatorade, pickles, grapes and a fudgicle. As we were walking out of the store, Ethan looked at me and said, "I'm one spoiled boy!" It was a great day.

Where do we start?

Our last post was in mid- December, since then, we have been working, working and more working. We are so far behind in our emails and facebook, sorry about that. I knew it was bad when my mom called yesterday and asked me what I got for Christmas. YIKES, sorry Mom!

Christmas is a very busy time on campus. The staff tries to make the holiday season fun and filled. None of the students get to go home for Christmas, so it can be really hard for them. Here's a run down of what our schedule kinda looks like:

• From Dec 14-19th we were busy moving in and working hard at school. Many staff left for Christmas vacation or were laid off, leaving fewer staff with each week.
• December 21st- Our family led Praise and Worship in church
• December 22nd was the Christmas banquet. We decorated the eating pavillion as classy as we could. Staff members cooked the meal, and we hired a Dominican band to play for us. There was lots of dancing. Good times. (Note: the average age of the band was around 70ish)
• December 23rd- Last day of classes and wrapping up the education department with 75% less staff!
• December 24th- Christmas cantata practice in the am ....ready or not! Concert at night. Drew is the only guitarist left on campus, so he and Brodie sang in the cantata, and played all the Christmas carols for the congregation. They ran back and forth throughout the evening. The evening was a success!
• December 25th - Our first day off in forever. We (4 out of 5 of us) were exhausted, and did nothing all day. We had a great day together.
• December 26th- Boxing Day. We match up one or two students with a staff member and we spend the day shopping the markets in Santiago. It's a long day for all of us, but the students always love it!
• December 27th- Work Day- the students and staff clean and machete- making the campus shine!
• December 30th- Spring School session begins. I had all students in classes, everything laid out, and ready for school. We had only two teachers, but we made due. Ter and Erin will be back soon....we miss you!
• December 31st- The day is long...school during the day and then a pig roast for supper, movies for the evening and a bonfire and some fireworks at night. It was a successful evening. I know our kids had fun!
• Jan 1st- Back to school!

Be sure to read the boys blog about our growing farm yard. A sad update: Gertie, our laying hen has died. We fear that the unrelenting rain did her in! We did get about 5 eggs out of her, Ethan broke one, but the remaining 4 were tasty!

I keep saying that I'll post photos of our new place, and of the growing farm...maybe next week! Tomorrow is Ethan's birthday, he turns 10! Ten is huge!!

C

We are in!

Our move lasted nearly a week, with the painting, scrubbing, washing etc. But we are finally in!! The pictures aren't up on the walls, and the Christmas tree isn't decorated yet, but we slept here last night, so that mean's we are in to me!! Terry and Jill have gone home for vacation and starting this week, the staff start flying home permanently. Our staff will deplete greatly by the end of this month. Once again, we know that God will provide for each one that is going home, but it is scary times for them.
Pictures will be posted soon. The house is gorgeous, and I love it. We have dubbed it, "The Lodge". I was reluctant of the move at first, but now I love it. I'm so glad that God's in charge and not me, He totally knows what he's doing.

Change

I feel as though we need to do an update, but I am unsure of exactly what to say. We have been reading the e-news daily and watching the economy plummet. So, it did not come as a surprise when our mission told us that student enrollment has been dropping, and because of that, they needed to do some drastic cut-backs. Many people from our campus and from our Marion, Indiana campus lost their jobs this week. Bob, Terry and I were fortunate enough to keep our jobs. There were many tears on campus, as some staff were trying to figure out how to make ends meet with the news. Our New Horizon's family is now very small, and our job descriptions will change with added responsibilities. Bob and I (as well as other families) will be moving on to campus in the next week. This will alleviate the cost of renting homes in town and thus help the mission out. So, instead of singing joyful Christmas carols on Sunday morning, we sang "It is well with my soul." We definitely feel God's presence here, and believe that God is at work. We don't see His plan yet, but we believe that we are walking in His will.
Carrie

November Rain...

A whole month has gone by since the last post and yet for some reason I still don't know what to write.  We have had visitors (Carrie's parents were out), and we spent a few days at the beach near Puerto Plata, at an all -inclusive.  This was Carrie's parents first time at this type of resort.  We really enjoyed watching the kids try out all the activities.  The best though was watching Ethan try to master the trapeze, which he did! 

Just before Carrie's parents left, we all drove out to the peninsula.  Las Terrenas is definitely one of our favorite spots.   Miles of empty beach with vast coconut palm forests.  The tourist trade is starting to boom here as well, but the roads and infrastructure are so bad that it slows the process down quite drastically.  We personally hope it stays that way, but of course it won't.  Terry and Jill and Jon and Rachel Sawyer joined our happy getaway, which brought the grand total of children up to 9!!!  Good times. 

But, we don't just play around here, we actually do some work as well.  I've been teaching Agricultural Science this semester and we've had some fun projects.  We have been growing and harvesting our own coffee beans.  We have them roasted  and bagged just down the road from the campus.   The students helped design the label and our finished product is actually quite good. 

We also bought a pregnant rabbit.  A few weeks after we got her she gave birth to 16 bunnies.  Sadly we are down to 11, but not bad.  (a decent litter is 6-8) They are very cute, and will eventually make a delicious stew!

This week it rained a lot and was really cold.  I know that sounds wimpy of us, but seriously we were very cold (Some more than the rest of us, not to mention any names).  The rain has now stopped, but the mornings and evenings are chilly. 

And on a final note, I had my second bike crash!  Note to self - when it is cold and damp in the DR, pavement with mold and mildew on it is like ice!  Warm ice, but still slippery.  Anyway I slid out and ended up against the barbed-wire fence on the other side of the road.  I got a few scratches, but my coat and pants got the worst of it!  Somehow I never had as much excitement on my morning commutes in Winkler!

That's all for now. 

A Really Quick Update

This is photo of Bob and Joel. Joel is our concho mechanic- we keep him and his family well fed. We don't actually provide his food, we just keep taking our concho to 'visit' him very frequently. He's a great guy who is recently 'married' and has a new baby boy-Justin. Joel has asked Bob to teach him English, and in return, Bob learns Spanish. I tried to join them for a while, but they base most of their conversations around engines- and the vocabulary necessary to tell us gringos that we need to pay more money. Their conversations go on for about 3 hours at a time (around twice per week), and at the end both men are exhausted!! Brodie and Drew usually hang out for a while and help Bob with his grammar and vocabulary. They hang around long enough to look smart and then slip away.

This photo was taken during my Biology class. Ethan had the opportunity to teach some of my students about spores and the reproductive cycle of the fern. (Gripping material) While most of the grade 4 students at Doulos were enjoying a 2 night/3 day expedition in Manabao- a town up the mountain a bit- Ethan came to school with me and Bob. Due to Ethan 's autism, we knew that a three day expedition would be too much for him. SO...he researched about spores and made presentations (complete with diagrams) for my students. They loved their guest speaker!! [Side note- after Ethan's three day vacation with us, we sent him to school on Monday, only to have him returned to us directly due to 'pink eye'. He has been 'hangin' with me for the last couple of days, and now it seems that his other eye is getting infected. Please pray that he heals quickly- we would love for him to go back to school SOON!!]

We had a party! It was a celebration of Luna and Annabelle's birth. One of our current student's mom sent a huge suitcase FULL of little baby girl clothes for us to give to Jill and Rachel. We used the clothes as decorations for the party. Both moms were overwhelmed with the great clothes. [Side note- just today, I received a jar of homemade jam from one of our past student mom's- they are so sweet and really become part of the family. I can't imagine sending my teenaged son across the ocean and trust total strangers to care for him. We have to bond quickly so that parents can know that their child will be OK.]

Hazel came to play at Auntie Carrie's house while Jill was prepping the house for Terry's big 30! The party was a success and I have photo's to prove it, but really this picture was so fun, I had to post it instead. Hazel is wearing my "Dominican Shoes". I have to be honest, I becoming more Dominican with each passing month. Not only do I wear high heeled shoes and BIG jewelry now, I actually drove my concho to church with them. Yikes! So picture this, me - wearing a skirt, chunky jewelry, a helmet on a concho, with Drew as my passenger with his guitar strapped to his back...off to church we go!


Final Thoughts
1. Brodie and Drew continue to improve at the drums and guitar and are really enjoying being part of the Praise and Worship Team. I'm stinkin' proud of them!
2. The boys are currently climbing Pico Duarte AGAIN! The rains are pouring down around us, and my boys are climbing the highest mountain in the Caribbean! They plan on climbing it three times in one year...they will likely do it!
3. Thanksgiving wasn't the same out here as it would have been at home...we missed everyone very much. BUT, Terry and Jill and the girls came over, Jill and I created the closest replica to a Thanksgiving meal that we could (and it was pretty darn good). We continue to be thankful that we have Terry and Jill. Terry and I work together everyday, our desks are no more than 10 feet apart, and we still love each other. Now that's something to be thankful for.
4. My parents are coming out soon, and I can't wait. We will work hard, play hard and explore hard! Jon and Rachel are even hoping to join us for a portion of our exploration. I can't wait! Did I say that already!?! :)

C