week 29: bringing in '09 (december 29 - january 4)

a rough start to the week: being here is usually pretty emotionally and spiritually challenging, but i had my physical challenges at the beginning of this week. on sunday of last week i played basketball for a couple hours with some of the older boys. we've gotten some pretty intense games going lately and it's been really, really fun. however in the midst of our game on sunday night, i went up for a rebound and lost my footing and came down flat on my hip, followed by my head banging on the ground. i thought i might have a concussion, but i ended up being fine, just really sore for a few days. then, on monday night, we (me, kelly and marijo, one of the staff members) drove into town to do grocery shopping and on the way home our car overheated. so we died on this long dark road in the middle of the sugar cane fields, heading back to nph. i'm not gonna lie it was a little scary. it's not really the place 3 white woman want to be when it's dark out, plus our car was smoking and i thought the care was going to burst into flames at any minute. we ended up resting a little and then making it about 1/2 kilometer from nph before we died again. so at that point, we decided the best thing to do was just push it back home, so that is what we did. after that i was pretty tired and i really needed to take a shower (which i usually do at 4 in the afternoon because it's the hottest time of the day and the water doesn't feel so cold). anyway, it was about 9 pm and i don't konw why but for some reason the water was extra cold and i threw my head back quickly to get out of the way and immediately i felt something tear all down my neck and into my back. it was pretty sore for the night, but when i woke up the next morning i could barely move. i tried my best to get out of bed and get ready for the day, but i couldn't lift my head off my shoulder. so after about a half an hour of trying to forget about it, i just had to lay down because it was the only thing that didn't hurt. i ended up just having to lay flat on the floor for the whole entire day! luckily we have a volunteer that is a physical therapist so she was able to work on my at points during the day, but she said it was best that i just didn't move. it was so embarrassing too because everyone was asking me how i hurt myself and i had to say "taking a shower"!

new year's eve: i felt pretty blessed thinking about the past couple new years... i brought in '06 in hawaii, '07 in new jersey, '08 in england and here i am bringing in '09 in the dr. very crazy. it was another good new years here... simple and laid back. the volunteers were in charge of putting together a little show again like we did for christmas, except this time it was the tías that did the talent show. the volunteers also had to do a performance... we did a "dance" to one of the bachata songs they have here. (it was more a way to make fun of ourselves because the kids just don't understand how anyone in the world could not know how to dance... apparently they come out of the womb ready to dance!) then the whole home had dinner together on the basketball court and then afterwards we had some music and dancing while we waited for midnight. then we made a big bonfire that we all gathered around and said some prayers to bring in the new year. it was a very fun night.

a good end to the week: even though '08 had a rough end, i had a great start to '09. we had a group from chicago come on new year's eve for a week to help out with various projects, so most of the rest of my week was spent with them. they brought gifts for three king's day (epiphany) so we worked on organizing those. there was also a group that worked hard laying cement so we could have more sidewalks and another group of dentists that came to give check-ups and fill cavities. it was a busy end to the week, but they were a great group of people and really fun to work with.

also, on saturday i got to go to the beach with my boys from casa santa rosa because of a deal they made with the director of the house (a reward for their hard work). we had a blast learning how to float, taking underwater pictures, jumping over waves and trying to catch fish is plastic bottles. (more pics here... http://dominicanrepubliccitypics.shutterfly.com/)

then on sunday i got to go out on a home visit (whenever kids are referred to nph, the social worker goes out to visit the family, take notes and eventually there is a meeting with other people at the home to determine whether or not nph is a good fit.) anyway, this family we visited was a 35 year old mother with 10 kids... the oldest was 16 and the youngest were 4 month old twins. it was a very interesting experience. it was myself, a staff member from nph and a nun from the area where this family lived (she had referred them to us). they lived in this tiny, tiny little tin hut. we all sat outside and talked with the mother about their life, about the fathers (there are 3) and about how she would feel if her kids came to live with us. they then asked the kids how they felt about coming to live at the orphanage and they all said that they wanted to... but we could tell by the way they looked at their mother that they had been coached before we came. i can't image what it must feel like to have your mom ask you to lie and say you want to leave her and at the same time i can't imagine trying to raise, feed and clothe ten kids alone in a house the smaller than most of our kitchens. it may seem selfish of her, but she could just be trying to do what she thinks is best for her kids. i don't know... the kids were so cute too and it's hard because i just sat there and wanted to take them home with us and at the same time i thought about how many other cases there are out there like this one and just how hard life can be for some people. even though it was kind of a hard experience and made me a little depressed about the world, it was something that i was very glad that i had the opportunity to do and we’ll see if the kids end up becoming part of our family one day.

finally, in addition to our home visit, we brought along one of our pequeños, sebastián. he was one of the original six kids that was here when the home started. now he is ten years old and his grandfather lives close to where we were going, so we brought him along so we could stop by and see his grandfather. we had to drive out for about another hour in what seemed like the middle of nowhere to a place with all these plantain tree fields, but we finally arrived at his house and luckily he was just getting home from working in the fields. he didn’t have a phone so it was really hit or miss if we’d catch him. sebastián was raised by his grandfather after his mother was sent to jail for killing his father (really sad story)… but sebastián is the sweetest kid and he has a ginormous heart, and after meeting his grandfather, you can see why. he was just so sweet and you could tell how much he loved sebastián and how glad he was to see him. he then took us over to meet sebastián’s great-grandparents (age 95 and 100!). they were so cute and so nice and even though his great-grandfather could barely see or hear, he was so happy to have sebastián there. it was a really good end to the week.


"as gratitude flows from our lips, the glory of God is magnified."