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Ahh, the Christmas season..... where life just seems to get a little bit more expensive and a little bit more chaotic.  Every year I always ask "why"? Why do we need to spend so much money and why do we need to stress so much.  Don't get me wrong I love a lot of the traditions. I love my families and the time I get to spend with them and I do enjoy receiving gifts. I am not going to lie though we were looking forward to the idea of one low key Christmas where we didn't need to buy a bunch of presents or decorate. Now, here comes the humor :)  This will probably be the busiest Christmas we have ever had (haha).  It started off with me wanting to buy a Christmas gift for our sponsor girl Maria.  I am in the store looking at the toys and clothes I know she would love. I picked one toy for her and we bought her the game of Uno (which we play with her all the time). I know she is going to love them but I have this feeling I need to buy more. Why do we get that feeling? Since then I have bought her a pair of earrings (she pointed them out to me for someone else). I am hoping I can show restraint and not buy anymore.  Now this might make Chris and I sound like bad parents but we decided not to buy Abriel any Christmas presents ( I am sure some jaws just dropped). She has toys (a lot of toys) and she doesn't need anything else so why spend money just for the sake of it. We, (okay I), have since bought her one toy that was $9 because, really, I want to have a picture of her opening something on her first Christmas.  Chris and I also said we were not going to buy each other gifts because we are truly blessed people who don't need anything.  I say with a guilty voice we have since bought each other a couple items adding up to $20 each.  We thought we were going to escape that needing to give a gift mentality but we weren't strong enough.

Our church back home wanted to be a part of the school Christmas party here. They decided to make Christmas bags with toys, hygiene products and school supplies for all the children in the school. Then a local Catholic school decided they wanted to be a part of the giving as well. So they filled 100 bags!!!!!  Our good friend, Robyn Asplen, was the lucky girl that got to fly down and drop off the bags.  What a blessing it was to have her here.  Then the real fun began when we got to hand out all the bags with the help of Santa himself.  The kids were so excited and it felt rewarding to see others give (across the world) and the children receive. I hope we can be a part of this type of project in the future.

Now the real craziness of Christmas starts today as a team of 5 arrives from LIFT church.  It will be cool to be blessing others this Christmas in the Dominican.  We will keep you posted on what the team is up to.

On a family note, Abriel didn't like Santa so much.... she cried.... lol.  Also, Abriel has started to walk.  Just a couple steps here and there but we haven't been able to catch it on video.  Unfortunately, we left our camera charger in Canada so we don't have our own camera but we will be borrowing Phil and Donna's as much as possible.  Hopefully, we can capture those steps soon. We are looking forward to Christmas and having a morning together with our daughter just to hang out.


There are so many pictures and they are taking way too long to upload so follow this link to see the pics on Facebook (even if you don't have Facebook)!


https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150650212177977.482104.515787976&type=1&l=32a877c891

One Less Tooth for Maria

We have been back in the Domincan for just over a week now and our trip home seems like a very distant memory. It’s weird how you count down to things and wait for certain moments in your life to happen, then they happen, and they are done. (I know, mind blowing idea, haha).  How do I get more out of my life and more out of the things I do so they matter more? So when they pass they have had an impact on someone or something so it’s more lasting than a day?  Now maybe that’s a little more mind blowing.

This past Saturday we took Maria to a free dental clinic.  It’s a place called “Monkey Jungle”. When our siblings were here we went zip lining and fed the monkeys at the same place. We have recently found out they run the zip lining to make profits in order to offer their free medical and dentistry clinics to those in the Dominican Republic that could never afford a doctor or dentist visit otherwise; a very cool and smart idea. On their website there is a clip from a show on CBS called “Around the World For Free”. Monkey Jungle was the feature of that particular episode and the owner of the business offered to fly the girl to her next destination for free on his private jet.  So, I am assuming Monkey Jungle does very well in the money department. When I called them to find out when they run the free clinic (since Maria desperately needed to see a dentist) I could not get through any of the numbers provided but I did some extra digging and found the number for their American office in Dallas, Texas. A man picked up who sounded very similar to the voice I heard on the T.V show clip I had just watched.  I asked him if he knew the clinic days and hours and he said, “Is it for you to access?” I told him, “No, we are bringing our sponsor girl to the dentist.” He then replied with, “OH! I thought you sounded like the wrong colour. We only serve the poor.”  I was really taken back by that statement and was unsure how to respond to it.  I shared what he had said with Chris, Phil and Donna who also thought it was a strange thing to say. Regardless, we took Maria up to the clinic at 9am where there was already a line to see the doctor and the dentist.  They had some great equipment and they are really filling a need of the people and providing a great service.  We watched a couple people go in and could watch the work being done in the dentist chair.  No one seemed in pain and it seemed very quick and professional.  We were very impressed. There were a lot of individual people ahead of us as well as a large family of 10 or so but we were not sure if they were waiting for the dentist or the doctor.  I over heard one of the staff ask another staff member to tell all of us to have a seat because we would probably be here for most of the day.  As we waited I saw the man I had seen on T.V and, I’m  assuming, the man I talked to on the phone.  He came over and greeted us and said, “You must have been the lady I talked to on the phone.”  I said, “yes”.  He told us he had just flown back to the Domincan yesterday.  He asked if we had been waiting long and if we knew how much longer.  I said I didn’t know.  He then went and talked with some staff and organized some things, and helped out with some cleaning up.  Then a staff member came over and said that we were next. I didn’t think much of it. As she said Maria went in next. While she was in the chair I thought about it more. It really seemed weird that we were next.  As I looked around I noticed the others who were waiting get more annoyed.  Then we heard a visibly upset women say something in Spanish to the effect of, “porque ellos Blanco” (because they are white).  We don’t know for sure but from what we can gather it seems like the man bumped us up the line.  It was such an awkward moment when we realized what had happened and Maria was already done.  We got one of her teeth removed and we were told to come back next week for her to have one more removed.

What a mixture of emotions we had.  To be honest, it was nice to have been able to get in quick so that we could get on with our day and not have to wait any longer but it felt very wrong to get special treatment because of  (possibly) our skin colour.  Chris described it as a kind of “reverse racism”. Either way we feel faced with an ethical dilemma.  We left and the man said his goodbyes and we talked about it all the way home.

We will be going back on Saturday and we will see what happens then. Maybe it was all in our heads. Maybe we just misunderstood how things are run or who was actually there for the dentist that day. Or maybe we were right. Let’s hope not. They are doing great work. 

Our Home Away From Home Away From Home

Last week was C-R-A-Z-Y! We left the relatively warm Dominican Republic and headed back home to Canada for my sisters wedding. Here's the rundown:

Tuesday afternoon we boarded a plane and headed back. Abriel has, in the past, been great to fly with because she sleeps for 85% of the flight. This flight was a little different. We left at 5:30pm which means we was still awake (and by "awake" I mean "wired"). She is almost always a happy kid and she is almost always bursting with energy. The plane ride was no different. She squirmed and yelled (in a friendly manner) to other passengers, played with every toy she had in her diaper bag, chewed on the seat in front of us, watched what was going on out the window, ate snacks, played "take daddy's glasses off" a hundred times, watched part of a Baby Einstein video and became fascinated with the little fan thing above the seat. Then the seat belt sign came on and we were ready to take off. This was going to be a long flight.

We made it through the flight with very few problems by alternately taking turns holding Abriel and resting. My dad and sister graciously picked us up from the airport and drove us home so we could sleep in our unnervingly quiet house. There was night and there was morning light. The first day. And so began the chaos.

Wednesday morning we got up and got ready to take Abriel to her doctors appointment for 10am. We didn't have time the night before to grab any groceries so after a quick bite to eat at Tim Horton's (a side note: Dominican coffee has ruined Keeleah's Tim Horton's experience) it was off to see the doctor. Upon arriving at the doctors office we found out that our appointment was for Thursday morning at 10am. Thinking back to early fall before we had left we remembered that we had said it would be better to get the appointment for Thursday so we could sleep in on Wednesday after our flight and first night home. Oops! We went to the seamstress who was making Keeleahs dress for the wedding and did a fitting and then went to Keeleah's parents house and had lunch. Wednesday night our good friends Wayne and Mellisa came over and brought us dinner. It was so good to see them and the food was delicious!

Thursday morning looked surprisingly similar to Wednesday morning (go figure) except that I dropped Keeleah off at her parents before going to the doctors so she could make some last minute preparations for Thursday night and finish a few errands we had to do while we were back. The doctor let us know that Abriel seemed great. She was still off the charts for height and had an average sized head and her weight was about right for her age and height. That's always good to hear.  We also got a few hours of snow when we were home. Even though Abriel didn't actually use the snow suit she tried it on for when we return back to Canada in February. Still a little too big.

Thursday evening was Carrie's bachelorette party. The evening started off with mani-pedi's (a term I have become familiar with since being in a serious relationship) for Carrie, Corinne (my other sister), my mom and Keeleah. After that there was a scavenger hunt for Carrie to pick up a few "items needed for a successful wedding night". Then the girls met up with a bunch of Carrie's friends and family at Kelsey's for dinner and dessert.

Friday morning was picking up the (now finished) dress and decorating the reception hall. It was fun getting everything set for the wedding. We got to joke around with our family and meet some of Dan's family. The hall looked awesome by the afternoon! Then it was off to the church for the rehearsal. Everything went smoothly at the rehearsal and soon we were sitting down to the largest rehearsal dinner I've ever been a part of. The Dragos's and Edwards' make for one big group of people.

Saturday morning was the start of the main event! Keeleah went over to my parents house around 7:30am to start her hair and makeup. Tim (my brother) and Ashley went over at around 8am so Tim oculd get his hair and makeup done as well (just kidding, Tim didn't need his hair done!). Actually they made us breakfast and it was fantastic. The whole family sat down together and ate at the table. I love those times.

After hair and makeup and gel and hairspray and shaving and eating and laughing and getting the dress on and packing the cars and everything else that happens on a wedding day morning we went and took some pictures.... OUTSIDE! It was cold but I think the pictures are going to turn out really cool. Then it was off to the church for the ceremony and onto the reception.


The reception speeches were very nice and I almost cried at Carrie and Dan's. They are nice people and I'm glad they are married. The dance consisted of half of the original Edwards family dancing like crazy with the "add ons" leading the way (Keeleah and Nathan). If there was a contest for who could make up the most unique dances I think Keeleah would take the cake. And if ever there is a "Cotton Eyed Joe" contest my money is on Nathan for winning. That boy knows how to Cotton Eyed Joe it up!

After the evening festivities were done and the hall was cleaned up we had A LOT of food left over. My parents asked us to take some and we brought it to the Salvation Army downtown. The men of the drop in centre were so thankful and we even over heard one the guys say "I haven't had cheesecake in a long time.... and it's my favorite!". It's nice to be able to give something away of quality instead of just a can of pickled asperagus heads that have been in the back of your pantry for three years and you're never going to eat them anyway because they are disgusting. I would encourage you to donate things or food  that you actually enjoy wearing or eating because chances are the people receiving the clothes or food you're giving away actually have to wear it or eat it. Anyways, that's just a suggestion.

Sunday morning we were back at Community Church. I have mentioned it before and I'll mention it again: I love Community Church. They gave us some time to talk about what we were up to in the D.R and several people talked to us afterwards and gave us words of encouragement. It's great knowing that we have people behind us cheering us on with what we are trying to do down here. Thanks Community!

We went to my parents for a quick lunch (left overs from the wedding) so they could say their goodbyes before we left again and then we headed to the annual friends Christmas party. We have a great group of friends and it's easy hanging around them and talking to them and just being with them. We thought there was a secret Santa exchange happening but apparently there wasn't so in typical Chris and Keeleah fashion we had a game tournament in order to find out who would take home our secret Santa gifts. God times.

Monday we got to hang out with the Matta's and play a few games with them. They bought us Swiss Chalet (my favorite). They even offered to watch Abriel while Keeleah and I went out and got a few more things we needed before we came back to the Dominican. That was good. I'm glad Abriel will grow up with the love of not only her parents but also all her aunts and uncles and all her grandparents.