Life for me is sharply split between work on-site in Haiti, and two and a bit more weeks each month with Jenny and the girls in the Dominican Republic. There are numerous difficulties with this situation. One that comes to mind, from my perspective, is dealing with the transitions each time I change countries. Jenny may have a different calculation, but I figure it has been taking me at least three days each shift to get in the swing of wherever I am. There are blessings, too, though. For the time I am a away from my girls, I increasingly miss them, until, at times, it becomes a sharp pain in my consciousness. And then, VOILA! I am home again with the very ones for whom I have been longing!
Here are a few photos from our life in Barahona and a few of the people with whom we share that life. Blessings to each one of you who is in this journey with us. God's special blessing for the prayers you have sent on our behalf. Be assured that those prayers are the substance of all that has sustained us in this ongoing transition.
At church at the Cassandra IED (Iglesia Evangelica Dominicana--Dominican Evangelical Church) church in the Alpha neighborhood of Barahona where we lived for one month when we had just arrived. Far left, Keila in the arms of Yoyki Leandra Matos García and Annika (far right) in the arms of Bellanira, Yoyki's older sister. Bella and Yoyki work with Jenny and me helping take care of the girls and keeping the house in order.
Mom, Jenny, working on her Dell laptop and daughter, Annika, working on her Apple.
Back from a trip to the
colmado with me, giving Jenny a chance for a bit to do something without distractions. A colmado is a neighborhood store that sells the basic necessities, such as eggs, rice, beans and Coca Cola. Our closest colmado also has tables, chairs and an area where the girls can run around and be their normal crazy selves, but in a different environment.
Keila playing with our kitten, Charlie. The kitten has been really good for Keila and we hope that life with Keila and Annika is bearable for the kitten. What I do know is that Charlie will look for Keila when she wants to play, but she will run from Annika the second Annika makes a move towards her.
Reverend Samuel Díaz Ledesma (front right), inviting the congregation of Cassandra IED church in the Alpha neighborhood of Barahona to greet each other. This pas Sunday, the Cassandra church celebrated their fifth year anniversary of being a formally organized and calling their first pastor (Samuel). Besides much singing, the participants were invited to participate in a meal that the women of the church had prepared on Saturday.
Rosie Roman Matos giving testimony to the impact the Cassandra church has had on the Alpha neighborhood. Rosie said that sometimes people in the church get mad at each other, and even say hard things to each other. In times like that, people often say, "If that person does that to me, I'm out of here." But, said Rosie, most people in that church haven't left, and they shouldn't leave, because in the end, the church is not about what so and so has done or said, but about coming together to serve the Lord.
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