Hola Sr. Tarantula...now go away

Last night Garrett picked up his backpack and SURPRISE! There is a tarantula. It was small compared to others seen on the island, big by my Ohio standards. I immediately hopped up on the bench that I was sitting on and Garrett starts trying to shoo it out. It's not cooperating. Leave it to the broom to do the trick! Of course, the rest of the night, I was very shifty and inspecting everything before I committed to using it or entering the room. Here's the little guy. Obviously, I am across the room and zoomed in as far as I can go.

Dr. Steve left today and we took him to Lax in Cabarete to eat. The picture isn't great, but the sun was out and conversation was wonderful. It's always fun to watch people's perspectives change from what they think poverty is to what they now know it to truly be. Until you actually see true poverty, you can't understand it's impact...and you will never be the same.

Yesterday was a hard day physicaly speaking. Every person we saw needed to have work done...like 6 or 7 teeth. One boy flipped out and we all assumed our now very familiar positions. We saw less people as we were more focused on the adults, but adult teeth are much harder to remove. We had no idea what we were in for. The last guy had three teeth, it took an hour and a half to just get two of them out. The third one was from a broken off tooth with semi-infected roots and he wanted to save it for another day...he wanted to be able to chew tabacco. His was an hour and a half of bending over, teeth breaking, blood pooling and terrible sounds. None of it hurt him, but the noises always sound so awful! It became a personal mission for Dr.Steve and I to finish. Mission Accomplished.
This is a house at the end of the street leading into the school. I don't know what goes on there...but this is always what the porch looks like...tons of kids. Must just be a good location.

This is sweet Amaury, he actually lives in the house across from the one above. I don't know why, but I just love this kid. He is always so good with his sisters and sweet to me. It's so funny, every time I see him six months has gone by and he is looking more and more like a man instead of the kid I met. Life goes on...

This is amaury's siter Heidi (Jasmin is his sister too) Heidi always has gripe, a cold like illness, but she is cute none the less and on bad days I give her motrin to help with the fever. Otherwise she is a happy girl. The mother, Mercedes, is one of the sweetest women I have met on the island. She always remembers my name and welcomes me in and we chat about the kids. I hope I smile as much as she does in my life. P.S. in the picture Heidi is chewing on something...she doesn't have a dental abscess =)

This is Esmili, in the yellow. Neither she nor her sister, Escarlet, every say anything to me. In fact, they usually keep their distance. I remember their family very well since they were one of the first families we helped the first time I came down. Well, yesterday, she had to get a tooth pulled and was doing great...no crying. After she got her shot of lidocaine she just looked so sad and I picked her up off of the table. She wrapped her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder...dead to the world. I stood rocking back and forth and she shut her eyes. It was an incredible moment! After the tooth was pulled she was up and out of there with a quickness and I didn't get to talk to her much. Today we stopped by the school to grab something and she came RUNNING to me and jumped in my arms. My how one moment changes everything. I have a picture of her up in my new apartment along with other faces of the dominican, but I kinda thought twice about putting her face in the frame since I was pretty sure she is scared of me. Now, she'll be one of the first faces I see when I come home and a gentle reminder of what I am living for.