Attack of the Giant Rats, Part II

So last week, my cousin, Kyle, and his girlfriend, Lauren, stayed with us. They brought about 600 pounds of baseball equipment from the Ark City Baseball Association, climbed 27 waterfalls, and hung out with our kiddos.

Kyle slept on the futon in our living room, about 5 feet away from the bookshelf pictured in disarray above. Yet somehow, in the middle of the night, he woke up with the bookshelf (and hundreds of books) on top of him!!

How did it happen? Again, we don't know. It's a mystery. It's a sturdy bookshelf, no way it toppled over. It was definitely too far for him to knock it over on accident. And surely he didn't get out of bed, pull it down, and then burrow under the books.

Guess we'll have to chalk another one up to the giant rats. First, my favorite pajama pants, now the bookshelf. Although, Kyle apparently has some strange sleepwalking stories, including getting up in the middle of the night, taking his posters down off of the wall, and cutting all of the letters out of them...

And we don't have rats in our apartment. At all. So we really don't know what happened. Kyle was nice enough to stack the books back on the bookshelf, even though it was the middle of the night.

El Grande Tomas

My parents are here!!!


They arrived on Friday, a day late due to some storms, but got here safe and sound.

We figured they might need a little bit of time to settle in, but as soon as they got out of the car, they both were running our "pescadores" ragged, playing frisbee, basketball, football, and generally working up a sweat.

Mom has already picked out a few kids who might fit in her luggage, and we have kids hanging on our gate demanding to know if "el grande Tomas" (The Big Thomas) can come out and play!!

More stories and pictures soon...

She said yes!!!

That's right, my brother asked this pretty girl to marry him, and she said yes!

Bret & Jaimy got engaged on Wednesday, graduated from law school on Saturday, and started moving to Denver on Monday. Wow. A week they'll not forget, I'm sure.

Bretty asked her in the sweetest, most unassuming way. And I hear the ring is gorgeous, of course. If you look close, you can see it in the photo.

I was telling TJ that I think I'm more excited for their wedding than I was for ours! We've already promised to love, honor, and cherish each other for the rest of our lives, and it's going pretty well! Now we can just relax and enjoy the party. (Or do wedding grunt work that no one else wants to do.) Either way works for me.

The Gospel and Babyfood

On Wednesday nights, what used to be a few boys coming over to play a game has turned into a "youth group" style evening at our little apartment, replete with silliness, bible study, and a few 2 liters of Red Rock soda.

On this particular night, Holly took one for the team, going head to head with Hansel to see who could eat an entire banana through a mask of pantyhose. Holly won (although she didn't feel too triumphant).

What goes up...

This week, Holly's cousin, Kyle, and his girlfriend, Lauren, came to visit. We climbed up 27 waterfalls and slid/jumped/ swam/dove our way back down them.

Seriously, 27 waterfalls is not some fancy name, it is actually 27 stunning waterfalls in a row. Ask Blake & Mo. It's unbelievable.

What's even more unbelievable is that our guide not only hauled us UP tumbling cascades, but that he managed to keep our digital camera dry while doing so. It was wrapped in a t-shirt and a grocery sack, and we were in the water for 5 hours. We have no idea how he did it. But we're glad to have these pictures!

Last week

Last week, with Blake and Moriah we...

took "los pescadores" on a hike through the mountains to a creepy, crawly batcave...

has some fun with Polfirio and the kids at the Outreach Center...

learned how to fix a throttle on an '83 GMC truck...

and had some fun at the beach in Samana!

Alfredo loves Holly

Meet Alfredo.
He is ten years old, but looks about four, due to a genetic abnormality.
He doesn't have to go to school, because he always looks too young.
He loves to count, can't read, but memorizes books and "reads" along to his favorite parts as Holly reads to him.
He has no fear and is a natural acrobat, flipping and somersaulting his way through our courtyard.
He loves to be picked up and "fly" on people's shoulders.
He fell out of the Limoncillo tree last week and sprained his ankle.
That doesn't stop him- he now hops on one foot all the way to the Outreach center.

pictures by Moriah Farmer

We're blue.

We took Blake & Mo to the airport this morning. We're sad about that. It did not feel good to come home to an empty house. We loved having our fun friends around, and it will probably take ANOTHER six months to stop missing them so much!

Plus, it's hot here. The kind of heat that makes us wonder if we actually DO have hot water because a cold shower feels hot. It fogs up our bathroom mirror.

ps - This is a freak thing. If you're coming to visit us, don't worry - it will cool off! Probably tomorrow. We just don't have much of a breeze today.

pps - We'll post pics of our week with Blake & Mo soon. Tonight, we mourn. We plan to drown our sorrows in bottles of ice cold Cokes, stove-top popcorn, and this week's episode of LOST.

Look!!!

Blake & Mo made it!!! Yay. Thank you, Bob Corker's office, for pushing her passport through.

Moriah applied several months ago, but her passport was drowning on some bureaucratic desk until she made a call to the Senator's office. They had it same-day delivered to the Farmer's house at 10:30pm the night before their flight.

I guess Corker's got our vote.

Kristen Norman, you're too much!

Thanks for all the treats!

And thank you for thinking of us. You are wife and mother extraordinaire, and we can't believe you took time to send that lovely package. But, of course, we can believe it, as you're one of the kindest, most thoughtful people we know. Truly.

We love you and miss you. Please give our love to Bart & Elijah.

April 29th - oops!

Well, anyone anxiously awaiting the results of my Power90 exercise regimen is now sorely disappointed. April 29th came and went without the promised progress post. (It was always going to be sans pictures.)

Power90 was more like Power30 for me. I exercised faithfully for one month, then I went back to the States, got out of my routine, and the rest is history.

But the great thing about history is, we always have the chance to make it new. I haven't given up on living a healthier life, just continuing to work towards it.

Making carpenters out of 'em

This weekend, I was seventeen again.

You see, when I was seventeen, I was working my first (and last?) real job, for Lynn Mansur, the father of a friend and a deacon at our church who owned a landscaping company. I learned so much in those summers of sunburn, grass, and pre-emergent; working hard while I watched my boss minister to ex-cons and drug addicts he hired.

In God's serendipity, Lynn now leads the missions committee at ParkPlaza that helps support our ministry. He and his amazing wife, Linda, came down for a whirlwind of construction and encouragement.

In pure Lynn fashion, he got more done in a day and a half than a ten man team, and turned his work into ministry. While we banged away, building a counter and a stage for the outreach center, he made sure every kid in the neighborhood was included and got to take a crack at driving nails.

I couldn't help but remember being seventeen again, watching this man I respect work hard, yet always with an eye for ministry. The Mansurs' visit will have a lasting impact, as the kids are already asking: "Hey. Where'd the carpintero and la otra Linda go?"

216 down, 4 to go

That's right. We arrived in the Dominican Republic 216 days ago, and our good friends, Blake & Moriah Farmer, will arrive in 4 days. I don't think they'll end up staying for 2 years like us, but we'll love every minute of their week here.


"But in Friendship... we think we have chosen our peers. In reality, a few years’ difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another, posting to different regiments, the accident of a topic being raised or not raised at a first meeting – any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, for a Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A secret Master of Ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples 'Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,' can truly say 'You have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.' The Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others."

- C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

My New Favorite Treat

Frozen York Peppermint Patties on a hot Caribbean day.
Thanks, Mama, for sending that treat with Lynn & Linda!

If I were my blogging buddy, Carrie, I would probably write about loving edimame or some other such health food.
Alas, I am not. I like the junk food. It's comforting and it reminds me of the States. I do feel like I actually get healthier just by reading Carrie's blog. Is that possible?

Also, McKenzie, the guy that owns our local grocery store, ordered a case of Dr. Pepper all the way from Puerto Rico as a surprise for us.

Now we have to drink it, right?

Ode to Dave Shultz & Mitch Wilburn

We want to begin this post by saying:

THANK YOU!!!

Dave Shultz & Mitch Wilburn, thank you for the many retreats, camps & outings you planned for the Cedars (Holly) and Park Plaza (TJ) youth groups. They changed our lives. You changed our lives.

Now, here we are, putting together a retreat for street kids in the wilds of the Dominican Republic. We could not have done it without the foundations you guys laid for us.

But what we really want to know is ... how did you make it look so easy?!

We could write a ten page blog about everything that happened, but we know what you really want...

Here are some pics from our fabulous weekend - the beginnings of our youth group in RioSanJuan.

Los Pescadores: Jordan, Rudi, Johan, Kevin, Ramoncito, Hansel and Ariel.

O Dear Christian College

I tried to take a nap on Sunday afternoon. Always a bad idea, as the disco blares full-force during traditional nap hours. But my Uncle Rick, an engineer for the railroad, had given me some new earplugs, so I figured I'd give it a try.

Strike two against the nap was that we didn't have any sheets - they were all dirty from the retreat. So I laid a blanket on the mattress, then pulled a blanket over me.

At which point I realized, I was an ACU sandwich. I was laying between two ACU sweatshirt blankets, wearing my ACU sweatpants and an ACU sweatshirt. Ha!

What would we have done without Linda?

We took seven of our "Pescadores" from RioSanJuan on a retreat this weekend. We stayed at the Manna camp in Bobita. We hiked in the mountains, played in the river, ate fruit off trees, played soccer, and fished for gummy worms in whipped cream.

That's where we've been lately - getting ready for this retreat. We're home now, preparing for the coffeeshop tonight, and all I have time to say is: "What would we have done without Linda?"

Those of you who know Linda Benthall have probably asked yourself the same question. Amazing doesn't begin to cover it. She spent four years in China, and has encouraged us greatly with stories of her time there.

We knew each other at Otter Creek, and she came to visit us for a few days - to see our life here, and help out where she could. Truthfully, I don't think we could have made it without her. God provided many things for this weekend, but most of all, he provided Linda's capable hands to work along side us.

The boys also loved getting to know Jake, our friend from Santiago. He took time off from teaching to minister to our boys, and they're sure he's the coolest! What with the Tae Kwon Do, soccer skills & rad motorcycle, he actually is pretty cool...

We'll write more about the retreat later, but I think we'll go to the beach tomorrow!

What's going on in my kitchen?

What's going on in my kitchen? Is it cuh-cuh... Cooking?

Thanks, Oswaldo, for a fabulous Dominican feast. Arroz, habichuelas, pollo guisado, platanos fritos, ensalada y ice cold Coca-Cola Classic. (Holly's sole contribution to the meal.)


Thanks, Jordan & William, for sharing it with us.

Kayla, we missed you - Oswaldo saved you a seat in the window.

We don't live here...

These pictures happened to be on our camera, right next to the pictures of our lovely house. We live betwixt and between here - between two cultures, and two radically different standards of living. Rarely am I struck so hard by that as I was when I downloaded these pictures onto our computer.

I am thankful we don't live in the Puerto Plata dump. The people that live in the Puerto Plata dump are thankful they don't live in Haiti.

The below picture is one of my all-time favorites. It's a beautiful moment that sometimes happens when we go to the dump. Barriers fall away, and people become people. This Dallas Christian student jumped in the middle of the clapping, singing Haitians and showed off his moves. They LOVED it.

We live here...

TJ's always saying we should post pictures of our apartment, so everyone can see where we live. So, this is it. This is home.

A 2 bedroom, 1 bath, never-hot-water, sometimes-electricity, upstairs apartment. It's surrounded by a lovely garden, and we enjoy sitting on our porch, listening to the sweet sounds of motos driving by...


Our living room, often full of kiddos.


Our bedroom, often full of Dominican disco music.


Our porch, often full of towels drying in the sun.


Our kitchen, incidentally, the biggest one we've ever had.



Our bathroom, often full of foul smells from the sewer. (Sorry, but there's something wrong with the septic tank & we can't figure out how to get rid of the smells! We welcome any suggestions.)


Our courtyard, often full of kids, cherries, or leaves from the almond tree.