The First Weeks: Part IV

A very happy Friday to all!  I apologize for the delay in posting this, but we’ve been VERY busy over the past two weeks.   I think after reading, you’ll understand!

Over the course of the past two weeks, we’ve had some fantastic opportunities to get to know some of the families of the students here at Doulos.  The first such opportunity was Sunday, Aug 21^st (right before we embarked on phase four of the couple shuffle) when we were invited to go to dinner at a recent graduate’s (Josue) home with Rob and Meghan.  Josue was one of the top students last year at Doulos and spent countless hours of his own time contacting colleges to attend.  His motivation and zest for life is amazing and he is truly an inspirational person.   This summer, he was accepted at Spring Arbor University in Michigan and worked out details to live with a family (which would defray many living costs for him).  However, he still had to fund his tuition which his scholarship didn’t cover, which was something on the order of $7,000.  Near the end of this summer, he still lacked $4,000 (at about the time we arrived) but God worked mightily and two and half weeks after we had arrived, he had full funding for his first year and was granted his I-20 paperwork (legal papers to say the student has enough money to attend school).   Anyway, dinner was great – typical Dominican food of rice, beans, and chicken along with fried plantains and fresh squeeze passion fruit juice (Christen’s favorite).  Josue’s family (mother Daniela, father Hector, and brother Daniel -11^th grader at Doulos) were great hosts and their joy and love for others despite how little they have materially is absolutely refreshing. 

After dinner, we completed phase IV of our couple shuffle and moved in with Patrick and Erin and their young daughter, Ezrie.  On Monday and Tuesday, we experienced our first Hurricane as Irene was bearing down on the island, although she did little to no damage to our area, save raising the river via some fairly strong rains for most of both days.  As usual the week flew by and we were busy with all of our normal responsibilities but still able to get several things done enabling ourselves to be more settled.  Patrick and Erin left on Thursday for a wedding in the states (just in time to get another taste of Irene!) and we house-sat for them over the weekend.  Wednesday afternoon we test drove a vehicle and had it looked at by a mechanic.  Since all checked out okay, we decided to buy it, which we did on Friday afternoon.  Not only was this fantastic news, but we also received news from our friends Eric and Katie in Tennessee that Joe’s car had sold earlier in the week!   God truly works in mysterious ways and His timing could not have been better.  Praise the Lord for wheels J



Our new "Mazduki"Jeepeta (Suzuki body with Mazda diesel engine)



On Thursday night (sorry, backtracking just a bit) we were again invited to the home of some students from the school.  One of the children, Jeddison, is in Christen’s 6^th grade devotions and sciences classes, so it was neat for her to see where he lives and to get to interact outside of the school environment.  Jeddison’s father, Robinson, grilled some of the best chicken we’ve ever had while Christen got to help the mother, Flarida, prepare the bananas (which were boiled this time) and beans for the rest of dinner.  Once again, the hospitality of the family was fantastic – we continue to feel so welcomed here!

After dinner with Jeddison's family (L-R: Rob, Meghan, Flarida, Jeddison, Robinson, and Ruby)

The weekend was very restful as we had a house to ourselves, which was much appreciated by both of us.  Our co-worker Tim turned the big 3-Oh (30 years old to the layperson) on Saturday, so we attended his GI Joe themed party that night, which was a lot of fun. 

At the GI Joe birthday party with Kerrie and Keith (our first hosts in Jarabacoa)

On Monday we finalized the lease for our NEW HOME in the DR and were able to move in to our very own place on Tuesday afternoon.  It’s been an absolute blessing to have our own space and a place to make our own, although outfitting it is certainly going to be a process.  Wednesday, we also got to bring home our new addition to the family, a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd puppy.  The Executive Director here at Doulos, Krista, owns both the mother and the father and was looking for good homes for the puppies after they had a litter of seven this summer.  His name is Patch and although neither of us were really “dog people,” we already love having him around!   

Christen and Patch (background, our salmon colored new home!)

That brings us to today, the 27^th birthday of my lovely wife of 3 years, so I’d like to publicly wish her the happiest of birthdays and MANY more.  Hope you all have a great weekend and, if you have time, fire us a quick email with an update on your lives.  SDG