Do we have some stories to tell!

The airplane rides were interesting because the first one was the smallest plane we had ever been on and we were all serperated expept Gwyn and Jesse were together. Damie and Sierra did great sitting alone and even made some friends and the boys got to see the cockpit. The second flight was a big plane and there was not an empty seat and we assume the bottom of the plane was full too because when we got to the DR and we found out our luggage didn't make it with us. But by the end of the day we had all of our stuff! We spent the first 4 nights with Greg and Melynda Burge and The Stones feed us and took us to church. They also took us to see our new house and Restoration Ranch. This is a picture Denise took during our trip. It was wonderful to step foot on land that we have talked about, dreamed about and prayed about for so long. It is really coming along well! Since Monday, Dec. 8 we have been living in our new home in Bani. Bani is about 1 hour from the Capital where the Stones and Burges live. We have not gotten our container yet, so we have 2 plastic chairs 3 cots and 2 air mattresses. We don't have any appliances, so have a cooler we keep a bag of ice in and 2 lanterns for when the power is out. We are basically camping. We are very blessed with a sweet neighbor who has given us some great advice about Bani and given us numbers of trustworthy taxis. We also don't have a washer and our dirty laundry was piling up and we ask her about a laundry mat and she didn't know what we were talking about, but she said we could rent a washing machine. So we did and this is what came. One side you fill with water and soap, with a hose if you have one, with buckets is how we had to do it and we had plenty of help. Then you put soap in and it agitates for about 10 min. Then you drain all the water out and fill it with clean water for the rinse. Then you drain that water and put the items in a little container and it spins them - Shay calls it a glorified salad spinner, then you hang them out to dry! It fills a day to do laundry this way, but we don't have a lot of other things to do so it was kind of fun!! We have also been forced to be creative with eating. We have made sun tea and we warmed our food on a tin roof.
Everyone but me (Gwyn) was sick the first week we were in our house. We got to know the pharmacy on a first name basis, but everyone is now well. There are about 15 other kids that live on the street and when the power is out everyone goes out side, so the kids have made plenty of friends. This is one of our neighbors his name is Junior, he is 8 years old and very sweet - his mom is the one that has been so helpful! This is our kids sitting on our front porch, just watching the world go by.