Well, these last couple
weeks have been a fast-paced blur! On Wednesday, November 14th, I
returned to Minnesota for a week with family and friends and to celebrate
Thanksgiving! At first, there was some crazy reverse culture shock to deal with
(24/7 electricity, drinking water from the tap, real mattresses, being able to
let my guard down out in public, speaking only in English, driving, having
anything and everything at my fingertips at Target or Walmart, etc.) But after
that initial surprise, the fun began! Some highlights were picking up Michelle
from college at Drake, doing the Gobble Gait in Hastings with my best friend
Abby, and seeing my grandparents. Oh, plus getting Caribou/Starbucks every
single day I was home. Also, friends and family were so generous with donations
for the kids…I came back with all sorts of games, activities, and Christmas
gifts so MUCHAS GRACIAS!! Here's some pics:
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| The welcome crew at the airport (plus mom!) It was so COLD! |
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| ABBY!!!!!! |
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| The kids I nannied for years...it was so fun seeing them! They're growing up fast! |
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| High school friends...I laughed SO hard this night! |
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| Spent a Sunday with Grandma and about 30 other Mages' in New Ulm! |
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| My newest cousin, Makayla! |
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| Me and BONITA!!! Cousins/Cobbers for life! |
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| Michelle seems so happy at Drake! Apparently, Iowa isn't as bad as it sounds... |
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| Got dinner with the college roomies, Leah and Kaite! |
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| And got lunch with cousin Stacie and Adam! |
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| Thanksgiving dinner with the Beckers! SO much food! |
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| The turkey hat I did the Gobble Gait in (and Maggee!) |
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| Surprise: we celebrated Christmas early and had gifts in our stockings! |
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| Checked out the Friends office in St. Paul...it was fun seeing photos of our kids so close to home! |
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| Decorated the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving and Grandma and Grandpas! |
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| And it was Grandpa's turn for the turkey hat! |
On Friday, November 23rd
I caught the 5:00am flight out of Minneapolis and came back to the sunny DR. It
was SO fun to come back to be with the kids…it felt like my first day again
when everything is new and exciting. From my girls, I got two main reactions:
1) Did you bring back Christmas lights for the tree?(When ours came out of
storage completely broken, I promised that my mom had some extra that I would
bring back!) and 2) You cut your hair…WHY?!?! It was so long and pretty! Haha,
gotta love working with 13-year old girls!
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| Cristela, Erika, and me with my short hair! |
My main reason for jetting
off the second Thanksgiving ended was for the Quinceañeras, which took place
last Saturday. This is when the girls turn 15 and officially celebrate turning
into women, and in some ways, it’s the equivalent to prom back home. We had
eight girls celebrating this year, three from my house (Daniela, Estrella, and
Yudelkis!) We also take advantage of the event to celebrate our boys’ 18th
birthdays, so this year there were five of those. The day started off with the
girls all getting their hair, nails, and makeup done. Then they all met up at
the nuns’ house for pictures and final prep. Mass was at 5:00pm followed by a
dinner (yep, we definitely killed one of our cows to make this possible) and
ceremony complete with a little choreographed waltz and the ceremonious gesture
of our director putting a shoe on each girls’ foot. The girls also each
received bracelets and necklaces and the boys received watches. Everyone looked
like a million bucks and the dance that night was a lot of fun! I felt like
such a proud mom with my 3 girls too :) I love events where they just get to be
kids and enjoy!
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| The girls and I beforehand at the nuns' house! |
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| The boys all waiting outside the nuns' house! |
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| Toos, me, Avriel, and Madelon (plus Wilkin!) |
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| Me and the nurse's baby! SO adorable! |
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| Lucy FINALLY agreed to take a picture with me (I may or may not have bribed her with chocolate!) |
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| The two newest girls to my house, Cristal and Milis! |
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| My godbrother and sister, Wilson and Milis! |
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| Our youngest, Saul, with our oldest, Debora, and Jofran too! |
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| The cake and decorations were fantastic! |
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| My girls! Yudelkis, Daniela, me, and Estrella! |
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| The multipurpose center was transformed! |
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| National Director Kieran putting Estrella's shoe on! |
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| The partner waltz! |
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| Each girl had a big decorative sign with their name grafitti-ed on! |
Sponsorship has really
been picking up lately! We’re starting a couple new programs and are getting lots
of visits. On Sunday, some Italians came and spent the day with their
godson, Antonio. It was a lot of fun! It was a couple too…I love it when there
are good male role models on site…the boys just eat it up! Then on Thursday, a group of Canadians came to visit complete with one of Maria Luisa's godmothers...she has visited multiple times before, so it's cool to see the relationship she has established with the girls!
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| Antonio and his Italian godmother! |
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| Maria Luisa's godmother with the Santa Rosa girls gathered round! |
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| Maria Luisa and her godmother! |
Monday, the high school
seniors that go to the private school in town had their promoción, which is
essentially a mid-year, pre-graduation type event. They all did some dances and
again, just got to be kids exciting about having nearly made it through school.
It was cool to be able to support some of our oldest kids!
On Thursday afternoon, I
celebrated my three November birthdays in the house (Erika, Maria del Carmen, and
Franchesca). We got supper in San Pedro together and then I gave them each a
couple bucks to do some shopping. It was a bit of a learning experience too. I
helped them figure out how to take the public guagua (bus) and the motor taxis.
They also each had to figure out the math for spending their RD$100 pesos and
check out themselves at the shops. This stuff might seem simple, but it’s stuff a lot of
them don’t have any experience with and will certainly need to know once they
leave NPH. Avriel came along too, and we had a lot of fun!
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| We ran into Joel! |
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| Maria del Carmen, me, Erika, and Franchesca in front...a GREAT group of girls! |
So basically, things are
trucking right along. I can’t believe it’s December already. Christmas plans
are certainly in full swing! Each house has to come up with a dance and make a
piñata to celebrate! Other than that, I’ve got hard-core gripe (i.e. a cold!)
Apparently, it’s going around because it’s getting “cold” now (translation: highs
in the 80s instead of 90s). Anyways, in the end, my trip home has made me
realize how thankful I am for both my American family and Dominican one…I
wouldn’t trade it for the world!
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| Charina sporting my new shades! |
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