Toy Give

Here are some more photos of our first day of the toy give away for needy children. This time we were in an orphanage in La Romana. I hope the pictures give some idea of the joy we experienced by participating in this two day event.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Toy Give Away

In a previous post I told you pretty much all I know about King's Day. Today you get to read what we did about it! As I wrote Thursday, we are blessed with many wonderful friends. This year some of those friends invited us to be part of something they have been doing for quite a few years, taking toys out to poor children who may not have been given anything else during the holiday season.
Euri and Zinayda Cabral and their daughter Cheizi started this tradition one year by just taking the older toys that Cheizi and her sister had and giving them away in a needy area where an employee lived. The following year some people added their own toys, and now has grown to the place where businesses donate the toys. In the great tradition of our Lord Who is always more than enough, this year there were more toys than they needed for the area where they work. The Burge family suggested an orphanage in La Romana, and we suggested some poor villages closer to the Haitian border. Thus began two days of joyous ministry. The youth group from our church went along, most of them dressed as clowns. We were impressed with the organization. While the set up team was getting everything ready, the 'clowns' were painting balloons, flowers, hearts, and cat whiskers on the faces of the kids. What a fun way to keep them occupied while things are being readied. The youth, led by our friend Maria Tinedo, had songs, dances, and puppet skits prepared. Everyone had so much fun - those being entertained and those entertaining them! And then came the gifts. Something special for each and every child. There are few things more enjoyable than watching kids at Christmas.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Birthday Time

We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends here in the Dominican Republic. They are truly our family here, and as is the case with families, we have established traditions. For 10 of the almost 12 years that we have lived here, we have celebrated Danny's birthday with friends, Charlie and Darla Finocchiaro. Often other friends were involved as well, but always Charlie and Darla. A few years ago, long time SC friends, Greg and Melynda Burge, moved down here with their family to assist us with Restoration Ranch. This year we had the treat of honoring Danny on his birthday with both families. We are truly blessed.

Most of you know that about 10 days ago I took a fall and injured my leg. I was supposed to stay off it and keep it elevated so preparing a birthday dinner and cake was out of my range of possibilities. Our friends jumped right in. Melynda offered to make a lasagna and host us at her house. Darla made the pound cake and fresh strawberries and ice cream, and we threw together a salad. We enjoyed a most delicous meal together and then spent the evening playing games. Danny won! How's that for a birthday gift?

BBQ - correction

I just love blogs! The great thing is that we have a way of communicating with you without having to wait an entire month for the newsletter to go out. The not so great thing is that we have an immediate way of communicating with you! Sometimes information goes out without us realizing that we have incomplete details or even erroneous ones. In the case of the BBQ fundraiser, we didn't realize just how many people and churches are involved in accomplishing this tremendous goal. There is an entire steering committe working diligently, quite a few upstate SC churches and their pastors, a couple of area ministries, and many others. We want to express our appreciation and thanks to each and every one: the steering committee, Carpenters for Christ - Mike Ravan, United for Christ - William Renfrow, and several upstate SC churches and pastors for all their hard work in putting this together. We hope all of you reading this that are within driving distance will participate and enjoy some great food. Does anyone know how I could get some of that BBQ down here on the island? I would gladly trade you some rice and beans.

BBQ Mmmm

Hi everyone! We have an exciting and tasty treat for you. Wish we could fly home and join you for this one! First of all mark the dates Friday and Saturday, January 23 and 24. Now make plans for the most delicious and easiest way to help get that roof built on Restoration Ranch's first four apartments. Here are the details.

The owner of Mutts in Greer has volunteered his time to cook for a BBQ fundraiser sponsored by William Renfrow and Restoration Church -all to raise funds for the roof project. On Friday they will be offering BBQ plates for $5. Bulk bbq can be purchased on Saturday at $10 per pound. It can be picked up at Spartanburg Expo Center or arrangements can be made for delivery or to meet you somewhere.

The key to making this successful is participation. So encourage your company, your church, your civic group to call one of the numbers below to preorder your delicious BBQ. Preordering is necessary so that we know how much bbq to prepare. Make sure to get some bbq on Saturday to put in your freezer for later or to serve Sunday after church so you don't have to cook! Remember: Pre-order!

The numbers to call are:
Mike Ravan 864-621-0916 or Dick Rodermond 864-415-5509 Checks are to be made to Carpenters for Christ.

Epiphany

The day I posted the story of Kings' Day my daughter, Jessica, sent me the following article. It answered some unasked questions I didn't know I had. For example: "what is twelfth night?"

The following is an excerpt from an article in the Jan. 6, 2009 edition of The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor:

Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas. It celebrates the day when the three Magi visited Jesus and gave him the gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold.

Christmas Eve begins the 12 days of Christmas, so January 5th, the eve of Epiphany, is called Twelfth Night. William Shakespeare wrote a play for the festivities in 1602, which is why it is called Twelfth Night.

James Joyce's famous short story "The Dead" is set at a party for the Feast of the Epiphany. The story ends: "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."

Kings' Day

This is a special time of year in this nation where we live. It was a little surprising for us when we first moved here to see that Christmas Day is almost a non-event here for most families. Christmas Eve is celebrated with a huge family dinner, and we are always invited to be 'family' with someone each year that we are in country. Christmas Day, however, normally is drastically different than it is in the U.S. It's not really a day of exchanging gifts and unwrapping presents. Here, in the month of January, we celebrate Kings' Day which is to commemorate the time when the wise men brought gifts to little Jesus. In most families, on Kings' Day children are given as many gifts as the parents can buy - just like in the U.S. Christmas is, and always has been, a favorite holiday of mine. Yet I find myself drawn more and more to honoring the day when gifts were brought to Jesus. I don't suppose it matters when one honors Him, just the heart behind it.

We were talking with a pastor in the US about this holiday and custom here, and a wonderful idea was presented. In December Americans bought each other gifts and had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour. We would like to offer an opportunity to celebrate Kings' Day with us by purchasing one more gift, this one to give directly to Him. If everyone who has requested to receive our newsletter would 'gift' one square meter of roof for the orphanage home, we could have the roof on in about 60 days! Once the roof is completed the rest of the work can be done - and done fairly quickly. What a wonderful way to honor our Lord - get that building finished so we can begin to take in and care for these abandoned and orphaned babes.

If you can afford to do so, would you consider a special gift of $75 this month to celebrate with us this time of year when we remember the giving of gifts to the little child Jesus?

Progress

Do you know how it surprises you just a little when it's been a long time since you have seen a particular child, and they have grown so much since that time? Although you know they are getting older and growing up somehow it just impacts you when you see those changes. If, however, you see the child daily those changes go mostly unnoticed. It was sort of the same feeling when we took Jessie and Pat out to Restoration Ranch this week. When they visited us last year, we had just purchased the land, and had not even begun the construction process. Yet a year later, they could stand in front of a two story building that is growing closer and closer to completion. It was a lot of fun taking them into the building and showing them the rooms and the lay out of the homes. Retired Colonel Jessie is like Danny, in that she understands a lot about the construction just by nature - and her upbringing. Retired Colonel Pat is more like I am, we might be able to repeat the words and still not know exactly what we are talking about! (That makes for fun translating too!) Both of these ladies are in their 70's and don't let a little thing like age or illness keep them down! We were delighted to have another chance to show them Restoration Ranch and all the progress that has happened in the last year. May their health allow them a trip to see the finished project in the near future.

Cousins in Town

Because we live outside of the U.S. we don't get many visits from family so it is always special when we do. This week my mother's cousin (so therefore my cousin)and her friend, Pat, are visiting our adopted nation and spending a couple days of their trip with us.
Jessie was an officer in the military, but she's so sweet it's hard to imagine her giving orders.
The two of them and sisters, Julie and Sharon made plans to vacation here on the island and took time out of their schedule to come into the capital to have lunch with us. It's always fun to introduce friends to some of our favorite places here, and this was no exception. Their taxi driver brought them directly to Adrian Tropical, a nice restaurant situated right on the ocean front. We had a wonderful time getting to know the friends and catching up with the cousins. Then, of course, since no tourist trip to Santo Domingo is complete without a trip to the souvenir market, we all headed out to Mercado Modelo where everything you could possibly want to take home is sold. From coffee to machetes, from paintings to tarantulas, you can buy it! Of course not everyone thought shopping was a must-do. Some just watched the others shop!

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve is a fun time of the year, and this year was no exception. As opposed to Christmas Eve where we have a yearly tradition, the last night of the year has been unique on each occasion. It's always fun and always spent with friends and loved ones. This year we invited a few friends over to our house to bring in 2009, but we started at the Burge family home with a cook out on their roof top. (Aren't the tropics wonderful!) Friends Bud and Karen Simon joined us as we grilled hamburgers and enjoyed our meal there under the nighttime sky. From there we headed over to our house, which is just behind the Burge home. In May Brittany Burge will be headed off to the States, so this was our last 'bringing in the new year' with her still living at home. I will miss her a lot, but looking at this picture I think you can see who will really feel the void the most! We had several different games and a lot of food ready to pass the time until 11:00. As it turned out, we played CatchPhrase right up until the time we wanted to stop to worship the Lord and pray before welcoming 2009. The game kept everyone on their seats, thinking and shouting! In fact I wondered what my neighbors might be thinking. The noise level reminded me of the line from the country song, "All My Rowdy Friends are Coming Over Tonight". Most of us made through the night without a nap, but the slowed down pace of singing and praying put 12 year old Isaiah down for the count for a bit. He did wake up and join us on the rooftop to watch the fireworks though.