The months of June and July were wonderful as we spent our time with family and friends in Canada and relaxed in our suite at Sherilyn's parents' place. There were barbeques, a professional chef's dinner, several daytrips to Vancouver, some afternoons of boating on the lake, and much more. In short, a great Canadian summer break. Mattais and Kaelie were excited to see their 'old' friends back at school (Mattais was happy to have an extra week of school at Timothy Christian! :)) and at church, enjoyed a few sleep-overs, splashed in grandpa and grandma's pool for many an afternoon, and loved having all the cousins together several times.
Grandpa is so happy to hold little James for the first time!
Celebrating Kaelie's birthday the day after we arrived in Canada
Some great cousin time in Vancouver
Quadding in Coalmont with some friends and family
On July 31, we left from Vancouver, flew to Miami and stayed there for a little two-day holiday before heading to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico is an amazing island, and we loved our stay in Luquillo. The condo we rented there is right on the beach, so the views are amazing. Besides having fun on the beach, we spent a day in San Juan, sightseeing the old Spanish forts and old merchant city with its brightly coloured houses. Mattais and Kaelie enjoyed the El Yunque rainforest where they swung from some vines beside the waterfall, making monkey sounds. A one-hour flight brought us back on the island of Hispanolia on the 9th of August. And after a two and a half hour drive from Santo Domingo, we were back in our familiar surroundings, back home in Santiago.
James loves the beach!
Helping the Puerto Rican locals pulling in their nets. The nets were filled with fish!
Old San Juan is beautiful!
The first two weeks of school have gone by quickly. It's all quite a bit different being here for the second year now. Much easier and relaxed in many ways, for sure. Wonderful to see so many familiar faces, knowing your way around the city, not having those million first-year questions going through your head, and simply being able to pick up from where we left off. We are happy that Mattais and Kaelie are excited about school and also feel at home again. Kaelie is in kindergarten and Mattais is a big third grader now. Mattais has a little homework every day, and Kaelie has been wondering 'why my homework hasn't started yet?' (Well, in kindergarten you don't really have to worry about homework yet, little bear.) Since the summer months are pretty warm here, I usually head home pretty soon after the school day is over so that they can have a refreshing shower and relax at home with their little baby brother James.
Buying bananas and avocadi from the Haitian man who daily comes down our street.
While Sherilyn stays and works at home, I am back at school with a full-time music teaching position. There are many new faces around the school, and with a student body of over 650, there are a lot of names to remember. Once again, I teach kindergarten through to grade twelve, so I see several hundred students each week. Thankfully, I know most of them quite well now, so at least we can interact with each other so much easier right from the start; I do not have to start remembering hundreds of Spanish names as I did last year.
This year, each secondary teacher also teaches an advisory class. During this time we have a wonderful opportunity to involve ourselves in the lives of our students as a mentor, helping the students set goals for themselves and also sharing the truths of God's Word, including the gospel.
Besides our family and school life, we have also become involved with a small ministry among the Haitians and very poor Dominicans. A Haitian colleague of mine at SCS has been instrumental in this for about a year now. For quite some time already he has given away much of his own money to rent a little building where he teaches children and adults from the Bible, and to provide for food and other necessities. Upon hearing his stories of the great needs within this little barrio, we decided to go with him and check out the place. Several other teachers of SCS has already done so, and told us stories of seeing great poverty and very unhealthy living conditions. All of this is certainly a very sad truth. We hope and pray that our friend will be able to gather enough money every month to provide for the needs of these families and to be able to organize this ministry sufficiently so it can be a great blessing.
Yves, showing Anthony the property he is collecting donations for to buy to build his church in the little barrio. This 'house' and the land costs $5000. Currently they worship at a little colmado or corner store, but the owner of the store practices Voodoism and wants them gone.
Kaelie watching kids playing around burning garbage
