Sunday, December 11, 2011

Say cheese! Or queso? Or...huh?

Annnnnndddddd my weekly blog goal is a big fail.   But I haven't completely forgotten- it's just been a little bit bananas.

Laura and I are in the midst of photo madness.   We have been to 5 of the 6 schools that Solid Rock supports and will return to two of them this week and then visit the one in the capital on Wednesday and Thursday.   We are taking pictures of all of the sponsored kids plus the kids who urgently NEED sponsors.  And honestly- they really are the cutest.  We've had a couple cry-ers, little peeps who just crumple under the pressure...but overall most of them are eager to have their picture taken.    Many of them are really sober though- it's tough coaxing smiles sometimes.   Lots of folks here who are laughing like crazy will get really serious for their pictures and refuse to smile.  It's odd but I'm getting used to it.  

But before that, I must report on the Gigantes Game Take 2 and the Salud Integral conference in Cabarete.   Kari, Laura and I made the trek to San Francisco de Macoris last week.   SFM is amazing.  They have a MacDonalds and a Burger King and a Gold's Gym and a Baskin Robbins and a MOVIE THEATRE.   It was kinda like being in Florida but louder.     We walked around and had ice cream and then went to the Gigantes game.   Which ROCKED.  I mean, the Gigantes got totally smoked but it was Ladies Night and we got in free and sat with some crazy rabid fans and saw Wilson Valdez and Pedro Feliz and Carlos Peguero again and ate empanadas and laughed like crazy.    Total success of a night.



This is Kari giving a thumbs up when we finally had a guy on base.  I think it was in the 3rd or 4th inning when we were already losing by 9.   


After the great night in SFM, we drove to Cabarete the next day and participated in an amazing 2 and a half day conference on Salud Integral by MMI.   There were people there from the States, Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, DR, England, Colombia...etc.  It was incredible.  All of the speakers were really passionate about providing HOLISTIC care to the patients that we care for...from counseling to addressing spiritual concerns to education and preventive health promotion.    We soaked it up and my head is still spinning with ideas and inspiration and information.   We are hoping to introduce a lot more education into our barrio clinics..and also a whole lot more HOPE, but not just in medicine.  We want to continue to introduce HOPE in Jesus.    And hey, by the way, Cabarete is beautiful!


We could walk to this beach from our Conference Center.


Yay- here we are with our notebooks ready to hear the speakers.


Oh gosh- there were group projects (YIPES- not my strong suit without a translator hoping I understand what we are supposed to be doing!)) .  Here I am trying to hide off to the side while my group is singing songs in spanish and Kari and Laura are pointing at me and laughing from the audience.  


View from our room


Really cool moment at the closing service as the Dominican team got up and sang their National anthem.    Really really cool.

So yeah, it was an awesome conference and then back to crazy reality in San Juan of photo gathering and editing and organizing and saving and etc etc etc.   Laura is the computer genius so she really does the majority of the cropping and editing.   We take pictures of the kids holding a whiteboard with their name and number on it and then later crop the photo to just their heads/faces but SAVED to post with their ID number.    These photos will be up on the new Solid Rock International website in January.    It's exciting work...overwhelming when there are like 200 kids standing in front of you...but exciting.  Laura and I laugh like crazy at least every other minute when we are in the midst of kid chaos.   And we got to spend the night in Cercado when we did photos there and see the fam and catch up on stuff a little bit.  And we have been fed like kings and gotten hugs and thank-yous and it's just been an amazing, if not exhausting, experience.  YAY for the colegios!  Below are some pix of our experience so far.  


Laura verifies all the kids in the computer, asks them a few questions,  then we fill out the whiteboard and I (or one of our kind volunteers!) try to coax smiles from the kiddies and take their picture!   Later we load them all into Laura's computer and the editing begins!


Here is one of our lines of curious and "very helpful" students.











This poor little guy just never stopped crying.  He wanted NO part of having his picture taken.  Even a lollypop did NOTHING for him.




Others are thrilled to participate.




Basically I am ready to take them all home- ADORABLE!



And life goes on at the Guesthouse.  We (Dan, Kari, Laura, and I) have recently initiated Story Time, which involves us crashing out on bean bags, sofas, beds and the floor and reading to each other.  Right now we are working our way through the Hunger Games Trilogy.  We are dorks and we know it but it's so fun!



YAY for popcorn and books!


Riveted by Book 1 of the Trilogy!

Lets see...what else are we doing?   Prepping for the onslaught of winter teams,  cleaning, making lists, sending bagillions of emails,  inventorying, visiting friends and trying to fit time in NOW (since it will be ending soon), catching some softball games, playing some dominos, jogging at the track,  and the list goes on.   And I'd like to say that I'm resting up but I'm probably not.   Maybe after the photos are finished.  :)  Either way- it's been a blast.   I'm LOVING life, I'm grateful (still!) to be here and be a part of life here.   

Mom says I should  mention something about where people can send Christmas cards since it's all but impossible to receive mail here.   If you want to send me a card, you can mail it to Sue Eby at PO Box 101, Atglen, PA 19310.   She will send them down with the next folks coming down.   Thanks for praying for me- and thanks for your continued support.   I can always tell people pray for me and I remain humbled at how many of you continue to encourage me and send little notes and messages.   I LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU!

Bendicionessssss a todo!

PS Forgot to mention that with all the cute kiddie shots above- Baby Nicole MUST be included.  I saw her on Friday and I just can't believe how fast she is growing and how beautiful she is.   Another reminder of God's GOODNESS.



1 comment:

  1. Beautiful, Nicole! Can't wait to hear more about the conference and the things we need to integrate here! Sending prayers and hugs and more hugs (though I know you get plenty of them down there!)

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