never thought i'd be a farmer

posted by sharla, who may or may not be a farmer

i spent the first nine years of my life in berne, a small farming town in indiana. yes, it's like bern, switzerland with an extra e. all the buildings downtown were swiss chalets, even the mcdonalds. well, there wasn't a mcdonalds when i lived there, but i've been back and i've seen it with my own eyes. but that's not the point of this story. there were a lot of farms, but i was never interested in farming. or growing anything. my mom used to make me ride my bike 10 miles uphill to help her pull weeds in a garden at a friend's farm. this was torture. and then she would make me snap the ends off of beans from said garden. the summer is made for swimming and running around the park (but NOT for spending your allowance on candy or ice cream, mind you), but certainly not for farming when you're but a wee child.

then i grew up and moved to the dominican republic where the word "farm" took on a whole new meaning. farms meant mangos, bananas, avocados, coffee, and sugar cane. and tropical produce aside, perhaps i learned to appreciate the value of tilling the soil. not that i've done much tilling...but i appreciate it.

last weekend, we had a makarios board meeting. one of the things we discussed was the purchase of land for a farm. you can see a picture in a previous post. the board voted unanimously to purchase a plot of 6 acres outside of santiago to use as a training facility. Lord willing, we will start with two families, one haitian and one dominican. they will live in the house that is one the land - a cute pink house - and they will learn to farm. Ruben will be the teacher, and he lives right down the street, so that works out perfectly. we are so excited to have a farm, to teach vocational skills, and provide produce to those with extreme needs! we are very grateful for the funds and the opportunity to do this.

oh and i just said the 10 mile thing to get my parents to post a comment. my mom isn't too blog savy, but i'm sure we'll hear from the rabbi (he will say it built character). it was probably about 2 miles.

rest

posted by sharla

just when things were getting really crazy, God put it on my heart to rest. not just to take a day off, but to enter into a new mindset of ongoing rest. it wasn't really an issue of making time for rest per se, because right now, I know that God has all these things on my plate. it was more an issue of resting in God. trusting in Him. being patient. nobody likes being patient, especially with matters of the heart. but God has shown me that it is sweet to trust in Him and NOT know the answers to all of my questions. I can actually rejoice in the waiting!

if you're wondering why I'm so busy, what I'm waiting on, etc, here's some of it: getting new staff oriented in the DR, starting a farming project in the DR, looking for land to build a MAK house, opening a coffee shop in austin to support our ministries, figuring out the adoption process for Isaac, Jacob, and now potentially Ian, and much, much more! keep praying!

jacob river dancing

IAN

unlike jacob and isaac, it's not difficult to get ian to smile for the camera.

we took him to see a pediatrician this week and received great news. we were told that as long as we continue to give him a diet full of protein, vitamins & minerals, give him physical therapy, and lots of stimulation, he can grow up to be completely normal. he will probably be a little short due to the lack of nutrition during his first year and a half of life, but brain development goes up through age 7, so he should be just fine mentally. when we took him in for his immunizations last week, he weighed in at 13lbs, which is up 1lb from the last family who had him. we're hoping to see a few more added when we go in for another round next week.

from what we can see with our unprofessional eyes, he's doing wonderful. he's eating a ton - last night he had pureed beef stew. he can even pick up small chunks of food and put them in his mouth by himself. he's loves mangos and crackers, especially when they're all over his face. he finally enjoys bathtime, as long as the water is not too cold. we're taking small steps towards not crying everytime someone leaves the room. all in all, he is a very pleasant and happy little boy. please continue to pray for his health and development. we'll keep you posted!

welcome to life in the DR

after a wonderful few weeks of orientation, sharla and kate have both returned to the states. that leaves camille and i here with ian for about 2.5 weeks until jenny returns. so how are we doing with life on our own in the DR?

well, we're not completely alone yet. this week we are at the White's in Santiago helping out with a group of doctors who have come to perform a few surgeries. while here, we've had a chance to relax and take care of 3 beautiful babies.

while we were still in Puerto Plata we had many transportation lessons. we walked from the house, through the ranchito, to la calle principal. from there we caught a guagua to the road that takes us to chichigua. from there we rode a motoconcho to the bateye. we did this all backwards to go home. other than the first guagua man trying to make us pay 400 pesos for a 20 peso ride and then stopping halfway before our destination, things went pretty smoothly.

we've also had a few lessons in driving a stick shift. camille and i have yet to be in the car at the same time, but i'm pretty sure she's doing better than me. yet i was assured that tackling the parking lot at Nacional is quite a task, even for well seasoned drivers. i don't think we'll be stranded for too long.

we have successfully eaten colorful salsa to our hearts content, called for a water truck, paid bills and accomplished a variety of other exciting and not so exciting tasks.

once we return to Puerto Plata early next week we'll have about 2 weeks to get organized and plan for the upcoming school year, which begins the first week of september. we held registration last week and currently have appx. 180 students signed up for our classes! i will upload pictures of these beautiful children to shutterfly in the near future.

isaac and jacob are now back together again for good, and they have both gotten quite fat!

ian has been doing great. he is now eating small chunks of food and enjoys bathtime with lots of giggles. i will post a more detailed update about his progress, along with a picture, soon.

finally a smile

farm land

posted by sharla

makarios is in the process of looking for land to buy for a farm. we will use this farm to provide jobs and feed people in our villages. on tuesday I went to look at this plot of land. it's beautiful and is great for farming. in fact, it already has mango trees! we're in the process of praying about this land and are very thankful that God has provided the money for it!

it's not easy being this cool

Ian, baby #3

on sunday we received a new addition to the makarios family: Ian!
Ian was neglected and abandoned by his mother and when he was six months old, a canadian lady took him in. she had him for 11 months and then moved back to canada. then another family took him in for six weeks, but they too are leaving. so now we have him! it's sad that he has been passed around, but this is much better than the alternative. he's 17 months and is the size of a 3-4 month old, so we are pumping the food into him. apparently he's never been a good eater - wouldn't eat off of a spoon, mainly drank a bottle - but we've been giving him all kinds of baby food, and he's eating it up! our number one plan is to fatten him up. he's behind developmentally in many ways, but we've already seen progress in the last 4 days, so we're hopeful that he will catch up. please pray for Ian!

una estrella dominicana soy

on monday afternoon I got a call from victoria (here in pink) saying that she had gotten me a spot on a live dominican talk show where they were going to interview me about makarios. here we are at commercial break. the lady on the left runs the show, and she had a funny super star mentality. she acted way too cool for us, often putting on sunglasses and reading the newspaper during commercials. regardless, it went well and i was able to spread the makarios love to the dominican public.

supporters, be aware

posted by alexia, who is super excited to be living la republica dominicana

no no, not beware, but be aware.

be aware that you are supporting a wonderful organization headed by an even more wonderful executive director.

camille and i (oh, let me introduce myself: i am alexia, a new staff member, who will be teaching English, taking care of babies, and doing whatever other exciting things that fall under the title of 'missionary'; camille could also have a very similar introduction)...ok, so camille and i just received some super fancy (and more importantly, functional) "welcome to the country" gifts from Sharla.

but more important than the gifts is that they ended a wonderful first day of orientation. board member kate (and winner of the board member of the week award) is also here with us, and we all have had a stupendous time getting to know each other, the country, the quirks of life here and oh so much more.

we are still looking forward to the following (among other things):

1. learning to drive a stick shift on the oh so well-paved roads in our neighborhood
2. life with Ian (and fattening him up)
3. organization!
4. let's not forget about the cutest little haitian kids who just happen to live in the bateyes of this blessed country
   
5. riding a motoconcho (please forgive my possible misspelling)
6. learning to make all kinds of wonderful concoction of fresh fruit, veggies for salsa and the many different ways dominicans find to cook rice & beans
7. and, of course, all the exciting adventure that we could never plan, but are sure to happen
   

don't worry...we're in good hands