Summer Fun

We just got back from a WONDERFUL time in the states!! First we went to Dallas for my brother's wedding. It was a beautiful, Christ-honoring wedding, and we loved getting to spend time with John, Kate, my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and everyone else that traveled to TX for the wedding. I am SO excited that Kate is my new sister!!

It was also so much fun spending time in TX because I hadn't been back since college. I got to see some of my dearest college friends and two of the girls that were in my K-Life small group!!

My college roomate and best friend Elizabeth and her precious little baby girl Reese came to the wedding!

After all the wedding festivities were over, we drove to Amarillo, TX to spend some more time with Elizabeth, her husband Mark, and baby Reese! It was so great to finally be able to visit Elizabeth and Mark, see where they live, and get a little glimpse into their lives. They were amazing hosts and made us feel so loved. We spend most of our time just watching Avery and Reese :)

Avery loved kissing Reese's toes!

We drove about 30 minutes outside of Amarillo to Palo Duro canyon to Mark's aunt and uncle's cabin to have dinner, watch the sunset, and look at the stars. It was so beautiful and quiet!

Elizabeth MADE matching dresses for Avery and Reese. We dressed them up and did a little photo shoot!

After a sad goodbye in the Amarillo airport, we flew to NC to spend a week at the beach with Elliott's whole extended family. His grandmother rented 2 beach houses for 2 weeks and invited all of the family to come whenever they could. At one point there were 25 of us there at the same time!! It was so much fun getting to see Elliott's mom, dad, brother, sister, aunts, uncles, cousins, and his cousin's kids! The beach was beautiful and we were blessed with amazing weather all week. Avery loved the water and the waves, she would charge into them as soon as we would put her down- no fear in her.

Avery is walking-walking-walking now.

Elliott's cousin, his wife, and their four children came all the way from Montana!

Great Weekend

This weekend our church here in Santo Domingo put on a conference and invited John Piper to be the main speaker. We got to go to several of the sessions throughout the weekend- and were soaking everything in like sponges. It was so refreshing and filling to listen to a sermon in our "heart language," English, and to receive from one of God's servants that shares our culture.

Before we moved to the DR, I remember someone that had lived in the DR for a number of years telling me how RICH the US was- not just rich with money, but with spiritual recourses as well. In the US we are exposed to so much- preachers, books, musical artists- and there is so much variety in all of these things. I found that to be so true this weekend. I don't think I realized how spiritually dry I had become (even though God has been working in my heart in new and different ways because of our circumstances here), and how much a I needed to be challenged, encouraged, and filled by the hearing of the word of God. So praise God for the RICH weekend were were able to experience in Him.

Our good friends Jake and Kyla came down from Jarabacoa on Thursday night to go to the conference with us. Their son was born 5 days after Avery and they are already great little buds. Here is a little video of the two of them together!

A&J from Lindsay Drake on Vimeo.

Tomorrow!!

Tomorrow- Avery turns ONE!!! We welcome the day with so many mixed emotions- so excited for all the new and exciting things ahead, and sad that the "baby days" of bottles, carrying her everywhere, etc., are over. The year flew by, but then again it is hard to imagine life without sweet Aves.

Here are some Avery updates for all of our friends and family at home (keep in mind that she is the first and only grandchild and the grandparents want to know all the details!) :

The biggest news is that she's walking!!! She took her first steps a little over a week ago (and loved it- didn't want to stop). She would go back and forth between Elliott and me...over and over and over. Yesterday, she started letting go of things and setting out on her own. I was so surprised when I looked over and she was in between the table and Ridley- walking towards him. Then she dove right into him and gave him a big kiss on the nose (I think that was her way of celebrating her big accomplishment). She also loves to push her little car around. She just smiles and looks from side to side to see who is watching her.

Her little personality is really starting to show. She is really friendly and waves to everyone and says hi with a southern drawl- "haah." She can also say da-da, Rid, Ana, milk, dog, bye, mas (spanish for more) and the occasional ma-ma. She had picked up on some signs really quickly and signs for milk, more, and all done.

She LOVES to look at books. It is so cute when she crawls over to her books, chooses one, and sits by herself, flipping through the pages making little noises. In one book, when I ask her where the dog is, she flips to the page with a dog on it!

She loves to blow kisses and give wet slobbery ones too. It is so cute because she is starting to give us kisses out of the blue- El and I can't get enough.

We just recently finished the "playroom." When our neighbors just recently moved (soooo sad), they gave us their couch, and we got a few things from IKEA and set it all up. It is so nice to have a place for Avery to play where she can get into whatever she wants- she is into everything these days. And I must admit, Elliott and I are really enjoying the playroom too!

I will post more pictures of the birthday soon- the internet is loading them really slow and I'm losing patience.

Well, I think that's it for now. Sorry I have been a bad blogger. We are headed to the states in a few weeks for my brother's wedding and then a family reunion with Elliott's family. We couldn't be more excited!!

Villa Pajon

This weekend Elliott and I escaped to the mountains to celebrate his birthday and sweet little Avery had her first weekend stay with her abuelos (the De la Cruz family). We dropped Avery off at the de la Cruz house (along with just about everything she owns- ha) and set our for Valle Nuevo- the highest valley in the DR at 8500 ft. The drive was absolutely beautiful- high mountains overlooking valleys and lakes. We passed through the city of Constanza, which is one of the major farming cities in the DR, and then drove for about an hour up a rocky, dirt road to Valle Nuevo.

Valle Nuevo was the antithesis of Santo Domingo- quiet, clean air, secluded (we were literally in the middle of nowhere), and cold (40's at night and 60's in the day). We stayed in a little cabin with no electricity- at night we lit a big fire in the fireplace and used kerosene lanterns for light. It was so much fun. Here are some pics and a recap of our time.

On our way!!

So glad to be out of the city and in the fresh air.

Our cabin

The view from our cabin

The first night we grilled steaks and zucchini. Yum! While Elliott was cooking the steaks, I was inside building a fire. El had to come inside to get something and when he came back to the grill there was only 1 steak...a dog came and stole a steak off the grill!!

As the sun set, the clouds and fog set in over the farm fields.

Saturday morning- Happy Birthday Elliott!!!

The place we stayed is also a working farm. When we woke up on Saturday morning the farmers were out harvesting the potatoes. It was interesting to watch the whole process...the digging, the bagging, loading the truck, and then the workers that came back at night to glean the field for leftover potatoes.

We hooked up our hammock between 2 trees and spent the morning reading and dozing off.

In the afternoon we went on an awesome hike to this field filled with huge boulders- who knows how they got there?? It was crazy.

Elliott said that he got about a weeks worth of rest in 2 days....I agree. I want to book for this weekend!

And then to top off the great weekend, I got to go pick up my sweet little girl and be with her on my first mother's day! The De la Cruz family said she did awesome and that she smiled and laughed alot and didn't cry when she got passed around to everyone at church- I wish I had a video of her weekend!

teaser

We had an AWESOME weekend celebrating Elliott's 32nd birthday!!

More to come tomorrow...