One Day in the Dominican Republic (11/12/2019)
Monday, November 11, 2019
My days are now different. Not bad, just different. Each day comes with routine, rhythm, simplicity, and newness dripped with familiarity. In order to capture this for personal reflection later and to share what my day looks like, I decided to write about Monday from my perspective.
7:15 am
Woke up. The sun is shining, motos are roaring past the house, and the girls are still sleeping. I feel well-rested.
7:30 - 8:30
Wash my face, brush my teeth and throw on some clothes.
Get our dog Sandy out of Scottie’s room and head downstairs.
I grab my phone and begin listening to all of my morning podcasts (“Up First” and “The Daily” - news because nothing says good morning like news from America!)
As I pass windows, I open them up. Fresh air and the breeze are a necessity!
Turn on diffusers (Today’s choice is peppermint to help keep mosquitos away).
Let Sandy outside. Feed Sandy breakfast.
Put up clean dishes.
Start a load of laundry - towels.
Begin coffee. (Thank you Jesus for black, delicious coffee!)
Take kitten to litter box. Feed kitten breakfast. Let kitten run around downstairs, take her to litter box again, then drop her off in Zoey’s room.
Celebrate because I don’t have to water the plants outside. I did it yesterday. Plant watering takes almost an hour! It is a gorgeous yard, and I am so very thankful. But the reality is that it is a time commitment, and today it feels like I have been given an hour back as a gift.
8:30- 8:45
Kiss Scott bye - He is off to language school. (He is going to language school in Sousa for about 15 hours a week.)
Make sure girls are awake.
Elizabeth arrives to help me around the house. (Thank you Jesus!)
Make Scottie breakfast. Always - two waffles, big bowl of strawberry yogurt and apple juice. Predictable for sure.
Hang up towels and begin washing sheets.
Put meat in refrigerator for dinner.
Eat at quick breakfast, drink coffee and prepare for language helper.
9:00 - 11:00 am
Belkis arrives. It is our first time together.
We walk around the house and yard and label TONS of things. She speaks very little English, and I speak very little Spanish. But we are able to communicate (I only used Google Translate once and that was to explain to her the pictures on our wall of everyone who supports us). I am relieved that she is so kind and patient. She seems to really want to help me. Bonus: I believe I have found a friend, una amiga.
Zoey works on some homeschooling...math, grammar, handwriting, and reading. Scottie reads, draws, and works on some math.
11:00 am
Hang up sheets.
Finish hanging up all of the labels Berkis and I made.
Go over Zoey’s homework and review multiplication facts with her. She doesn’t seem to understand why she needs to keep learning and questions the importance of learning multiplication facts. Hello! You ARE 9!
12:00 pm
Listen to Scottie as she reads a dog book to me. (I mean seriously, I love listening to her read.)
Grab my journals, Bible, Bible study and sneak away with another cup of coffee. Spend some time praying, journaling, reading (I’m reading 1 Corinthians right now.), and just being still.
1:00 pm
Scott had a phone meeting this afternoon and time with his language helper, so he won’t be home for lunch. (Does that mean I still need to give girls lunch?)
Eat lunch. Leftovers. Chicken tacos.
Give kitten lunch.
2:00 pm
Work on Summer Intern Bible study. I am writing a Bible study for our interns this coming summer.
Listened to Scottie read some more about dogs. She asked me what tug-of-war meant. So Sandy and I showed her, and it turned into a game of fetch.
Scott came home before language helper. YAY! I really, really like him. As I continue to work on the Bible study, he lays down in front of a fan. He leaves by 3:15 to head to Pancho Mateo to meet with Elias his language helper.
Emma Grace FaceTimes because she is having a hard time paying her deposit for school. Teaching moment: call the bank!
3:30 pm
Went upstairs with girls and turned on my AC. My plan was to read for a bit and then take a quick nap. I read for longer...no nap. Scottie fell asleep though.
4:30 pm
Spent a little time writing. It is my heart’s desire to make regular, intentional time to write. I know that writing will require discipline, intentionality, and courage. Today, I wonder if I have any of those qualities. I choose to write anyways.
5:00 pm
Feed kitten dinner. Take kitten to litter box, again. Lawd, help me - I feel like all I do is take kitten to litter box!
Feed Sandy dinner.
5:30 pm
Invited to eat dinner with the VanArsdalens (American missionary family).
Work on my infamous to-do list until Scott comes home.
6:00 pm
Scott makes it home - finally!!!!
6:30 pm
Head to the VanArsdalens and eat dinner.
Girls go swimming with VanArsdalen girls. So thankful for friends for our girls!
9:30 pm
Arrive home and electricity is OFF! Because we weren’t home to catch it early, our batteries are already drained from the refrigerator. (If we are home when it goes off, then we can turn the breaker off for the fridge, turn off all lights and fans that we aren’t using, and have what we need for a few hours. Last time, we watched a movie in the family room with girls and had a couple of fans on to keep us cool.) Girls opted to NOT take cold showers and since they went swimming, I told them they could wait until morning.
They put on their pajamas.
Scott checks the fitted sheet still hanging outside drying. It isn’t dry...rainy, overcast day. Thankfully, we have another set of sheets. (No worries. Scott bought our clothes dryer on Sunday and it should arrive this week. I won’t dry everything, but I do not enjoy khaki shorts, denim, or towels when they have been on the clothesline. And on rainy days, I will now have dry sheets!)
Scott and I sat with the girls as they completed their devotional that they have working through about trusting God (Seems like the perfect topic for this season.) Flashlight devos are the BEST!
Lights magically come back on. Praise you Jesus, we will have air conditioning for bedtime.
Turn on hot water. Yes, we have to turn on the hot water.
Take kitten out...again. I really look forward to the time when Sandy and Nala like each other, and she can freely go to the litter box or outside by herself.
Blow out candles. Close windows and lock up house.
10:00 pm
Girls go to bed. Air conditioning timers set for a few hours, just long enough to cool off their rooms.
Make bed with 2nd set of sheets. Realize that I actually like this set better because they are oh-so-soft. I have become a sheet snob.
I take a hot shower. YAY! There is a window really high up in the shower, and I just realized that it has the most amazing view of the mountains. Alas. I am too short to appreciate it.
Took this photo in the morning because it was too dark Monday night.
Turn off hot water tank.
Read until I finally fell asleep around midnight...it was just a really, really good book (refer back to power nap that didn’t happen)
The days are long. The nights are short. It is hot, but not as hot as it could be. The days are full, but I am not exhausted. Washing dishes by hand isn’t convenient, but it isn’t terrible. There is repetition and stillness in the washing. Hanging laundry up to dry is time consuming and not always effective (oh you fitted sheet with the corners that bunch up and don’t dry well), but I don’t mind it. A few moments of quiet and repetitive actions that bring peace. Turning on hot water tank for a few minutes of hot water is not something I fully comprehend, but I definitely appreciate hot water in ways that I could never imagine. Electricity going off for hours at a time is a real issue when it comes to night time routines, but every single time it comes on just in time. The days are long. The nights are short. But today, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else except for the casa in Montellano in the Dominican Republic.