Thanking you all for your hard work and giving up so much of the year in planning and prepping for this trip of service to the DR. God be praised!!
With gusto!
These guys have been dedicated to the summer program from day one onward. We thank them for giving up their whole summer to be such a blessing to us, the teams and the people in the DR.
Thanks, Luke, Jamie, Felicia, Daniel, Chad, and Catherine!
Catherine is my returnee intern and basically has been my right-hand "man". She's done summer tutoring for the kids in the homes, English with Jarisa, Sunday Bible class for the young kids and Weds nights with the older girls, organized the home files, the home storage, the group storage, and been respite "mom" for a week while house mom, Ada, went on vacation. She's been a wonderful mentor to the kids in the homes, and she's been a joy to have here!!
OK...nothing deep here. But for 5 years I've looked across our yard, checked the growth of
trees that began as seedlings, seen them weather tropical storms when mighty trees in the area twisted and snapped, and this year the long awaited fruit have appeared. I love avocadoes.
OK...now I'm starting to think deep. Is this a tad bit of how God anticipates and looks forward to our growth?
The interns spent part of their last break in the DR capital, Santo Domingo, getting a bit of the island's history.
We sent for Jarisa's mom and sisters to come spend the weekend.... 
...and to participate in a "farewell" suprise party for Jarisa. 
It was a success!! 
We'll miss you, Jarisa!!!
Cloverdale (as well as Levy) hiked (any where from 3 -5 hours) up the mountain to El Morito. This involves carrying a backpack with overnight needs, sheet, food, and water. 
Activities upon the mountain involve work projects (painting, roofing, or cementing local villager's homes), a gospel meeting, and a movie. Those with a bit of energy left over take an additional hike to a nearby water fall.
Normally "count downs" are things one happily looks forward to....Christmas, birthdays, summer vacations just to name a few. Specifically, we eagerly anticipate several count downs before the year's end...a new grandbaby, daughter's graduation and marriage.
One count down is difficult to see approaching. Tj and Holly's 2 year commitment with MannaDR ends this August. We know God has awesome things planned for them and us; we just hope that it involves our paths continuing to cross!!
This Sunday we gathered around to "commune" and remember what the Lord did for all.
Brian led our thoughts to use this time as:
As we "supped" together, we shared what this time means to us, shared passages that touch our hearts, sang songs that praised and thanked our Father for what he did.
We did as families do around a table of love and appreciation, we enjoyed each other and were encouraged by one another, knowing we had a Father who loved us so very, very much!!
The groups have done a great job planning and presenting their VBSs this summer.
So far:
"Courage" (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; Ester) presented by Levy
"Fruits of the Spirit" presented by Highland View
"Trust" (David and Goliath) presented by Fairfax
Still to come:
"Creation" presented by Maricamp
"Faith" (Noah's Ark; Daniel and the Lion's Den) presented by Cloverdale
"The Power of God" presented by Lake Cities
"Amigos de Dios" (Apostles being called) presented by Westminister
Drum roll, please.........
Our baby-girl is engaged!!!
Jonathan Raine (a Kiwi, and son of the director of the Bible College our daughter is attending in New Zealand) proposed to Shawnean Wallace (an American, whose South African father had married the dean's daughter of the Bible college he had attended in NY) this past May after dating for a year.
Welcome to the family, Jono!!
The groups work hard while here in the DR. It's such a blessing to have so many extra hands make our jobs lighter. Thanks Fairfax.
painting at the Children's Home
rock detailAll groups end their week with supper at the beach and a sunset devotional.
The Creater demonstrates his majesty at the ocean like no other location.
Lindsey Bynum had a surprise Graduation party last night. We are blessed to be a part of this young lady's life.
HAPPY GRADUATION, LINDSEY!!!
A few weeks back we were invited to the children's homes' wiennie roast. A new experience was had by all. The kids first time to roast hotdogs on a wire over a fire, and....
...first time for us to roast marshmellow Peeps. Shame!!!
Levy have added the final extention to the basketball/soccer court. It's big now!
The groups have a real workout when they come here.
But we're not total "task masters".
They got the job done quickly and a quick rinsing off of cement in the nearby river was refreshing to all.
We've been praying long and hard for some one to fill the role of well driller with the MannaDR work. Rich and Audrey Amy were invited to join the team a while back, but due to obligations that kept them in the States they weren't able to come at that point. Well, all that's behind them and they're wrapping things up to head our way.
As we humans wonder how things can possibly get done, God is making all things possible.
We've been open-jawed for the past several months in awe of our Lord's "ways" and witnessing how he's placed in the hearts of wonderful people, to come and serve along side us in the MannaDR work. Bart, Kristen and Elijah Norman; and Kyle and Vicki Graham will be working in the outreach of Rio San Juan.
Please be praying for the Amys, Normans, and Grahams as they all embark on heading off to language school in September and plan on arriving in the Dominican Republic in January 2009.There's some expansion going on at the camp.
The meeting area has been expanded by a third and has given us a lot more room.
The roof has since been put on.Yesterday the medical group trained the MannaDR staff and Dominican House moms in CPR and helping someone who is choking. Very valuable information when one lives so far from medical care.
If you've read previous blogs, you'll know that Cory and Laura Beth have recently returned home with their first born, Harrison. While Laura Beth recovers and all three get used to a new way of doing things, our interns have taken over the Wednesday night Bible classes.
It was great having Rich and Audrey visiting earlier this month.
Started contructing the soccer goals on the "newly increased" court at the Homes.
And turned a drum into the grill Brian wanted, making him very happy.
Taught me Accounting 101 (I hope I can remember it all)
Today is Mother's Day here in the DR and we celebrated our moms with a worship service of the children in the Homes singing some songs, reciting scriptures and inspirational poems for the moms. A time of sharing stories about our mothers ended a lovely service honoring God's gift of moms.
Norm has been meeting with a group of young people in Rio San Juan and some are musically inclined. Mother's day and the camp grounds was a perfect reason and place for them to perform their first concert. They did a really good job.
Yes! Harrison Henry Lamb has arrived.
What a beautiful family!
Any family resemblance here??
More info and photos at:
After a morning of orientation, and then an afternoon of putting a fresh coat of paint on some of the camp buildings; we had a "Welcome Interns" cookout.
Nothing says "Welcome" better than food!!
It was goooood!!
No...still not Baby Harrison Lamb.
The interns!!
Some are interns for the summer groups, some are for the Rio San Juan outreach, and some are invitees from the year before to come be our "go-phers".
Luke arrived the 19th
Jamie
Felicia
Mickey
Daniel
Jacob all arrived today
Chad arrives tomorrow
Catherine arrives on the 9th of June
Please pray that this summer is a blessing to all, and that God is glorified in what is being done.
It's so nice having the garden.
We've already harvested tomatoes, green beans, basil, cilantro.
Won't be long until the carrots, eggplants, and peas start producing.
At our last staff training session, Brian showed us what and how good ground should be made, drainage, and creating one's own compost.
No....not Baby Harrison.
Hardening Academy here I come!!