It's been a busy two months since returning to the DR at the end of July. Here's a brief recap and some pictures:
From July 22 - August 1st, Joe hosted a work team of 20 high school students and 5 leaders from Hill Country Bible Church in Pflugerville, TX (just outside of Austin if you're as confused by the name as I was). It was an absolute pleasure to serve alongside this group and get to know them during their ten days in Jarabacoa. They did a great deal of work both on the new classrooms on our schools campus as well as helping prepare the campus for the new school year. Although it's a lot of work and long hours hosting a group, both Christen and I came away feeling refreshed, rejuvenated and encouraged by all of the good folks from Pflugerville that gave of their time to serve alongside us at Doulos! Thank you HCBC leaders and students!
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| Giving HCBC group a campus tour - at this point of the construction site |
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| After a long week of work, the building and construction site looked a LOT different! |
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On their final night in town, the group prayed for us as we began our second year.
The entire week with this work team was an incredible blessing! |
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| Saying farewell to a great group of folks at the Santiago airport. |
Immediately after dropping the work team off at the airport on Wednesday, August 1st, Joe joined the rest of the Doulos staff for our annual two week orientation. This time included days of service preparing our campus for the new school year, reviewing school policies with both new and old staff, and professional development days to help teachers get back in the mindset of educating and equipping servant leaders at Doulos for another year. We wrapped up our two weeks with a staff retreat outside of town at our director's home in the mountains. It was a great way to refocus our vision on Christ and remember why we all have been called to serve at Doulos.
Before our second school year started, we celebrated our four year wedding anniversary. As we reflected back on the past four years, we thought about all of the people who have challenged, encouraged, and been a part of our marriage and were reminded again of how truly blessed we've been. So, thank you for being a part of our lives and the role of encouragement you've played!
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| Celebrating four years of wedded bliss! (at least most of the time, anyway) |
School started on August 22nd and it's been non-stop as usual! Just a few days into the new school year, both Christen and our Managing Director, Tim, celebrated their birthdays. In typical Doulos fashion we held a joint theme party for the event. You may remember that last year, we did a GI Joe party (if not, you can read about that one here). This year, the theme was "The '70s," and boy, were there some great outfits!
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| Christen, me, and Keren (our Exec. Dir. Krista's daughter) at the '70s party |
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| Tim and Whitney's adorable flower child, Charlotte |
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| The Brady Bunch even made an appearance! |
Since then, we've had our first visitors for this school year - Joe's parents came through from September 10-24th. It was a great time visiting with them and we even got to share in the celebration of Joe's dad's 60th birthday! For the special occasion, my mom took us all to a beautiful restaurant up in a very nice development called "Jamaca de Dios" (or, God's Hammock) with a great view of the entire Cibao valley that surrounds us. It was a very special time spent together. We also put them to work during their time here - dad fixed up and painted a room at school during his week here and mom helped Christen in her classroom both weeks AND made us some curtains for our guest room that any and all visitors will very much enjoy in the future! Thanks, mom and dad!
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| The view from Jamaca de Dios. Impressive. |
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| Happy 6-0, Pops! So glad we got to celebrate with you! |
One of my (Joe's) goals for this year was to hike Pico Duarte, the tallest mountain (elevation 10,128 ft) both on the island and in the entire Caribbean. So, two weeks ago, several other men who work at Doulos and I embarked on a Men's Advance weekend hike to summit Pico Duarte. We left at 5am on a Saturday morning and returned the following Monday (Sept 24th was a national holiday here) at around 4pm. All told, we hiked a total of about 35 miles in 3 days and by the end of it, we were pretty doggone tired. It was, however, a great trip and I am glad that I did it!
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Valle del Tetero, the beautiful valley we stayed in the first night of our hike up Pico Duarte
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| Scenic view along the trail |
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| Almost there - the peak is in sight! |
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From the top ..... not the best view, but that's what happens when you
summit in the afternoon during an impending thunderstorm :) |
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| The men of Doulos after hiking Duarte! |
This past week, Christen and I participated in our second "Outdoor Education Week," this year as the leaders of our particular trip. We traveled with the 6th and 7th grade classes to the same coffee farm / camping area we went to with students last year. It was another fantastic opportunity to interact with students. Now that we have solid relationships established with many of them, it is all the more enjoyable to spend time with them outside of the traditional school environment and also witness growth in their lives.
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| 6th and 7th graders at the secret waterfall in Manabao |
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| Christen and Joe at the waterfall |
Last, but certainly not least, we are thrilled to announce to the entire blogging / facebook world, that Christen is PREGNANT! She is now 18 weeks along and we are expecting our little bundle of joy sometime around March 10th. To answer a few common questions: 1)We are not planning to find out the sex and 2) Yes, the baby will be born here in the DR. Please pray that the baby continues to develop healthy and strong and that Christen has the strength to make it through her daily schedule while carrying this growing "load" :)
Thank you for all of your love and support! Please feel free to write, comment, facebook message, etc with news from your lives - we love to hear from you!
Blessings, peace, and Soli Deo Gloria
