We know our days!

Orquidia sang beautifully today. She's a little hard to hear but by far one of the sweetest and cutest students. She cracks me up when she says "Sabado". She is one that runs up and gives me a hug everyday. Ok, well I will post it when it decides to load in a decent amount of time.

I took Angel to get his prescription filled and then Cara and I took him to the dentist. He is all swollen and has not been able to eat or sleep. The dentist wrote another prescription and told us to come back when the inflamation goes down. I feel so bad for him, he looks miserable.

On the guagua ride home today, this boy was sitting next to me in the back and couldn't have been over 11 yrs old. He kept nodding off and before I knew it, he was fast asleep on my shoulder. All the older guys were laughing and talking about it. When he woke up I asked him why he was so tired...he had worked all day. This poor little guy is too little to be working all day long. I let him go back to sleep. Who cares if it was on my shoulder. I knew I was safe for him to be near and he just needed to rest. I'm glad God gives us shoulders.

Robin is back from the States and it was so good to see her! I got to meet Laurin who is also on staff and in charge of the interns. Laurin's mom is visiting too. Kate's parents are in as well. Lots of visitors! And Shara gets in tomorrow to care for the twins while Sharla is in the States.

Speaking of Los Tweems (not proper spanish, it's a joke). I watched them Saturday and Sunday and was surprised at how well it went. They are 2 and I am 23, so I had to show them who was boss, but once they got that down we had some fun. They are loving all the attention of having everyone back in the house and new people to play with.

Random: Cara laid down to rest on the dentist chair and it looked like she lost a leg. We found this funny and took pictures.

I had my first stuffed bell pepper tonight with a side of the most amazing pineapple ever. I really liked it, maybe I'll make you one when I get back.

OH! We just got a call...Jenny is going to have her baby tonight! A c-section was scheduled because she has low amniotic fluid. Please pray for Jenny and Miguel as this is not how they thought things would go and that the baby is delivered safely without complications.

55 teeth, 17 kids, 3 days

That's right. The dentist removed 55 teeth from 17 students in 3 days. Once again, the kids did great. One child needed 11 removed but we only took five...he has to try and eat with something. It was so good having them here. I bought antibiotics and antifungal stuff for like $30. It's weird just walking in and telling what you need without questions being asked. While we were waiting for the kids to see the dentist, Sharla broke into song about one of the students who talks all the time and thinks she knows everything. It was hilarious. Everything Sharla was singing, Ashley was arguing with. Since I think my life is a like a musical and I have a song for everything, I found this to be a funny few minutes. Look at the size of the mega pic

Holding Ambiolix after he had his teeth pulled Bobo's bonus root

Last night a bunch of us went to go sing karaoke. David brought the house down with his rendition of "Sweet Caroline" and occasional spanish words thrown in. I have it on video, but the lighting is bad. Dominicans take karaoke pretty seriously, not like how we just do it to make a fool of ourselves in the states. It was good to be able to get to know the staff a little better and made to feel welcome.

Today we all came to the beach, which is where I am sitting in LAX. I am out of the sun as I am sure I am well done. Kara and I had the world's worst guagua ride. Kara gets sent straight to the back to sit in the fetal position on a tire by a rather large angry old woman. I sit directly in front of said angry old woman with her knees in my back. I was sitting where there was two inches of actual seat on each side and 8 inches of gap in between the seats. I get on and off as passengers get on and off. Then, I get sent to the back. Angry old woman REFUSED to move, so I have to hand this frail old man my bag as I practically climb over the seat. This only proves to convince me that I am only good working with children. So now I am stuck between these two elderly people and can't sit down as I am afraid the woman will go off on me and I don't want to break the kind old man's hip. Remember wall sits? I used to have to do them during volleyball conditioning and in pilates. Well that was basically what I did for a good ten minutes. My coach would have been proud. Finally the woman got off and I had a second to put my keyster on the seat. Glorious! But then I somehow ended up on a bar in the seat and was pretty sure I was going to break my coccyx (tailbone). This is what the guagua typically looks like, but this picture doesn't do it justice.

We reached our destination and went to the german bakery which has the best coconut pastries. We sat for a while and then she headed to the sun and I headed to the shade to enjoy this view...

Just FYI...1)I met my first dominican spider of the trip the other day. I didn't kill it b/c we're not supposed to, however, I did not appreciate its presence and was thinking that it was going to attack me in the night. A girl from the group that was in just smashed it with her hand...I was thankful but now fear the spider family. They must be a tight knit crew b/c I have seen 3 since. Not to mention a tarantula hiding in Kara's shoe. Gross. 2) There is nothing soft to sit on in this country. I don't have a lot of padding to sit on anyway (it's distibuted other places!) and I find myself constantly shifting to try and get comfortable. 3) It's hot here. Enough said. I think fan's are the single best invention ever brought to this country.

Alright, enjoy the pics. I miss you all and wish you were with me experiencing this precious time of my life.

Most days I look like a 50's doo-wop singer because my hair flips out in the front. It has always had a mind of it's own, but it's running free down here!

Be thankful for good teeth!

We have had the pleasure of having Dr. Glennen and his assistant Connie at the school for dental work. They have managed to see every child and pull lots and lots of teeth. I was highly impressed with their skills and how well the children handled it. Of course, I am only posting the pictures of the kids freaking out because they are much funnier. And seeing how I am always a part of the shoving the tooth back in as opposed to taking it out, this was a learning and interesting experience. Edwin, AKA Bobo, had 8 (yes, count 'em 8) teeth extracted and slept through it! Not only that, he was snoring and had one tooth that had four roots instead of the normal three which made it extra hard to remove. He didn't care. I know he was numb, but good glory, there is still pressure. And we all know the doctor means when he says "you're going to feel some pressure." Oh yeah, he had an infected wound on his leg, so I cleaned and dressed it...he woke up for that, go figure. Below are the dentist and his assistant working on a student...and then Marta having a very dramatic moment!

I am always amazed at how children react to situations. I think only three of all the kids actually cried and got upset. Only two of them were we not able to work on b/c they wouldn't cooperate. This would have never happened in the States. We would have had to use all sorts of distraction and papoosing. I notice it even with the latinos that come into the ER back home. They are the most well behaved kids and don't cry until we leave the room or are told they are allowed. It's the machismo culture. And never in the States would we be able to just pull teeth without permission from parents.

Yesterday, I took a walk to buy more bananas and Ronni and Marco came with me. What sweet boys. Ronni is especially calm and nice to talk to. He's not a big talker but would answer and ask questions. I told him he wasn't a man of many words and he just smiled. Not a lot was said, but it's nice that they feel comfortable enough with this gringa to walk her around and put up with her bad spanish. And then Diori, who just stops by school, had a fall and had a nasty gash in his back that had already scabbed over. However, his ankle looked like this...

I feel like I can only do so much here and that there is so much that I don't know. It's a good place to be. To realize that I am so very finite and more importantly, I am able to do nothing without Christ. I just look at the situations and circumstances that I have encountered already and am in awe of his sovereignty and protection.

I'll post more pictures in a bit, the big bad blogger man won't allow me to add more on this post.

FINALLY the kids!

Today was a great day. Some of the kids remembered me from November, but even those that didn't simply ran up and jumped into my lap or arms. They hug so tight! I am still sunburned, but this was not going to stop me from the hugs and kisses I had been saving up for months. It was so incredibly good to see them! Forgive Nefii for her lopsided "H" of the O-H-I-O. They don't have long attention spans and this was the second time trying to get the picture.

My job description here is to "heal all the children." I laughed and apologized for the impending disappointment. Within 15 minutes I was put to work. A little girl had stitches removed a few days ago but the area was full of dirt, so I just did the usual scrub with soap and water and redressed the wound. Next was a little boy with swollen glands, cough, complaining of dental pain and basically looked really uncomfortable. I gave him some motrin and good for him that we just had a dentist arrive today that can look at him tomorrow. This is Cara looking in every childs mouth to see who is getting their teeth pulled out of their noggin.

A little girl just getting over chicken pox but had developed discoloration and rash to only her lower legs.

This is a little guy with a funky fungus all over his head.

Overall, it was a good day and I can see where I have my work cut out for me. I feel so blessed to be here and loving on kids like Christ loves on me. Tomorrow I will try and post the kids singing/yelling...it's quite funny.

Vamos a morir! We are going to die!

The dang guagua's provide more entertainment than I orginally thought. On our way to Cabarete I counted a total of 21 people in the guagua at one time. I was wearing a skirt and sitting backwards by the door. Of course between my skirt, my bag and the wind, My skirt kept flying up. I kept it down, but that didn't stop the guys on the moto's from trying to look. If I weren't wearing a swim suit underneath I would have been way more offended, but since I knew all their effort was for naught, I just threw a look their way and went on. Then, this guy hops on. I had good reason to think he was drunk. Kara and I were up front at a stop when we heard this huge thud. I turned to see what had happened. This cemented my previous thought. The guy is on the ground in a ditch. Some guys helped him up and he went stumbling on his way. I laughed a good two minutes about it.

Last night on our way home from Cabarete we encountered some sort of political ralley. A one lane road going two directions turned into a four lane road with 3 going one way and 1 going the opposite. It was loud with music and cheering, complete with bumper to bumper traffic. I felt like yelling "Viva la revolucion!" I happened to look up right as we were meeting nose to nose with a jeep. Somehow we got into the other lane. As if seeing my short 23 yrs pass before my eyes wasn't enough, my abdomen and top of my feet are sunburned and I was feeling every bump and jerk. But as with everything, it could be worse.

Next came the marriage proposal. I would have been more flattered had I been the first gringa he asked, but I was not...I was the 3rd. Not that I would have considered this as a possibility anyway. Leave it to a Dominican to take notice.

Today, Kara and I conquered the grocery store! Which means I rode a moto for the first time and LOVED it. I want to go into the city again just so I can ride on it. We were going a wee bit fast and we both tightened our grip. The store offers this free service to drive you and your items home. Our driver had remembered me from my previous trip and was apparently enthralled with my bad spanish. He asked for my number...denied. He's a very nice guy that I am sure we will run into again considering I have seen him twice on two seperate trips. Weird. Random thought...it was nice to wear a seat belt for the first time in 5 days. So many things here go against my nursing instincts.

A group is coming in tonight so we have been busy preparing the house and having a staff meeting. School is in session tomorrow and I am dying to see the kids. I promise to post pictures as they are the number one reason I am here and my writing is getting boring.

Dominican Day #3

Well, it's rained since I arrived, so we have kinda been up to nothing. Last night a little baby lizzard decided to come and visit Sharla and I while we were watching a movie. It was causing no trouble and we just let it do it's thing. Hopefully I don't accidentally bring it home with me at the end up the month. It better not be setting up shop in my suitcase!

Today Kara and I decided that we were sick of being stuck in the house. We waited for a break in the rain and then made our way to Cabarete. Quite the experience getting here. First, it starts raining harder as soon as we leave the house. We took the cow path because it is faster, but there is a reason it is called the cow path. I don't know what all that brown water had to contain. In any case I saw a small snake and my flip flops had formed the super suction of an octopus as we were trekking through. We finally made it to the street, after much laughing with our bags and umbrellas. Then we hop in the good'ol guagua (pronounced gwa-gwa). It's a form of public transportation and always offers a story to tell.

Since it's pouring, we hop in with a quickness. We are in the FRONT row. So I decided to count the number of people in the front seat and in our row...10. 10 in two rows! This is not unusual since these are packed to the max and the driver is usually on the outside holding onto the inside. I didn't dare turn around and count how many were behind me (atleast 8) as I realize what I look like. They are probably thinking "Stupid white gringa" and, really, at this point who could blame them? My hair is a hot mess, sticking up everywhere, I think I have swollen up to the size polar bear from the humidity and I'm obviously caucasian.

Our driver couldn't have been able to see anything. When I was pretty sure we were going to hydroplane and crash, he would wipe off the inside of the windshield with a towel. Whew, I feel so much safer now.

The guy controlling the starts, stops and placement of people did not ever make us move to the back as I am pretty sure he was falling for Kara. He kept trying to talk to her and made sure she knew he had no girlfriend, no kids, and a job. Qualities we all look for, sure, but dang, not on a guagua. He was sad to see us go, but after an hour of riding, we hopped off with the same quickness we hopped on with.

Here we sit in Lax with free internet and a rainy beach. However, you will not hear me complain. A rainy day people watching at the beach is better than what I would be doing at home...which is probably sleeping since I would have worked the night before. In a weird way I kinda miss work. The people and our constant laughing. It was a little anticlimactic to not be put to work right away. I can thank the rain and random dominican holidays for that. But it did give me time to catch up with sharla and the boys...who, by the way, have only gotten cuter. We'll stay here awhile and then make our way back home later this evening. I still have a guagua ride home to prepare for! This place is full of funny situations!

P.S. We had an uneventful guagua ride home. Also, I met a guy in Lax who is from Dayton...go figure, the guy grew up like five minutes from me. He currently splits the year between the DR and Norway. How's that for extremes?

Already so Dominican...

So my plane took off and I had not one problem. My luggage was 50.0lbs and 52.0lbs...the nice luggage lady said I was in the buffer zone so I wouldn't have to pay an extra $50 for being overweight. (I wouldn't have paid, I would have just stuffed 2lbs of something into my carry-on.)

In any case, I get to Puerto Plata without problem. I knew it was too good to be true. I get stopped to have my big blue bag checked. It's full of medical supplies and medicines. They pull out my boxes of motrin and tylenol, then the vitamins. They look at the sharps box, but don't take it out. That hit me kind of funny. So I think I am good, they've checked, I've been honest, I should be on my way. Nope. They leave to get a doctor to come and look at all I have brought. They moved my bag over to a different line, which made me feel better since I think I was having a mild anxiety attack over thinking that they were going to take away all the donations AND I was holding up the line. (Just kidding, I was calm, cool and collected.) The doctor comes and gives the contents a once over. He asked me if I was a missionary, I said yes, He asked if I was a doctor, I said no. I clarified that I am a nurse. Then he asked where I was going. I told him the names of the villages. He simply states "oh yes, they need lots of help. Go ahead." AWESOME...back of my way with my 100lbs of luggage on a cart.

Cara and Camille are outside to greet me. Moises leaves to go grab the car. We are waiting and catching up, laughing at my previous trip and what the staff has done since. It had kinda been a while when Camille gets a call and apparently, our driver left the lights on and the battery is dead. We wait a few more minutes and then watch him roll down the hill towards us, but in the wrong direction. Someone jumps him, we load everything and head to the house. Not so fast, Speedy! The first stop sign we got to, the car stalls and won't start. Thankfully we are still in the airport and his coworker jumps us again. Then, in typical dominican style we almost took out two pedestrians and rear ended a truck on the way to the house. This is not because Moises is a bad driver...this is just how they drive.

We get to the house in one piece. The whole experience makes me laugh. This is the perfect start to how I thought this trip would go. It's going to be a funny month! I haven't even had dinner yet, this day could get even better.