Christmas Moments

Here are a few more moments from our Christmas season. These capture some of the fun moments, yet I wonder why I don't have any pictures of some of the more serious ones, like when we gave entire laundry baskets full of food to our employees. Wouldn't it have been wonderful for you to be able to 'witness' those moments? I wish you could see the huge smile on the face of the lobby guard from the apartment where we used to live when we took him a Christmas bonus in spite of the fact that we no longer live there. It made us want to take him another one! Well, in spite of all the photos you won't see, I hope you enjoy the ones you will. May the remainder of this year find you healthy, happy, and walking in the love of Jesus.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas 2008

Just a few photos of Christmas. They do say a picture is worth a thousand words. Anyone like to opine on what these pictures are saying?

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Redneck Christmas?

Some time back I received an e-mail entitled redneck Christmas tree. It was a quite innovative 'tree' made out of Mountain Dew cans. We all laughed and that was it. This weekend we went to minister in a church in an area where we don't frequently go and we saw something we have never seen before - outside of an e-mail, that is. The following photos are Christmas decorations made entirely of Brahma Beer cans!


Even more interesting, although I don't have a photo to show, is the fact that lights had been strung through all those cans, and when it got dark and the lights were turned on it looked very Christmasy indeed! Innovation at work. I have to wonder who had the job of emptying all those beer cans.

Banana Picking

When I first started making short-term mission trips here back in 1993 the desire grew in me to actually pick a fresh banana from a tree. It just seemed like such a 'tropical' thing to do! It never happened on any of those short term trips, but the house we moved into when we arrived in country had a banana tree. A dream was realized when eventually I was able to take bananas right off the tree. You cannot even imagine how flavorful a banana is that has not been picked green and shipped. A pastor friend of ours was telling the story of a boy who had grown up eating bananas straight from the tree, and after tasting a banana in the states said he didn't want any more fake bananas! This week friends from South Carolina were here preaching some crusades with Brother Robbie Strickland and took time out to visit us at our new home. Did I mention that we also have a banana tree in the backyard? It seems I'm not the only US girl who thought it would be cool to pick a banana from a tree. Donna Bowen of Set Free Chrisitan Fellowship was just about as excited as I was!

New Friends

It many not make for much of a blog story, but I love this photo and wanted to share it with you. Jesse is only four years old, but is not at all shy about making new friends. When he saw our builder, Alberto, walking up toward the gazebo where we were talking, he ran out to accompany him the rest of the way in. The smiles they are both wearing is what enthralls me about this photo. They are a picture of contrasts with the exception of those smiles. Tall, short; blonde, dark; black, white; old, young. You get the picture. I hope you like this shot as much as I am enjoying sharing it with you.

To Restoration Ranch

The Griffin family didn't have to wait too long to have their first family outing to Restoration Ranch to see where Shay would be working. They moved into their house on Monday, and since there wasn't any furniture to arrange or pictures to hang we took them to Restoration Ranch on Tuesday. No since wasting time.

It looked to me like the highlight for the kids was a toss up between a tired old tire swing and Bobo the black goat.

It's Just a Picnic

When you move into a new home and have no furniture you just plan a picnic! It's all about the attitude, and the Griffin family has a great one. Afterall, it's quite an adventure!

Getting Settled

It's always an interesting process to move your entire family to another home, but when that move becomes international it adds another dimension of adventure. The Griffin family moved out to their new rented home in Baní this week. All of their furniture and most of their belongings will be along later when the shipping container is released from the port. In the meantime, they arrived with somewhere around 20 suitcases full of stuff to keep them sane until the rest arrives.
It took more than one load to get it all to their new residence!

Here's Isaiah Burge helping pack up the second load of belongings.

We start them working young around here. Little Jesse is four.

Irrigation Canal

We think we discovered a part of the problem that helped create the floating septic tank you have read so much about. Near the construction site there has been a section of land that has remained muddy and mushy. It seems that the cement irrigation canal that surrounds most of the farm had cracked and begun to fall apart in that section. Our wonderful worker, Fran, and the equally wonderful builder went to work to get it repaired. (We 'wonderfully' bought yet more cement!)Mission accomplished.

Staff Addition

A little more than a year ago we met with Shay and Gwen Griffin and their pastor and began the process of accepting them as staff members here at Restoration Ranch. Their first job was to head off to Costa Rica to language school to get some spanish basic skills under their belt. Last August they sold everything and moved to Costa Rica. When they graduated from school this past fall they headed back to their home states to minister in some churches and get all their belongings ready to be shipped to the Dominican Republic. Their container should arrive next week - but they arrived on Thursday. We're glad to have them here and know they will be a great blessing.

The Tale of the Floating Septic Tank

Many of you remember the dilemma we faced after Tropical Storm Fay when we discovered our beautifully built septic tank floating in its hole.

What to do? What to do? We talked to various people and eventually came to a conclusion. After a lot of pumping water, buying and shoveling filler, some block adjustments, and the final touches we now have that septic tank ready to go. We don't think it will ever float again either!

More

We are excited about another family that is moving down here to work with us at Restoration Ranch. Shay and Gwen Griffin will be arriving tomorrow with their three children. We'll pick them up at the airport about 1:45 and we plan to give them the rest of the day off before we put them to work! Just kidding. Shay was raised on a poultry farm and knows a good deal about fixing just about anything. He's also a master barber. I think of all the work we have for him and realize we'll have to make sure he gets some time off every now and then! Gwen was exceptional in her work as a church secretary, and we are eager to get her started with some administrative and office work.

As you can see the ministry here is growing. It was just the two of us for so many years. Then we added a part time Dominican pastor to help with some of the work of the Ministry Training Center. A few years ago the Burge family arrived, and tomorrow the Griffin family. Please keep them in your prayers as they adjust to life in a developing nation and all the new responsibilities that await them.

Our Dominican Thanksgiving meal

While Thanksgiving is not a Dominican holiday, we do have a few Dominican friends who have adopted this wonderful holiday and its meaning. Each year we celebrate our second Thanksgiving meal of the day with the Cabral family. Our local pastor always explains the meaning of Thanksgiving for those who have been invited for the first time and to remind the rest of us as well. Then we eat - again. Here are a few pictures of our time there. You won't see me in any of them! That's one of the 'benefits' of the taking all the photos.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Welcome back

Actually the welcome back is for me! We've been without internet and phone lines again. That sure does make it hard to stay current on a blog. Fortunately the phone technician was out late yesterday and repaired whatever problem they had in the lines in our neighborhood. He never even had to come into the house. For today I thought I'd post a few pictures of our 'missionary' Thanksgiving - one of them today and one of them tomorrow. Then we'll get back to business.

Our first meal on Thanksgiving day was at the Burge home where Betty Poppe had prepared a scrumptious meal of all kinds of favorites. Since the six missionary families present are from all over the States some of us also prepared regional favorites. For example I just had to prepare the cornbread dressing that is traditional in the southeastern US and a pecan pie that is a favorite as well. The sweet potato dish that I usually make has become such a favorite, even with the dominicans, that I also made a dish of those. I wasn't the only one preparing favorites to add to Betty's already plentiful meal either!

Turkey is quite expensive here, and we were all blessed by the friend of Betty and Jerry who provided the two turkeys for our feast.

Enjoy the photos.

Make a Smilebox greeting

Continuing the Story

Soooo... the move. After seeing the rental sign we were interested, but didn't expect anything to really come of it since we had the two primary concerns: 24 hour security and someone to take care of paying the bills during our travels. Imagine our delight when we discovered that not only did the housing development have a guard gate with guards 24 hours per day, but the rental administrator gladly accepts the responsibility of paying the bills when the tenants travel! (I should probably make clear that in both cases we leave the money for those bills to be paid. It's just that here we have no viable mail service so bills and their payments are all hand delivered.)With that great information in mind we went to talk to the rental administrator. Normally a two or even three months worth of rent is required as a deposit and an automatic 10% increase is built into the rental contracts. We negotiated with Mr. Chan, who is from Hong Kong, and he agreed to accept only one month rent as deposit and assured us that he would not be increasing the rent each year. We made a pro/con list and the pro list was three times as long as the con list. We had prayed to see God's perfect will in the situationand we both felt a great leading to make the move. It all happened so quickly that within a few weeks we were moving! We are now happily ensconced in a two level house that will actually give us a guest room. Previously my office always had a bed in it, and became the guest room when we had guests. The poor guests had to share their room with my office. We have a much better situation now. One of the beauties of the whole thing is that our monthly expenses did not increase! We thought they would be about $75 higher, but the reality is that some expenses lowered so much that it brought us right back down to the same monthly living expense. Isn’t God good!

THE MOVE

In the midst of all the teams, a cold virus, and the construction at Restoration Ranch we also moved from the apartment where we had lived for the last 10 1/2 years. I think that is the longest I have ever lived in one place in my life. My father was military so we moved a lot when I was a kid. A decade ago a wonderful Christian lady and her husband offered to rent us their upscale condominium according to our middle of the road budget. It was a gift from God and its timing was perfect. The condo is in the center of Santo Domingo and was perfect for us since we didn't have an automobile during those early years. However, the very thing that made it so perfect is the thing that had begun to make it less than desirable. Being in the center of a city of 4 million is interesting! We actually grew to like city living in spite of the fact we thought we would never get used to it. As the city continued to grow we began to see more and more high-rise apartment towers taking the place of single family dwellings. On our block alone we could count about 14 such undertakings. The results are that in the same place where a single family lived and had their one or two vehicles there is now a multi-family tower with 80 or so families, each with their car or two or even more. The pollution in our neighborhood began to show the effects of the increased traffic. Because of the amount of construction occurring, we also have had an influx of large diesel trucks pouring out contamination. We don't have the same pollution laws here that we have in the States! Anyway, to shorten the story a little, we had been thinking that we'd like to make a move. We had two major factors inhibiting us; the security of the 24 hour guard at the apartment building and the fact that when we traveled the building administrator paid all of our bills in our absence. Recently we had a family visiting us here, and we housed them with our staff members Greg and Melynda Burge. One day as we took them 'home' we noticed a rental sign on the house that sits right behind the Burge house. To be continued...

What CAN $75 do?

What can $75 do? It could fill your tank with gas. It could buy a dinner for two in a nice restaurant. It could take a family of four to the movies complete with popcorn, candy and drinks. Or it could help build a square meter of roof on a home for underprivileged children.

We have had a number of responses to our newsletter post and e-mail with the idea of people helping build the roof by 'purchasing' a square meter. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, assisting in the construction of this home for the underprivileged may be a wonderful way to acknowledge the multitude of blessings in our lives.

Our goal is to get this roof on, put the stucco on the exterior walls, then begin to finish out the apartments one by one. As soon as we get that done we can begin to bring in parents to train and finally to start the process of receiving children. How exciting it will be to see children running, playing, and learning right there on Restoration Ranch!

What Can $75 Do?

Most of this post is from our November newsletter, but it is worth sharing again!

Building number 1 at Restoration Ranch is ready for a roof. As you can see in the photo all the second floor walls are up, the bond beam has been poured and the angle walls finished up to the peak. The hip style roof (with sloping sides and ends) will be a poured slab of 4 inch concrete, which will not only help prevent water from filtering through and damaging the paint and the walls (a common problem here), but will also be strong enough to withstand hurricane strength winds.

Because of the design of the roof an enormous amount of wooden support poles and plywood will be needed to build the form. Into that form will go a mat of rebar, electrical conduit, and outlet boxes for the lights. Once that is prepared the cement truck will be required to pour the mixed cement. These materials along with labor costs are estimated to be US$28,438. The roof is approximately 400 square meters in size, so that comes out to $71 per meter. To allow for cost increases we are thinking that $75 per square meter will cover the cost of building the roof. We are seeking donors who will help build this roof, meter by meter, with gifts of $75 per square meter. We currently have 30 meters worth of donations. That leaves just 370. How many would you like?!

THE BIG DAY

Today's post will be just a little different, but so near and dear to the core of my heart that it must be the topic. You see, 27 years ago today our baby girl was first laid in my arms, and a nearly 3 decade love affair began. A beautiful autumn Friday afternoon and a perfect new born baby girl; It doesn't get much better than that! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA! Ireland is lucky to have you.

Building One

Building One is ready for a roof! The builders are finishing up some interior walls on the first floor, and then will need to build with plywood and wooden posts the platform that will hold the 4" cement slab. The roof will be slanted as opposed to the very common flat roof that we see so often here. It will actually cost a bit more to build this roof, but it will eliminate a host of future problems that begin with water filtration.
As you can see, there are construction materials all over the place, even in the resting areas.

Preliminary Trip

While the group from the DC area was here with the Burge family, we personally hosted two pastors from upstate South Carolina who flew in to spy out the land and the opportunities for missions here in the Dominican Republic.





Pastor Fred Bachman and Bob Kelley seemed to enjoy their time with us and are excited about Restoration Ranch and about bringing a team in the spring of 2009. When I write 2009 it seems so far in the future, and yet we are in the midst of November, and 2009 is less than 60 days away!

MInistry to the Kids

On the same day that the group planted all those little bushes and hauled all those heavy blocks, they ministered twice at our local community school. We have developed a close relationship with the school director, and she allows us liberty in when and how we minister to the 350 children she has under her care. The kids really enjoyed the puppets, skits, and 'magic' tricks that the team used to minister to them. They were having so much fun that they would answer "si" to whatever Jim said, without a word of it being translated. It honestly didn't matter what he said; they were just agreeing with every word he spoke!

What to do with all those Plants

The day after we (I say we loosely since I didn't dig a thing!) dug the plants we made our way to Restoration Ranch to plant them. Since we didn't know when we went to get the plants just what kind of plants we were being given, we also had not decided where to put them. When we are through digging water and sewer lines and the big cement trucks stop marking their path we want to plant some things in front of the building itself to make it even prettier. Since it isn't feasable to do that just yet, with Melynda's help Danny and I decided to beautify areas where we and team members sit and have lunch, rest, or chat. When they had finished planting and watering they wanted more to do so our builder showed us where he needs more cement block, and the group gamely headed off to move cement blocks.
Special note to "Dentist"" I so enjoyed reading your response to yesterday's blog. I knew a little of what you told me, but certainly not all of it. It would be great to be able to respond to you, and if you choose to, you may include an e- address where I can do so. If not, thank you so much for taking the time to fill me in on more ways in which these two men are wonderful heroes.

More on the Plants

One of the few inexpensive things in the Dominican Republic is labor. A day worker can be paid with very little and be glad to have it. The Haitians work for even less. When the American teams come and pay someone from here they always pay more than the going rate so it's a real blessing for the workers. The leader of this team, Jim, after digging up plants and cutting back weeds for a bit, saw one of the workers with nothing to do. It didn't take him long to hire himself a helper!

This guy was worth every peso too. He was given his money up front and knew he was being well rewarded for less than an hour's work. After he had worked hard for a while, Jim gave him some more money to keep him going. The guy went home blessed. And we went home with about 40 plants to be planted at Restoration Ranch.

Melynda insisted that with that long a drive, we were going to put every thing that would fit into those two vehicles - and we did.

Working for the Free Plants

Yesterday we headed out to beautiful place where a botanist grows all kinds of beautiful tropical plants to sell in the US and Europe. We had been told that there were some we could have free of charge. Although the pick up truck we were hoping would accompany us didn't come through, we headed out in our Durango and the Burge family's Trooper - led by Mandy Speegle in her car. Where there is a will there is a way! The owner of the business is a friend of Mandy and her husband so that's how this all came about. After an entertaining ride of about 2 1/4 hours or so we arrived and were lead out to the cultivation area. We saw acres and acres of beautifully tended gorgeous plants;Those weren't ours. There was another field that had some of the crotons growing, but they were covered in weeds. The team's jobs were to cut back the weeds, properly dig out the plants, put them in the pots, and then transfer them to our waiting vehicles.


This they did with great gusto. With only one little machete mishap the afternoon went smoothly. (They say you should never trust a 'gringo' with a machete!)

Fortunately on the team were two fire fighters, both trained in emergency work. The whole emergency treatment thing was fairly mundane until Troy took out his pocket knife to shave Jim's leg so the bandage would stick!

THAT was worth taking an extra picture or two.

Plants

I've been pondering just how to go about catching up with the lost time so that you know all that has been happening without missing out on the 'goings on' now. I think I will just start with today, and as we go along I'll back-track and fill you in on the wonderful things that happened in the last month while we had little or no internet access.

Through our co-laborers, Greg and Melynda Burge, we have been presented with a wonderful opportunity. It seems that in another city here in the the DR there is a botonist who is willing to donate to us a supply of plants that we can use on Restoration Ranch. The Burge family has a small team of five people here, and the team is willing to spend their afternoon digging up these plants and potting them so that they can be transported to the farm. They have also volunteered to plant them tomorrow! We do so love our teams. They are always so helpful and such a blessing.

I'll try to have some photos on the blog for you tomorrow.

Hello all my dear friends and prayer partners! It's been a while since I was able to get on line to update the blog. We suffered through two weeks of being disconnected while we were in the apartment and the phone line was being replaced. Then we moved to another neighborhood, and it took almost two more weeks to get phone and internet again. Danny was able to connect his laptop to a neighbor's wireless a few times and connect that way, but I was stranded! We've been busy during all of this and I'll try to catch you up as soon as possible. Be blessed

A Day at the Farm

It appears that Restoration Ranch is made of the things that bring excitement to children, boys especially. On the last full day of the Geary family's time with us we took them and Rosita and Priscilla to the farm. We planned to have a big lunch of typical dominican food, minister to the people in the small community across from the farm, and enjoy the land and its benefits. We added Matthew and Isaiah Burge to the group as well, and the 10 of us loaded up in our Dodge Durango.


Marta prepared us a great meal of pollo guisado, arroz con habichuelas, tostones, aguacate, y concon. It was wonderful, and even the kids enjoyed it. I bet you non-spanish speakers would love to know what it was we ate!

After lunch the Geary family, the two Burge kids, and Prisicalla and Rosita went across to the neighboring community and ministered to adults and children alike. When I finished working with the master builder and went to see if they needed any help, they had the crowd participating in everything and smiles everywhere. Everyone had either an animal-shaped balloon or a hula hoop and a lollipop. Priscilla did a great job translating for them and freed me up to take care of construction business while they worked over there.



I have to admit that one of my favorite parts of the day was watching the boys having so much fun chasing and catching chickens! Who knew it could be so much fun. No GameBoy or other electronic gadget in site, just pure free fun.