Amo y te extrano

The book of cards from our friends

My heart is so so full and I only wish I could treat people half as good as they treat me.  Last night I showed up at at the church to lead my youth activities only to find the whole ward there for a surprise goodbye party in my families' behalf.  As well as for Elder Nelson, a missionary soon returning to his home in Barbados.  They got us good!  When I walked in the building and heard everyone yell surprise, I started crying on the spot!  Not only was I so surprised and so happy but I cried because my husband and baby weren't there.  The surprise party was the same time Jesus was on a phone interview for a job in the states.  And Joaquin went to bed an hour early and was down for the night.  I called Jesus on FaceTime and took lots of photos and videos and he was so happy to see everything.  What a bummer that the interview was the same night but you really can't get a better excuse than that as we're moving again out of the country and need a job and all these things all over again.

So for the party...they made me say a few words which you can only imagine was filled with balling.  We ate mangu, friend cheese and salami, as Dominican as you can get!  We danced all night and they even planned a special dance for Jesus and I where they kept changing the song and we had to change our steps from merengue to bachata to salsa on the spot!  Jesus hates dancing but he wouldn't have been able to refuse in front of all those people as it was set up just for us.  Since he wasn't there, one of the young men Jairo, who is the best dancer and one of the greatest kids, danced with me!  It was so fun and I thank him.  The youth even did special acrostic poems for each of our names and held up all the letters one by one; so cute!  And then we all went photo and selfie crazy and I can't wait to see everyone's pictures in addition to the few I got.  Church parties in this ward and this country are more fun than any I've been to in my life.  They really are giant parties of food and dancing! I'm so so so thankful!

Acrostics!

Dancing with Jairo

Signing our goodbye sign

Me and Isabelle

Familia duval and their new baby

Youth, Bishopric, Missionaries and Me!

Ruth and Rossy (so many great young families to be our friends)

mangu

Moises and Norfelina

Hermana Diaz

Rosanny who put so much work into this party!

Gian Carlos signing for his friend, Joaquin

Our goodbye sign!

Mi corbata with Jairo, Abriamy, Leidy, Erica and Carlos

The people in my ward here seem to embody what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is about.  They all want to serve, are humble, non-judgmental and have so much love to give.  I'm honestly tearing up as I write this because my testimony in the gospel has been strengthened and I've met so many people here that I aspire to be.  So now here's a note for them:

Mis amigos en la República Dominicana:

Has cambiado mi vida. Vine a este país sabiendo nadie, apenas habla el idioma y el sentimiento era tan triste. Antes de salir de los Estados Unidos, todo parecía encajar tan fácilmente para que vayamos a la República Dominicana pero no sabiamos por qué. No sabíamos el plan del Señor y por qué necesitábamos venir. Todos lo que sabíamos era que estaba pasando una buena oportunidad y no podíamos pasar la oportunidad. Entonces encontramos nuestro barrio de Los Jardines. Dos llamamientos buenos y comenzamos sirviendo. No sólo a sirvir, si no invitando a personas para cenas, para las noches de hogar familiares, se ofrecieron para cuidar a nuestro bebé y se convirtieron en algunos de nuestros mejores amigos. Eres el mejor ejemplo en mi vida. Ustedes representa de qué se trata la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos del último día como están llenos de amor y humildad, eres sin prejuicios y quieren servir. Y por cierto, las mejores fiestas! Te voy a extrañar y tambien el pasear por la ciudad a enseñar y visitar a las mujeres jóvenes. Voy a extrañarte más de lo que podria pensar

Rosanny, su deseo de servir es genial y serás bendecido por eso. También eres la clase de madre que quiero ser. Isabelle, tú me has convertido en un mejor maestra visitante y te convirtiste en una gran amiga. Maribel y Modesto, nuestros mejores amigos, no puedo escribir mucho sobre ti sin llorar porque necesitaba tanto y serán muestra amigos para siempre. Obispo y Rossy, muchísima gracias por la fiesta y tus trabajo con planificar nuestra despedida...y gracias a todos los que ayudaron! Me gustaría poder enumerar todos lo que aprendi, pero sé que estoy agradecido a todos ustedes. Ahora sé la razón por la que vinimos a la República Dominicana, fue porque  lo necesitaba.

Jóvenes, son tan amables y se convirtieron en mis amigos y me ayudó a que me gustara vivir en este nuevo lugar. Usted me enseñó nuevos movimientos de baile y vino a mi clase de inglés y me ayudó a enseñar los domingos cuando apenas podría hablar español. Ruego que siga al Salvador y serás bendecido. El mundo es difícil y los mormones tienen estándares más altos que sus amigos en la escuela, pero vale la pena. Vale la pena cada segundo de seguir a Cristo  y no dejarlo. Mi experiencia de la mudanza y ahora tener que mudarnos de nuevo, sería mucho más difícil si no tuviera al Señor en mi vida. Su mano está guiando a mi familia y le doy las gracias en oración con frecuencia. Lo mismo hará por ti lo que sea que enfrentas cada día,  no te aparte. Sigue a Cristo.

No sólo esta barrio, pero familia de Jesús y toda la gente dulce y nanas   en nuestro                    complejo de apartamentos. Manny y Lala nos ayudó a organisarnos en nuestro hogar y se aseguró que tuvieramos todo lo que necesitábamos. Nos has amado desde el primer día. Amarilis se encargo de ayudarnos a limpiar nuestra casa y se convirtió en uno de nuestros mejores amigos y dio mucho amor a nosotros y Joaquín. Boris y toda la familia, gracias por invitarnos a sus fiestas y ayudarnos así.

Y un mensaje de Jesus: 

Quiero empezar por decir gracias al barrio los Jardines para hacer que mi familia se sientan a gusto desde el primer día que llegamos. Somos muy afortunados de haber estado en un barrio fueron su tan unida y amorosa. Queremos darle las gracias por el maravilloso partido que hiciste por nosotros y lo siento que no podría hacer que hacer a mi entrevista de trabajo :-(como becky explicarme todo lo que suceda podría ver cuán feliz era y agradecido de haber formado parte de este Barrio. chicos tendremos siempre en nuestros corazones estábamos siempre nos vamos! chicos han hecho un gran impacto en nuestras vidas y para que estamos muy agradecidos. por favor, seguir luchando por lo que cree y seguirá creciendo nuestra sala. Quiero darle un agradecimiento especial a la juventud por todo su amor que mostraron a nosotros y ayudando con joaquin cada vez que tuvimos que enseñar los domingos :-) gracias al obispado por siempre estar listos para servir. Gracias a ustedes que nos invitaron a sus casas para compartir juntos. quiero que sepan que igual como sus puertas estaban abiertas para nosotros, así la estarán donde quiera que nosotros estemos.

Sus corazones son buenos. ¡ Amo y te extraño!

Samana, you have my heart.

With the clock on our departure ticking, Jesus and I had to pick one last part of the country to explore.  We chose Samama, the peninsula on the far right of the island.  We loved it!  It's kind of an undiscovered tourist spot that is so beautiful.  It's becoming more and more touristy but nothing like the hots spots of Puerto Plata and Punta Cana.  We toyed with making it to the city of Punta Cana (said to have most beautiful beaches by many) before we left but the six hour drive to an unknown place with Joaquin didn't sell us and we also knew it's very touristy there with huge resorts and we felt like been there, done that with our honeymoon in Puerto Rico.  Our trip to Samana was a secluded beach house apartment on the coast, with an ocean view, swimming pools, private beaches and basically just serenity.  We were there on off season with just 50 people in the whole apartment complex we rented!  With the beauty my photos can't even convey, I do think we found one of the most beautiful spots in the country!  

However getting to Samana was a whole other story.  After briefly getting lost and turning onto unknown narrow roads with no room to turn around, Joaquin projectile vomited in his car seat what looked to be his last five bottles of milk in the form of rank smelling white chunks.  I frantically searched for baby wipes, beach towels and plastic bags to do whatever I could to clean up so that he could still ride comfortably the remaining two to three hours of our trip.  He then vomited about two more times during the process of turning around the car and me cleaning up.  We had to pull over in a neighborhood where we didn't know where we were as Jesus took Joaquin and I dumped the vomit from the car seat outside.  Jesus grew impatient with me cleaning up as he knew it wasn't safe for an American woman to be chilling outside of the car alone.  At this point I thought we were giving up and were going to turn around and go home.  But somehow Jesus and his GPS figured out where we made the wrong turn and we continued on our way and got Joaquin somewhat comfortable.  As we arrived to Samana, there were many turns up the mountain causing Joaquin to have a fourth or fifth final vomit and since at this point was all water, I was able to just wipe him off with the towel I laid over his lap and under his legs to catch anything else.   It was a frantic check in at the hotel to get everything cleaned up asap and I was so grateful to see that the hotel we chose had an in room washer and dryer.  Sadly the car seat cover doesn't completely detach and I'm still working on getting the smell out.  While I rubbed it down with soap and water, I  think I have a baking soda and vinegar day in my future! I just can't do it yet... Apparently Joaquin is carsick because smaller versions of this story have happened before.  Oh and by the way, I'm car sick too which made this whole process of cleaning up even more fun while going up that mountain!  Luckily on the way home we did our research, made sure to not feed Joaquin a big meal right before leaving, left during nap time and only fed him crackers and Gatorade in the car, hallelujah it all worked!

I bet that sounds like enough of an adventure to get to Samana eh?  Well it wasn't enough.  On one of the long country roads, the police and their guns were patrolling the streets and stopping people.  We got stopped by a less than lovely corrupt police man.  It's common here if you are asked to show your license and don't have it, you can just pay off the officer but this officer didn't even ask to see a license.  He flat out said he and his buddies were going to need something to drink later.  Jesus asked him what specifically he needed for us to pass, and the officer replied: "you know what i need."  With that, Jesus took out his wallet and paid him off.  Jesus didn't want to risk being cheap and getting in more trouble so he gave him 500 pesos which is plenty here but only 12 American dollars.  I was shocked at this whole thing!  However I am so so grateful Jesus is my husband.  He showed no fear and knew exactly what to do because he has heard of this happening.  He was so calm and we were able to continue on our way.  Later in our journey, more police were stopping people and were about to stop us again but made eye contact with me and Joaquin in the back and told us to go ahead, thank goodness.  Again luckily on the way home we took a new route that not only had less turns, but was a bigger highway with no police and we got home faster.  Much nicer.

This is why looks aren't always what they seem.  While I flaunt my photos of the beach on Facebook, I bet you didn't know we went through all this!  However getting to our beach house apartment with the ocean view and private beaches seemed to make everything worth it.  For one afternoon, we were the only people on the private beach and it was perfect!  It was lined with trees and rocks and looked out onto Cayo levantao (a separate smaller island owned by a big resort) and the mountains and pure ocean.  The water was clear reflecting both green and blue and the sand was soft.  The infinity pool and hot tub were also perks with pool side tropical drinks.  The only complaint I would make was Jesus and I were not impressed with the restaurant's food but I assume since these were apartments that many people rent for longer amounts of time, guests often cook for themselves.  Now I'll let my photos tell the story!

1. Room photos of Vista Marre, Samana

our view and huge deck

Joaquin playing in the fully stocked kitchen 

Living area and more of the view

2. Pool time

3. The Views

The island in the ocean is Cayo Levantao

4. Beach time

no fear!

5. Family time

PS this was our Anniversary trip and this photo captures our last three anniversaries together!

We're coming home...already?!

February 19, 2014 my life changed…again.  You’d think I’d had enough the last three years..  Almost a year ago, we came to the Dominican Republic on a 2-3 year plan to gain experience, build the resume and even get our living abroad tax deduction as an extra bonus. Most recently we’ve been happy with a two year timeline and set our tentaive departure for April 2015.  Before moving to this country, we checked on Jesus’ US permanent residence status and saw all he had to do was keep that was to travel to the US at least once a year which was already in the plans for Christmas and seemed to be no problem. A month or so ago we realized Jesus’s permanent residence status was expring this year and needed to be renewed.  Again, no problem, we planned to renew it online.

Until now. 

We’ve learned that you have to be in the United States when you apply for renewal and the timeline for renewal is 3-10 months.  3-10 months with no guarantee of how long!  We’ve run through a lot of scenarios on whether he goes to the US solo or we go as a family but there’s only one scenario that works. 

We all have to move back.

It wouldn’t be worth me staying and paying for our apartment here another ten months without Jesus if it takes that long.  Chances are it won’t but it’s not a risk we can’t take.  If Jesus is in the US for that long, he won’t want or even need to come back anyway so again it would be usless for me to wait here.  We also need to sell all of our things, furniture, etc. before returning to the US and this is the only way we can do it on a set timeline.  We’ve tried all the scenarios and with a tentaive return date of April 2015, no scenario makes as much sense for our family and finances as does returning now.

Obviously we’d rather live in the USA but that dooesn’t make this unplanned curve ball any easier.  We both have lives here.  We’ve made great friends, we are very involved with the youth and other things at church, I teach English classes and Jesus obviously has his job that’s going so well.  To pick up and leave with just over a month’s notice is not easy…we’ve been there before and had even more time the last time! 

Our youth we love so much!

It took me 9 months for me to be ok here.  It’s possible I fell into a depression when we first moved.  I talked to Jesus about it months after I pulled myself together and we both recognized I was a different person and didn’t want that to happen again. I remember when we went to Miami for Christmas and the night before coming back to the DR, I was in tears for fear of getting on another airplane ( I loathe flying) and I didn’t want to come back here.  My sweet husband gave me a blessing that night as we sat in prayer and I came back and I was happy!  The big thing that made me happy was I changed my schedule and my lifestyle and I quit doing things that were hard.  I made my life manageable.  For example, instead of walking with Joaquin’s stroller in 90 degrees to pay a cable bill, I only run errands when Jesus is here or Amarily, our friend that cleans once a week. Granted that’s a minor example of what was hard for me. My point is I’m finally happy here and while in the long term we want to live in the US, it’s difficult to just go without a plan…especially when we thought we had a plan for a year later.  The timeline has been sprung on us and we will need a job, a car, a place to live, etc…luckily we have a few ideas under our belt that I’ll blog about when something, anything, becomes final.  Many of you are probably wondering about our home we own in MN as a place to live but we’ve already agreed to renew the lease to the renters and we don’t want to take on that mortgage without knowing our job situation so suddenly, so as a rental property it shall stay.

So that’s the update!  You can all be happy I’m coming back!  We’re happy to move back but it’s not going to be easy rushing to plan and make things happen.  Sometimes I get confused about why everything fell into place for us to come here and why it felt so right only for things since then to have gone a little sour.  Our taxes on our home in MN went up some time after we signed the lease so we lost some money on our rental property the first year and now this…just kind of crazy. However we came for the opportunity and experience and that we definietetly got! For that, I will always be grateful.  Not many people can say they moved to a third world country for a year, not as a missionary, not as a student, not even as a former resident; I moved as a mom and made myself a life.  Now I’m just praying that Jesus’s potential employers will see working abroad on the resume and not care that it was only for a year although he may get to extend that by working remotely...maybe. I’m going to miss so many people and my heart is already sad.  Like I said, it took me nine months to be ok here and I finally am! My tribute to this country and to my friends will also be in a coming blog post.  But…you all know I’m excited to return…just as soon as we get settled…again…but hey, it’s America right??

Prayers appreciated.

I'm 30 and I can finally cook!

If you want to read about my New Years resolution click here:
http://ournewjag.blogspot.com/2014/01/its-cooking-time-new-goal.html

According to Sid Savara (whoever that is), "25% of New Year’s resolutions are broken in the first week alone. Within 6 months, over half of New Year Resolvers will have given up."
Well it's February 11 and I'm still going strong!  That's more than I can say for any gym membership I've tried in the past...this year I'm working my way through Michael Symon's five in five cookbook.  Each week I use the handy grocery list generator that's part of his ebook on the iPad and plan my family's menu.  I just click the meals I want to try and the iPad puts it into a organized grocery list for me.  I have been very impressed with how quick the meals are...while they are more than five minutes, I'm always out of the kitchen in under 30.  They also have been quite delicious.  Many of the recipes use fresh herbs and spices to help me feel like I'm cooking restaurant quality food because we know that's what we'd rather be eating...from a restaurant.  There have been a couple that have lacked a little flavor but I blame those on not having a grill and me improvising.  My favorites have surprisingly been the sandwiches!  You can't go wrong when you buy good quality bread and new flavors of cheese.  With that said, here are some photos of my cooking endeavors...if only I brought out the SLR to do blog quality work...Sorry...I guess focusing on cooking has been a big enough goal and photography will have to come a little later.

Portabella, arugula and blue cheese sandwich

Want to see how easy the recipes are to follow?  Here's an example for the above sandwich...remember all credit goes to Michael Symon's five in five so that if the world goes nuts and I become famous, I don't want to get in trouble for copyright.

Prosciutto, tomato and basil fritatta (fritattas are so easy and now a great way for me to use up any leftover veggies from the week)

Garlic chicken and mushrroms (was supposed to be asparagus but we used mushrooms)

Sausage, zucchini and almond foil packet using an oven instead of a grill :(

The next exciting thing has nothing to do with my resolution is I decided to try flavored water thanks to Pinterest!  I hate drinking water but I know that I need to, we all need to.  Once I made this concoction I downed several water bottles in the same day and yes that's a feat for me.  My first go was cucumber, mint and lime.  I'm so excited to buy fruit every time I go shopping now to make more flavors...I am determined to find one my husband will even like.  He's currently on a break from his precious Coca cola so I have a better chance of slipping one of these new drinks in.  Oh and even Joaquin was obsessed!