Meltdown

Things have been going well. Too well, in fact, since our house was robbed. Both the boys and girls bible studies are growing and going well. The English class was a hit- the children's program we started on Wednesdays went swimmingly- we are packing the house on Sunday night worship with kids AND parents...

And then the other shoe dropped. Last night, I walk into our courtyard where the boys are supposed to be setting up chairs and getting ready for the bible study, and I find Joel, our most difficult boy, on the ground and tied up from head to toe with one of our clotheslines. Several other boys were gathered around kicking him and laughing as he struggled to get free.

Now, in fourteen year-old street boy world, this is a perfectly acceptable form of entertainment, but not at my house, not at the bible study where we are about to talk about putting our faith into practice...

I sat them all down and told them in strong terms that I expect more out of them than this, that the Bible study was canceled and that they should all go straight to Joel and ask for his forgiveness.

They left, sat outside the gates, and, as a group, (Joel included!) sent a messenger to come tell me that they wanted to disband the Pescadores. That we only talk badly to them and that it's not worth the trouble to be a part of the group if we were always going to be correcting them.

Basically, we told them that was fine, and that no one was forced to come, but if they did want to come and go on trips and have game nights and english class and watch movies, there were a few things we expected them to try to do- namely, be nice to each other.

We left it at that- and a few of them have returned to say they are sorry, but it was a real meltdown- maybe a good one- but painful, nonetheless. Pray that the boys wise up- and pray that we don't go crazy from this rollercoaster ride.

Kicking our tail.

This new schedule is kicking our tail. Again, mostly in a good way. We're a well-oiled machine, humming and zinging along for the cause of Christ.

(At least, as well as anything hums and zings in the developing world... Just today, for example, we paused to chase down a semi that backed into our car, to ask kids not to poop on the porch, to run on the beach, to learn to make hummus.)

But I digress. The schedule. We posted this somewhat-tongue-in-cheek video earlier about our typical day.

But the advent of our year anniversary and the kids storming our gates have forced us to pause, consider how we can best be used. We added the following activities (read: lots of prep) to our go-with-the-flow schedule of yore.

Pescadores English Class (games, crafts, music, ONLY English allowed)
Princesas English Class
Club Chiquito (little kids only, studying Creation, story time, crafts, games)
Pescadores Youth Night
Princesas Youth Night
Leadership Traning
Sunday Night Worship & Movie
AND Osvaldo will shift his focus to spend one-on-one time mentoring each Pescador.

Whew.

And you know what great thought I'm thinking as I finish this post? We are just a tiny piece. We're all striving to change the world, in hundreds of big and small ways, in hundreds of big and small places. I love that.

Starstruck.

We love Grey's Anatomy. To say that we live for Thursdays nights would be taking it too far, but only slightly.

Therefore, we were a little starstruck this weekend when we got to hang out with a real, live, pediatric orthopedic surgeon. Scott and his family live in the capital, and he runs a hospital for CURE International. CURE specializes in curing children with crippling spinal or orthopedic conditions.

Scott and Marni have 2 boys, who are big fans of TJ's kids album. They were thrilled to discover that we live in the Dominican. We were blown away by the good work that this family is doing - here, and in Haiti.

They're a cool family who genuinely enjoys being together - we love to see that. They live downtown in an old 16th century colonial house, their kids go to the neighborhood Dominican school, they've adopted 2 Dominican street dogs, and they're all life-long vegetarians. Very laid-back, unpretentious.

It is great to know them, to see how God is leading faithful believers on a journey so similar, and yet so different, from our own.

Font Junky

We had a fabulous time in Santo Domingo, and made some fabulous friends. More on that later.

But for now, where can I get my hands on these fonts?! My love affair with fonts began many years ago at ACU when my roommate, Rachel, introduced me to fontface.com. (Don't go there.) But do check out dafont.com.



TJ took these pictures for me, in the hopes that I'd be able to match the fonts online. Let me know if you find anything! (And I don't want to hear Papyrus, people. Or see it. Ever again.)

Penance.

I thought about promising a blog a day for the next two weeks to make up for our two-week absence.

However, we're headed to the capital tomorrow for a quick weekend getaway. We'll take in the sights of the Zona Colonial, mostly built by Colombus and his men. We'll roam about the mall and MAYBE eat at Outback Steakhouse.

So, we'll do our best to fulfill a post-a-day penance for two weeks. Today, enjoy a fun and fab video of the raging good time that was the first annual Princesas, Pescadores & Otter Creek Photo Scavenger Hunt.

Four years ago, we walked out of that chapel and into the rest of our lives.

Today, Alfredo and Niño helped me make surprise blueberry-cheesecake anniversary muffins for TJ.



It's a miracle, really, this marriage thing. I am blessed beyond measure by my sweet husband, who loves me still.

Reluctant Pied Pipers

We have so many good things to share. We are overwhelmed with the kindness, generosity, and the staggering interest a visit from the Otter Creek team generated. By the end of their week here, we joked that we weren't going to be able to beat kids away with a stick. 4 days later, we're not joking. We are overrun and overwhelmed, mostly in a good way.

Osvaldo is 26, Dominican; our friend, guide, and indispensable partner in ministry. We spent this afternoon planning, searching out how we can better reach the youth of RioSanJuan.

Ours is a small town, and there's not a lot to do, so wherever we go, we tend to attract a horde of chattering ragamuffins. The "Pied Pipers" of RSJ, if you will. Osvaldo told us this story in passing, and while it illustrates how God plants these kids in our lives, we also just can't stop laughing about it.

Several boys bopped over to Osvaldo as he was running errands one evening. They immediately asked him what he was doing, and started discussing among themselves that they were going to accompany him.

Osvaldo simply turns to them and says:
"OK. I go do something now. Don't follow me."

Maybe that's not funny to you, but it made us laugh for hours today.

"OK. I go do something now. Don't follow me." Classic.

Hiii-Yah!!

Our friend, Jake, visited from Santiago this weekend. He studied Tae Kwan Do for several years and held a mini-class for our boys. They couldn't get enough. The concepts of fighting only in self-defense and using your strength for good made an impact on them.

Best of Spanish...

children's books!

I (Holly) have long loved Spanish. I was much inspired by my excellent high school teacher, Señora Johnson, who ONLY allowed Spanish in her classroom from day one. Notes in Spanish, vocab in Spanish, questions in Spanish - everything.

I'm also a nerd, and love communicating in another language. It opens different areas of your brain, and enriches the language you already speak. Especially if you have little ones, check this stuff out. This is the best of the best, and it's easy to pick up language when you're little.

I have also long loved children's books (all books, really), much inspired by my parents who read to me tirelessly. Pat the Bunny and The Little Engine that Could... Those were the days! Gracias, padres...

We live our lives in Spanish here, so I thought I'd share our favorite Spanish/English children's books, based on hours perusing the shelves of bookstores, a deep love for reading. Seriously, this stuff is the best of the best.

No Is No, Si Is Yes
by Ana Galan

It's perfect. Just get it.










Baby Einstein Wordsworth's Book of Words
by Julie Aigner-Clark
Though you may not be able to tell from the cover, this is an EXCELLENT Spanish/English dictionary. Great pictures, great choice of words. I love looking at it, and it honestly helps me reinforce basic vocab.





Isla by Arthur Dorros
A fabulous, magically whimsical tale about a little girl and her abuela who "fly" from New York to the Caribbean island where abuela grew up. Elisa Kleven's illustrations are stunning. Abuela, Dorros and Kleven's first collaboration, and the prequel to Isla, is also worth checking out.




I'm sure TJ will love this post so much, he'll be inspired to share his favorite Spanish musicians and songs. There is some REALLY good stuff out there, running the gamut from Sevillanas to reggaeton.

I must also say, that though when we moved here a year ago, I had about a thousand hours of Spanish language training on TJ, he is now completely fluent and is always teaching me new words. If you've ever heard the music he writes, you're probably not surprised to know that he is ASTOUNDING at acquiring language. ¡Bien hecho, querido!

Holly's break from boystuff

Let me brag on my wife a little.
Last week at the Outreach Center, several girls piped up and let us know they were tired of seeing pictures of all these guys doing fun stuff. We took it as a sign and last night, we had our first-ever girl's bible study.



Holly did such a great job. She planned it, led it, and I couldn't be more proud of her. Working with these girls will definitely be different than with the "Pescadores", but I think Holly will enjoy the break from all of us dirty boys.

Vietnam and the Twin Towers

Why do you fight and argue with each other? Isn't it because you are full of selfish desires that fight to control your body? You want something you don't have, and you will do anything to get it. You will even kill! But you still cannot get what you want, and you won't get it by fighting and arguing. (James 4:1-2, CEV)

Reflections on that passage from 14-year-old quasi-literate street boys in the Caribbean:

"That's why Vietnam started the war with America when they knocked down the Twin Towers. Because they were jealous since America has all of the money."

(To us) "Were you in America when they knocked down the towers?"

"Yes."(We were in Abilene, Texas.)

"Were you in the towers?"

"No."

"Whew. That was close. We're glad you made it out."

Night-time visitor

"There are no poisonous snakes or spiders on the island." This is Brian Wallace's mantra to American groups when they arrive for a week of ministry in the Dominican.

There are, however, poisonous toads. Not shooting dart poison or anything. Just, if you (or your dog) ate it, it would be bad news. Apparently, toad stew is the preferred assassination method in rural Haiti.

We let this big, ugly guy go in a field far, far away after a midnight photo shoot.

Mitch Wilburn's Continuing Legacy

Even in the Dominican Republic, I find the influence of my youth minister, Mitch Wilburn, runs deep. Of all the things he taught me (TJ), this one is the most important.



We don't yet have a Dominican FatGuy's Club... at least, not yet.

TJ had a bright idea.

He cut his own hair. It actually looks pretty good! And he feels much less scraggly. He hadn't had a haircut in almost a year, and his hair was REALLY long.

I was going to try to cut it, but it never seemed to be a good time. Then, last night, I walked around the corner to find TJ chopping at his own hair with a pair of scissors.

Hey - why not?!

It's not what you think.

No, we're not playing Spin-the-Bottle at our Bible study... Well, actually, we are. but not like you think.

We are studying the ever-practical, applicable, book of James. The boys have a hundred different stories for every verse we read. Last week we talked about "wisdom from above." Tonight was this:

But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness (or goodness).

On that note, our indispensable partner in ministry, Osvaldo, starts them in a game of spin the bottle, only in this version, you give compliments or apologize to whoever it lands on.

I don't know many 14 year-old boys who would do this in the over-sensitive USA, let alone rough and tough Dominican street boys, but they did. And it was amazing. These kids were giving compliments - actual compliments. I've never heard them say anything nice to one another in a year of being here, and now, because it was a "game", they felt like it was ok to bend a knee in apology and tell someone else they are a good friend. Sowing seeds of peace. Wow.

We've needed some big wins lately, and tonight, we got one in the form of a Coke bottle.

Something New

We tried something new last night - a sunset run on the beach. It was nice. Amazingly nice. We can't imagine why we've lived here a whole year and have never done anything like that.

It was healing to get away from the noise of town, splendid to watch the sun slip into the sea. Good to be just the two of us, good to exercise and push ourselves. What we didn't realize was that running in sand is like having ten pounds strapped to each foot. We made it about half as far as we thought we would, but... it was great, nonetheless.

We aspire to incorporate several Playa Preciosa jaunts into our weekly routine...

cocoNUT

Party-ed out

Guess we needn't have worried about parents not showing up. Our patio was overflowing, and it was an abundantly good time. Thanks for your party thoughts and well-wishes.

Party Prep

A team of machete-wielding men showed up this morning, and our yard is now freshly shorn for the Pescadores party on Friday. I'm trying to track down items that could serve as tablecloths, punch bowls or christmas lights.

The boys have been assigned to figure out what their parents names are (they really don't know) so we can make nametags. They're also making original art that we can hang around our patio for the parents to see.

We're trying to figure out how to use the sound system without turning on the incredibly loud generator.

More than anything, we're hoping against hope that the boys' parents will come. TJ will drive to each family's house to pick them up, partly because it will make them feel special, and partly because it's the only hope we have of them showing up.

The boys are so proud of everything they've done this summer, and they're excited to share it with their families. So, everybody think party thoughts on Friday!!!

A Typical Day

Here is our latest video (and first-ever Vlog).

When we get down and feel like we haven't done anything- we watch these videos and realize that things really have come a long way since January- robbery or no robbery.

Thanks for continuing to watch, read, and pray!