Christmas Joy

This Christmas was very different for me.  It was difficult for me to accept the fact that Eddy and I would not be able to go back to the states for Christmas.  Eddy cannot yet travel into the US due to visa issues, and he is my family now, so (like we will continue to have to do) we had to choose.  The decision that Iwould stay in the DR for Christmas was pretty easy, carrying it out, however, was difficult.  There were definitely tears at some points.  Christmas here is very different.  I was shocked to learn is that it is not really celebrated as a Christian holiday, in the same way it is in the states.  What I mean by that is, unless Christmas is on a Sunday, there is no church on Christmas.  The people in my church here love memorizing verses, they can recite verses for every occasion, except verses from the Christmas story.  In the states I think most Christians in the states can recite a lot of Luke 2 without even trying.  Also, it is very difficult to find non-secular Christmas songs in Spanish.

My reaction to all of this was to start fighting to bring a Christian Christmas to the Dominican Republic.  As I did so, I also had to re-evaluate my opinion about celebrating Christmas.  Was it just because of my own traditions and how I grew up making me feel so strongly?  or was it something else? Having grown up in the church and at a Christian school, I had learned a lot about Christmas.  I had heard sermons and lessons from every perspective on the Christmas story.  I don't know for sure, but I think it is actually somewhat difficult for pastors each December to try to think of a new take on the story or a new way to to teach about it, because everybody has already heard so much about it already.  Here it is not like that.  Here there is still so much that people haven't explored about the Christmas story.  By talking and studying Matthew and Luke with Eddy and with our community Bible study, I too re-discovered the miraculous Christmas story.

There are so many amazing things that happened that day, and so many things to think about and study.  Mary's faith and humility is something we all can learn from.  The fact that angels announced the birth to shepherds of all people, poor young shepherds.  A new star appeared in the sky and led the wisemen all the way from the East!  That feeling that we feel on Christmas morning at church, singing Christmas hymns and thinking about the blessing that was Jesus entering the world, is one-millionth of the feeling that there must have been on that day in Bethlehem.  That day changed everything.  That day brought a hope and a joy to the world that there had never been before.  As the angels said "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of GREAT JOY, which shall be to ALL people. "  I firmly believe that that is a joy that no one should have to miss out on.  I am now sure that it is not just my own culture or traditions that made me feel so strongly.  I am sure, because on this Christmas, when my joy was being replaced by home sickness, God gave me my joy back by helping me rediscover the miraculous story of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Below is the King James Version of the Christmas story.  First from Luke and then from Matthew.  I invite to read it as if you are reading it for the first time and see what God reveals to you.  I know that Christmas has passed for the year, but the joy and peace that we can find in studying and marveling in the story of how Jesus was born, can be found at any time of year.


 Luke 2
 ¹And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.
 ²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
 ³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
 ⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
 ⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
 ⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
 ⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
 ⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
 ⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
 ¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
 ¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
 ¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
 ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
 ¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
 ¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
 ¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
 ¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
 ¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
 ¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
 ²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.
 ²¹And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

 Matthew 1
 ¹⁸Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
 ¹⁹Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
 ²⁰But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
 ²¹And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
 ²²Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying,
 ²³Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
 ²⁴Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife:
 ²⁵And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

Matthew 2

 ¹Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
 ²Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.
 ³When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
 ⁴And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born.
 ⁵And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,
 ⁶And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.
 ⁷Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared.
 ⁸And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
 ⁹When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
 ¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
 ¹¹And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
 ¹²And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

A Very Dominican Christmas - Part 2

On Christmas Eve I experienced my first Dominican Christmas...twice.

We went to Eddy's parents' house around 7:00 for dinner.  They had a very traditional Dominican Christmas meal that included the roasted pork (of course), white rice with guandules, a special type of chicken, avocados, potato salad, green salad, rotisserie chicken, and rolls.  Let me explain a little about each food.  You already heard about the pork.  Eddy's mom called the chicken "pollo a la parla", I have no idea what that means, but it was pretty good.  Guandules are a special kind of beans that they put over the rice.  It is a very traditional part of the Christmas meal.  They are very good.  There is always avocado.  Domincan potato salad is the best potato salad in the world (it may even beat good old Key Market potato salad).  The green salad is basically shredded lettuce with tomatoes and cucumbers.  And the store-bought rolls and rotisserie chicken were my contributions (along with brownies for dessert, which were a big hit).  As promised, we ate a lot.  We were both very hungry and the food was very good.  Plus it made his mom very happy.  After dinner we hung out for a little while and visited the girls. 

The day before, Lelo had invited us over for dinner.  We explained that we would love to come but we were eating dinner at Eddy's mom's house.  Eddy's mom's name is Ana and she is Lelo's sister.   Lelo told us not to eat very much at Ana's, but we told her we were planning on eating a lot.  This somehow translated to her believing that we were eating dinner with their family and planned on eating a lot. 

Around 9:15 Eddy's mom informed us that Lelo told her we were eating dinner with them.  (In retrospect, it was probably good that we ate a lot at her house, because his mom was probably watching to see.)  So we headed over to Lelo's.  They had even more food than Eddy's mom.  We were so full.  Right before we started, Eddy told me not to worry about it, just take a little salad.  However, in the Dominican culture, the guests serve themselves first.  They all watch what and how much you take, and it is very rude to only take a little.  There was no way I was getting away with only taking salad.  So I took a little bit of everything.  I had read somewhere that it takes your brain 20 minutes to know that the stomach is full.  My strategy was to eat it all very fast so that I finished before my stomach told my brain how full it was.  Just as I was almost finished I realized the flaw in my plan.  My plate was almost empty and everyone else had just started eating.  Dominican mom's don't like empty plates so early.  I tried to hide it, but one minute later, my empty plate was spotted and I was served more pork.  This time, I ate it very slowly so as not to be served more and when everyone else was finishing, snuck the rest onto Eddy's plate.

All in all, it was a lot of fun but it was also a little emotional for me.  Lelo and her husband live right across the street from our apartment.  Eddy's two single cousins still live there and his two married cousins live in two houses built a few yards behind Lelo's house.  We spend a lot of time with their family and at Christmas dinner it was very apparent that they consider us a part of their family.  After dinner Eddy's mom and dad and sister came over as well and we all sat around and talked and celebrated for a few more hours.  It was my first Christmas without my family in the states but my first Christmas with my family in the Dominican Republic. I think I am starting to get used to having so many conflicting emotions at the same time.

I did take lots of pictures and I would love to share them with you but my wonderful husband, who I love, accidentally erased my memory card.  Maybe next year.  Merry Christmas!

A Very Dominican Christmas - Part 1

Ever since four days after my wedding, I have been very aware that I was not going to be going back to the states for Christmas.  It has been a journey for me accepting that fact, which was somewhat more difficult than I thought it would be.  A couple days ago, God opened my eyes and reminded me that yes, this will be my first Christmas without my family, but it is also my first Christmas that I would be celebrating with Eddy.  I have 29 years of Christmas memories with my family and this year I will be creating my first set of Christmas memories with my husband.  I decided to embrace and enjoy my first Dominican Christmas and be prepared for anything.

Yesterday was December 23.  All of the family parties here are celebrated on Christmas Eve night, and the most prevalent tradition is that everyone eats roasted pork on Christmas.  Yesterday was an eye-opening day of learning about pig roasts.  First, in the afternoon, I heard the pigs screaming on their way to slaughter.  Apparently, they somehow know that they are on their way to slaughter and scream all the way to the slaughter house.  It is a very unpleasant sound.

Later in the evening, we walked over to Eddy's mom's house to talk for a while and then stopped by his aunt's house to visit them as well.  It was after 10, so I was already thinking about going to bed.  However, they invited us to come back, because they wanted me to go with them to go visit the pigs roasts that were happening in the area.  They wanted us to come back in two hours, but we convinced them to go in one hour.  They told me that I needed to learn that on the 23rd and 24th, you don't sleep.  So at 11, we went out walking, Eddy and I with his aunt and uncle and about 7 other cousins.  Usually, we don't go out at all at night, let alone walking far distances, but since it was the 23rd of December, everyone is still up and out, plus we had a big group, so it was safe.  The first place we stopped was right down the street and they had about 10 pigs roasting, however it was close to a colmado, so there were a lot of people around and I (as an American) was drawing a lot of attention, so we kept on walking.

We walked for almost a half an hour, in the rain, on a dirt road full of holes, rocks and mud to get to the next pig roast.  It was very dark and there were no lights, so the walking was difficult.  This pig roast was at the house of one of Eddy's cousins so it was safer and more relaxed.  They had between 20 and 30 pigs roasting.  There were a group of men working there, that would be staying up all night to continue turning and roasting the pigs.  When we arrived, the first thing we heard was the snorting of a very large, live pig in a pen nearby.  Then I saw the pig-roasting hut with two levels of pigs being roasted.  Nearby there were two boys between the ages of 7 and 10 plucking the feathers out of two chickens.  In the time that we were there they plucked all the feathers, cut the heads off and then put them on a wooden stick to roast them.

Most of the time, I tried my best to stay pretty far away from the action. Everyone kept saying to me, "son bonito no Carolina?"  Which translates to "they are beautiful, aren't they Carrie?"  Umm.... beautiful is not the word I would have used.   Also, Eddy's family does not really take no for an answer so at one point they did make me go over to take a couple pictures.  In order to do that I had to pass by where the chickens had been.  My goals was to not step on one of the chicken heads laying on the ground, not look completely freaked out, and not hit my head.  I did succeed in not stepping on the heads, but I think I failed in my other two goals.

the first stop

hanging out after a long walk

a few of the pigs

the pig roasting shack

They were very proud of their chickens.

right after the chicken head incident

Eventually we did head out on our 30 minute walk back home.  Luckily it had stopped raining by then.  On the way home I asked Eddy if they only did that for me.  But he explained that it is a tradition of theirs to go out late at night on the 23rd to visit and see the pigs being roasted.  So, my first Dominican Christmas tradition completed.  Eddy commented that I am probably the only American ever to see a Dominican pig roast in that way.  It does make me feel good that Eddy's family doesn't really think of me as "american" anymore.  I'm just Carolina to them.  And I am thankful that I have the opportunity to be a part of a Dominican family and that I get to witness things that are very "Dominican" and that many Americans that live here do not ever get to be a part of.

I do not know what today will bring.  I do know that I will be expected to eat a lot of pork, so hopefully I am able to find a way to do that.  I also know that tomorrow I will have plenty of things to write about.

Random Facts - Las Mañanitas

This year I will be experiencing my first Dominican Christmas.  There are very different Christmas traditions here than those of the United States.  One of those traditions involves "Las Mañanitas".  Saturday morning I was woken up at 5 am by a group of Mañanitas.  It literally translates to "the little mornings" but the name actually refers to the people and originates from the fact that this tradition is done very early in the morning.  It is a little bit like caroling, but definitely has a Dominican twist.  The tradition is to get up at 4 or 5 in the morning and get together with a large group of people to walk through the neighborhood singing with the accompaniment of a tambora.  This is like a hand drum, but much louder.  The do not sing soft christmas carol type songs, they sing fast, loud, merengue songs, which is the most traditional type of song here.  They walk through the neighborhood, stopping at each house and sing until the family in the house wakes up and comes out.  Sometimes, they will get invited in for some jengibre, which is a traditional Christmas tea.  You might think that people would find it annoying to be woken up so early in the morning, however, the people here love it and yesterday it created a sense of excitement and joy and celebrating in our neighbordhood, having all been visited by a group of Las Mañanitas. I enjoyed it as well.

School Pictures

I was looking back at my old posts and I realized that I haven't posted pictures of the school for a while.  So here you go!

This is the new school building.  All of our students, except the preschoolers, have class in this building (kindergarten through 6th grade).  There are three classrooms downstairs and three classrooms upstairs.  They have been in use for over a year.  They are very unfinished without doors, windows, or electricity.

Doors and windows will be going in over Christmas Break! 

On the left are the bathrooms and on the right you can see the door to the office.  This is the newest part of the school. 

This is the "cafeteria" the children can buy their snack here and we made a make-shift roof to have a covered area for the children to protect from the sun or the rain.

Here are some of the first graders at recess...

...and in class.

Last month, a medical team from Hands of Grace came down and checked our students.

Things I Have Learned Since Moving to the DR...

21.  Through all those years when I thought I would always be single, God was preparing a husband for me.
22.  I can cook (kind of).
23.  My family is one of my greatest blessings.
24.  I can't tell the difference between the sound of gun fire and the sound of fire crackers.
25.  I am completely safe in God's hands.

A few picture of the kids

Kinder (4 yrs)

Maternal (3 yrs)

Parvulo (2 yrs)

The Girls

If you read this blog regularly or are my facebook friend, you may have heard me mention "the girls".  When I mention "the girls", I am referring to Eddy's nieces, Adriani and Adriana.  When I met them they were 6 and 4.  Now they are 8 and 6.  Since their names are so similar and saying the two names back to back sounds like a tongue twister, we just call them "the girls". 

For a year, the girls were my roommates.  I moved in with the girls and their mom (Eddy's sister, Guille) last August and lived with them until I got married this past August.  In that time we became very close.  We were a part of each others every-day lives.  Now that I have moved out, things have changed, and it has been a big change for them.  I am not there for them to say goodnight when they go to bed every night.  They don't see me in the morning getting ready to go to work.  They don't get to hang out and "help" me make supper in the evenings. 

It is a priority of mine and Eddy's to make sure that we don't get too busy and forget to spend some time with the girls each week.  We do eat lunch at their house a few days a week, so that has helped a lot.  Other than that we invite them over to spend time at our house or we take them on outings.

When they come over to our house, they love to help.  They fight over who gets to sweep and who gets to do the dishes.  They are legitimately disappointed if I don't let them mop.  These girls are not used to having very many toys or games to play with.  The way that they play is to help mom with the cooking or the cleaning or the laundry or help Tio Eddy when he is fixing something.  They like to draw and to write and to color.  They also love to make jewelry.  People in the neighborhood know this and they have somehow collected beads and thread to make bracelets and necklaces. 

Something that you may not realize about life here in the DR, is that for many of the women and children, it is very uncommon for them to leave their neighborhoods.  This is true of the girls as well.  They go to school each day and once a month they have a doctor's appointment that they go to at the clinic. Going an hour away to Jarabacoa for our wedding was probably the farthest they have ever traveled from their home.  It was also the first time that they had ever been in a pool (It was a first for one of Eddy's sisters as well).  So, as you can imagine, any kind of outing is a big deal.  A couple weeks ago we took them with us to go grocery shopping and they were so excited.  They were all dressed up with their hair done and they loved pushing the cart and helping me pick out food.  They laughed about the crazy things that I was buying.

We have taken them to the plaza (it's like a mall) a few times, just to walk around and see everything and maybe get a cup of icecream or something.  They love riding the escalator and looking at the "pool" (fountain).  There is a movie theater there, and we have been wanting to take them to see their first movie for months.  We were waiting for the right movie to come out.  When I heard that Lion King 3D was coming to the DR, and it was actually in Spanish, I decided that that was the movie.  On Wednesday we finally made is work and off to the movies we went.  They wore their best dresses (the ones I got them for the wedding) and on the way, in the taxi, Adriani told me that this was just like Hannah Montana.  At first I didn't understand, but when she continued explaining it turns out that she felt like her life was like Hannah Montana's because in that show once, they went to see a movie.  We bought the tickets, they gave their tickets to the ticket-taker, got their 3D glasses and found our seats.  We were pretty early and being a Wednesday, no one was there so we were able to take some pictures.  We bought them pop and popcorn and they were so cute sitting there with their glasses eating popcorn and watching the movie.  On the way home, Adriani made sure she new what the name of the movie was and she asked what the place we went to was called.  Eddy explained that it's called a movie theater.  I think she was getting her facts straight for when she told everybody she knew about the experience.  Here are some pictures:

This is in front of the fountain (there was no water in it this time)

Preschool

Before moving to the Dominican Republic, I was a teacher. I graduated with a degree in Early Childhood Education for regular and special ed.  With this degree, I can work in a variety of different careers with children from birth to 8 years old.  My first year, I taught a 4 year old at-risk classroom.  Then I spent three years teaching an Early Childhood Special Ed classroom.  When I decided to move down to the DR, I was actually in the middle of preparing for a new career as a Developmental Therapist, working with children birth to three years in their homes.  I have always been passionate about my jobs and I enjoyed going to workshops and taking classes to learn more.  It was my dream to go back to school and get my master's at the Erikson Institute in Chicago and maybe one day work as a Child Life Specialist in a hospital.  If there is one thing that I know about, it is how to teach young children.  I would not call myself an expert yet, but it is definitely my thing.

When I moved here to the DR, I started as the English teacher.  For the first school year I taught English to Kindergarten through 3rd grade.  However, almost immediately I felt led to get more involved in the preschool.  This past school year I taught kindergarten through fifth grade English and I started taking on some administrative responsibilities at the preschool.  It was nice for me because I was directly involved with every student at our school last year, but balancing the two was difficult and I was not able to accomplish everything I hoped to at the preschool.  This year I am focused 100% on the preschool.  I guess my title would be preschool principal or preschool coordinator.  Basically I am in charge of the preschool as a whole.  This new role is both inside and outside of my comfort zone at the same time.

It is inside my comfort zone because I am back to doing my thing.  I am very comfortable in my own knowledge of how to teach preschoolers.  God has given me a gift for understanding very young children, understanding why they do what they do, how they learn, how to deal with behavior problems, and how to build relationships with them.  I feel very useful in my new position and I am so thankful to be using my gifts to be helping the school.

It is outside of my comfort zone because I have never been the boss before.  I was used to being responsible for my own students and maybe an assistant.  Now, I am responsible for 80 students, 4 teachers, and 4 assistants.  Two of my teachers are first-year teachers.  When there is a problem, I am the one who responsible for taking care of it.  Of course, I have help from Shelley and Guille and Eddy. But it is my responsibility.

I have also never been responsible for teaching other teachers.  The teachers of the preschool are wonderful women and they are so hard-working and want to do their best for their students.  I am so thankful for the teachers our pre-school has been blessed with.  However, I am introducing many new concepts and many new ideas about how to teach and how children learn.  They are open to learning new things, but what I am teaching them is very far outside their comfort zones, plus we have the added difficulty of the language barrier.  My Spanish is improving daily, but since I had no formal Spanish classes, it can still be a barrier at times.  God is helping us all with this and I am so excited about the progress that has been made and the relationships that I am building with the students and the staff. 

Last week we had our first teacher work day.  It was my first time leading that type of meeting.  It went really well and I was very encouraged.  Next week our first grading period ends, so we have evaluations, report cards, and parent-teacher conferences coming up.  Please keep us all in your prayers as we continue to do our best for the children that God brings to our school.

a few more wedding pics

Cocinando

I have never been a very good cook.  I have a few things that I used to always make for myself but that’s about it.  Cooking is a very big deal here in the DR.  Cooking for your husband is HOW you take care of your husband.  Every man who gets married gains weight, because now they have a wife who is cooking just for him two big meals a day.  It is such a big part of the culture that if you run into a man who you haven’t seen in a few months and he has noticeably gained weight, the first question that will be asked is if he has gotten married.  Eddy has informed me that the only concerns that his mother had about me when we first started dating was that she was worried because, since I was American , I probably didn’t know how to cook rice.  Since then, even more so after we were engaged, those types of concerns have been ongoing.  And not just from his mom, but also the women that work with us at school, the women at the church, Eddy’s aunts, etc.  They all ask him if I know how to cook, they ask me what I know how to make, and they offer their services to teach me how to cook.  There seems to be a collective effort to keep Eddy from starving.  The married men would also talk to me and joke that they needed to try my cooking before they could approve of our marriage because the other common saying is that you cannot marry a woman until you have tried her cooking.

These comments do not bother me.  After almost two years in the country, I have grown accustomed to the cultural differences and I understand that the comments are never meant to offend me or to be taken personally.  I have also developed a pretty thick skin, and these comments are the least of which I have had to get used to.  However, they do put a certain amount of pressure on me.  I am actually very excited about my new kitchen and that I finally have a fridge that works and an oven.  Although I am learning how to make traditional Dominican meals, I cannot eat Dominican food every single day, so I am enjoying trying new recipes each week in an effort to find American recipes that Eddy likes. One of the major problems in this experiment is that there are many ingredients that I cannot buy here in the DR.  For example one of my favorite dinners is a chicken casserole made with stove top stuffing.  They do not sell boxed stuffing here.  I also wanted to make Eddy rice krispy treats.  No rice krispies.  Not even generic rice krispies.  This is forcing me to go a little outside of my box and make things that I have never made before.

The first thing I tried was meat ball sandwiches.  They were actually a very big hit.  We had four surprise visitors that evening and everyone seemed to like them.  I was very encouraged especially because Eddy never eats beef, only chicken.  Dinner number two was chicken and rice casserole.  I had to play with the recipe a little because I couldn’t find cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup, but I thought it turned out pretty good.  I thought eddy would really like it because it is CHICKEN and RICE.  That’s all he eats.  However, this meal was a big miss.  Although he assured me that it was very well made, he is just not used to that kind of chicken and rice and he would just prefer if I didn’t ever cook it again.  It turns out he wasn’t very hungry that night either because he didn’t eat very much of it.

My chicken parmesan went over a lot better and tonight I am making barbecue (sloppy joes) so we will see how that goes.  I am also hoping to bake some cookies this week and pancakes for breakfast on Saturday (even I had a hard time believing that he has never had pancakes).  Each Saturday we do our grocery shopping.  Last Saturday, I went through my cookbook and made my grocery list.  We took the girls with us for our little outing.  About half way through the store Eddy commented that he had never seen so many weird things together in the same cart.  The girls wholeheartedly agreed.  What are some of these weird things that were in my cart?  Chocolate chips, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, instant coffee, brown sugar, peanut butter, vanilla, flour, ketchup, mustard, spaghetti sauce, parmesan, ground beef, boneless skinless chicken breasts, etc.  It was definitely the most American grocery shopping trip that I had ever made.

I am still working on my Dominican meals.  I have plans to visit a lady from our community Bible study again so that she can continue teaching me how to cook.  So far I have only mastered how to make white rice.  Next week I think I will try to focus on practicing a few other Dominican meals and my cart will be full of “normal” things like rice, black beans, red beans, tomato paste, chicken bouillon cubes, garlic, onions, plantains, and yucca.  

Wedding Pictures

the ceremony

my favorite candid so far

eddy singing

all my brothers and sisters

just a little of the beauty that surrounded us

The Wedding

I shared with you before the wedding, the plans that we had made.  So instead of giving you another description of everything that happened, I think I will share with you my unique perspective during that monumental week of my life and the feelings that I experienced.

In the days leading up to the wedding, I was somewhat stressed.  Ok, I was very stressed.  People were arriving on different days and there seemed to be a lot of problems with people getting here when they were scheduled to.  I blame the Miami airport for this, but I really don’t know who’s at fault.  All of our lists of things to do did not get done before people started to arrive as we had hoped and to top it all off Eddy was sick and getting worse by the day.  Fever, sore throat, body aches, etc.  Our house was full of suitcases and all of my house wares that my family brought down for me.  It was really nice to have my family and friends in Santiago and I was so happy to have them there to stay at my house and spend time with Eddy’s family, but I had a hard time enjoying it.   Even though we were able to do most of the things that we had planned to dos, and even though I was really trying, I could not relax.  My mind was spinning.  I was worried about trying to make my family as comfortable as possible, I was worried about my list of things to do with no time to do them, I was worried about Eddy and the fact that he was not himself because he was sick.  (For those of you who know Eddy personally you will find it amusing that at first my family thought he was quiet.)  My visitors, through all of this, were great, they were gracious when the first day we had no running water all day and the second day when there was no electricity.  They went with the flow and as I think about it now, everything actually did go pretty smoothly.  It was my inability to relax that was the problem.

But then something happened.  My family and Eddy’s family were packed (tightly) into the bus and we were finally on our way to Jarabacoa.  I had given the bus driver a CD of praise and worship songs to play and I was sitting next to my future husband listening to my favorite songs, looking out at the mountains and suddenly became very aware of how loved I was.  For a big part of my life, I let the enemy convince me that I was not loved, in fact, that I was unlovable.  But in that moment, God opened my eyes, and I looked around this bus crammed full of 30 people who love me.  One of whom, loves me so much that he was about to willingly choose to spend the rest of his life with me.  And then I became aware of how much God loves me as well because He is the one who put all of these people in my life and He is the one that brought me and Eddy together and He worked in the hearts of our families and friends and helped them choose to support us in our decision.  That is the other thing that I felt: support.  All of my friends and family that came to wedding were not just there to relax and enjoy the day.  They were put to work.  They were ironing dresses and steaming veils.  They were doing our hair and makeup.  They were tying bows and putting together flower arrangements.  They were taking pictures and videotaping.  They were setting up music equipment and cooking sancocho.  Everyone choose to chip in and help because, they supported us in our marriage and wanted to be a part of our wedding.

On that bus ride to Jarabacoa, I found peace and I guarded that peace because I wanted to hold on to it.  Although the stress came here and there, when the ceremony was held because the flowers were late, when the food was late and people were getting bored, and when the music at the reception was a complete disaster, those are not the things that I remember when I think about that day.  When I think about that day, I remember getting ready in the morning with my sisters and Katie and Marci.  I remember my uncle’s reaction when I came out of my room in my wedding dress.  I remember watching everyone take their seats and Eddy walk his mom and my mom down the aisle.  I remember that the ceremony was perfect.  I remember being full of joy, looking into the eyes of the man I love, saying our vows, promising our lives to each other in front of our family and friends and just as I had hoped, I remember feeling wrapped up in the arms of God surrounded by His creation.  I remember the hug that I got from my brother after the ceremony. I remember the toasts that were given by my sisters and by Katie. I remember my mom going around and taking pictures of all of the Eddy’s family.  I remember Dan telling me about the pictures he got of Eddy’s face when he first saw me.  I remember Katie C. dealing with every issue that came up so that we wouldn’t have to.  I remember George and Dan entertaining us with their fans at the table.  I remember dancing my father daughter dance with my dad.  I remember my first dance with my husband to the song “I will be here” by Steven Curtis Chapman.  I remember purposely throwing the bouquet to Christine because I knew (and she didn’t) that in a few days she would be engaged.   I remember Melissa taking fun pictures of us after the reception.   But most of all, I remember Eddy singing me his song.  It was a classic Spanish song, but I had never heard it.  There are no words to explain what I felt, but it was the perfect song and he looked so handsome and happy as he sang it. 

Un Pacto con Dios

Solamente yo queria

decirte por si no lo sabias

que estoy pensando en ti

en cada momento

siento aquellas tentaciones

idioma de dos corazones

que aprehendieron a amarse

de un modo ideal

lo nuestro no tiene final

un pacto con dios hicimos tu y yo

y nada en el mundo tiene mas valor

asi es este amor que no se rompe ouuu no

no me cansare de repetirtelo

tu vas mas alla de ser mi gran pasion

dejame decirte que

que te quiero

tu naciste siendo bella

mas bella que cualquier estrella

asi eres tu para mi asi eres tu

parecia fantasia que alcanzarte no podia

y aprehendimos a amarnos del modo ideal

lo nuestro no tiene final

un pacto con dios hicimos tu y yo

y nada en el mundo tiene mas valor

asi es este amor que no se rompe ouuu no

no me cansare de repetirtelo

tu vas mas alla de ser mi gran pasion

dejame decirte que

que te quiero

si vivo contigo, si muero contigo

dejame decirte que que te quiero

TE QUIERO

Home

Today was our first full day living in our new place and it was a good day.  A pretty normal, uneventful day, but a good day.  We spent the day without any electricity organizing and cleaning and trying to put the house in order.  We also went to the school and visited for a while.  It was good to see everyone.  We have a few meetings there tomorrow and we will be back full time on Monday.  We went to La Sirena and got some groceries and a new bookcase.  I made Eddy's favorite dinner, we relaxed on the couch for a little while and now we are listening to music while Eddy puts together the bookcase and I blog.  This is actually our second night at home, but last night the electricity was out so we were in the dark.  Tonight I thought I would take advantage and update my blog.  Every once in a while I have to stop to hold something in place for him or hand him something.  I decided to stop giving any input or suggestions as a form of helping pretty early on and now I am just watching in silent amusement and lending a hand when I can.  I am feeling very blessed and very happy.

I am looking forward to building a life here together.  I am looking forward to my new job and responsibilities at the school, to trying new recipes (when I can find the ingredients) until I find at least a few that Eddy likes, to spending lots of time across the street with his cousins and the newest member of the family, Isaac, who was born yesterday, to inviting the girls (Eddy's nieces who I used to live with) over in the evenings because we miss them, to hosting Eddy's mom and aunts when they stop randomly to visit, to skyping with my family and friends, to running down to the house next door that always has really good natural juice for sale, to inviting both my American and Dominican friends over because now we finally have a place of our own... But most of all, I am looking forward to many, many days and evenings like this one; normal, uneventful days building a life together as husband and wife.  God has blessed me and I am so thankful.

almost done

he did use the directions (to hold the nails)

mission accomplished

 Psalm 16:9 "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure"

Hi Everyone!

I am currently honeymooning in Cabarete, Dominican Republic.  It is one of my favorite places.  Our relaxation is currently being interrupted by Hurricane Irene but I think the worst of it has passed and we hope to be on the beach again by tomorrow.  Since I am on my honeymoon and trying to relax as much as I can before we go back to Santiago and the crazyness of starting a new school year, I probably will not be blogging about the wedding as soon as some of you might like.  So, in the mean time, I thought I would let you know about two other blogs that you might like to follow.  Katie from Kansas (who I have mentioned on various occasions) has a blog which she updated it a few times while she was here with some in interesting stories and experiences.  Her blog is http://katiecope.wordpress.com 

My cousin Melissa also came to the wedding.  We were in a small group women's Bible study together a few years ago.  That Bible study changed my life and the women in it supported and encouraged me in the decision to move to the DR.  Melissa and I became very close during that time and I was so excited when she decided to come to the wedding.  She also photographed the wedding for us.  Her blog is  http://countingmyblessings4.blogspot.com/

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support of our marriage.  The wedding was beautiful and perfect and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Blessings,
Carrie

Pictures

Waiting our turn.

Me and Katie (our photographer for the day)

Eddy with his padrino

me with my madrina

after signing the book and saying 'i do' (well actually 'si') she is now pronouncing us husband and wife

you may kiss the bride

leaving the courthouse legally  husband and wife