I am Pharoah

Several weeks ago, I was reading the story of the Israelites leaving the land of Egypt and their exodus from the slavery they suffered under the Pharoah.  As I read through the plagues suffered by the Egyptians and the terrible circumstances they endured before finally (reluctantly) allowing the Israelites to leave, I starting to feel a little bit sorry for them.  Yes, they had subjected the Israelites to harsh treatment, killed Israelite male babies, and probably been involved in countless other examples of incredibly poor treatment of God’s people. 

The Great Pyramids of Egypt

But did they really deserve to have ALL of their water turned to blood?  To be covered in frogs?  In gnats?  Or flies?   To watch all of their livestock fall sick and die?  Be covered in boils?  To have most of their crops destroyed by hail?   Then, the remaining crops eaten by locusts?  To live in complete darkness for 3 full days?  Witness the death of their firstborn?  When I list it out, it sure sounds like a LOT to endure, right?   

Silly Pharoah, just let the people go!

However, as I looked deeper, God spoke a truth to me.  Time and again, after God had given a respite from a particular plague, Pharoah hardened his heart and denied the immense power that God had just demonstrated.  He promised to release God’s people, but as soon as the hard times had passed, he decided that he just enjoyed having the Israelites around to do his bidding too much to let them go freely.  Surely what he and his people had just endured was the worst they would see.  Then came the next plague and again, he would remember his own insufficiency to protect both him and his people from whatever the “plague du jour”  was.  He begged Moses to pray to his God to deliver them from whatever they were suffering.  Then, wash, rinse and repeat, he hardened his heart and refused to release the Israelites from their bondage.  How dense could Pharoah have been? 

As I reflected further, God revealed a second truth to me.  I DO THE SAME THING!!!  I am the same as Pharoah.  I’ve never had to endure a river of blood or watch all of my livestock die – shoot, I don’t even have any livestock – but I act the same way.  God has blessed me so abundantly and when things are easy, my mind wanders to what I don’t have that I think for some reason I need.  What am I missing out on?  Where could I find “X”?  My heart is hardened just like Pharaoh’s was.   When things are hard, I turn to God and ask Him to get me out of this situation, to relieve the pain, to take this obstacle out of my path.  And when he does, how do I respond?   I return to complacency and my heart is yet again hardened.  

My prayer is to live consistently – that I will give thanks, rejoice, and be content in the good times but also that I will persevere and trust our good, all-powerful, and loving God when I go through trials of all kinds.  Solely by God's grace is this great challenge possible.  Will you join me in this prayer today and ask God to soften our hearts and continue to mold them for his purposes?

Soli Deo Gloria (To God ALONE be the glory)

Work Team, Anniversary, Year Two, and MORE! (Aug and Sep 2012)

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!

Giving HCBC group a campus tour - at this point of the construction site

After a long week of work, the building and construction site looked a LOT different!

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!

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!  

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!

Christen, me, and Keren (our Exec. Dir. Krista's daughter) at the '70s party

Tim and Whitney's adorable flower child, Charlotte

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!

The view from Jamaca de Dios.  Impressive.

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!  

Valle del Tetero, the beautiful valley we stayed in the first night of our hike up Pico Duarte

Scenic view along the trail

Almost there - the peak is in sight!

From the top ..... not the best view, but that's what happens when you
summit in the afternoon during an impending thunderstorm :) 

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.  

6th and 7th graders at the secret waterfall in Manabao

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

Summer Rundown

It's now been over two months since our last post and with our summer coming to a close, we figured this is the perfect time to provide an update.  But bear with us, this could be a bit long........

On June 5th we left our home in the DR and began our trek to the states and the "Byker Coast-to-Coast Summer Tour 2012."  Air travel to and from the DR is fairly expensive, not because of the distance, but more so due to the fact that 1/3 of every ticket goes to cover the exorbitantly high taxes and fees that the Dominican government places on all flights entering and originating in the DR.  So, back in March as Christen and I were planning our summer travel, we found some pretty reasonable tickets which would take us directly to San Fransisco, CA with just one stop at JFK in NYC.  Unheard of for a flight from the DR to California!  With just one connection and a good price, we were sold.  However, there was one major drawback.....the flight departed Santiago, DR at 2am.  Needless to say, by the time we got to San Fransisco at 10:45am on the 5th of June, we were exhausted.  But, all in all, the first leg of our journey went well and we were happy to make it to California in just 12.5 hours of total travel time.

The next several days would be spent with Christen's family in Morgan Hill, helping to prepare for her younger sister Megan's graduation and open house.  In addition, Christen's dad, Mark, has helped with the local high school's "Safe and Sober Grad Night," an all night event at the school that is designed to keep the graduates in an environment where they can celebrate together safely and without incident.  Between helping set up for those events, we stayed very busy during our first week back in the US.

The three sisters together.  Congrats, Megan!

After the graduation and open house, the entire family (us included) packed up and left for a Hawaiian vacation to celebrate Megan's graduation.  It was a great time of relaxation and time with her family in a place that was very familiar to us - we stayed at the same Maui condos where we vacationed on our honeymoon.  It was great to revisit the island and be reminded of the beauty of that place and all of the fun we had nearly four years prior.

Beautiful Maui sunset 

Obligatory Lu'au photo :) 

After Maui, it was back to California for a couple of days, which were packed with more visits with family and friends, a trip back to Venture Christian Church (where Christen had attended when Joe was in Afghanistan) and a trip to Santa Cruz for Christen and to the Rauschnot hunting ranch for Joe.

On June 25th, we left California for Fort Walton Beach, FL to spend a few days with our good friends, Brian and Laura Nagle.  We were met at the airport by a very pregnant (8.5 months) Laura as Brian was still out of town for several job interviews. Despite missing Brian for the first day of our visit, we greatly enjoyed our time with the Nagles and even got to visit with other friends living in the Destin area one of the nights we were there.

Next we flew to Nashville, TN for the next stop of the tour in Manchester / Estill Springs Tennesee, which we previously called home before moving to the DR.  Our time in TN was excellent with visits to friends Michael, Sara, Brighton and Natalie Barnes; Eric, Katie, and Heidi Neel; Sue and Kevin Sipe; Daniel and Christy Sipe; Matt and Hollie Sipe; Alan and Faye Coleman; Buford and Carolyn Wilson; Randy and Ginny Wilson; Sabrina Wilson; Cameron and Sara Liner; Bob and Karen Nelson; Matt, Toni, Samantha, Erin, and Jessica Laubacher; and several other friends from our time at Arnold AFB in TN.  We had the opportunity to share about Doulos many times informally, but also were able to share more formally at our former church, First Baptist of Manchester, TN and at a small group fellowship time led by our friend Eric Neel.  Both were exciting opportunities to share about what God is doing through Doulos and how people can assist in the work of educating and equipping servant leaders for the DR alongside Doulos Discovery School.  Although our time in Tennessee was far too short (we are already planning on being there longer next year), we were deeply encouraged by the seemingly boundless love and support of our Tennessee family and packed up our rental car for Michigan feeling refreshed and motivated as we prepared for our second year at Doulos.

Friends Michael and Sara Barnes' adorable kids, Brighton and Natalie (with her first softball trophy!)

4th of July pig at Eric and Katie Neel's Amazing, Annual, 4th of July Extravaganza!

We spent the following two weeks near Rockford (just outside of Grand Rapids) Michigan at a cottage owned by Joe's dad and his siblings.  There we were able to spend some great time with Joe's parents and siblings and many friends and family members who live in Michigan.  Although the weather was incredibly hot  (especially the first four days when it was in the 100's every day) and the cottage is not air conditioned, we enjoyed relaxing by the lake during the day and dining with friends and family by night.  We had not been to Michigan in over two years, so it was a great time of reconnecting with many familiar faces and sharing about what God has been doing in our lives.  During our time in Michigan, we also had the great opportunity to share about our work at Doulos in front of the congregation of Seymour CRC, Joe's childhood church (from age 5-10 and again from 16-18 in Grand Rapids).  Following the service, there was a time of fellowship where we were able to connect with friends from the church and share in more depth about the DR and Doulos, which was fantastic.  A special thank you to Mrs. Barb DeKorne for arranging all of this for us!

After a great time in Michigan, we were Philly bound on a road trip with Joe's mom.  We arrived late on a Thursday night and spent the next five days preparing to head back to the DR for year two.  Amid all of the preparation, we also got to spend a good bit more time with Joe's family (sister Sarah, her husband Bruce, and niece, Eliana also live in Philly) and some AF friends stationed in the Philly area.  On Friday, July 20th, we began our trek back to the DR via JFK (this time, DIRECT to Santiago).  As we landed in the DR late Friday night, we started thinking about our next adventure - hosting a work team for the first time beginning in just under two days.  But that experience will have to wait until our next post (coming soon)........

Until then, we thank you again for reading, for being a part of our lives, and for those of you who hosted us this summer, THANK YOU again for everything!  We thank God for the great visit we had with many of you this summer and the opportunity to share about what God is doing in this unique community, through this unique school.  We are excited about year two and all of the adventures and experiences we will surely have - and we look forward to sharing them with all of you!

Soli Deo Gloria,
Joe and Christen


PS: Sorry that we don't have more photos.....we started out strong, but per our usual photographer MO, we lost steam about half way through the summer :(