Home Sweet Home

Here she is...our new home for the next 2 1/2 years!

(Still needing a second coat of paint and some trim work)

Last week we went down with the Orlando family group to paint our house. There was lots and lots and lots of work to be done. We are so grateful for all the help we received from our brothers and sisters from Orlando.

The highlight of our trip: One night Elliott and I were eating dinner with the group in Cielo when we got the call that Lalo, Zeneida and some other Dominicans were at our house working and wanted us to come help. When we showed up water was flying out every door and window...one guy had a hose and was spraying down all the walls, and 5 people with push brooms followed him pushing all of the water out the door. About 20 minutes into creating this "water park" the lights went out. So we all scurried out of the house to fetch our flashlights. We continued spraying down the inside of our house by flashlight. Oh the things you get to do when you live in the Dominican Republic!!!! Nothing like taking a hose to the inside of your brand new home.

Sanding down the walls for the first 2 1/2 days...not the most fun job in the world, but it is a
very good arm workout.

Missionaries on Wheels

When Lindsay and I calculated our 2008 budget we included $15,000 for a used SUV to serve our transportation needs in the DR.  We need an SUV for a few reasons, the most significant being higher ground clearance to traverse flooded roads when it rains (which happens just about every time it rains).  After consulting Consumer Reports for reliability and robustness reports and considering the most serviceable vehicles in the DR we narrowed our search to three options: Nissan X-terra, Nissan Pathfinder, and Toyota 4-Runner.  Fortunately we found a great vehicle to fit our needs and our budget, and it was our first choice of the three.  Here's our 2002 Toyota 4-Runner.  We hope she'll serve us well for many years.  Sale price- US$15,000.02, proving this "line item" to be our most accurate budgeting yet!

Apartment on Wheels

Good thing we invested in some quality suitcases before all of our traveling began! We have certainly gotten good use out of them. 

In some ways it is hard to believe that we will be moving to the DR in a month....but on the other hand it seems like it has taken us FOREVER to get to this point. We just spent 2 weeks in Winston-Salem with Elliott's family and friends. It was a sweet time of hellos and goodbyes. (Hellos from our 3 months away in Guatemala, and goodbyes for our 2 years in the DR)- lots of differing emotions competing. On our way down to FL from NC we stopped in Atlanta to visit my Aunt Annie. My grandmother Hap was also in town visiting. We had an awesome time with them! Now we are in Orlando with my family. We are so glad to get to spend time with our families before we make the big move...but are really ready to settle into our new place in the DR. It has been over a year since we had a place to call "home." I have started calling my suitcase my Apartment On Wheels. Even our dog has caught on to our lifestyle.....