He's a breadman like his mama.

While I was unpacking the groceries yesterday I kept hearing "mmmm" sounds and this is what I found. Guess he likes those carbs, too. And, couldn't wait for lunch.

Colegio is back in session.

I didn't realize until just now that I only blogged once in August. I guess between power outtages (don't I sound like a broken record, but it's true!) and summer schedules it's been difficult to find a peaceful moment to sit down and gather my thoughts. And, although the weather is no indicating so, the calendar is telling me it's fall and time to regather and organize. Eric started back at his "colegio" pre-school last week. He is in the 3-4 year old class. That's right, I guess he's already showing signs of his father's intelligence and skipping grades left and right. No seriously, he is in the older class at his little school because he is with his same teacher and students from last year. The school just added a classroom for his "pre-kinder" class. It's so cute to see the little table with eight chairs each with the name of a student in the class. And, the room has all the toys and things that are perfect for his age...tinkertoys, a play kitchen with play food (which the kid needs to seriously learn how to "play" eat or we are going to have a cold a month in our house), dress-up clothes, all kinds of puzzles and books, and walls filled with letter, numbers, the calendar, weather, etc. When he started going to colegio in January it was a needed break for me, but now I am more excited about all he is learning. He is exploding with language, colors in english and spanish, letters, of course all of the names of his trains, body parts. And, his time at colegio will really help him with his spanish. I think we are taking advantage of all we can to give him a full bi-lingual experience while we are here.

I am actually kind of busy these days, too, which is a welcome change from the first few months here when I felt a little lost. I have several sewing projects in process from hemming pants and making curtains for friends, to my volunteer work with the women at Cercadillo. I am tuning up all 9 of the sewing machines while Ina is away on furlow in the states. I continue to go out to Cercadillo with my friends, Kirsten and Mercy each Friday to help lead the women's bible study. I am also about to start leading a discussion group in Spanish (hold on everyone) on relationships with a new leadership school that my friends Kirsten and Rich Root have started called Legado. The 10-week series is a DVD driven talk about relationships that Kirsten and I will lead a discussion on afterward, so the Spanish part is really aided by her fluency. But, speaking of Spanish I am about to FINALLY start spending time once a week with a tutor. It's really quite overdue, partially because my previous attempts at tutoring with a few members of Eric's family kept falling through, and partially because Eric thinks I don't really need a tutor and that I just need to talk more. Well, "talking more" has gained me vocabulary and the ability to understand what people are saying to me better, but my grammar lacks a LOT and needs a LOT of improvement. So, my friend Marta, who teaches in a local elementary school is going to come over to my apartment each Thursday afternoon and get me going ahead.

I know I sound like a broken record as I stated earlier, but it's H-O-T. I mean, man it's hot! August and September are supposed to be the hottest months and then it should get cooler (for all my upcoming visitors!). It's just hot and humid from the time you wake up until the time....all the time. We have been kicked in the but with very high electricity bills the past two months (that with regular times when we don't have any power), so we are really trying to conserve and not use our AC until we go to bed at night. Whew! But, at least it's not like this all the time, which is what I thought before I moved here, because every other time I had visited was during this hot season.

We keep hearing stories about thefts and robberies being on the rise, and then on Friday Eric's computer bag with his computer and everything for work was stolen out of the trunk of our car while parked in a supposedly secure parking lot at a mall at 10:30 a.m. with full security all around. How does this happen? Well, no luck in recovering those items, which included some really nice pens in a leather case I gave him for graduating from grad school. And, we have bumped up our family "security alert" to orange, meaning no walking around outside, doors locked at all times, and the particular mall where the theft has taken place is off limits. Bummer.

Well, here are a few pictures of Eric's first day of school. I forgot to mention that his good buddy, Esther or "Esto" is in his class. They kind of look alike with their light hair and olive skin, too.This is the night before Colegio, he was running around like a crazy man in his Thomas undies (potty training has NOT officially started) and his Plaza Sesamo "Fake" eating the food.

Trip to Samana

We recently spent the weekend at our favorite beach (the picture in my header is actually from this beach) on the Samana peninsula. We went with an assortment of cousins, aunts and uncles, and Eric's immediate family. There were 13 plus two kids in total. So much fun was had as we cooked our meals in the outdoor kitchen and ate them on the patio of the villa we stayed in, swam in the pool until our fingers were shrively and visited 3 different beaches. One of the beaches, Playa Coson, was completely deserted and actually couldn't be reached without a 4-wheel drive. We were laughing that to get to this beach in the middle of nowhere you have to literally drive down an unmarked dirt road until you see a tree in the middle of the road at which point you turn right and look for a break in the barbed wire fence where you turn left and follow that unmarked road until you find the beach. Crazy.

And, it was so much fun. Here are some pictures:

One last noteworthy thing to share is that last weekend was our 4th Anniversary and my wonderful husband took me to dinner in one of Santo Domingo's oldest and nicest restaurants that is deep inside a cave. So much fun and so sorry I didn't think to take my camera. I was too busy getting Little E packed for his first sleepover at Abuela's house!

Visiting Cercadillo

My heart is singing today because I just got back from Cercadillo. I have been going out for the past couple of weeks to help the women of the village sew. What a beautiful ministry my friend Ina has with these women. They live in a campo outside of town with no electricity and only water accessible by a well put in by the ministry. The campo consists of very simple colorful wooden houses bleached by the sun that are scattered all along the dirt road and a colmado that does triple duty as the grocery store, hardware store and beauty salon. The bumpy dirt road is lined with people walking on foot as there are very few cars, if any at all. Moms carrying water buckets on their heads from the well, kids running barefoot with sticks chasing our jeep, a group of althetic boys jogging toward the baseball field wearing their hopes for being scouted by the American leagues all over their muscular bodies.

When we drove up to the ministry site today the Bible study was already in full swing, women sitting on green benches and yellow plastic chairs listening intently. A few children were running around from one mama to antother, dirty shirts and shoeless feet smiles a mile wide. The open air pavillion we meet under is painted bright yellow and turquoise with a concrete floor.

After the prayer time ends it's time to get busy and set up the sewing machines and work tables. Eight sewing machines are set up and plugged into the bright red Honda generator that soon hums to life. Everyone retrieves the projects leftover from the past week out of the big blue plastic bin and starts to get to work. Some are cutting out patterns, some are pinning their seams together and some are at the sewing machines. Patterns become bags before our eyes as these women use their new talents to create something they can sell. The money they earn from selling their bags will feed their families.

It's a beautiful thing to see these women learning a new skill that brings them a sense of confidence they can use this to change their future. Some sew with relative ease, while others struggle with the simple things like sewing a straight seam, but all are diligent and eager to do their work. The finished bags made from a pattern I helped create lie in a neat pile with colorful tags attached bearing the name of the person who made them. What a gift it is to help them for a few hours, using the basic sewing skills my grandmothers taught me, helping Yaquelin tear out a bad seam and then helping Dona Carmen (a sweet grandmotherly woman with weathered hands and cataracts) finish her bag on the sewing machine. I've learned new words to help them along...hilo (thread), tejiras (scissors), agujas (needles).

Today I walked away with a new bag sewn by Marleni and a necklace made by Yaquelin, everytime I use them I will think of their faces. But, as tired and sweaty I was returning to my home I wore a smile for the rest of the day because I knew my time spent there nourished my soul. Lending a few hours and a hand once a week is a small sacrifice, and yet I am doing something that is making an immediate difference in their lives. It's hard to say who is more blessed...me or those lovely ladies of Cercadillo.

Oh electricity, where are you these days?

It's been a rough week, I tell you. And, it's only Wednesday. SO, I can either brace myself for more of the same or think it's bound to get better from here.

Electricity. I love it. I have never appreciated it more. I don't have it a lot these days.

It's just part of life that we often lose it. And, it hasn't bothered me until this week. It hasn't been a big deal to lose it for a few hours every couple of days. It's workable. Maybe you don't get to do a load of laundry or you have to wait to use the oven. BUT, I am through with being patient...at least today.

For the past few days we have lost power several times each day, and two nights until 1 a.m. It's July, right? So, it's HOT and no power means no fans and virtually no air flow, especially when you don't have power during the peak daytime hours. And, no power at night means going to sleep without the AC, which a lot of people do here, I know. But, we don't use our AC until we go to bed and I really look forward to that time of day when I know I can be cool.

Well, today after being on the generator back up power for several hours, we lost it completely during the hottest part of the day, no ice in the freezer and sweaty stickiness covering us from head to toe and I just couldn't take another minute. I called my friend April who saved the day, packed up our swimsuits and took a cab over to her cool apartment with the pool beconing us. Oh the sweet coolness of it all.

Apparently there is a power "situation" right now where the political powers are up in arms over something and using power to let us all know in no uncertain terms that they are in control. I can only imagine someone hovering over a power grid fiendeshly rubbing their hands together flicking switches turning off power over certain neighborhoods relishing the control they have over us. Maybe this is my imagination gone wild from heat exhaustion, but it doesn't really sound like a democratic thing to do to wield power over the people by turning off and on their electricity at will, now does it?

And, for the record my quote of the week spoken to Eric last night was, "You can't underestimate the power of that second shower."

We have hit the "terrible" two's.

Isn't there something else we can call it? We've hit the ______ instead of the "terrible two's"? I'm looking for a spin that helps me to be more positive about this developmental milestone. Maybe "We've hit the I-want-it-my-way period"...well, that's not really any more positive. I guess I need to remember that it's that stage of feeling out how independent he can be and how much control he can garner in each situation. If anyone has a more creative way to look at, please leave me a comment...for my sanity!

SO, today Little E walks out of the bathroom showing me a dripping wet washcloth that he is proceeding to wipe up and down his fully clothed body while saying "agua, agua," as in "look mama, water!" Not too bad, no big trouble, no big mess to clean-up, just something he has never done before. Twenty minutes later he starts pulling my arm saying, "mama, mama" and he's all wet again. I go to the bathroom to discover there is a puddle of water all over the floor and my sneakers are in there, all wet. In fact one of them is 1/2 full of water. It didn't appear that the sink had been on, so I am guessing he filled my shoe with toilet water. And, he can't actually tell me where he got it, because his language skills still keep me guessing.

Twenty minutes later and I am trying to answer an e-mail and he wants to sit on my lap. I very calmly hand him his four Thomas trains and tell him he can play next to me. He immediately puts on the water works, throws not only the toys on the ground but his whole self, too. I keep my focus on the computer trying not to give him the attention he wants, and for the next few minutes he picks himself up, walks a couple of steps, starts crying and throws himself on the ground, picks himself up, walks a couple of steps, starts crying and throws himself down trying so hard to get a rise out of me. I stay calm, finish my e-mail, pretend nothing happened and coax him out of the room. Immediately he stops crying, starts laughing and it's like nothing just happened. One minute the world is ending and the next minute he's watching Elmo with a smile on his face. Go figure.

Seriously, this all started happening just today...where do we go from here?

Just for fun, take a look at this yummy bread I just made that I posted on my other blog. I had my friend, Kirsten over for coffee with her friend, Mitch who is visiting with a mission team from my college friend, Angela's church. Can you keep that straight? And, along with another bestie from college, Angela and Julie sent me a care package!!! Favorite magazines (and in English!), spices, lots of CD's, a children's Bible, notes with love, AND a Trader Joe's reusable bag!!! I'm a lucky girl!

4th of July.

Man, it's been awhile since I posted last. How does this happen? I think about things to update everyone on, but then don't get around to it, or when I do it seems like the power is out. We've had a lot of power outtages lately...at least one, if not two a day. It's really not a big thing, mostly just annoying when you want to do something like use the oven, microwave or computer.

SO, I just celebrated my first ever 4th of July outside of the country. Although it was not nearly as magical as listening to the Pops while picnicing on the Charles River in Boston we did have a good time. On Friday night Eric and I went to the 4th of July party on the lawn of the U.S. Ambassador's house. Apparently, it was quite an exclusive deal to get an invitation. I will tell you right now that the invitation was not sent to me, rather it was addressed to Eric (who you all know is not an American Citizen). Oh well, I guess receiving a scholarship from the U.S. government in exchange for professional investment in your country deserves some recognition.

It was fun, although a little disappointing that we didn't strike up meaningful and witty conversations with other ex-Pats, which proves to me that the absence of party mingling happens everywhere. The theme for the night was Hawaian, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Hawaii becoming a state. The hysterical part of the whole evening was the fact that all of the food was provided by all of the American fast food restaurants we have here in Santo Domingo and that people were standing in line to get things like a taco from Taco Bell or french fries from McDonalds. What can I say...some things just follow you around the world like coca-cola and Pizza Hut.

Then, on Saturday we went to my friend Ina's house for a good ole American cookout. She has this super cute house with this fun, colorful patio that was perfect for grilling bar-b-que chicken and hamburgers. And, Eric got to play with his friend Edwin who is the exact same age. Between taking each other's toys and claiming them as their own..."mio, mio"...they play surprisingly well together.

So, for an American fish out of water I think we pretty much hit the bases here...fireworks, ice cream, bar-b-que chicken, watermelon and friends.

At the Ambassador's House...we didn't even see him, although I think his wife thanked us for coming.

Getting my picture with some of the Marines stationed here.

McDonalds. OK..for all the joking about the hokey cuisine I really couldn't wait to have McDonalds fries!

Eric eating several mini-hotdogs...no Fenway Frank, but they were still good and they had relish.

Getting a shot with fireworks overhead (which you can't see) with our friends Rhina and Fernandito. Rhina works at the Embassy.

On Ina's patio.

All of us ready to eat.And, finally, Eric Jr. who will eat ANYTHING if it has ketchup. How exactly these kind of things happen without you really knowing it is a mystery to me.