Kids at the International school

Our greeting at school.

The kids are enjoying the playground.

They look sharp in their uniforms.

The whole family at school.

Sweet Meriel in front of her class.

Council's teacher,  Mrs. Harris.

Stephan and Council in his class.

Council's class

Sarah's teacher,  Mrs. Beth.

Chris and Phebe going to class. 

Typical classroom building

Morning traffic jam going to school.

Interesting creatures and intriguing cusine

This killer hornet flew into Stephan's hair!!! She loved that.

A friend on the porch.  It was about 8 inches long. 

This dude's head was the size of a very large watermelon.

When this sticks in your feet it is painful and makes you sick (It has happened to me, Council, and Sarah)

This is our guard dog, Harley.  The glasses are for intimidation (It doesn't work well for him.  He is still a push over).  He is twice the size of most Dominican dogs and the locals call him the big white devil. 

I was getting a little close for his comfort.

Typical Dominican meal (beans, rice, and chicken)

Interesting labeling (but honest about the result)

The dental clinic I help in has these fun creatures.  Phebe likes the close company.

A first encounter.

Sarah has a buddy on her shoulder.

Meriel is being sweet to the monkey.

Comfortable with a friend.

The Dental Clinic in progress

The dental Clinic

Sign for the clinic

From left to right:

Dr. Steve Dorsey (director of the medical facility)

Jeffrey (A Dominican who has been apart of this ministry since he was 10 years old.  He is currently in dental school.  We hope he will come back and be the lead dentist in the dental clinic)

Parker (missionary with Downline ministries from Memphis)

Chris 

Stephan (A hot mama I found in '89)

 The location of the Dental Clinic is the bottom left area with the small windows (1/4 of the building)  

The future home of the dental clinic.  

 This was a storage shed 3 months ago ( and it looked like one).

Amazing transformation!

 The baseball field in the facility. 

 Kids playing drums in the room above the dental clinic.

The gym located on the grounds.

Rain water for the facility is gathered in these large containers for use.  

The drive on the way to the Dental Clinic. 

 Leaning house of Dominica

 A Dominican convenient store on the way to the dental clinic.

First couple of weeks in the DR

The beginning of the trip was pretty crazy. 

We left from the hotel in Nashville at 3 a.m. to get to the airport. 

Very interesting feat with our 24 bags and Harley(our dog).

Thanks John for dropping us off! :) 

We finally arrive in the DR and being picked up by our friends.  

Bill and Debbie Stephenson, Brad Chester and Parker Watkins.

This is minus Stephan and Harley.  They had to catch another flight due to temperature issues.

Our family hanging out with four Haitian kids who are orphans.  

Life is very different here and humbling to see.

New Life Church that we attended on Sunday.

Family picture after church.

The family at the the beach for the day with a kite surf competition behind us. 

A store on the beach.

Enjoying time with Brad and Parker (two guys we are doing discipleship training with)

Lots of pineapples to eat.

 

This is the building that we use to teach about 50 Haitians.  

(Bill teaching and Roosevelt translating)

What an awesome opportunity.

The first night I was teaching, the power went out the first 10 minutes.  

You really begin to appreciate lights when you don't have them.

Haitian village we visited. 

Our local (mobile) grocery store

Rush hour traffic can get interesting.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Thank you for all of your prayers.  

We so miss you all.

Limited access

Limited access:
Life is so interesting.  The things in this world we see as so valuable are not so precious after all.  We have not had access to stable internet since we have been here. When we tried our first update, the language changed to spanish and we could not figure our how to switch it back.   This is why we have not been updating our blog, sending emails,  skype, etc.  Yet, we have survived.  In fact, we have thrived as a family.  It's amazing the blessings that come when simple things are removed from your everyday routine.
There are two things that are for sure about the Domincan Republic.  First, nothing gets done fast.  Secondly, when things get done, they are probably not done right. We are learning patience and how to live with others gracefully.  All that being said we are going to start updating our blog when we can.  Thanks for all your support and prayers.