Some of our friends are showing up in the DR too, as a matter of fact, we have Lee & Gerri living in the condo next to us. It has been refreshing to share experiences with them. The last few days have been hot and pleasant but the waves were high and beaches shut down.
Tuesday we drove out to visit the school, Garcia and Jenny and a local family at Arroyo Seco. Lee & Gerri were able to visit their sponsored child's family and the groceries they brought to them were very timely, as the mom (of 7) was sick in bed.
We climbed the prayer mountain behind the church property with Jenny and two others. It is always exhilarating as the view is astonishingly beautiful and pastoral. The church people consider this their prayer mountain as this is where the pastor originally would go (at times all night) pray and ask God for a church and a school to help the community. Now a few women still make it a daily trek to just worship and pray.
It was very moving to have Jenny and Lupe encircle us with their prayers and sing spontaneously over us. These people have so much faith and keen awareness of God.

The Vacation With a Purpose group arrived yesterday and we met them at the airport. It was a joyous time with numerous Dominicans there to welcome them.

today was a free day and some of us spent time bobbing in the waves and enjoying the sun and sand. (Hope my aging skin survives).
Tomorrow we return to the airport to welcome brother John and Alvina and sister Nita. We are so excited to have family come and spend a week here.
Safe travels!

Sitting on our balcony and listening to the lively laughter of the parties happening down the street. Right now it is lightly raining and there is the hum of motorbikes running up & down the streets. There are also planes regularly coming & going in the distance. Oh, that motorbike wsn't humming, but revving!
On that note, Larry & I had a supper invitation from a family on the other side of town last night. We didn't have a car and it would be too dark to walk the 25 minutes through the beach area (not safe). So we found what seemed to be a reasonable motoconcho (125cc motorbike taxi) who then took the both of us with him. What a ride, with the dirver basically sitting on my lap (Pearl) and Larry sitting on the steel bar behind the seat.(mostly) Had a fun family time with chuleta (browned pork chops), fried onion and deep fried platano on the menu. yummy!
This is a family whose daughter we are supporting in university. She is studying to become a doctor. SO, to return home at 9:30, the host & his wife came up the stone stairs to the main road and flagged down a meandering motoconcho (someone they were somewhat familiar with). The only downside we noticed as we hopped on was that the bike had no rear lights. A little scarey when we hit the highway (3km ride back), but not unusual here.

Would love to post pictures but the system is not co-operating. Can someone help me out here?
Whenever I upload a picture it shows up on the blog as gobbledy-gook script. Is there a setting that needs changing, or...?

We went to the next town, Cabarete, this afternoon taking Maury with us, with the intention of enjoying the beach. We had a period of sunshime before leaving but it was pouring rain by the time we got there. We ended up having a good time, browsing and then having coffee/smoothies at an open air restaurant (had a roof and we kept dry!).

Chat again soon.

The whole world has heard the news about the devastating earthquake yesterday in Haiti. As we (DR) share the island with Haiti we experienced tremors here as well on the north coast. This was a first for us and wondered what was going on when we started swaying in our third floor condo. It took only moments to realize that no, it's not a migraine starting, but rather there must have been an earthquake somewhere. It is gut wrenching to hear of the extent of destruction and loss of life. Our hearts and prayers go out to those in the area.

there has been no damage in our area though the quake registered as a 4. There is fear here and our friends were having a visit with a local Dominican pastor & his wife here when this happened. The immediate response was that the pastor started praying. They experienced a quake here in 2003 and there are a number of deserted damaged buildings in Sosua still standing.

We have been very fortunate and thank God.

It is January 13, 2010 and we have been in the DR for 10 days.
We have been slow in blogging because we have been running into obstacles in getting consistent wireless connection.
So, right now a quick word while we probably very briefly have reception in our condo doorway. We are settled for now into a furnished 1 bedroom condo, third floor in a fairly ideal central location in Sosua.
We are very familiar with the constant rain, in case you read lst year's entries. We had 2 glorious days of sunshine on the weekend and made use of them by beaching, in Cabarete and in Sosua. Perfect days.
We have reconnected with a number of Dominican friends and have been to several homes visiting. What a warm and endearing welcome back.
Looking forward for what is in store for the next couple of months and will try to blog as able.

Hasta Luego

What a special Christmas season this year celebrating Jesus' birthday by sharing love and good times. We started early with decorating the house, cracking peanuts and munching mandarin oranges, and early family get togethers. Tyra and Marissa both got to play Mrs. Claus in their school plays giving a superb performance. My family came over for a turkey dinner on December 11th and we were so pleased that 15 if us sibs were able to be here.
Tannis showed up for a 5 day pre-Christmas holiday and we hung out while Larry drove to Mpls to pick up Mark & Roel where they had flown to on business. Tan & I were able to join Chad & Crystal in taking in Marissa's gymnastics competition & seeing her gain a place in the Manitoba Games Team.
We had great family activity times with food, outdoor skating, guitar & singing, food, WII challenges, knipsbraat, Friesen family Christmas,more food, etc. We missed Jer and the family but they seemed to be partying in BC with the Hieberts and attended a concert where Ivy fiddled.
Lots of warm family times marked the season and on the 28th, Larry & I took Mark & Roel to Fargo for their flight back home. We had a scare when we had an hour and 40 minutes' wait at the border fearing we would not get them there on time. They made it!
Looking ahead into 2010, we have our bags packed ready for take-off to the Dominican Republic once again. This means parting with loving family and friends, but we know there are also friends waiting down south. We are trusting God for providing appropriate housing while we leave our home here in the capable hands of our renters.
Ready or not, here we go.

Passing of Time

Wow, it's been about 6 months since the last entry and yes, there have been intentional meanderings happening. We arrived home from thte DR April 1st and were able to move back into our home, which had been rented out, by the 18th of the month. In the meantime we were warmly welcomed by our son and his family and then temporarily moved into Larry's sister's basement spare room.

In April we also made a road trip to BC to see our daughter and her husband and children and were astounded at how much children grow in six months. Actually it was more like eight months since we had seen the one year old and his vocabulary and expressions, as well as his ability to blow up balloons and blow bubbles convinced us that he would join the rest of our grandchildren in being super smart and gifted!
We were joined by our youngest son from Vancouver for a weekend getaway. It was a partial family "gathering" but that is the now generation, with family scattered here & there.

Larry and I shared some reno and painting projects this spring and summer, thoroughly enjoying working together, with transformations of houses resulting. Interestingly, these projects occurred in south Winnipeg, Hecla Island and near Winnipeg Beach. Lovely places to hang out in. Besides, mosquitoes were almost non-existent.

While Larry worked for family in the Swan Valley during seeding and harvest seasons, I was able to visit him several times, complete a 5 day TESOL Foundation course in Winnipeg (& two online specialization courses), hang out with two grand daughters in the city while their parents worked, do some house painting in Whytewold, and fly to BC again for a week to spend time with our daughter and family.

We had opportunity during the summer months to do our annual road trip to visit our Californian friends at their property in Minnesota and then touch base with a friend in Mpls for an overnighter. Our kids from BC (except for our youngest son) came for a visit early summer and as a family, we spent a weekend in the Whiteshell enjoying each other's company at a lodge with a pool and hottub (rainy & stormy all weekend!). Oh yes, we did a day trip back into the Whiteshell late summer to visit our Wpg kids at a cottage they were renting. So there has been some travel and great family bonding times.

This is an abbreviation of the living that went into this spring & summer. There were many highlights and the whole month of September was gloriously warm, after an unusually cool & wet summer. The garden has been emptied in preparation for the coming winter.

We are already anticipating our son's fall visit as he has developed the travel bug also and wants to go more global this next year. It will be a treat to have him here for a couple of weeks and catch up with all the changes in his life. Our winter plans are slowly taking shape and hopefully I can be more faithful in keeping up entries.

DR This and That

It is a month and a half since the last entry. Time has passed quickly with taking some time for relaxation with friends after the Vacation With a Purpose group left. The weather after one week of sunshine in February has continued with a mix of rain and sun. We have been surprised at the amount of rain this year and cool weather evenings. It is still very pleasant, especially when we hear of the brutally cold winter back home. It is amazing people survive in that cold.

There has been progress in the construction of the house out in the country with walls going up and some backfill happening. The construction has been slowed down by rain. It is so peaceful in that area with farm animals from the adjoining pasture checking out the scene now and then. The methods and tools of construction used are reminiscent of the era when I was little, well, maybe further back than that because the water for the cement mixer was hauled by mule & water cans from a nearby creek.

You also hear the sounds of the school children up in their classrooms counting together loudly in spanish or later, swinging and shouting in the playground. It does not take long for them to spot us and come running to cling to our hands. The roosters crowing is constant. The vegetation looks lush and green, with a large mango tree and upcoming citrus tree in the backyard of the construction lot. There are still towering palms in the pasture and the hillsides all around are dotted with palms and various trees and bushes. It will be a major therapeutic change for the pastor and his wife and family to make the move from a crowded back lane house in town to the serenity of the country.

Something has changed in the way pictures are being uploaded to the blogsite as the last few times I have tried to add photos all that happens is gobbledy gook instead of an actual photo. So maybe I'll settle for words rather than work on trying to solve the issue.

We have two and a half weeks left before returning home. Time has passed swiftly although a few times it felt so slow, especially when I had broken my toe or when I was down with bronchitis. We are both well now and are trying to take care of many details and make use of the remaining time. We spent a few hours at the new beach at Sosua by the Sea and it was awesome. The waves were quite high again but local kids were riding them with their boogie boards having a blast getting tumbled too.

Beaches come and go here. Last March we watched as the beach at Sosua by the Sea resort disappeared within a matter of two days leaving only a rocky dropff of a few feet and last month it returned it seemed within 2 or 3 days. The same kinds of changes have happened in other resorts and it is fascinating to watch the power of the sea.

We have just come through a week of major roof renos here at our condo and it has been the challenge of the winter. The tar patches on our floor and inside the condo have been cleaned up and we think the project is over. We have not had a heavy rain since it was completed but we are hoping the holes have been sealed. We are still waiting for power to be restored to our ceiling lights in the front rooms of the condo but the noise overhead is gone and it is peaceful again. Whew, once again only the sound of roosters, dogs and motor bikes.