Adios Republica Dominicana...

So, today is my last day in the Dominican Republic...and I have NO idea how I feel!! For the past few weeks, I will be honest...I have been saying "Get me out of this country!!" It has been literally the hottest and most humid week since we have been here and the men seem to be in rare form as my hair becomes blonder with every passing hour I spend in the sun...Therefore, the declarations of "RUBIA, quiero mi visa!!" seem to be more and more frequent, and thus, more and more annoying!

All week the days have seemed to move so slowly...until yesterday. Last night, my mama and hermana made me a beautiful going away dinner (during which, the lights went out...again! My goodbye wouldn't have been complete without this ;) ) and after, my family and I sat on the front porch and just spent time together...We also exchanged gifts, at the end of which, we were all crying messes! Later, I  laid down in my now empty room (not a fun sight!) and attempted to sleep, but I just tossed and turned...that was until mi hermana, Aibid, snuck in in the middle of the night and crawled into bed next to me, and then I seemed to sleep absolutely perfectly :)

I now sit in my kitchen as mi mama prepares my final lunch, and I cannot help but feel this lump rise in my throat....It is the strangest feeling because one part of my heart is so stinkin excited to come home!!!! While the other part is breaking because I am leaving my new family that I have come to love so very much... But this is in no way the end...this is the beginning of relationships I will have and cherish for the rest of my life!

This summer I think I learned what I was capable of...or rather what God is capable of when I just let Him do His work...I have learned to cherish and suck in every single moment, and be so grateful for each and every one of them...I have learned that "just being" is okay, and so very necessary...This summer has changed my life...I have grown and been stretched a whole lot more than I think I wanted to be, but isn't that how God works? He never gives us what we expect, but He gives us absolutely everything we need! This summer I became part of an incredible family and entered into a completely different culture...This summer I became Dominican :)

El Ultimo Domingo!

Today is my last Sunday here...which means I have less than a week until I come home now!! It is a very bitter sweet feeling...on the one hand, I am so very ecstatic to finally be back in the States with the people I miss. But, on the other hand, I am realizing that I am leaving my new family who I will dearly miss.

Last night I got home at around 10pm after a day that started at 3:30am!! We had to wake up that early because we had to start our 6 hour drive to La Romana early enough to actually be able to spend the day there. La Romana is a city on the east of the island with quite a bit to offer! We went to La Cueva de las Maravillas (The Cave of Miracles...for you non-Spanish speakers ;) ), which are caves that are 25 meters underground with stalagmites and stalactites which were absolutely incredible!! (You should look up pictures if you get a chance! Our God is so creative!) We went from there to a town that was modeled exactly after a 16th Century Grecian town and was actually built by a man in 1979 as a birthday present to his daughter!! Quite a present, if I do say so myself! Following that, we went to a beach called Bayahibe that was so incredibly stereotypically Caribbean...with the practically white sand, clear light-blue water, and palm trees covering the beach...It was beautiful! 

We left there and then made our 6 hour bus ride back home...the entire way back, we did what most do on long trips to occupy the time...WE ATE! We ate crackers and cookies and peanuts and granola and ice cream...I don't say this just to make your mouth water (although mine is!) I say this to make you aware of the volume of food we ate. As a result, everyone was saying that they hoped their families didn't make them dinner...everyone, that is, except for me! I may be a little tired of things like rice and beans, mashed platanos, yucca and fried cheese and salami, but I now constantly say to mi familia here that they have made me into a Dominicana...in that I want to eat...ALL THE TIME! I always eat breakfast now, usually get a midmorning snack at school, a pretty big lunch, dinner, then a second dinner usually after church! So...that long tangent to say that when I got home last night, my mama had quite a bit of food waiting for me, as I had hoped! 

As I sat there eating, she casually let me know that she and my papa won't be going away this coming weekend...A bit of history here, months ago, my church planned to attend a marriage conference where they have all the couples in the church staying at a resort and attending workshops run by an American pastor couple...it's the first marriage retreat our church has ever been a part of and they have these pastors being flown in from the States to do it, so it's a pretty big deal...and it happens to be during the same weekend that I am leaving. My mama didn't even realize until half way through my trip here that they would be gone when I left, and when she found out, she was so upset, but we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we would just have to say goodbye two days earlier than expected. Well apparently, that was not good enough for mis padres! When I asked mi mama why they weren't going and that if they were staying here for me, they shouldn't, she just said, "You are my daughter and you are worth so much more than this conference. Your papa and I discussed it, and there is no way we could not be here to say goodbye to our daughter!" At this point, I just started crying at the kitchen table, and my mama followed suit. It was a very precious moment that I will forever be etched in my memory!

Needless to say, although I expect this to be an extremely exciting week (I actually had trouble falling asleep the other night because I started thinking about how excited I was to be going home so soon!) I also expect it to be an extremely emotional week (I cried through  a lot of church today, realizing all of the things I would miss about our Sunday morning service)... This trip and these people have been such an extreme blessing in my life...saying goodbye should be interesting...

Love you all and will be seeing you in LESS THAN A WEEK NOW!!!