Sunshine Day!

Here are some pictures from last week, what I was able to take before my battery died, and some from activities yesterday morning. Bryson made a video of the clinic week from last week so I'll post a link to that once it is up so you can see what my first week back looked like.
http://picasaweb.google.com/Geedz913/Jan921?feat=directlink

What a gorgeous day we had today at the beach in Cabarete! Typically on Fridays we take groups to Dajabon, the border town between the DR and Haiti, so they can experience the marketplace and see the poverty that exists in Haiti. Then we eat lunch in town and head to the beach here. However, with the recent events in Haiti, and some uncertainity of what the border may look like, we had another field trip planned. There is no concern about the border in Dajabon because the southern borders are being used and not the northern border but we decided just to not go for one more week!

So, we headed to Cabarete which is a total tourist/beach town! It is a good 3.5 hour trip away from us so we headed out early this morning and got there around 10:30. The leaders decided to play some cards, order lunch, and then hang out on the beach. We had a good time being together again since for the past 4 weeks we've been split up. The sun was intense today, I actually had to sit in the shade for the last part of our day because it was too hot. The Hopkins Family had been there before and had never gotten burnt in the past 3 months here, so they decided not to wear sunscreen. Let's just say they look like lobsters! The sun was intense today!

We had a relaxing day, headed back for dinner and got to spend a little time with the kids before closing. It was good to see the kids. Several of them came up to me, jumping on me, asking to be tickled (it was tickle time DJ!), and just loving on me. I sat in their Comedor (eating area) for the last 30 minutes with 2 kids in my lap (alternating over time) watching a cartoon on TV. Nena stole my flipflops so I had to tackle her to get those back and of course had to tickle her and Arianni before leaving for the night! :)

Yesterday afternoon we had an activity with the kids because there was no school. They came over and made crafts and did several different things. I was actually sorting and counting left over medications so I only made it down for the very end. Something that really touched my heart was what Nena showed me that she had made. She had made two little bag/purse looking things out of brown paper sacks. She had cut them probably to be about 1/3 the size of the original bag and decorated them with stickers, coloring, and tied a string to them to carry them with. Inside them were these little containers that she had painted and they were to hold earrings she said. One bag she made was for one of the women that works at the orphanage, and the other bag was for her MOM! It put a smile on my face because she was so excited to share with me what she had made and she was so proud of what she was going to give her Mom. Her Mom was actually just here this last weekend, she braided her hair along with her sister's hair and they say she is coming back this Sunday to visit.

Many of these children have parents but their parents cannot afford to take care of them so they send them to an orphanage for hopes of a better life. The kids still remember their parents however and love them dearly. Two years ago when I was here for Christmas I remember Winston, a shy 8 year old boy at the time, saved his apple to give his Mom on her next visit. Apples are like gold here, the kids only get them on Christmas, so for him to save his apple and give it to his Mom is a big deal! I just love the way these kids endure so much, and still have so much love for their parents, even though they don't live with them!

Have a great weekend everyone!