Fiesta with the Girls

On Thursday night we had a farewell fiesta with the girls we spend time with each Thursday night. We ate pizza and then made homemade ice cream in a bag. You put milk, vanilla and a little sugar into a ziplock baggie. Then you put that into a larger bag that is filled with ice and salt. After about ten minutes of squeezing and kneading, you end up with ice cream. It was a lot of fun!

Amy is helping one of the girls get the plastic bags sealed correctly.

Wow! It worked!

Time to eat!

At the end of the evening the girls gave us a book of photos and handwritten cards to thank us for all the time we spent with them. The book is filled with sweet memories. We will miss them very much.

The Path of Chocolate

We went to a cacao farm today. We even got to plant cacao trees.

These seedlings will start to produce pods in about a year and a half.

This scarecrow helps to keep the birds away from the cacao pods.

The cacao seeds are found inside these pods.

The inside of the pod doesn't look too appealing, but these seeds produce amazing chocolate.

The seeds ferment for about five days.

Then they get spread out to dry. Every two hours they need to be raked.

We pounded some dry cacao seeds and added sugar to make some chocolate the old-fashioned way. It tasted great!

Then we headed inside to see the process done with modern machinery.

We all got to taste it. It was absolutely delicious. Chocolate is absolutely amazing.

Where do we live??

Our street finally got a street sign! We live on Calle 9 but we've never had any street signs in our neighborhood. We were certainly confused when we saw the sign they put up on the corner. Did someone make a mistake? Or did they change the name of our street? We have no idea but we think we'll still be able to find our way home.

Created for Community

During the last weekend in January, Amy headed up into the mountains outside of Santiago to attend a women's retreat. It was a great weekend filled with fellowship, prayer, singing, times of quiet reflection, and views of the beautiful mountains of the Dominican Republic.

The theme of the retreat was "Created for Community." Amy was able to be a small group leader. After times of quiet reflection and Bible readings, the group would meet to discuss, share and pray. It was a special blessing to be able to serve by leading this wonderful group of women.

Helping Hands for Haiti

On Saturday, January 30 Brian was able to go to the airport in Santiago with a few people from our school and a local church. They sorted donated food and supplies in a small warehouse in the cargo area at the airport. Throughout the day loads of the items were prepared to ship to Haiti. The volunteers loaded seven tons of supplies onto airplanes. A few of the planes made two trips that day. The group also loaded another three to four tons on carts that would be ready to take out to planes the following day. A mission organization with ties to the United States coordinated the incoming donations, preparations of shipments, and the destination points in Haiti

Private corportations donated the use of their planes and pilots to make these relief efforts possible. Some of the pilots were from Boston, Atlanta, Vancouver, and California. Many Dominican companies donated various supplies that were sent out that day. Some of the items had also been sent from different churches and organizations in the United States. It was incredible to think about all the efforts and generous donations it took to provide this much-needed aid. While just a small part of the overall relief efforts, it was a rewarding experience knowing that we were able to help bring some hope to desperate hurting people.

Brian and Marie Elva, the French teacher at Santiago Christian School. She, being Haitian, was particularly eager to volunteer. Sadly, two of Marie Elva's cousins died as a result of the earthquake. Several days after the quake Marie Elva traveled to Haiti, bringing some food and supplies to her family whose homes were destroyed like countless others.

This enormous cargo plane arrived with UN containers and modular portable offices that were quickly loaded on flatbed trucks bound for Haiti.

Our Experience with the Earthquake

We recently experienced the earthquake that caused so much destruction in Haiti. We had walked to the grocery store to pick up a few things after school. As we were walking home, the ground began to pitch and roll. Brian grabbed for a nearby metal gate. We didn't realize it was an earthquake at first. Brian mentioned that he felt dizzy. We stood there for a minute before we realized that it was an earthquake. We held on to the gate and watched the water in the puddles slosh back and forth. Above our heads, the electricity wires were swaying as if blown by a violent wind. However, the air was still during these eerie moments. Once the shaking subsided we walked the last block to our apartment building. Many of our neighbors were standing outside talking about what had happened. The math teacher from our school lives just three buildings down from us. He and his wife walked over, and we talked about whether or not it was safe to go back inside. During this time we were feeling some slight aftershocks. Eventually everyone started to go back inside, and we followed.

Nothing in our apartment was out of place or damaged. We later heard that the earthquake was about a 5.7 or a 5.9 here.

We haven't felt any more aftershocks, and there wasn't any damage in our city. We had school the next day and life settled back into its usual routine for us.

Dengue Fever

Near the end of October I (Amy) went to the school nurse one morning because I felt feverish. My temperature was 102 degrees. I felt achy and figured it was just some type of flu bug. Before I left the nurse's office she asked if I had a headache. I didn't have one but she mentioned that those symptoms could mean dengue fever. The only way to get dengue fever is to get bitten by an infected mosquito. As the days progressed, it became clearer that I probably had dengue. I guess I came in contact with a really nasty mosquito. The symptoms of dengue fever are miserable: fever, bad headache, nausea, dropping platelets and extreme tiredness. These symptoms go on for a week or longer.

A few days later Brian got a fever and a headache. He also must have bitten by a dengue mosquito. Our days passed slowly. We took turns heading from the bedroom, to the couch, to the bathroom. For many days we ate only crackers and tried to drink a lot of fluids. Doctor visits and blood work added to our dismal week.

We're so grateful that we didn't get the more serious kind of dengue. In some cases, the platelets drop so low that people need to be put in intensive care for dangerous bleeding issues or require blood transfusions. However, we're still much more cautious about wearing mosquito repellent. We certainly don't want a repeat of those miserable weeks.

Bright spots during our sickness:

*e-mails from friends, family and supporters

*fun cards from the students at school

*food deliveries by teachers who care about us

*help from the school nurse

A few weeks after our recovery, we saw this sign on the back of an exterminator's truck. Maybe we should keep these phone numbers handy!