No news is New news

      Well, I went to write an update a couple weeks ago and I just didn't have much new to write about. So I waited until now and............. I still don't. Seems like the longer we are here the more our life's happenings dont really stand out anymore to us. Many things are now becoming normal and hardly worth mentioning in the blog. But, as God is working in our lives constantly, how can I call our days boring? So, like my last post, I still continue to go to Santiago each day and work there on the new base. I've been doing many different things like knocking out a part of a wall to put in a new

Janae putting the final touches on the pool

exterior door, or pressure spraying and then painting a pool (with the help of our daughter Janae), or building an outside dishwashing station for the teams that will be coming down, or teaching a Dominican man who lives on the property how to run and operate a push lawn mower. So many times in our time here especially I am reminded of how many things I was taught by my parents (probably mainly my dad) that I now realize so many others were not taught the same skills, and/or values. Often I take things for granted that I was taught at home and just assume that everyone was taught the same things. The deeper I get into life, the more I realize that that was not the case. Some may call it "Farm Sense", but I think it is more than that. I am sure it was intentionally taught and most likely maybe I was not the best student at times. As I am now again in the role of Drivers Training Instructor for Janae, she has been learning on my small truck here, better known as "The Tonka" It is a 5 speed with a whopping 43HP/ 3 CYL motor. I get questions like "Why do  I have to learn to drive a stick?" "Well, you never know..........." Is about all I can come up with :)

Marcy helping clean fish at a comador at the beach

      Oh, another highlight of my life at this time is that we are in the middle of a remodel of our home here in Jarabacoa, Well, it is kind of a remodel of sorts I guess.  We had water coming through the ceiling (cement) in our dining room (again in less than 2 years) and so it seems like the galvanized water lines going to our guest bathroom upstairs decided that they had lived a long and rusty life and gave way. So the great thing about that is that since it is an all concrete construction, they put a layer of sand between the ceiling and top floor (about 6") in which to put the pipes, that way when they do give way, they are easier to replace. Well, kind of. Actually what happens is the sand starts to absorb the water from the leak it has about a 12'x15' area in which to "absorb" so in reality, you have no clue where the actual leak is even at. The water just finds the easiest way through the ceiling which may be close to the actual leak or 8-10 feet or more away from it. So the fun begins of breaking out the ceramic tile and concrete floor at random trying to find the pipe. Good news is, the guy doing the work found it on the 6th try so it was fairly fast. With today being a national holiday, he will return tomorrow and try to finish up yet this week.
     Well, keep praying for us as it seems like several of us in the U house here are going through some trying times the last number of weeks. There is a country song called "I'll hold on" and I think of that often as we just keep holding on the the promise that we have that ".... and we know that all things work together for good of them that love God......" Not that it will be for what we consider good at the time, rather for the good of God, and that is what matters more. So we keep holding on to that promise.

Scenery on the way to work one morning.

Using a perfectly good wheel borrow for a trash can.