Birdie providentially hit over the wall?

Brandon came in Saturday after playing badmitton with some friends on the street and said that they hit the birdie over one of the neighbor's walls. Each house has it's own wall surrounding their back yard. It's a big thing here, partly for protection from thieves, and partly for privacy in your back yard, I guess.

Brandon said a neighbor said, "The man who lives in that house is mean." He was afraid to go to the door and ask to get the birdie. We were busy, but tonight Daddy finally took the time to brave it out and go ask the neighbor if they could get the birdie out of their yard.

When the man opened the door, he right away said, "Come in." He told his wife, "A neighbor came to visit us." Before Doug could tell him why he was there, they started chatting. The family lived in Miami for 20 years and have lived here for the past 3 years. They speak English quite well and the children do not speak Spanish. He said they stay in the house all of the time because they don't know anyone, they do not speak much Spanish, and they do not like it here.

Doug said they seemed very lonely and were glad Doug and the children stopped in. They have a boy about Brandon's age and the boy immediately asked if Brandon could stay and play. We offered to take the boy to the park sometime to play baseball. He really lit up at that idea.

He asked what we were doing here and if we had adapted. Doug told him we were missionaries and was able to briefly witness to him. The wife said, "That's great to have something you believe in." Doug was able to tell them it was more than that.

We're convinced that God has us here for more than to just live in a restful community. These people are wealthy, but they are very hungry. In the 9 months we've lived here, God has given us the opportunity to share Christ with several of our neighbors. Our focus is not necessarily to work this community (we live about 15 - 20 minutes from the church), but we are always willing to share Christ with whoever we come in contact.

We're also convinced that there are a lot of lonely people. Don't be afraid to reach out to someone - no matter how mean they may seem. You don't know how lonely they may be inside.

Electric problems

For the past week we have had horrible electric! It has been off more than it has been on. It kept going on and off last night through the night. Today it went off around 7:30 and hasn't come back on yet. (It's now almost 2:00 p.m.) I think we're about on the end of our invertor, so I must close for today. I have more posting to do, but it will have to wait till another time.

Supplied

Out with the old and in with the new - boy, am I glad! Some missionaries that live in this community are "burnt out" and returning to the States for a time of rest - we know all about that! They sold most of their stuff and so we got blessed by a few things of theirs. This couch was one of them. I'm SO happy to not have the ugly brown couch in my living room. This one will match my mauve decor and also fit our whole family as well as be more comfortable! We got it for a very good price. I really wanted hunter green, but hey, you can't have everything! We also got this large tank that will hold 530 gallons of water! That will be very handy for times when the water goes off. It is common here to put tanks such as this on your roof. They do not have water 24/7 and so the reserve water enters your house by gravity until the water comes on again.
Doug and 2 other guys hoisted it up onto our balcony. From there they had to get it up on the roof. They say these things are light, but don't be fooled. Doug said they probably weigh between 150 and 200 pounds and they're very bulky.
Doug used a rope to help guide the tank up the ladder. Easy does it!
Hooray! It's up! Doug spent 4 or 5 hours on the roof on Saturday hooking up the tubes etc. to the tank. It was a heat index of 111 degrees and the roof is black. He was very hot, drained, and burnt when he came in. Thank the Lord we now have a good amount of reserve water!

Double birthday

As mentioned before, Jonathan & Regina celebrated their birthdays on Sept. 11. It was not my desire to have 2 children share the same birthday, but evidently God saw some reason for it. We have been only positive about it and Regina always says she's glad Jonathan was born on her birthday. Here is Regina with her 3 darling brothers.
A close-up of the cake. My life-saving husband helped outline this for me. I then plopped the icing on and smeared it around in the colored zones and he took the black tube and did all of the outline. If you need help doing cakes, you can hire him. :-) It might be expensive to pay his way over, though.
Ryan got Regina a smiley face ball.

Jonathan's birthday

Jonathan got jipped. He just got cupcakes. :-) I had originally planned to make him his own character cake, but we had so many things going on, I ran out of steam. He didn't seem to mind. He enjoyed the cupcakes and didn't know what he was missing out on.
Opening some cars.

Checking in

This week has been crazy as we have had several electrical blackouts. It has made getting laundry done and our other duties quite interesting.

The hurricanes have bid us goodbye and we hope that is it for this year - although not likely. We received a ton of rain from Fay, Gustav, Hannah and Ike. There was some flooding but no major damage that I'm aware of.

Regina and Jonathan celebrated their 8th and 2nd birthdays yesterday. I hope to get back on here next week and post pictures. Have a great weekend!

One year ago!

It is hard to believe that one year ago today we were on the plane traveling to this beautiful island. We are already half way through our term! Where has the time gone? I think it is because this time we live in a much more peaceful place and are not as stressed. Our other terms, we couldn't wait for a break, I believe, due to the stress of living at the noisy, dirty, and very hot mission building.

We pray the Lord will make us a blessing as we labor the last half of our term.

Encouragement for Depression

Doug and I never felt able to put into words what we experienced here several years ago that brought about our decision to return to the States for a time of rest and recuperation. After Doug and I listened to these broadcasts on Focus on the Family, it helped us to better understand what took place. Evidently there are different names for it, but this program refers to it as "depression".

We have many friends who are in ministry. Maybe you will find this an encouragement or maybe it will keep you from ending up there.

http://listen.family.org/recentdaily/

Scroll down to listen to the broadcasts from August 18, 19, and 20.

In between storms

This is water that came in our patio door from Tropical Storm Fay. Tropical Storm Hannah is making her last appearance and waving goodbye. We thought she was going to go right by us, but she backed up close to us and sent us alot of wind and rain. The wind was between 30 and 40 mph on Tuesday and yesterday. There are trees and signs down, but no major damage that I'm aware of. The streets were flooded, but I don't believe quite as badly as with Fay because Hannah gave breaks in between the rain. It is still breezy today, but not as strong.

The only damage done to us was a wet living room/dining room floor which got our rug wet and now it smells like a dead animal. :-) We were glad to see the sun for a few hours this morning and dry out a bit. Now it is raining again.

Now we are awaiting to see where Hurricane Ike will go. It is to be near here on Sunday. It looks like a beast. We're hoping it goes above us as predicted, but no man seems to be able to accurately predict these hurricanes. I really hope it doesn't hit anywhere.

We use this website to keep track of what is happening in the Atlantic/Caribbean. We check it everyday during hurricane season which goes up through November 30.

http://hurricane.accuweather.com/hurricane/basin-story.asp?partner=accuweather&traveler=0&basin=atlantic

Vegetable Frittata

Can you tell I have time to blog today? The children are finished with school, Doug is away at a meeting, and while some homeade donuts are rising, I actually have a chance to catch up.

Here is the recipe for a delicious frittata that I made recently.

3 T. vegetable oil
1-1/2 c. finely chopped zucchini
1-1/2 c. chopped mushrooms
3/4 c. chopped onion
1/2 c. finely chopped broccoli
3/4 c. chopped green bell pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
6 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. half and half (I used milk and it was fine)
2 pkgs. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
2 c. shredded cheddar or swiss cheese
4 slices whole wheat bread, cubed
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking dish. Heat oil in skillet - add vegetables and saute until tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and milk. Beat in cream cheese until mixture is smooth. Stir in other cheeses, bread cubes, sauteed vegetables and salt and pepper. Mix well and pour into prepared baking dish. Bake for one hour or until center is set. Can serve hot or cold.

Another tarantula

Doug found this tarantula outside and trapped it in a milkcan. He then put it in a cage for observation. Must be a guy thing. This might interest any tarantula lovers out there. :-)

Miscellaneous photos

This is a carlot. For their advertisement, they have a real truck on the side of their building. One of the day's of vacation, we went to Wendy's. Look familiar?
We were surprised to see they now have shakes. Is this in the States, too?
We were THRILLEd to see this sign. It says "Papa John's - Coming here." Wow! We have had so many more products from the States this term. I think because of the free trade agreement between the D.R. and the U.S. We will be thrilled to eat here whenever they get it built.

More zoo pics

Oops! I forgot to put these in order. I am always amazed at the beauty of these guys. Regina and Meagan in the mouth of a lion.

Ryan rides the ladybug.
Stop for lunch - KFC. Yes, we have those here.

Vacation - trip to the zoo

For one of the days of our vacation, we went to the zoo with our missionary friends, Luke & Hannah and their three children. They are a precious couple serving in the capital, also. We certainly enjoyed the time of fellowship with them. This was a "petting zoo" area with a nice playground.
Jonathan enjoyed watching the monkeys.
Loving the slide!
I'm not sure what he was looking at here, but I thought this was cute.

Children on the train ready to go. A black bear
After while crocadile.
We even got to see a baby deer. Now we're homesick for the mountains. :-)
Jonathan and his stroller buddy, Andrew.

Regina's tooth pull

I'm sorry I did not update on Regina. Has it been almost a week already? I've been swimming with starting a new year of school and trying to keep up with everything.

Anyhow, she came through fine and, as far as we can tell, it is healing fine. They sent us home with no instructions - only that she could not play rough the first day. They said she could eat whatever she wanted and do whatever she wanted. We looked on the internet and found that rinsing with salt water is a good idea to keep free from infection.

Here she is resting with George after the visit to the dentist. George would make any little girl feel better. :-) Thank you to all who prayed for her.