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.

Inspired

On Friday night I went out with of couple girls who live down here as well as Krissie Sulivan who has been coming down to the Dr for eight years.  She has a future plan to be a full time nurse here in the public hospital. She was here to visit with friends and to go to Franklin's wedding.  We went out and got some food and just walked and talked.  We walked past the bar strip. It had been a while since I had really seen what happens down there.  It's a weird feeling seeing people who seem to be having fun, listening to loud music, dancing and drinking and maybe to the average tourist that's what it would be and seem to be but I know more and I felt uncomfortable.  I saw hundreds of women who were dressed to the nines and extremely sexy just like you would see at home at one of our bars in Hess Village.  I know some women were just there with their friends having a night out but for 90% of those women it's wasn't a night off to relax.  They were there to work. We stopped and talked and discussed our thoughts on prostitution but what do we know.  We have no idea what it would be like to be them. My heart breaks for them. Sex is a powerful thing whatever your thoughts are on it.  I have a hard time believing that having sex with complete strangers a couple times a week or a month won't do something to you.  Won't change something in you. The question people ask is how do they continue to do it.... maybe it's like conquering a fear.  Once you overcome it, it's no big deal doing it again.  My heart breaks for what breaks inside these women every time they have to engage in such a vulnerable act with someone who is paying them.  This isn't about weather or not they have the right or if it should be legal, it's just about them and what they actually want to be doing with their lives.  I wonder what their dreams are?  We saw a couple boys who Krissie knows who live in a village we work in.  Their families have got them involved in being pimps.  At 13 years old and because they know english they are used as pimps.  They wait downtown and ask tourists if they want a girl.  They will translate for them and get them connected or they might go and buy people drugs.  Due to the nature of the job we have heard stories of people in return buying these young boys a girl for themselves.  These types of things blow my mind.  They could work until the early morning and have to travel an hour or more to get home and then be up for school at 8am.  These boys should have bigger dreams but they have become clouded with making good money fast at anothers expense.

When we had ice cream with some shoe shines boys around Christmas I asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Two of them said engineers, one said a doctor, and one said a lawyer to help women get out of abusive situations.  WOW!!  These kids are 9 - 12 years old and have very little opportunity (two of them aren't even in school because they don't have birth certificates).  Chris and I took two of those kids out for breakfast yesterday morning.  It was a special moment for us.  These two boys at 11am had already been had work for hours.  The one spent the previous night in jail because he was shoe shining.... it's not illegal, they just don't want them bothering the tourists.  They told us the police are rough with them and they spend a lot of time running from them.  The one boy's father is a mechanic and his mother died in childbirth and the other boy's father works at a hotel.  They are not in desperate situations but their families do need the extra money to live.  Other boys may be in a different situation. They may be the only income earner in their family or just for themselves. These boys are special to me.  They are funny (really funny) and smart and speak pretty good english. I worry their dreams will be no more then just dreams.

As we talked as a group of girls we were frustrated with not knowing the answers or solutions on what to do.  The only thing that came to my head was to have some kind of drop in center where kids and women can take a break from their reality and maybe share or just have a coffee.  I don't know any more details than that but I want to hear those stories and be a person that people feel comfortable sharing with.  I do that as a profession at home but with resources to offer people. I wouldn't have those resources here.  Just love.... is it enough??

Freedom from nightly duties and paying men
Freedom from appearing beautiful but feeling ashamed
Dreaming of a different story and more opportunity
Dreaming of being wanted for more than instant pleasure

I am not just an object
You did not buy a robot
I am a woman, a mom, a sister, a daughter

Your money bought you sex but it bought me food
Your money bought you "happiness" but for me it bought survival
Your money is your freedom but my slave

Which night will be my last?
Which day will be my future?
Who will listen to my cries?
Who will help me from this reality?

Excited for help!

I knew having a baby would completely change our lives and things as I had known them would be different.  I knew most of my free time would now be occupied with baby things and my daughter's well being.  When we had made the choice to have a baby going away to another country before she turned a year old was not exactly in the picture.  We had thought of the idea and threw it around but it was only a thought. Chris and I are very independent people; we don't tend to ask for help a lot.  Even when Abriel was first born I think it was shocking and even a little annoying that we didn't reach out more to our family for help.

Coming down to the Dominican with our six month old and with both of us being able to watch her didn't seem to hard but I am pretty sure Abriel is not a normal baby. I say that with a proud mom voice!  She has this look that sometimes actually scares me and makes me wonder if she is smarter than me.

(haha)

There is a lot of work to do around here (in the Dominican) and not a lot of people to do it which means there are not a lot of people free to watch Abriel.  Correction, there are lots of people free to watch a baby but I don't trust them to do so.  Especially with a baby like Abriel. If you look away for two seconds she will be standing on the dinning room table (that actually happened).

I say all this to say that Chris and I in the last five months, other than when she is sleeping, have had about two hours of time away from Abriel together and we are looking forward to the 600 babysitters we have at home.  You all know who you are so get READY!!

The Count Down

Those of you who have my mom on Facebook know she has been counting down our home coming. I think the count down started at 64 or something.  Now it's at 16...... SOOO crazy!!  It's been a little challenging to not check out here and start planning our time back at home.  It's a hard balancing act because we need to prepare to go home but we want to finish our work here strong.

We have been doing a lot of organizing for Phil and Donna.  I attacked both of their offices and did some serious magic!  Chris attacked Donna's computer and organized it as well!  Why does it always seem easier to clean other people stuff.... and it was even kinda fun!!  I made sure to get rid of the large garbage bag of "crap" so that they couldn't rifle through it and retrieve things they "might use later".  haha

We now have 4 more English and Spanish classes left.  We taught this week and it was nice to get back into it.  It's great to see how much our students have grown to know and that they didn't just loose it all over the break.  You might be wondering why we only started this week instead of last week? Well apparently Dominicans tend to take an extra week off and slowly start coming back to school when they please.... lol.

We went to our first Dominican wedding this weekend.  The invitation said 5pm. We asked the groom (Franklin, our translator) specifically when us white people should actually show up.  We were told 5:45pm (because he wasn't planning on being there 'til 6pm).  We showed up "late" (6pm) walked down to the ceremony area and realized we were the ONLY people there so far. We waited and watched family members slowly leave after setting up the reception area to go start to get ready.  We waited some more and started a "what-time-will-the-wedding-start" pool. It started to get dark.... the street lights came on.... the tea lights set up hours before were now creating a great effect around the ceremony area. Finally at 7:30pm it started!! (For those of you who aren't quick at figuring out time differences that is two and a half hours AFTER the invite said and an hour and a half after the groom was supposed to show up).  It was a beautiful wedding overlooking the ocean.... too bad it was too dark to see it though. hehe.

Food was amazing and the love between the couple was felt. Some people were still showing up (for the ceremony) after 8:30pm.... very different! During the reception Franklin sang a song to Naty or God (I'm not sure which because I didn't understand the lyrics but Naty seemed to enjoy it). Chris was videotaping the wedding and after the song the wedding party (24 people) all ran up to the front where Franklin and Naty were and did a very energetic song with choreographed dance moves.... it was cool and scary at first.

I forgot to mention a little while ago of my spider viewing!  I was going to downstairs in our house to grab something but I needed to turn on the lights. As I reached for the light switch I saw in the corner of my eye a HUGE spider. I started screaming and ran/tripped up the stairs.  I continued to have a panic attack while Chris went down stairs. All I could hear was the smacking of the wall.  Chris was persistent and patient and eventually killed it! (This is Chris writing now: I know sometimes people exaggerate when they tell stories about spiders but for real this thing was the size of my outstretched hand. Also, the sucker was fast and decided it would be best to hide behind our book shelf so I had to move the whole book shelf in order to kill it.... it was a process)  I didn't sleep great that night.  A few days later Chris I drove the grocery store and as we got out of the car I noticed on the parking median one of the same HUGE spiders.  I again started freaking out and I actually made Chris move the car because I was scared that while we were in the grocery store it would get inside the car... lol!  I am thankful those have been my only two sightings.  But those spiders are HUGE!!!!!

I have been in contact with my work and my official return to work date is Feb 21st!  I am looking forward to going back since I do love my job and love what I do!  I am also excited for Chris to get into the swing of being a stay at home dad without me there during the day. A part of me is worried Abriel will love him more...... and I am a tad bit jealous!  We have been so spoiled here being able to spend everyday and all day together. 

2012 "limitless"

 I googled the top 10 New Years resolutions people make:

1. Spend more time with friends and family

2. Spend more time on fitness

3. Battle the bulge (loose weight)

4. Quit smoking

5. Enjoy life more

6. Quit drinking

7. Get out of debt

8. Learn something new

9. Help others

10. Get organized

Sounds good to me but we all know that by Feb 1st we settle back into our ways and routines. At least we conquered in January!  I know I am being kind of mean but in soooo many cases it's true. 

A new year gets me so excited because the possibilities are "limitless" on what you can be, do, or accomplish. It also makes me think of all the time I wasted in the previous year, and all the things I didn't do..... Then I try to justify by saying " I CAN DO IT THIS YEAR"!!!

I did some more googling and I found the top 10 ways to keep your New Years resolutions:

1.   Be realist

2. Plan ahead
3. Outline your plan
4. Make a pro and con list
5. Talk about it
6. Reward yourself
7. Track your process
8. Don’t beat yourself up
9. Stick to it
10. Keep trying

Just to keep everyone in the loop here are some of our goals for 2012;

1.   Get involved in our community more

2.   Save money for an emergency fund

3.   Make another baby

4.   Spend a whole lot of time with friends and family

5.   Be more giving

6.   Teach Abriel a ton of new things

Let’s not limit what this year can be and just go for it! If you complained about not being satisfied last year then change something.  Don't hold yourself back because of fear.  What do you have to lose (except another crappy year).  Chances are if you make changes and did the things you love and got rid of the things you don't the year probably won't be crappy.  DO IT DO IT DO IT!!! I am chanting for you!

Shout outs to the lady we met on the beach today from Manitoba Canada who looked at us and said "I have read about you on your website (blog). Made us feel famous. haha

Abriel has started walking at 10 month old.

Felize Navidad

Our Dominican Christmas was great! Chris and I continued our annual tradition of opening one stocking stuffer on Christmas Eve. I got pj's and Chris got boxers. The following morning we exchanged the rest of our gifts. Mine consisted of mostly scrapbooking stuff and I also got a Dominican coffee maker. Chris got mostly junk food and a pair of flip flops.  Abriel enjoyed opening her gift because of the tissue wrapping paper. She got a turtle full of blocks. She seemed to really like her gift as she would take a block out and put it back, take another block out and put it back.  Very cute.  We also Skyped with my family and opened some small gifts they sent back with us.  Then we Skyped with The Edwards' family.  It was nice to see our families faces but really made us miss everyone.  We know how difficult it has been on our family members and we appreciate their sacrifice of missing the first Christmas with Abriel.

Abriel reading the tag. Did we mention she reads?!?

"Alright! BLOCKS!

Abriel testing out the new wheels. 

Also fun Abriel news.....as of Dec 31st...... SHE WALKS!! My prediction of her walking by the end of December has come true which makes Chris's prediction of walking by February WRONG! haha (This is Chris writing now: I said January.... not the end of January)

We picked the team from Ontario up on December 22nd.  They were an awesome team filled with 1 nursing student, 2 radiologists and one neuroscientist who is in the process of getting her PhD.  Yeah, they were some smart ladies. 

They did some great ministry while they were here. First they bought groceries for five families (one of them had seven children!). They bought diapers and visited with the children in Mustard Seed. Mustard Seed is an orphange for severely handicapped children whose parents can not or no longer want to care for them. That was a special time to just love on kids who have been abandoned and bring them some love during Christmas time. They put on four kids programs (a total of almost 300 kids) and they fed 200 of those kids.  They taught 100 adults about nutrition and the importance of clean water and had the opportunity to hand out a water filtration system to each person courtesy of Mike Williams who started the ministry To Whom Much Is Given. My favourite part was taking out the shoe shine boys we have created relationships with over the past five months (including Miguel of past blogs).  We drove down the road looking for them and got them to hop in the back of the truck and took them for ice cream!! We had a great time with the team (especially beating them in Settlers of Catan).  It was awesome being a part of giving and serving during the Christmas season and we were able to be a part of so much giving and serving because of the team that was down here. Thanks again!

Sandra and 125 kids ready for the kids program.	The team at Mustard Seed
The team and one of the families they were able to feed.	The shoe shine boys (and the team). Miguel is right in the middle.

MORE MORE MORE

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)!


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