How loud is it?

Sometimes people ask us: "Just how loud is it in your apartment? I mean, how bad can it really be?"

This is how bad it can be.



This cacophony lasts until about 3am, and the roosters in the cock fighting ring across the street start crowing at 4am. (LONG before the sun comes up.)

Shrebekawn

Shawn, Rebekah and Hannah Brown are here.

So far, Hannah has decided she likes:
1) dogs
2) the ocean
3) papaya smoothies.

She doesn't like fire ants.

Gotta love those whales...

We went whale watching today with Holly's parents.

Did you know that the entire population of North Atlantic humpback whales migrates to the Dominican every January - March? Did you know they don't eat for SIX MONTHS while they're here?! They live off layers of stored body fat. I wonder how long we'd make it...

This is classic Gary & Janey. Pretty cute, huh?

No rest for the weary...

My (Holly) parents are here visiting, and we put them right to work!

Dad is restoring an old generator to better-than-ever condition, and Mom has done our laundry, swept our floors, done the dishes, cleaned our stove, handpainted a sign, and baked a race car cake for the boys.

We keep trying to get them to relax and enjoy the island life, but they're having none of it! And truthfully, it's nice to have the extra hands. Living life is actually heavier here - it's more physical, takes more energy.

We're having a wonderful time sharing our life and ministry with my parents. We'll soon post more about the fun we've been having with the Pescadores & Princesas.

But for now, we're kidnapping my parents and taking them for lunch at Playa Grande. (Not entirely against their will...)

¡Feliz Dia de San Valentín!

Club Chiquito Retreat

Last Saturday was full of wonder and awe, as we took our littlest ones to the country for the first-ever Club Chiquito retreat! Carmen and Jerry Freed, from Park Plaza, helped a ton and loved on our little guys.

In ten hours or less we:

Gave out backpacks, handmade and sent by the PP children...

Played a never-ending game of soccer...

Discovered next season's recruits while playing HomeRun Derby...

Feasted on lunch at our favorite country cook's house...

Listened to a Bible story during downtime/devotional...

Played on the MannaDR playground - it was the first time the kids had seen swings or slides...

AND splashed/jumped/dove in the river!!!

I. (Holly). Have. Hives.

All over my face. Gross.

No idea what caused them.

They'd better go away soon - I have this thing about rashes - they creep me out.

Fishes and Crowns

Wanna grow leaders? Just buy a necklace or two.

The inspiration came from an idea one of our Otter Creek elders, Jerry Franklin, gave us. When he and Paula were visiting, we were talking about leadership and how to grow these kids into true leaders, even if just in their little community of streetkids.

"Why not have the boys elect their own leader each week?", he said.
Great idea. Why didn't I think of that?

After a little trial and error, here's what we came up with;

We bought two necklaces, one with a fish (boys) on it, and one with a crown (girls). During the group Bible studies, we start by giving the necklace to one of the group members and letting them know that it is because of whichever Christ-like attributes we see in their lives. They wear the necklace all week, and each week thereafter, the last recipient gets to choose who to give the necklace to and has to state what Christ-like things they have seen their friend's life.

We have done it for two weeks with the boys and one with the girls, and it seems to be a great way to get them to call each other to Christ-like behavior... now if we could just get them (the boys) to use the toilet instead of peeing on our side-yard wall...

- TJ

(By the way; On the boy's side, the first two recipients have been Joelni (who is seriously considering making a decision for Christ), and Argelis.
Girls' side: Rachel)

Firsts

Where's Waldo? (or ¿Dondé está Oswaldo?), Pick-Up Sticks, and the story of Jesus washing the disciples' feet were big hits at Club Chiquito yesterday.

Seriously, these kids are too easy to please. Actually, they are more delighted and enthralled than pleased.

In other news, Gus ate half a pound of Gouda cheese yesterday. And he's not even sick. I was sick, though, when I realized I was going to have to make another trip to the dreaded cheese counter at our local grocery store.

Pescadores Induction Ceremony

We welcomed three new Pescadores on Monday night: Chiro (Nataniel), Algelis and Wilbi.

It was our first official induction ceremony on the beach at Playa Preciosa. The Pescadores welcomed the new members with kind words, scripture, prayer & song. They presented the new boys with their Pescadores T-shirts, a gift from Park Plaza, with special thanks to Morgan Mansur.

To top it all off, Jerry & Carmen Freed brought matching backpacks for all the boys, handmade by the children of Park Plaza.

And THEN we went for a private pizza party at a restaurant in town.

It was a night that will not be forgotten.

Of course, it's never all roses... Two of the boys that have been Pescadores the longest (Hansel & Rudi) ran off and skipped the ceremony to "tumbar" (knock down) coconuts as soon as we got to the beach.

That's right, we watched the Super Bowl, too.

Chico's First Day of School

IMG_4193
Originally uploaded by tjmccloud

Well... for $20 a month, and a few hours of our time, Chico is enrolled in the best private school in town.

He was supposed to start on Monday, but he knew we had his books, supplies and uniform last night, and he just couldn't wait. He is desperate to learn to read.

And he's so intelligent.

We're still not sure how we went from having no kiddos to dropping our first grader off at school...