Over already.....

We have been home in Canada for almost 2 weeks. My mind doesn't really understand that.... I am torn between it either feeling like we haven't gone yet or it feels more like we have been home for months and months. Days in the Dominican seems to last long, days here seem to be so short. Not sure if it's because we try and cram more than possible into our North American lives or because life was just simpler there. Or maybe it's both. We have been so thankful to be home to the familiar, to our family and friends. I personally have moments of sadness knowing what we have left behind in the DR. Great new friendships, connections and the beauty of that country. The day we left was a sad one. We said our goodbyes with tears and touching words.

We said goodbye to Maria.  You will be shocked to hear that I never cried (might cry now) but I never cried there.  Our last weekend we took her to the beach and had a great sleepover. We taught her snakes and ladders which we played a million times.

 We went and said goodbye to her and her family the day before we left.  Her mom told us that she has been crying the last couple days because she will miss us.  We gave lots of hugs and encouraged Maria to keep striving in school and let her know how much she meant to us.  We said it was only "Hausta Luego" (|see you soon"), not "Adios" ("goodbye").  We truly do mean that!!!

We said goodbye to our first translator and now FRIEND, Jessica, and of course her boyfriend David. We had a blast getting to know them better and playing many, many games of Settlers. We left Settlers with them so I hope they get better and maybe could beat us next time... lol. I think it's the type of friendship that we will be able to pick up where we left it when we see them next time.

We said goodbye to Rebbecca who cleans for Phil and Donna. She is one of the craziest people ever and we love her.  She has such a special place in our hearts and I think most of all in our daughter's heart.  She really knew how to love Abriel.  I miss her..... She is a strong woman and I admire her.  There was a lot of crying during that goodbye.

Lastly we said goodbye to Phil and Donna.  I won't go into much detail because I could do a whole blog just on them. They are GOOD people, doing GOOD work and we support them 100%.  We know we will see them again and we are so thankful for them letting us come and work with them and giving us this amazing opportunity to serve.

Our 5 month Dominican Experience is over. Thank you to everyone who supported us in many different ways.  We were encouraged by the all the people who followed our blog as well.  It was very cool.  We do plan on continuing to blog but it probably wont be as frequent since our normal lives just isn't as exciting. 

I am thinking I might still write one more blog just on the things we learned and our final reflections.  Hopefully I can get to it soon.