Freedom Day, as told by Kate Krone

It truly is Freedom Day here in the DR. An appropriate name as we remember Jamie Lamb's Mom who died a year ago and also the Breaking Free study we have been diving into with the interns. Freedom is our prayer here.It isn't quite the same celebration as in the US but we had watermelon and did grill...we brought some American flags from my folks that helped to get in the spirit of the day. Oh, and we had chocolate cake for dessert to celebrate two of the girls birthdays here. Yum! We were ready for a celebration as it has been a busy week.

Monday, Annalie and I went with two of the interns to The Wharf to visit Dona Linda who lives there. She had invited us for lunch. We sat and talked and Annalie played with some of the girls of the neighborhood. I was very proud of her, out of her comfort zone but willing to go and play and walk around with them. She ended up enjoying it and making some new friends.Dona Linda is a Grandma and as we sat she told us about her bad headache and arthritis that day as she cleaned and made coffee and our lunch. We felt badly that she was working hard but it would have been an insult to try and help her. She made coffee for the interns. I don't drink coffee and Emily just told her it gave me headaches when she questioned why I wouldn't want any so we didn't offend her. She gave us the best chairs in their very, very small home. It is made up of odds and ends of wood, with two bedrooms, a main room and a tiny (the size of a small closet) kitchen. The kitchen consists of a small propane stove on a broken table and a refrigerator on concrete blocks. They have bits of fabric over the few windows to try and provide privacy. She and her husband live there with their daughter and her three children (she is pregnant again).She talked a lot about the village and warned the two unmarried intern girls to stay away from dating the men in the village. She did try to set up Hailey with a fisherman she said knew a word or two of English but Hailey declined. :)Emily ended up going with her daughter to the Colmado (corner grocer) to get food and Hailey (the other intern) and I sat and talked. They brought out a fan without the guard over it to keep us cool and while talking Hailey got her finger caught in it. (Hailey is the one who cut her leg and got stitches before at the Wharf) I looked at it and realized that we needed to go to the hospital and she needed stitches. So, we ended up all riding on Motos (motorcycles-they are a popular way to get around the city ) to the hospital where she ended up getting 5 stitches. Goodness!

The Westlake Youth Group came in that afternoon and it was so good to see them! They have been a real blessing here and have greatly blessed our kids. Helping at the school, helping me pull weeds in the school garden (Kat and TA were great examples in being willing to do it, even in the scorching sun!), helping us clean the Mak house (our cleaning lady can't work anymore due to knee surgery), helping to watch the twins and Adaline so Andy and I can go into villages together...among other things. We have really enjoyed coming along side of them, eating with them, seeing their servants hearts and praying with them.

We spent Tuesday and Wed. at the school. We went around the village as a family to round up some girls to go and play. We ended up with a number of them and all our girls did so well. We played with chalk, bubbles and jumped rope among other things. One little girl ended up spending the day with us so we ended up sharing lunch with her. She had quite an appetite which is usually the case here. Elliana found a sweet little friend named Evie and the two of them walked around the played for hours. Ella spoke English to her and Evie spoke Spanish but somehow they communicated very well. Others commented on how neat it was to see them together.

Unfortunately, that same day Annalie (and others) witnessed a Haitian man beating his wife. We weren't there at the time but Robin the principal told us about it and we talked Annalie about it. Evidently the Haittian man thought she had cheated on him and had her in a headlock punching her head. The people of the village eventually calmed him down but it was the talk of the day throughout the village.Thursday we went back to the wharf with some of the high school kids. I prayed protection for our group before leaving! We all did well and Emily went back to Dona Linda's house to let her know all was well and to apologize for us leaving so quickly. One of the sweet little girls at the wharf had quite nasty moto burn on her leg (a too common injury here). We tried to clean it out the best we could, but she was in a lot of pain. We hope to go back soon with better meds to put on it.

Friday has been a day to spend with my girls. Emma went to one of the villages with the groups in the morning. Annalie, Elliana and I were able to do Bible studies together and play. I did get a good quiet time in too which is such a blessing. Of course Adaline was crawling on me the whole time but I think it still counts. :) Andy was at the beach with some of the guys, playing with them and feeding them lunch. The evening was spent laughing with some people of the house and sitting in on devotions the WBC group. It ended with a late night discussion about God with two of the youth group girls, great way to end the evening!

Today we went to the beach with a bunch of the kids from the Mak school. There were 40 kids and the high school group did a really good job of keeping track of all of them. Our girls always love hanging out at the beach so it was a good day for them too. One of the boys did get a fish hook in his foot but Andy was eventually able to pull it out.Yes, such a busy week but also so very good. God continues to work in us and hopefully through us for His glory. Please continue to pray and thank you so much for those prayers!