lately.

Here's a little glimpse of what's been happening around here these days...

Our neighbors eating ice cream on our front porch.  They are awesome and crazy about playing cards and dancing dembow.

The four of us met Julie in Jarabacoa, an incredibly beautiful mountain town in the center of the country.  We spent two nights in an amazing hostel, complete with a fire place and front porch :) The church we went to met under a tent next to the river pictured above.  Jarabacoa was refreshing and good for the soul and we were all sad to leave.  

Cappuccinos!

 

 Emilee and I at a bakery we found in town.

Walking around near the hostel.

Beautiful :)

...

Spending the weekend in Jarabacoa was a much needed gift for all of us.  It was a few days full of laughter and good friends and coffee and church and mountains and cool weather.  I felt like God perfectly planned out that weekend for my heart.

The second we set foot back in Monte Cristi, we entered into one of the most draining weeks I have had here.  I'll spare you all the details, but needless to say, I was emotionally, physically, and spiritually drained.  I felt like I had nothing left to give.  Normally it's second nature for me to find joy in the little things... whether it's a smile or fresh juice or hot coffee or hearing someone's story... it's pretty easy for me to smile about the littlest of things and the biggest of victories.  But last week, I had to fight for that joy.  Fight to remember that I have so much to be thankful for.  Fight to remember all that the Lord has done and will continue to do.  Fight to see past the present moment and yet still be grateful for the present moment at the same time.  Fight for hope.

And then... our house flooded...

This was Thursday, when the rain first started.  We all thought it was crazy that the street flooded and that the water was rising into the garage.  We never imagined that the water level would keep rising and eventually flood the house.  Several hours later, the house was covered with a couple inches of water.  When the storm finally stopped and the water level went down, we all grabbed brooms and mops and swept all the water out of the house... finally finishing at 5 in the morning.

This is what our street looked like the next day... a muddy mess.

 

 Our neighbors playing in the water.

We never imagined that the second night would be worse than the first.  Once the rain started, the water level rose extremely fast.  We piled all of our belongings on our beds and simply waited it out until the almost knee high water started to go down again.

This was Friday night.  Needless to say, we spent all day Saturday cleaning the house... hearing word from the neighbors that the same thing would probably happen again that night.

 

Saturday night, thanks to some amazing friends, we blocked ourselves in the house with sand bags and cinder blocks, hoping and praying that the house wouldn't flood again.  While it rained Saturday night, it wasn't much, and we woke up to a completely dry house!

...

It's hard to believe that a week ago we were in Jarabacoa.  Although I would never choose to do last week over again, God used the circumstances to remind me once again that this place is not my home and that possessions are merely things.  He has drawn me back again to a place of desperate dependence on Him because I surely couldn't make it without His sustaining grace and love.  So I'm resting in a deeper place of trust and living out of an overflow of His love and not my own.  

Mostly He's reminding me of the power of the Gospel and that hope will never cease to exist even in the most difficult of situations and hardest of hearts... because He makes all things new.  

...

And as far as the rain is concerned... the sun is finally out and we are about to get busy cleaning this house!