Moving Part I

This week we said goodbye to our amazing, awesome, wonderful friends the Laniers, and said hello to our own home.  We bought the contents of their house, and along with the basics like furniture, the family blessed us by leaving dishes, towels, office supplies and more. 

While rent here is much, much less than for a comparable place in most of the U.S., furniture and household goods can be a lot more, so we are truly overwhelmed by their generosity to us.

They also left us an incredible yard of gorgeous lush grass, and a lovely flower garden.  My lack of a green thumb is a bit of a concern - I don't want to kill these beautiful plants!  The good thing is, Jarabacoa is a place where most things seem to grow quickly and strong - and Carlos' brothers own a Vivero (garden nursery) so we'll be asking for their help, I'm sure!



Our front patio. 
(Car port is to the right, our bedroom window is to the left. 
There is a large yard of grass on both sides.)

Doña Gloria is sad to see us go, and we'll miss her - and Maria, her trabajadora, and of course, Lisa (her boxer).  Thankfully, someone else is ready to move in, so after the apartment is cleaned and painted, she won't have to be alone. 

Yesterday I baked biscuits in our new house's oven.  It's been more than two years since I've had a working oven, so that was a huge treat!  We now have a regular-sized stove and refrigerator, which is nice after managing the much smaller 'Dominican-sized' ones.

It's also wonderful to get up, and be able to turn on lights.  In our studio apartment, we tried to be mindful when the other was still sleeping, so used a little battery lantern to move around. 



hanging out, enjoying the cool breeze
and beautiful sunshine.

Having comfortable couches is another 'new' thing.  When I was in Antigua for language school, I only had my bed and desk chair.  When I came to Jarabacoa I bought a couch, but it was the typical kind here - sort of like a block of Styrofoam covered in fabric! 

Our new couches are actually third generation "MC"s.  The Laniers bought them from another missionary couple, so this is the third mission family they've been used by.  (Get it?  MCs - Missionary Couches!) '



Like I said, the flowers are gorgeous!

We've got all of our stuff moved over, and now are working to get it all put away.  When that is done, I'll post some 'inside' pictures, but for now I thought I'd share a bit of the outside.
 
 
 


another view of the garden




View from the patio. 
We live near the end of a little cul-de-sac
- the house across the street is currently empty.

We feel incredibly blessed and are looking forward to the day when we can welcome our first overnight visitors to come and stay in one of the spare rooms (the house has 3 bedrooms).  We also pray that we will be able to have BBQs and other activities here for our church friends, our Mata de Platano family, other missionaries, and more.  Anything we have is a gift from God, and we want to use it for His glory.  He is so amazing!