Cleaning water tank

This picture goes with the post below. R. looking out of the tank. He was the only one who fit down in it that could clean it out.

Water has returned!

The water in our community came back on 2 days before Thanksgiving. We were so delighted and it was definitely one of our Thanksgiving praises. It certainly makes life easier to not have to worry about water and calculating how much you can use for each task.

Thank you to all who prayed! It certainly was an inconvenience that ended up affecting other aspects of life as well.

One blessing of the water being off was we were able to clean out one of the tanks when it emptied. D. had noticed in one of the times it was filled that there was a lot of sediment on the bottom of the tank. So one morning we had R. climb up to the top of the roof to crawl down in the tank and scoop out the remaining water. The tank to be cleaned.
You can see how dirty the water is. R. scooped it out with a bucket until it was completely gone.

D. throwing out what was in the bucket. A lot of calcium deposit was in the bottom of the tank.

After they got all the water out, they took a towel and wiped up the remaining water. It was wonderful to know our tank was now clean!

Thanksgiving pictures

Following in the footprints of Daddy - reading His Bible. So glad for a wonderful Daddy who leaves Godly imprints for his children to follow.

We were blessed to have my mom and brother visit us for Thanksgiving this year. We also had 2 other American missionary families join us.

The table is pulled out to fit all of our guests. The computer and orange desk to the left is where R. does school. I don't particularly like it there, but it is the best place that I can watch and help him and is separate from the other children.
The view of dining and living room from the dining room to give you a full view of how big our living area is. And yes, I changed the tablecloth to the orange one because I didn't like the multi-colored green one as well. :-)
A view of our dining room taken from the front door.

Thanksgiving pictures cont.

To help my husband deal with buck fever, I put this nice buck out for decoration to remind us of hunting season. The yummy food.
Our guests

The kids ate at a little table.

2 little Indians

Christmas miracles

It's hard to believe how much time has gone by since I last posted! Life has a way of keeping on.


We had a wonderful Christmas! I think every year at Christmas our family experiences a Christmas miracle. I remember several years ago when we were living in the US and D. could not find a job. We were living on pure faith. It was a very difficult time and yet our faith was deepened as we watched God provide at every turn! We look back to that year with fond memories of what the Lord did for us.

I remember several miracles about that Christmas. I remember I was just about out of dish soap, liquid cleaner that I used to clean my floors, and laundry detergent. I know it sounds silly, but I don't think we had the money to buy it. God showed His amazing love and provision when one of my close friends came to the door with a gift bag. She said, "I had no idea what to get you for Christmas, but I thought you would use these." Would you believe in the bag was a box of detergent, Mr. Clean, and dish soap?!!!! I was amazed!


That same Christmas I had a newborn baby and I was feeling overwhelmed with getting little sleep at night, taking care of a 3 year old, a newborn, and homeschooling 2 children at that time in 1st and 2nd grade. Somehow I managed to make a batch of Hershey kiss cookies - our favorite Christmas cookie. It was the only kind I was able to get made with juggling everything and everyone else.


I felt the Lord nudge me to take a plate of the kiss cookies to a lady who had lost her son in an auto accident that spring. I had been in touch with her trying to show love and sympathy to her. She was not a Christian. I hesitated fixing a plate of cookies with the only cookies I knew I would likely get to bake. But I obeyed the Lord.


That Sunday I fixed up the plate of cookies for the lady to drop off at her house after church. Meanwhile, a lady from church came up to me and told me she had something for me after church. To my astonishment, she handed me a plate of different kinds of cookies. She said, "I imagined you were so busy, you wouldn't have time to bake. So enjoy these." I could not believe it! The cookies I did not have time to bake were now handed to me!


We have found that God cares about Christmas. That same Christmas I so badly wanted to get gifts for our families - not because I felt I had to, but because I wanted to show my love and appreciation for them by giving to them. I took it to the Lord and He so amazingly provided! I was able to find gifts for just a few dollars. As I prayed about it walking through the stores, the Lord seemed to lead me to the right gifts. As I handed out the gifts, the receivers really liked them and stated that it was such a lovely gift. I felt they probably liked them more than if I had spent a lot of money.


We had another Christmas miracle this year. But I'll save that for another time since this one is getting long.


Whatever miracle you may need, God cares - even about the small things and He is so capable. He just wants us to bring it to Him. Too many times we lean on ourselves instead of on Him. He will not force us to lean on Him if we want to handle it ourselves. But when we leave it to Him, He proves how big He is.


If you haven't experienced a Christmas miracle this year, I hope you will some year.


If you have experienced a Christmas miracle, I'd like to hear about it. Feel free to comment or send me a message.

Water, Water!

Today marks 4 weeks that our entire community has not had water from the main street line. They told us we are in worse shape now than before. While they have the main water pump out for repair (which has been 2 weeks), someone stole the 2 electric transformers needed to run the pump. So, it is looking like it may be a while till we have water from the street again.

The water truck is beginning to be a regular part of our community. We will see it coming in daily and sometimes several times a day. You can buy water from the truck to fill the tanks that most people have on the roof. This reserve supply is used for the normal daily water outages. But in extended cases like this, everyone is thankful to have those big tanks on the roof. It is what gives us running water in the house while there is none coming in from the street.

When someone buys a load of water, if there is leftover water, they will fill up any buckets or containers that people bring out. Here the water man is filling our buckets from the leftovers of a load of water that someone else had purchased.
Since there are very few wells here, lots of people, including us, are collecting rain from spouts. Here is a picture of 2 houses collecting rain water. Notice the blue bucket clear to the left and then the 2 buckets clear to the right - both collecting water from the rainspouts. The middle one is collecting the rain falling from the sky, I guess.

There has been a positive side to this dilemna. All of the neighbors are working together and sharing what they can with one another. It really is a beautiful sight. One lady came knocking at our door one day and told us to bring out our buckets and containers. She had bought a load of water and was making sure the neighbors would get what was leftover.

The Dominican people are some of the most sharing people. It reminds us that we help and understand one another best when we have gone through the same trials. Everyone is in the same situation and so there is understanding and a helping spirit toward one another.

Water pictures #2

We came to the end of our resources and had to order a load of water to fill our tanks on the roof. You can see them putting the hose up over the roof to pump the water into the tanks on the roof.

My laundry was backed up! I cannot stand to let it pile up, but we kept thinking it would only be another day till we got water back and were trying to hold out.
The third week, a neighboring community turned their line on to run into our community. Here is J. helping to fill buckets of water to reserve from the water coming in.

One day a neighbor lady let us pump water from her cistern to help us out. The hose she ran across the street had some holes in it, so another neighbor put her basin under it to catch the water running out. Any drip of water is precious!

We were one of the few houses that received water from the neighboring sector. So we ran a hose across the street to fill our neighbors' containers. This house does not have any tanks on the roof and so they have no running water at all. They are purely living out of these containers.

God is abundant!

Last week I heard the statement, "God is abundant". As a child growing up in the U.S. I didn't really have to do without a lot of things. However, I did grow up in a simple family who was very frugal and trusted God for what we did not have. I watched God provide for our needs time and again which helped to build my faith for my life as a missionary.

So I've always known God is abundant. But on the mission field you have lots and lots of times (sometimes daily) to put your faith out there and see if God will come through yet again. And - the great news is - He always does!

I have prayed for everything from food to furniture and God has provided so many desires of my heart - some things I really didn't even NEED, but I just desired. Some of those times were when I was secretly praying and did not tell anyone what I wanted but God heard and answered my prayer!

I have learned that when you have a chance to prove God, He will prove Himself! Up until this point in America, we've had things pretty much at our fingertips. We haven't had to trust God - really. But with the current economic crisis, some are in very hard places. I just want to challenge you that God is abundant and He does provide our needs when we wait and let Him. So many times we run ahead and try to "help" God and miss the blessing that He had just around the corner if we had waited for it. I have found that when I wait on Him (sometimes really wondering how He's going to pull this one off), He DOES come through! And all of the waiting was more than worth it!

Last week was one of those times - I put God to the test and He came through again! That's MY God!

How about you? Have you waited on God and found His provision? God is abundant!

Water update

We did not get water from the street yet, so we went together with another neighbor on Thursday and bought water to fill the tanks on the roof. This has allowed us to catch up laundry and clean the house yesterday. A clean house and clean clothes makes me feel like a new woman!

There is no guarantee of when we will get water from the street again. The pump is broken down and the company will not come to fix it. We are stuck! Several people from the community have gone and talked to them and tried to push them and have gotten nothing. So we sit and wait hoping that someday they will come up with a solution.

"Pioneer Days"

One of the children today said, "This is like it was back in Pioneer Days." I explained that some towns do celebrate Pioneer Days, but we are living them!

Yesterday was a very interesting day. The water from the street has been off since last Wednesday. The pump that pumps water into our community is broken and they are having a hard time getting it fixed.

Thankfully, on Friday water came in from another community and we were able to have water to do our laundry and pump water into the tanks onto the roof - which has sustained us up until today. But - I haven't done laundry since last Friday and with the heat and sweaty clothes, it is really piling up.

We have been conserving water only for necessary things in order to make the reserve water in the tanks stretch. We are flushing toilets with buckets of water that we have caught from rain in order to reserve the water on the roof for things like dishes, washing hands etc.

D. checked the tanks on the roof this morning. He estimated that we had 50 to 70 gallons of water - enough to wash dishes and hands today and get baths tonight. If the water does not come on by tomorrow, we will likely have to order a truck of water.

Also yesterday our electric was off from 8:30 a.m. till 9:00 p.m. In the afternoon, in order to make our battery power back up last - we refrained from using fans or any form of electric in order to keep the refrigerator running. It was a very HOT day, yet we did not turn on fans. By 5:30 I was dripping sweat on all sides. We took the kids to the park and a little breeze blew and - OH! - it felt so good!

By last night we were turning a light on in one room and staying in that room and using flashlights to get around the rest of the house. Thank the Lord our invertor did last and the electric came on around 9:00 and we were able to cool down last night!

So, today - I am sooooooo thankful for electric. Even though I can't do my huge-mongous pile of laundry and some of the kids are about out of clothes, I can sit in front of a fan!!

We went to the grocery store today and I was so excited that I could go to the bathroom, actually FLUSH the toilet, and then wash my hands without having to hurry. It was luxury at its finest. :-)

I am thankful for the blessings I have (which are way more than water and electric), but also very eagerly awaiting water so we can have clean clothes. :-)

Tropical Storm Emily

We just said goodbye to what was Tropical Storm Emily. It was not as threatening as it originally sounded. We received heavy rain today, but had no wind where we are.

At one point when it was raining very hard, I let the children go out and play in it. After they were done, they came in and got baths, and we had a "rainy day treat" of hot chocolate, coffee, and homeade cinnamon buns! It's not often we have "cool" days here, but with the rain system, today was one of them! It was in the 70's! The thermometer in our bedroom read 75 degrees and that felt cool.

Thank God for His guidance in this storm and that it wasn't as bad as it was predicted. We hope our friends on the other islands fare well also.

I hope I can post more soon. There never seems to be time to get everything done.

Neighbor's fire and baptism

One night around 10:30 p.m, Doug and I were working in our office after the children had gone to bed. We heard yelling and bottles being broken in the streets. We looked out and it appeared there was a fight. We went into the children's bedroom to look out where we could better see what was going on. Soon we looked over to the house beside us and saw that it was on fire! The son had been so angry that he set a room on fire and then left. We soon heard pounding on our door. It was the neighbor lady telling us to get out. Although it was unlikely the fire would reach our house because the houses are made of concrete, she was concerned about gas tanks exploding etc., and possibly putting us in danger. We woke the children up and she took us to her house where we waited for the fire trucks to come. We waited and waited and finally some of the people went around the community and got the fire extinguishers and went in to put out the fire. Doug also helped by hooking up our hose and shooting water into the room on fire. The fire trucks arrived about 30 minutes later - after the fire was put out. :-) And when they came, they didn't have any water! It's good we didn't wait on them!

Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire, but the neighbors lost everything in that room, plus the whole entire second floor of their house was coated with black soot. They had a royal mess on their hands!

This was the room that was burned. The picture was taken from our boys' bedroom window - about 12 feet away.

The truck of soot and ashes that they hauled away.
Doug (scrubbing wall behind neighbor man in picture below) offered to help them wash down the walls with our pressure washer. You can see the difference it is making in taking the scum of soot off.


Baptism pictures - A wonderful milestone for the church was when we baptized 12 people! Both B. & R. chose to be baptized as well. R. wrote her testimony and Doug translated it to the people. I am so sorry - I did not get any shots of B. I was focusing on getting a video shot and missed the photo shot. Below are photos of some of the ones who were baptized.

Baptism

Algenis thanking God for saving him.

Watching Guarionex walk with Christ has been a real inspiration to us.
"Papa" is around 80 years old. It's never too late to serve Christ!!

Negrito is a man who people said was "crazy". He does not talk plain and previously he just roamed the streets muttering. He came to church about a year ago and said he got "saved". He comes with a bright smile, says a lot of "Hallelujahs" in the service, and is beginning to speak clearer. He must have understood enough to know what it means to give his heart to Jesus, for he is a changed man. With God there are no limits!

He was not very fond of the water. :-) He did not want to be immersed, and tried to escape. He finally dunked his head on his own. :-)

On the way home from baptism.

April pictures

I have downloaded lots of pictures from April. I only have a few more minutes, so I will not get them all done tonight, but here are some of the shots from April. This is a cultural sight that is very common. No heavy load or overweight limits here. :-)

D. challenged the kids to a chess puzzle. He'll have to tell you what it is because I sure don't know. :-) Ryan was the first to achieve it so Daddy awarded him $1.50 as his reward. (50 pesos) B. & R. also figured it out so they got 50 pesos also.
On my birthday, we invited one of the families from our church over to spend the day with us. Someone gave us this soccer game and the children had fun playing it with the guys.

They enjoyed learning to play Dutch Blitz.

R. enjoyed holding baby Samuel.

Wendy's

For supper, we went to Wendy's. Algenis (pictured below with wife and baby) lives in Boston and works at Wendy's. He likes to take his family to Wendy's here so they can taste and see where he works. He invited us to go along and we decided we would go on my birthday to celebrate.

It was Easter weekend. Everything about Easter here revolves around pools and beach so this was Wendy's decor for Easter. The whole crew at Wendy's minus B - who is taking the picture and not sure where J. is.

Our children enjoying Wendy's food.

Jan. pictures

After the busy Christmas season, we took a family day and went to a special activity that was sponsored by one of the big grocery stores in the city. If you bought so many pesos worth of certain products, you would get a free ticket into this area. They were all products we normally use, so we each got a free ticket. So we got a free family day! They had a special "ice skating" rink set up - not made of ice, for it would melt. It was made of something similar to plexiglass. The skates really did work on it - if they were sharp enough. So D. and the kids had a blast "ice skating" with no winter coats. :-)

D. racing against another guy.

We skated in front of a big Christmas tree.

The boys got to go rock climbing.

Jan. pictures 3

J. enjoyed the jumping castle.....

......and the big slide. A little boy standing in line came up and hugged J.

The Christmas tree all lit up at night.

My mom and brother came for a visit. This is me with my mom.