Dominican Republic Thoughts #1 Part A

These are the pictures that go with my previous post.

These girls grabbed ahold of Case's hands and didn't let go for the next hour or two!  He was well taken care of.

One of these girls asked if I "painted" the kids' hair.  I said it was natural and they couldn't believe it!

Janelly loved Siahna.

Dominican Republic Thoughts #1

In all my travels, I have never experienced anything like what we experienced in the DR.  I have never seen such poverty and people with so little and yet they are filled with so much love and acceptance that I think I came home with more blessings than what I gave to them. 

Typically, when I go on vacation or on a trip, I am ready to come home at the end of it.  This time, I wasn't ready and could have stayed a lot longer.  We cried when we left our friends and this was just after a week.  There was so much love and friendship that despite the language barrier, I feel like I made friends for life.

Here's one example (and unfortunately, our pictures are on a camera that we don't have a chord for to get our pictures off of so pics will come later).  Our first day in this community, we took a walking tour of the area (which I'll describe later).  As we walked, the kids just poured out and walked with us.  Two little girls grabbed a hold of Case and held his hands for probably 2 hours - one girl on each side.  The poor kid was too nice to say he was done holding hands. 

But, one girl in particular was drawn to Siahna.  She literally grabbed her out of my arms (she was probably 8 or 9) and carried her for the next hour.  Siahna wasn't too sure of this, but let the girl hold her and didn't fuss.

We didn't see this girl again until 4 days later and she asked me where Sisi was.  We had left Siahna at the house that morning with someone else from our group.  She was truly disappointed that Siahna wasn't there and disappeared. 

The last morning we were there we went into the community briefly to deliver some final gifts.  I had one picture of this girl holding Siahna that I wanted to deliver but she wasn't around.  I found another little girl and asked if she knew the girl in the picture and if she would deliver the picture for me.  She said yes, took the picture, and ran off.

We all loaded on our bus and were waiting for the rest of our crew.  I just happened to look out the front window of the bus as we were ready to leave and saw three little girls running down the street - one of them was Janelly, the little girl who attached to Siahna.

I burst into tears, grabbed Siahna and jumped off the bus.  This girl had come running just to say good-bye and had just barely caught us.  She grabbed Siahna from me, gave her a big hug and we took some pictures.  I don't think she understood why I was crying.

But what kept going through my mind was this:  Because of Siahna's delays and the way she interacts with people, she really doesn't have any friends or other kids who love on her like this girl did (besides Case, of course).  The language barrier was actually a blessing in this case, because the girls couldn't communicate so there wasn't any indication that Siahna couldn't talk or was different from other kids her age.  Janelly just loved her and wanted to be with her.  All she could offer were open arms and to me, it was everything.

The picture of these three little girls running down the street just to say good-bye to a three year old is something I hope I never forget.  How our Father must love when we come running to Him and the little we have to offer Him means everything to Him.

Names

Siahna has a new word..."No."  We're excited that she's added a new word to her vocabulary, however, now she says "No" to everything.  :)

But, in other exciting news for Siahna she also knows our names and can say all but "Case" - although she does try to say his name and has some word for Case it just doesn't sound like Case.  If you point to mommy and say "Who's this?"  She'll usually say, "Dadda" but every once in awhile she'll get "Momma." 

Today I was changing her diaper and I pointed at myself and said, "Who's this?"  She said, "Momma."  Then I pointed at her and said "Who's this?"  She said, "Sisi."  Brought tears to my eyes.

Accepted

I found out last week that I was accepted into one of the largest crafts fairs around.  Over 300 vendors come each October and this year I'll be one of those 300!  I'm a little overwhelmed (since my inventory is nothing) but super excited to participate.  I'll be selling my door hangers, rulers and wooden blocks (and whatever else I can come up with between now and then). 

So, if you live in the Denver area mark your calendars.  I guarantee you'll enjoy this craft fair.  It's one of my most favorite days of the year.

October 5, 2013

9am-4pm

Ketring Park (Littleton) - rain or shine

This is my latest creation - I made it for my mom for "Nichols" but also did it in Nebraska colors so it does double duty.  However, finding a little Husker something or other in Colorado to glue onto the corner was more difficult than I thought.

These say "Summer" on the backside.  And I also have Winter/Autumn ones as well.

One Week

One week from today and we will be in another country!  It seemed so far away and now it's almost here.  We also found out a couple days ago that our team was at 100%+ for fundraising so that is a blessing.  Actually, a huge blessing.  We did not raise our full $5000, but others going on the trip raised more than they needed and shared with the rest of us who were short.

So now the packing begins and the goal of getting the kids to bed early all next week - we have to be at the airport at 5:30am!  Yikes.  That means leaving our house around 4:45am.  It's going to be a long day.  We fly from here to Miami, have a 5 hour layover, fly to the Dominican and then take a 2 hour bus ride to the town we'll be staying at.  It's going to be a very long day!

Please pray:
*Especially for Siahna - for sleep, for good traveling, for good eating and that she won't be overwhelmed by all the chaos that we will see each day.
*Case - that his eyes will be opened to how other children live in other countries and that he will begin to develop a giving heart.
*Jeff & Myself - that we will get rest so that we can be present with our kids and the community that we'll be with.  And also that our hearts will be changed.
*Overall safety while traveling, from mosquitoes and food that our bodies may not be used to.  And that we packed enough sunscreen for us pale skins!

We are super excited to experience this as a family.

Horseback Riding

We took the kids horseback riding again this year.  We went to Estes Park and of course had a great day, beautiful views, and the kids loved every minute.  We even drove through Rocky Mt. National Park and took a hike and saw lots of elk.

Siahna Is 3!

Monday was Siahna's 3rd birthday.  We went to the Museum of Nature & Science.  Had a picnic lunch.  Went to free play at My Gym and then took her out to Red Robin.  They sang to her and brought a dessert and she dug in.

 Then we came home and had cake, blew out candles, and opened presents!

I'm not going to lie - these last three years have been hard.  But, she is a treasure and I wouldn't trade her for anything.