The first 48 hours

We've been here in the DR a little over 48 hours!  We've been SUPER blessed by the love and warm welcome we've received thus far. 

Our home for the next 7 days is a 2 bedroom apartment in a "villa" complex, where the short teams normally stay.  It's only a few blocks to the school (Doulos) and lots of little eateries and super-mercados.  It's cozy and we'll be staying here until we move to the our rented house next week.

That's our place upstairs. There's about 10 apartment/rooms in the complex.

We had a one hour ride from the airport (after arriving about 2 hours late - some guy trying to board the plane in NY couldn't find his passport, so they held the plane while they looked for his bag and got it off of there).  Our brief time at JFK airport in NY went smoothly with just enough time for Max to get his pizza.  For breakfast.   Lovely Sandra met us at the airport in Santiago in a taxi and got us safely to our new home in Jarabacoa.   Sandra coordinates the short term teams and she and her husband, Darrell are Aggies from Texas and have just been here a few months.  They made sure our first meals were good and not eaten alone.  Love them already!

Our first day, Joe had staff training at Doulos at 8am.  The kids and I slept in - Max won by waking up at 10:30!  He apparently was a little tired.  Ah, my baby is a teenager.   Joe met his co-workers and got familiar with his assignments.  He's really looking forward to getting started on Monday with a high school group from Ohio that arrived Friday.

We got a local telephone, and we're working on getting Joe's iphone to work here.  Skype works and we have other apps like viber.  So call us or let us know how you'd like to communicate (if at all)  PLEASE communicate!

This sweet girl, Sarai, is the assistant to the Executive Director of Doulos, and she showed us all around the town (we walked).  She also the local house hunter!

Our second day was incredible - but that story will have to wait until tomorrow.  Lots of beautiful pictures to come!