Happy Anniversary!

Happy 2 Year Anniversary to Daniel!
For our anniversary, we decided to go on a bike ride. Daniel spent hours fixing up the bikes we bought from the Chases (we knew we would have to do this when we bought them). Then, about 5-10 minutes from home, on of my tires blew. So, we walked for about 40 minutes, had a wonderful picnic lunch by the river, and walked back with the bikes. It wasn't what we had planned, but it turned out nicely anyway. Later today we intend to watch some clips from our wedding video, go over our vows again, go out to dinner, and eat angel food cake for dessert. :) yay! What a blessing it is to have a Dominican holiday today!



I also want to say congratulations to Ashley and Paul Borrego who celebrate their 1/2 year anniversary today! :)

Weekend 1/19-1/21

Last weekend (a week ago), I "ditched" Daniel (with his permission, of course) to go camping with 3 other JCS girls. WE hiked up to our favorite camping spot- Spider Point, arrived at dark, set up camp, and cooked calzones over the campfire. We had a great time talking and hanging out; it was good to have girl time. I love waking up at Spider Point- the almost 365 degree view of mountains is gorgeous. The morning started out with low fog, so when I looked in one directions, it looked as though there was a huge lake between the mountains. I tried to capture this on camera, but doubt it turned out as spectacular as it looked. The low silver area is the fog.

On Saturday, I came back home and rested for a bit. Then Daniel and I went to play Ultimate. We had a large group of people, so we split into 3 teams, each game going to 3 points and rotating. It worked out really well. We met many people from other ministries that we did not previously know. I was exhausted by the end of it, but had a good time. Afterward we ran to Pico Pollo, ate, went home, changed, and went to a ballet. The ballet was put together by a ballet teacher that teaches here in Jarabacoa. While it can not be compared to watching Nutcracker performed in the United States, it was very enjoyable and we were impressed by how well some of the students performed. It was a mix of modern and classical dance. I must admit, I liked the classical better. Some advanced dancers did point, others danced barefoot.
I put other pics on a web album: ballet. I did this especially for Devon. :)

BABY- Official Announcement

Well, many of you may have heard that Daniel and I are going to have a baby!
We're very excited and praise the Lord for this blessing. The baby is due in mid August, and we will be having the baby in the Dominican Republic. Please pray for us during this exciting, but challenging time. I've been tired, and it has been especially hard on Daniel, who is juggling teaching 7 classes, doing grad school, and now doing more share of the housework. However, God is good and He is in control! We look forward to sharing baby updates on our blog. I have an old sonogram picture I'll include, but we forgot the camera the last time we went to the doctor, so an updated picture will have to wait.

Long Time no Blog

Last weekend, we went with some JCS and church people for a motorcycle trip up to Monabao, the next town above Jarabacoa (different direction than Constanza for those of you who faithfully follow our blog and are trying to pick up Dominican geography). Anyhoo, we had a group of 4 motorcycles with 7 people and we headed up not really knowing what was there. The ride up was beautiful, though taxing on the bikes (about 15km and over 2000ft elevation increase). After we got to the town, we kept going up to the trailhead for Pico Duarte, the tallest peak in the Caribbean. That “road” was very bumpy and crossed a few streams where I was worried the bike might take in water. We didn’t pay to go into the park, but did set up a backpacking trip for the end of February for a group of teachers and others. We had a fun mix of English and some Spanish and lots of craziness. You need to hire a guide to take the trip, so we set one up and sat in his house talking and drinking coffee for a bit. Then we headed to another place along a river for lunch when it started to rain and some people who lived right by where we were eating invited us in and let us sit around, served us coffee with nutmeg (it was really good), and talked with us until the rain let up. Teresa even got to hold a 3 day old goat that was really cute. Then we headed back down to Jarabacoa and it rained on and off all the way down, leaving us wet and cold, but it was absolutely beautiful. I can tell my motorcycle driving skills improved greatly over the trip, but the bike definitely needs new oil and possibly a brake job. In all we drove about 2.5 hours or so. It was a great, fun trip with the group, and good time of Teresa snuggling behind me on the motorcycle.