I know, it's been a while!

I know, it has been so long since I posted anything on here. I have an excuse, I mean reason. :) First we have been having internet problems for 3 weeks or more. It got worse and worse. We had to call our provider almost every other day for those three weeks and they finally sent someone out Friday. There was a wire outside that was messed up, so he fixed it. We have been so busy, that I'm not sure I can remember every thing to bring ya'll up to date. I will do my best.
Jesse went to the ear doctor, had some tests, and just had his follow up appointment. The test showed that something wasn't right with his middle ear or ear drum (the doctor really didn't explain it) but he said that Jesse doesn't need tubes, he just put him on a decongestant for 3 weeks. I am very doubtful that this will work since we have tried this before. I am very frustrated but can't do anything about it at this point. I might try to take him to an ear doctor while we are in the States. If anyone knows of a good one, let me know please.
We spent 3 hours one day at the U.S. Embassy renewing our passports. Now we are waiting for them to be delivered. Then another day we spent an hour and the Canadian Embassy renewing our Canadian passports. We have to go back and pick them up in a few weeks. Thankfully that is all done! ($600 later) The Canadian Embassy was so nice, we got to sit in a private, air conditioned waiting room, but when I paid and they didn't have change, I knew I was still in the DR. :) Nobody here ever has change. The U.S. Embassy was hot, crowded and no special treatment for Americans!
The Coupes have been here helping us while the Wessons are gone. Krista and Mrs. Coupe painted 50 butterflies for us to give away today for Mother's Day. I am pretty sure they will be dreaming about butterflies for a while. I baked cookie bars yesterday to serve to eveyone after the service this morning. I only had 140 and I could tell it wasn't going to be enough after I did a quick count. So we had to send someone to the store to buy some cookies to use for the kids.  We had almost 200 people there, 75 (or more) of them were mothers. Many of them were visitors. We also had one saved today. I had to teach Jr Church (since Stu was preaching) and it was chaotic!!! It was very hot and humid today, so I was drenched by the time I got home. It was a good morning, but I'm glad it's over. :)
My brother's wife, Leigh, was taken in for an emergency c section Friday. They already knew the baby had some problems and were going to take her early and take her right into surgery. But because of some problems they had to take her earlier than planned. Carleigh Ann was 4lbs 6 oz. Her intestines were growing on the outside of her stomach and they were assuming they would have to do several surgeries to repair it. They were able to do it all in one surgery. She seems to be doing very well. Leigh was getting ready to go see her on Saturday and had a seizure so she is now not allowed to leave the hospital for another couple of days. Please pray for all of them. Craig, Leigh and Carleigh.  Thanks! I will attach a picture of her.
I think that is all for now. I will try to update more often now that our internet is back.

Lots of visitors

Well, we have been having internet problems for over a week now. It comes and goes as it pleases, which is very frustrating! Of course there was supposed to be a tech here today to look at it, but they never come when they are supposed to. I have found that I have to call at least 10 times before they ever send anyone out! So for right now I have internet, but it might not last long.
Sunday we had about 25-30 (maybe more counting all of the babies) visitors at church. I found out later that they all came with one woman that lives in the States. She has been bringing food and other help down to help this group of people. They live in a poor barrio not too far from our church. Recently she realized that they needed more than physical help and told them if they wanted to keep receiving the help that they had to come to church. She has even hired a bus to bring them on Sunday mornings. We had about 6-10 babies in the nursery and several new kids in Jr Church.
Jesse had his two ear tests today but now we have to wait two weeks to see the doctor to hear about the results and what he wants to do. Sometimes I get tired of waiting.
The Wessons left yesterday. Their plane was delayed so they had to sit in the airport for several hours. Then found out that they would miss their connection so they had to stay in Fort Lauderdale last night, but it gets worse! They couldn't get them on a flight today so they have to stay tonight also. Hopefully they make it back to their family soon! I'm sure the grandparents are anxiously awaiting their grand kids! We will miss them but are so glad to have the Coupes here. The kids are especially happy to have Miss Krista here!

Jesse!

Jesse just gives me so much to talk about. He is always into something, saying something or doing something unbelievable! Several times this week you could have heard me or Stu saying, "What where you thinking!?". I'll just tell you a few of those instances. One morning we found him in the office cutting the screen on the balcony door. Another time, he drug a chair to the freezer and got his special brownies out, thankfully we caught him before he ate them. Last night he got a container of cookies out of the fridge and ate who knows how many before we caught him. This morning he got into my make up and was putting it on and squeezing it out. And I can't even tell you about what he did with the toilet!

I took him to the ear doctor today. It was Dr. Jose De Jesus De Jesus (no that wasn't a typo).  He said that Jesse has fluid behind his ear drum. He also said that he probably can't hear very well (I have been telling people that for a while now but no one would listen).  He has to go back Tuesday morning for a couple of tests and then it is possible he will get tubes. We will see what happens.
I better go see what Jesse is into now! :)

Garage Sale

I got to go to a garage sale on Friday! Those are few and far between here, so we enjoy them when we can. I found some good stuff. The kids were happy cause I found each of them something. Stu got a filing cabinet, which he really needed.
Saturday afternoon we went across the street to our neighbors house (my walking partner) for a birthday party. Their twin girls turned 3 years old. The boys had a blast! They had a house full of other missionaries. We had so many white people on our circle that it felt like we were back in the States. :)
Sunday was not Mother's Day here. They celebrate it the last Sunday of the month. Since we live here that is when we celebrate it also. U.S. Mother's Day gives my family warning that they need to start preparing for our Mother's Day. :) I always miss getting to see my mom for Mother's Day, but I am excited that I get to see her in a few months.
This morning Jesse told me he pooped in his diaper and could I hurry and change him cause it was melting. I didn't understand what he was talking about at first until he told me it was running down his leg. Unfortunately he had diarrhea this morning, which doesn't surprise me since he ate lots of things he shouldn't have the last few days. He has his appointment with the ear doctor on Friday, which I am looking forward to! He was complaining again last night of his ears hurting.
I am giving Delayna the last of her A.C.E. diagnostic tests this morning so I need to go check on her. I can't believe she starts 9th grade this year. Wow, she is getting old! :)

Jalapenos, Yum, Yum!

I found some Jalapenos here this week. That is the first time I've found them here. I was excited. I made salsa and jalapeno poppers (with cream cheese inside and bacon wrapped around it). They were so good.  I had two left and Jesse got up on the counter and cut one and tasted it. He came running upstairs screaming, "it's burning!". I finally figured out what was burning and gave him his cup of tea. He took a drink and then started pouring it on his chin. I cleaned him off and gave him an ice pack. He sat with that thing on his mouth and chin for 30 minutes. I think that is the longest he had sat still all day.
I am still working on the passport applications, although I almost have them ready. I had the hardest time getting pictures for our Canadian ones. I spent two days on those! I couldn't get anyone to do them the right size. What I have now is cut to the right size but the picture doesn't go to the edges. I am hoping they accept them. If they don't then they are going to have to tell me where I can get them done correctly because I have exhausted my resources. I could do them myself except that they have to be done my a professional. At least I don't have to have an appointment for the Canadian ones, I can just drop it off anytime. Our appointment for our US ones is on the 23rd. Hopefully it all goes smoothly.
Delayna finally seems to be getting over her bronchitis. Stu had something similar and is still not feeling the greatest. The rest of us are healthy!
We had the Agape pilots here last night. The kids always enjoy that. I'm not sure if the pilots like being surrounded by 4 kids who want to talk to them. :) 
We bought our furlough tickets. We are flying out on August 1st and coming back on February 28th. We have a busy schedule while we are there. Stu only has a couple of months to fill with meetings still.
That's all for now folks!

Get away!

If you have ever lived in a third world country, you know that everyday life can be very stressful. If you haven't, then I probably don't have the words to explain it to you. But the last few months here have been very stressful, between day to day stuff and being extremely busy with the church. We decided to take a couple of days off to try to recoup and spend some quality time with the kids. We found a cheap motel, out of the city, close to the ocean. We spent most of our time at the beach. We walked the opposite way of the resorts and enjoyed the deserted part.  The boys love the sand. They crawled in it, flipped in it, buried themselves in it and slid down the hills. Juls spent her time collecting seashells and Delayna sat with her nose in a book (she is just like me). It was nice! We did have a nice amenity in our room. Remember, we were not at a 5, 4 or even 3 star resort. It was not plush, it was just a place to sleep, with air! But, our bathroom had a bidet (yes, I had to look that up to spell it right). Jesse kept trying to brush his teeth in it. It was just his size. You just never know what you might find down here. :)
Our nice relaxing time was brought to a screeching halt Friday night when we talked to Josh. We found out that they were imposing a penalty on all expired Cedulas (like an ID card). For every month they are late, they will charge 500 pesos. For mine and Stu's we would have had to pay around $300, just in late fees. So we packed up and left early Saturday morning, instead of taking one last walk on the beach. The people we knew that had gone to renew there's on Thursday and Friday had been there for 2-3 hours, so we expected to be there all day (since it was the last day to do it without penalties). We got home dropped the kids off, unloaded the van, got the documents we needed and took off again. It took us.....are you ready for this......25 minutes!!! We couldn't believe that we got in and out so fast. I firmly believe it was because my dad was praying for it to go fast and smooth for us.