Six in Smithville: Voices of the D.R.

Okay the title of my blog is somewhat of a joke! We have an old friend who is an amazing well known photographer who actually went to Haiti and took pictures after the earthquake there. His stuff went to New York to be publish on the walls of the UN gatherings! He is amazing! Jeremy Cowart's "Voices of Haiti"
So Bubba decided it would only be fitting to make "my book" called voices of the D.R. Which is not a funny matter, just a funny title to use!!! Thank Jeremy!

Bubba and I went on the our second trip to the Dominican Republic with Nations of Coaches last week. It is a great week to get away with your spouse and have some down time, but it also was a opportunity to serve the villages and communities in the area. I really can't even begin to put into words how this week touch our hearts! I have sat at this computer pondering over what to tell you...

I guess I will just let my pictures do the talking!

The first afternoon we went to the orphanage and we got reacquainted with all our old friends from last year.

Bubba always has a fan club surrounding him... so cute! Haley (the smallest one) loves him dearly!

This is my sweet buddy Kimberly!

These are our precious friends the Kyles!!!! They are in the process of trying to adopt Izzy and Jada. These two girls spent a lot of time with us this week because the orphanage allowed them to come stay with Tommy and Heather at the hotel!!!! We all are praying God brings them home with the Kyles soon. The process of adoption in the Dominican is very pretty tough. Heather struggle to leave the airport without them, it tore us all up!

Speaking of tearing up... Little Haley cried in Bubba's arms when she realized it was time for us to leave the orphanage, ugh... I couldn't quit crying! It made me miss Mary B. I know Bubba knew how to love on those little girls, he has three of his own. They could feel a daddy's touch!

We were so big I couldn't get everyone in the picture!

The following afternoon we went into a small community where the coaches hoped to do a basketball clinic. The funny thing is it was raining and it kept all the basketball kids from coming out. What it did bring in was a bunch of baseball players waiting for the rain to subside. Pretty interesting how God works, only he knew who needed to hear and be loved on that day! The boys, although in baseball attire, were holding basketballs smiling, loving every minute of this one on one attention.

Our second trip of the afternoon was to a village where we handed out food and shared the gospel with the people there. The orphanage is really tough, but when you come to the village you realize that the orphans, although without a mom and dad, are pretty well off... Where do you keep your fresh water????

This little boy was staring up at me from behind his grandma's legs as we were singing praise songs! I know he was wondering who we were??? Look at those sweet eyes!

Beautiful!!!!

We handed out a few clothing items before we left and I came back into the church to see who was still in there. I saw this little girl, she looked so sad. I don't know if somebody else had gotten what she wanted or if there wasn't enough? At that point I wished I had brought all the clothes in my attic that were going to no use.

Heather found this little boy strapped to the back of his brother. We think he was dehydrated and sick, he was so lethargic. We couldn't find his mama eventually Heather passed him off to what we thought was his grandmother.

In the church where Rick shared his testimony.

From what I gathered this is one of the nicer homes in this village. The man who lives here told Bubba he was a painter! We asked to look at his art....

We bought the painting from him for 10 American dollars (close to 340 pesos.) Who knows if he actually painted it? I really don't care if he did or not, I do know that every time I pass that painting in our house I will think of the people who live in that sweet village!

They are such beautiful people!

They attend school here until fourth grade and after that they are on their own. Some eventually leave the village, but some never do.

This trip did so much for Bubba and I, it was such a great time of reflection. We got some great quality time together relaxing at the beach and reflecting on the year and our thoughts for the future!

It was a great time of marriage enrichment with a wonderful pastor from Decatur (Steve and Lorrie you are amazing teachers!) Also thanks to Jeff for a great week of worship and song! We enjoyed and loved all of it!

Nations of Coaches did something for us that we probably couldn't of done on a vacation by ourselves. It gave us an opportunity to spend some quality time together in a beautiful place, it allowed us to meet some great new friends and people who really understand the life of a coach! But more than anything it gave us an opportunity to serve a people less fortunate than us. For that reason this trip, more than anything else, gave us PERSPECTIVE!!!