Dancers

Whenever our Vacation with a Purpose group comes out, several of our church dancers from The Meeting Place in Winnipeg prepare a special dance that can be shared with the church here. This year they did a moving interpretation of the song "This is the Air I Breathe" in spanish. At the ladies meetings everyone was invited to participate and it was so much fun to see ladies giggling and attempting fancy moves to the music. Last week the dancers showed up in brand new "uniforms" which replaced the 4 year old outfits. They were stunning and they seemed to dance with more enthusiasm than ever.

The singing and dance are so much a part of worshipping and it moves my heart to open up to God. It is a precious time.

Grandma Cecilia

We had the interesting privilege of walking around and visiting homes in Arroyo Seco. Grandma Cecilia was a most gracious hostess, gladly sharing her secrets on how to make good coffee from growing the beans to serving us the finished product. She had her own home made coffee drip system which produced a full bodied beverage. Not sure if we should share the secrets with TH.

It was fascinating to see her cook her rice and beans over her clay woodburning stove and show us how she collects eggs her chickens lay in the hollowed out split log suspended from the ceiling in the kitchen. She also toured us around her backyard to show us her coffee, grapefruit, lime, banana, avocado, mango and guava trees. She tells us her husband walks to work 2 hours one way every day to work at a farm job to provide for the family. They have some family still living with them, and the 3 young granddaughters at home tugged at our hearts as they tugged at our arms, smiling.

Cecilia has had a difficult life raising 13 children, but she exudes vitality and joy, as she claps, sings and dances with the younger generation at her church. We consider her another new friend.

The Sosua area is a beautiful vacation setting and we are enjoying our new friends.

This picture was taken in Cabarete, a destination known for its kite surfing. There are endless shorelines with white sand and waves rolling in and it feels so good to go walking and then cooling down in the salty water. We spent several days here with friends from our Canadian group. Kara, it was fun sifting through the sand for shells.

Catch up

So it's almost 6 weeks since we left home. We are feeling very much at home in our little condo in Sosua, Dominican Republic. We took our laptop with us but have had so much grief trying to find a suitable place to access the internet, that we mostly resorted to internet cafes, using their computers.
It has been an absolutely enriching experience. Right now we suddenly have wireless internet access in our condo and I am feeling exhiliarated. We have been sending mass e-mailings as updates on what we have been involved in and new experiences we have had.
The large group we were anticipating as part of Vacation With a Purpose has come and gone. It was a busy time with both beaching and running 4 medical clinics hiring local doctors, doing some food and clothing distributions, childrens activity, a community picnic, youth beach pizza party women's and men's meetings.
Oops, just got company. A local pastor, Garcia, just dropped by to discuaa some security issues related to their church/school building out in the country. He and another person have been sleeping on the cement floor this week to make sure the place is safe.
Will try to make further entries as able.

Ouch

Today's noteworthy entry involves my clumsiness. In my comings & goings today I was typically moving too fast and I royally crunched two of my toes on an office chair as I sped by. Pain was immediate, blue & red bruising followed and after hobbling the first half hour, I can walk fairly comfortably without a limp. Not good timing, given the amount of walking and lugging of suitcases in a few days but I have faith all will be well.
You know departure to a warmer climate is very close now. Larry has had his final clipper haircut, attachment #2. Lookin' good!

Countdown

Three more sleeps before we leave. Some bags are packed and there's the tedious decision making as to what goes and what gets left behind. The stay in the D.R. is about sun and relaxation but also about relationship building with local groups we have grown to love and appreciate. Though living in poverty they embrace us and accept us.
What started four years ago as a small group of interested persons organizing a two week "Vacation with a Purpose" to Sosua, D.R., has grown into year long fundraising & planning for projects and the annual 2 week VWAP. We have chosen to refer to our loosely structured organization as Dominican Connection Ministries, or DCM, because it originated from many unusual connections coming together. (You can read more about it at www.dominicanconnection.org.)
We are trying to guess what supplies we'll need for our gluten free cooking so are taking some special flours and recipes with us. Our spanish dictionary and grammar book are coming, as well as an air bed in case of unexpected company! There will be adventure and there'll be quiet dark evenings when the power cuts out. Early bedtimes and early mornings.
Speaking of early bedtimes, time for an evening snack and catching up on the news on english tv while we can.

New Beginnings

Thank you for dropping by to view this blog. It had never occurred to us to start blogging our activities and adventures because who really would stop by to read. We have been transitioning into a new phase in life which for me means learning to do life differently since retirement in June/07. It also means not having to get up early every morning to go to the office, and with that comes freedom to accomplish other dreams.

Over the past 6 months, we camped & beached with our kids in Winnipeg, travelled to B.C. to visit our son in Vancouver and spent a month with our kids in the Okanagan, welcoming a new grandson and constructing a playhouse. It has been a delight not to have deadlines or be restricted by number of vacation days available to use. In about a week we leave our home in the capable hands of our renter and take off for about a two month stay in the Dominican Republic.

That is one reason for this blogsite and we'll see how diligent we can be on a foreign keyboard! We will not have a computer with us and will be accessing the internet at an internet cafe. We would love to stay in touch with you back home.