May 14- June 2

May 14-June 2 are officially a little black hole on my homewerker calendar. I have this nifty vintage 'flip' calendar that my mom picked up as a souvenir when her family was vacationing in Colorado...probably back in the 60's. I have always loved the vintage look of this calendar, but I now LOVE it because I live in Colorado and have lived close to quite a few of the scenes painted onto it. Every day I try to remember to flip the day counter over so that I can at least know what day of the month it is...something that seems to have elluded me more and more since I've started werking from home.

After arriving home last night from our week and half long trip to Minnesota, I realized that my beloved flip calendar was stuck in the past, on May 14...the day I left for the Domincan Republic. So much has happened since then that I find myself looking at 'June 2' wondering...how did THAT happen?!

Here's a top ten for the first week that I was absent from the home office:

Week 1- Dominican Republic
10. Getting another stamp in the 'ol passport in la Republica Dominicana.
9. Feeling my brain crank out the ancient high-school spanish and having 11 year olds laugh at my horrible grammar.
8. Cafe con leche, every.single.glorious.morning.
7. Experiencing the Caribbean for the first time, both the good and the hard stuff all in one trip.

6. Getting my hair done by some Compassion moms in their vocational training 'beauty school'...lesson learned, olive oil spray is not for the Gringa hair!

My hair has never been this flat. 

5. Americans can be very needy people, especially when travelling to 'unknown' places.
4. Man does not live on bread alone, but also on chicken, rice, beans, and plantains!
3. Getting a renewed vision for the purpose behind my job, and the urgency behind everything we do as an organization.
2. Meeting my 'dominican family', sweeping their floors, doing their dishes, fetching water together, and being joyful together.

Amy and I with the Patos family!

1. That hug from Melani that seemed to never end, when she realized who I was. Melani is 6 and my parents have sponsored her with Compassion for over two years, they even got to meet her 2 years ago.

A sleepy Melani and I on our way to have some fun!