Dec End of Week 2 - Yenny's Wedding

Friday night we attended a beautiful wedding here... but the prep started Friday morning after school (it was early dismissal after Christmas parties!) Chase was asked by Yenny (one of the teachers at ANIJA) to be one of her girls... she actually had the opening roll of cutting the ribbons strung across the aisle...

Chase and I went to the salon to get her hair done! A first for the Trautwein family... but truly a common Dominican experience! Milagros Dougan was our guide as her daughter Alina was also in the wedding. Chase learned that this idea of beauty can be painful... the hairdryer was a little hot... but... all ended well!

Milagros puts on the final touches...

Chase carried out her roll perfectly... walking down the aisle first in front of some 300 people, cutting the ribbons as she went. There was no electricity... so a car was driven up to use the headlights, in addition to a few candles! It was a great ceremony and wonderful celebration. We were honored to get to attend and be a part! This is a neat family of very humble earnings, but truly great in spirit.

Chase and Yenny's sister Angie, Chase's assistant teacher last year.

Stanley and Chase right before it started!
Cutting the ribbons...

Angie, leading the way... Headlights lighting the way...

December - Week 2

Week 2 of December started with church at Nueva Vida, where Vic is an elder...

And then a picnic lunch to Salto Biguate with Van Der Molens and the Rosada family (Vijo and Chanina, directors of the Ark, and their kids -Jose Imer, Rut, Josias)- one of the handful of local waterfalls! Chase and Jesse... the water was low, so it was fun to play!

The day included a mud bath (below left pic) - the doctor side of me was not too sure about this. Allison, on the right below, is a high school grad from Wheaton, IL who is living with us in our in-law apartment this year and working at ANIJA teaching English and helping with sponsorship. She also helps with our home school a handful of hours a week.

Micah, Rut and Mariana...

Okay, here is a lesson in Dominican cuisine... no meal is complete unless there is rice! Vijo has maybe lived through two or three days in his life without eating rice at the mid-day meal (the big meal of the day here). So, since we knew by feeding the poor man a simple American sandwich (which are basically not eaten here!) we would be starving him... we brought along some rice, to top off his ham and cheese! Chanina was totally behind the idea!

Vijo received this with a great laugh... and gratefully ate it and asked for another! Dominicans LOVE to laugh - medicine for the soul!

Vijo and Vic in the waterfall!

Luke, Chase, Leslie (me), Micah, Vic, Samuel and Jesse...

Tuesday morning found Vic on the road to Caraballo- to the Park Care Center - where we just completed a new dining hall. They had been cooking and eating in one of the three classrooms... and with this new comedor we can put more kids into the program! We hope to build a bathroom soon... right now they function with a makeshift set-up. There are 142 kids in this program. that is a year and a half old... we have hopes to take in many, many more.

We have a Kids Alive (North American group) of the wild white elephant party - which took place Tuesday night at our house. We had a great dinner and everyone brought Christmas cookies to share, played some games and started into the fun of white elephant gifts. We noted that the kids have grown in our 4 and a half years here... there were no tears!

Micah was blessed by Jonathan with a prescription pair of sunglasses!
Our whole "North American" Kids Alive group on our front porch...

Wednesday we were blessed to have Carmen and her daughter Nanny and Jan Burkey over for dinner, to share some time with Jeff, Mariana and Nic. Carmen is part of the heart of ANIJA - she is the cook and mother to many! She also cooks for our teams. Nanny graduated from high school last year, is working with Jan out in the Palo Blanco Care Center for the year with hopes to start university next fall. She wants to be a pediatrician - God will use her mightily! She is an amazing young woman of great character - loving, compassionate, diligent, and full of joy! Jan just got back from a furlough trip to the States... she is the founder and director of the Palo Blanco project (and a whole lot more after 16 years here!!!... that is another story...).

Thurdsay Vic went over to Constanza... only 30 miles distance, but 1 and a half hours by time! Part of the drive is through the mountains south of us... one of my favorite roads in the country.

Lee and Nancy Lewis, friends from Wheaton Bible Church have been here about two years leading teams and constructing The Ark Constanza - our third orphanage on the island. It opened on August 30 and is now home to 4 rescued kids. The house parents have 3 kids of their own, so there are 7 kids all together.

This is a neat fulfillment of a dream Pastors Angel and Jacquiline have had for years... God is good. This picture looks down into the valley where the town lies. You can see the orphanage in the middle of this photo- a grassy area surrounded by a wall with four homes )one blue, one green). Work teams have brought funds and labor to build this... an amazing thing to watch.

A new building for CECAINI (the 5 year old day care center that sees 150 kids a day) is under construction now. We also have a woodworking vocational program there.

Thursday night was the annual Christmas lettere assembly line! We talked about doing this our first years here... when getting a stamp on the letter in the right place was very stressful work for a 4 year old! Now we have many capable hands and the work is fun!

Sam... in typical form, became Santa Sam with the rubbish from the stamps!

Jeff, Nic and Mariana left Friday, after a great week... and we started to get ready for a wedding... more in the next entry!

Dec End of Week 1 - Rubelina's 15th Birthday

Week one in December was our time to focus on the predictions of the Messiah's birth by the prophets of the old testament and their faith that it would happen...

Jeff Van Der Molen and his two oldest kids arrived Friday night for a week visit. They are spending the year living in Wyoming on the ranch where Ann grew up. It was great fun to have them around!

Rubelina's 15th birthday - her quinceanera - was Saturday night. Rubelina is one of the girls at the Ark (orphanage) who exudes athleticism... but this night she was the princess! The 15th birthday is much like the sweet sixteen in the States, in that it is special. However, the celebrations are formal, complete with gala attire! Henry De Los Rios shared about coming of age, Eric and Jose Luis (two of the house dads) and Vijo (director) sang to her, a feast was enjoyed by all, adults and kids alike shared words of encouragement and wisdom, and cake ended it all! This is also a time we talk about purity with the kids.

Chase and Micah with Rubelina!

Rolfi, Jose Imer, Roberto and Noel help serve...

Rubelina with her siblings, Roberto and Rut.

A special time for all the Ark families! Jenny and Jose Luis have two biological kids and the rest are the Ark kids God has given them to raise!

More soon... on to week 2 of December!

December - Week 1

I am learning... it took me a few hours just to get into the place where I can post... whew... but here we go...

I hope to share typical events and life through this... especially pictures! So, December is proving to be a pretty typical month, comings and goings, parties and outings... I hope to walk you through the weeks. People often ask about a 'typical day' or a 'typical week'... which always makes me laugh... over time you will see, it seems hardly anything keeps to a regular schedule.

The kids go to school from 8 until 12:30, and then we home school in the afternoon. Lots of my medicine happens throughout the day... beyond that - life is wide open!

Vic left Dec 1 for Arkansas with Pastor Angel Moreta from Constanza for a week...

So, all those cookies... went out to the employees at Centro Educativa Vida - the school on the ANIJA campus - and to the Ark. We do a month 'Noche de Damas' for the house moms and Kids Alive North American moms. It is usually at the Ark and includes a time of crafting, eating (of course!), and devotion. As Christmas was around the corner I decided decorating cookies would be fun... friends from California sent some great cookie goods (THANKS!) and Jessi and the kids baked and baked! We had a great night at our house on Monday...

Argelia - many of you know her for her delicious coffee, crazy laugh and constant song! - displayed true talent! Most of us were happy to get frosting and sprinkles on the cookies. The moms did two cookies for each person in their houses... needless to say, as they were drying while we did our devotional, the ants had their feast! But, not to worry, ants don't phase Dominicans! After four and a half years here... we eat them, too!
This was our devo time around our kitchen table. We talked about Christ being God's gift to us... then wrote out notes to each other, and shared out loud, how each woman around the table was a gift from God. It was a special night for all of us.

These women are a very special part of my life here, as a mom especially! I attend Ark devotions Monday mornings with the house parents - great mornings of encouragement!

Tuesday was mail day (every other week), so it comes to our house (we take turns picking it up at the Santiago airport), and I make taco soup so the North American Kids Alive gang has a time of hanging out before Bible study - women at our house (with 12 kids quietly playing - ha!), and men at Oxendales.

Vic arrived home Thursday night from a great visit to Summit Church in Little Rock, AR. Summit has sent many teams to many sites here and invited them to speak during their mission week. We make quite a few trips to the airport in Santiago, about 45 minutes away... our dog Jesse-dog got to go get Dad this time!

Jessi-girl, our great nurse friend who we met in Guatemala about 4 and a half years ago - not to be confused with Jesse-dog!, spent about three months with us this fall - living with us and also up on the north coast working in the Caraballo project. What a gift and blessing she has been!

Friday morning was her departure date... and as you can see, Luke grew quite attached to Jes, and decided to just climb in and go with her!
It was something about all that great cooking and doing 'double-day' math sets!
We did manage to get him out, only to have all the kids give a try at taking the trip to Oregon in the suitcase! Jes and Luke got in one last math lesson, after the suitcase had been appropriately packed! Jessi plans to return in early January to work more permanently in the Park Care Center in Caraballo, while also helping me develop preventative medicine talks and care for all our sites.

Okay... enough for this one! I would love critical feedback... so it can be what you all find interesting.

An Attempt at Modern Technology...

Jessi and the kids with the 374 sugar cookies!!!
Two days later... they were all gone... off to various tummies at the Ark and ANIJA!

We hope to share more photos with everyone by creating this blog... we will see how it goes!