Tuesday Morning

Tuesday Morning.....I went for my morning roof top visit to enjoy the Dominicans and for some quiet reflection and observing. I found this wonderful spot to just sit and ponder how much I love this place and how blessed I am to have the opportunity to serve God in this manner. School was still in and the kids were walking, or being motorbiked to their destination. Morning chores were being performed and others were headed off to work. The woman across the street was watering her flowers in front with water from the gutter (that is like "waste" water). The flowers looked good so something was working there. Her granddaughter sits quietly working on school work waiting for her ride. This looked to be a promising day....the sky was just beautiful....ahhh God is good.....


Rushing is not something in existence here. There is no need to hurry...because when its time to leave......its always "after the time". LONG after the time....thou, on this trip, it wasn't as long as we remembered..... So waiting to leave, we played. Jes spent some time with Alba doing bubbles. Jessi made bubbles, Alba caught, Alba made bubbles, Jessi caught. I....watched and took pictures, because THAT is what I do..... It was a real pleasure to watch them play with such youthful joy!!!!



We had a breakfast of peanut butter & jelly,(protein...I know, its a stretch) biscuits and FRESH fruit, then off to the site to start digging.....oh...yeah, the backhoe hasn't shown up yet....so we're digging.
Digging here in the Dominican Republic is a little different than digging here in the U.S. In America, we have laws that must be followed. We would have to "shore" up these holes so they won't collapse....because of the depth. WE would have to have steal toed shoes on, hard hats, and most likely, approved and regulated equipment (could that mean.....a backhoe?). In the DR you dig. If you show up in flip flops, you dig. If you are wearing a skirt, you dig. If you have NO SHOES.....you dig. You don't have to be 18 years old to operate a pick. The paid working Dominicans wore long sleeves on some days (they must know something we don't). I was game for the barefoot thing....the shoes I bought to wear here hurt my feet so bad....made life hard at these times...but, I wasn't allowed....(darn Americans.....lol)

Digging wasn't easy. The dirt was very heavy. It was so clumpy (like clay) at the beginning, we just jumped in and emptied the clumps with our hands. We would eventually hit more sandy soil...but getting there was a chore...a REAL chore.

We took many breaks (well, at lest I did....and so did "some" of the other girls) because the sun was so HOT....they moved shade to us instead of having to walk all the way over to the tree.....(Salvador did that for us). This was made from tree limbs and old lumber laying around.....and a little tarp over the top. The water was closer, relief was closer....Our made life was made easier for the day.....

Of course there were plenty of children around. They know...the Americano's bring toys. I love these kids. They are the future of their country. Who knows what type of influence we may have on their lives. The way they think of Americans. They will never know the type of influence they had on us. Their joy for life....as hard as it was (to me at lest), the enjoyment of such simple things like bubbles, jump ropes, plastic balls and bats, Frisbees, beanie babies....

After a long afternoon, we were escorted back via motorbikes for lunch. Coming back to the site after lunch was always hard. We had full bellies, but the hardest part was the heat. Thank God for our little shelter.....Thank God for Salvador!

And so the dig continued, as did the play!















oh, did I forget to tell you.....when we hit water, the hole is done, so not every hole ended up as deep as the original plan. There were a lot of holes with water.....(and that was "before" the rain's came)


We have been so blessed.....





Enjoy the dig....(we did).




































































Let me show you how its done!