Back in the States!

We r home safe and sound!!!! We got into Chicago late last night after running through the Atlanta airport because of a really close connection. None of our luggage made it on the plane but i got mine today right after church. I hope everyone else has gotten theirs! Overall it was a great trip. I will continue to post more specifics when i get the time. Thank you for all your prayers!

mid week update

So, not a lot of news from the D.R. team, but I have gotten a sentence or two of text messages each day. So far I know that the food is good, the team is digging a cistern and Paige has a rash on her arms and legs. She and Emily stayed back from the physical work today and went to a museum. Tomorrow is a beach day. Earlier, maybe Sunday, they did a Fun Run/Walk for diabetes and all got T-shirts and medals. If you go to www.fvcc.com and then go to the GO ministries Team Tracker, you can scroll down and see a photo of the FVCC team.

That's kind of all I know!

They arrived

After a day's delay, the D R team arrived! They got to the airport in the early afternoon, went to their housing and got settled in. In the afternoon they did their VBS program with the kids. Jim's luggage hasn't arrived yet, but everyone else's has. We realized that when Paige gets a text message, unlike in the US where she can see immediately who it's from, there is no identifying number or name, so I have to sign my texts so she will respond. So, communication will be spotty at best. But, we know they are there, settled and doing well. She said she's using her Spanish a LOT! That's about all I know now, so I'll wait to post again until I know more.

Not so fast....

Ok, so as many of you already know we are not in the Dominican Republic yet. Our flight out of chicago was delayed becasue of weather the atlanta airport was shut down. :( So we ended up missing our flight and stood inline forever to talk to a helpful person named Marvin. He got us into a red roof inn for free (which normally is not allowed for weather related issues). He also got us all 3 meal vouchers and little survival kits! So we r not safe at our hotel haha. *for those of you who read my kenya blog and remember my post about the tube in london, today i had to go on a little tram like that and i was sooo parinoid about the door closing on me haha*

It is rainy and foggy here, and they are calling for bad weather again tomorrow that is suppose to start 10 minutes after our lfight is suppose to take off. So PRAYYY that the weather does not affect our travels tomorrow. It is nice tho to have a night of good sleep.

We also had a suprise visit from the Dimond family! They were on their way home from Florida and got an email from my mom and thought that the Red Roof Inn seemd like a good stop and streatch break! It was soooooooo nice to have friendly familiar faces! The boys were fun to play with too. We had races up and down the hallway and talked about Disney characters. These afternoon has been spent sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating and playing phase 10. Thank you for all your prayers! We are safe, happy, and luckily we packed our "flexable attitueds" haha that has been a phrase of the day. (The font is in Georgia, since that is where we are!)

Mom's helping

While Paige is in the DR, she can communicate with me, her mom, by texting. So, some of her updates will be written by me. Unfortunately, you'll lose the "voice" Paige uses when she writes, but at least there will be some updates during the trip. We're just testing the system now, to be sure it works!

4 more days!

Only 4 days until we leave! I am currently packing because i know it will be a busy week and i wont have any time to do it later. I cant believe it has come so soon! I feel like i started this blog the other day.

We are meeting Friday morning at 2:30 am as a team then heading to the airport. We will then fly to Atlanta and then onto the Dominican Republic. We have an itinerary and i can give you the basic run down of a typical day.

Breakfast
Devotion
Construction of church and nutrition center
Feed kids at Nutrition Center
Lunch
Construction of church and nutrition center
Dinner
Evening Activity

I hope that helps you know how to pray. Again thank you all for your support and continued prayer.

Things to Pray For:

• Continued health and safety
• Easy Traveling
• Team bonding
• Our teams hearts and the hearts of the Dominicans to be open to what God is showing us
  

Chili Dinner

Success! The chili dinner was a huge hit! We raised a lot of money and now we are finished. We have met our goal. God is good! I had no idea that sooo many people would show up. I was serving chili and my hand got cramped up from holding the ladle so long haha but it was all worth it.

Thanks to my supporters! There is no way we could be done fund raising this early without each one of you.

On a different note I got very sick after the chili dinner and missed a lot of school. I am still trying to catch up in my classes and regain my strength. If this would have been a month later the possibility of me going on the trip would be very slim. So if i had to get sick at all now was the time. Everyday I am feeling better and better. However, it has made the trip come even faster! Its going to be here before I know it!

Things to pray for:

• That i continue to get caught up in my school work
• That i can regain my strength
  
• To prepare my heart and mind for the trip and what God is going to show me
• To prepare the team in general
• Safety and health