Overwhelmed with Love

In exactly one week from right now (as long as we aren't delayed anywhere...), we should be back in Peoria.  I can't even believe it....

Today, I went with Nicole Eby to get a pedicure.  It's crazy how callused feet become after wearing flip flops for 7 weeks straight...but it sure did feel awesome to have my feet scrubbed and cleaned.

We then drove with Jeff to El Cercado, a beautiful community about an hour away.  We visited Nicole's host home and ate lunch there.  It was amazing.  The backyard was filled with all sorts of produce (bananas, mangoes, pineapple, cherries, etc).  Jeff told the woman that lived there that he imagines heaven to look like that.  It was unbelievable!!


It started raining after a couple of hours of being in El Cercado so we decided to head back to San Juan, because sometimes the roads get a little flooded.  On our way back, we saw some people standing on the side of the road needing a ride, so we picked them up.  If you've ever seen "Dumb and Dumber" the scene of Harry and Lloyd picking up the guys on the side of the road comes to mind, "pick em up!"  Jeff was a little worried when people kept walking out of the house to get into the car.  Adding to Nicole, Jeff, and me there were 7 more people...making for a total of 10.  The youngest being only 20 days old.  I held the baby and the mother shared the front seat with me.  Jeff was a little nervous, because he's never been that close to a baby before.  He said he was only going to drive 2 kph because he didn't want anything to happen. They rode with us for about 10 minutes, and I got a couple of pictures of us all in the car.  It was a blast.

Once we got back to San Juan we ordered pizza for the group of people that are staying at the guesthouse for the weekend.

I know that I have mentioned this before in a blog post, but in the DR there is such an overwhelming amount of love from the people.  As soon as we dropped off our hitch hikers they told us to visit the next time we were in the area.  Dominicans' love language is time.  They will give you endless amounts of time, I believe this is the reason that we say "Dominican time" so often, because you are their priority.  If they get to their next appointment late, it's just fine with them.  I have been so humbled this summer, and I know returning home next week is going to be a challenge.

Another thing that breaks me as a teacher is knowing that the students I teach have been blessed with so much, yes, I have seen broken homes, but nothing compared to what I have seen here.  This past week I had the opportunity to do some house visits to homes near the Haitian border for the Child Nutrition Program that Solid Rock works with.  I met a 37 year old mother that became a mother at the age of 11....meaning she has a 26 year old, and then had 6 more children, one being an infant that she was needing food for.  I'm overwhelmed with emotion thinking of it now.

I know this post is a bit random, but there is a lot going on in my heart.

I want to close with one of my favorite Hillsong songs:

Hosanna by Hillsong 

I see the king of glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes
The whole earth shakes

Yeeeah

I see his love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing
The people sing

Hosanna
Hosanna
Hosanna in the highest [x2]

I see a generation
Rising up to take their place
With selfless faith
With selfless faith

I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees
We're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours
Everything I am for your kingdoms cause
As I go from nothing to
Eternity