living for the glory of God in the dominican republic

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

One Week Down

We survived our first week in the Dominican Republic. I knew we would be fine in the end, but I figured there would be several road bumps along the way. And, of course, there were (still are).

Kurt & I are not in our apartment yet. We do have most of our things inside, but there is no electricity or water. So... we wait :) As a side note, you will see that everything requires a lot of waiting here. We are done with appliances & most of our furniture, which is a blessing. The dryer made it Monday, but we are still waiting on the gas hose to set up our stove that was supposed to be done yesterday.

Along with setting up the house, Jason and Josh have been helping Katie and I to find a vehicle to further our independence.  We have narrowed it down to 3 vehicles but have been having a hard time finding something within our price range that will also be able to make it out to the bateys and not fall apart within the first mile off the lot.  We will probably end up spending more and go for a higher resale value.  If all things work out, we will loose about the same amount of money each way and have less maintenance with the nicer car.

Welp, Its 9:30 and Jason and I are off to the electric company to see what's going on with our power.  We miss you all and thank you all for your prayers.

Kurt and Katie

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

We're Here!

It is hard to believe, but we are officially living in the Dominican Republic. Our flight arrived last night in Santo Domingo at 9:00pm. We were a little worried, but all of our bags made it. I haven't had a chance to take everything out & make sure nothings is broken yet, but I hope to soon. Right now, we're staying with the Hilgemans, & I didn't want to unload all of our luggage in their living room :)

Today was a busy day... like most days will be this week. We spent the morning shopping for appliances, & we came away with a washer, dryer, fridge, & stove. The afternoon consisted of washing down our apartment floors... we had lots of amazing helpers: the Hilgeman kids, the Simos kids, Jason, & Josh. All the helpers were great because we had to pour water over the entire thing, squeegee, pour sanitizer down next, squeegee, and then pour one more layer of clean water over that. It took 2 hours to complete the entire apartment & in the process we found that one of the drains doesn't work. Also, I don't think I have sweat so much in my life! Later this evening, we enjoyed a home-cooked meal by Toni. Then, around 5:30pm the apartment owner's daughter showed up with our contract & keys to our apartment! (Yes, we did start cleaning before it was officially ours.) We ended up in the same apartment complex at the Higleman's & Simos' on the fourth floor. It was great to get the important things accomplished today. Nothing was too hard, but there is always tomorrow! Anyway... the evening ended with a fun game of bid euchre :)

Tomorrow looks like more shopping. It's fun, but if you know Kurt & I... we don't like spending a lot of money. So, this can be overwhelming. The plan is to head to the capital to the bigger stores so we can find our furniture. Please pray that we find the things we need at decent prices because even though we're in the DR, products can still be expensive since most things are imported.

To end, I want to say a quick "Thank you!" to everyone who prayed for our trip yesterday. It was as smooth as can be & like I said all of our bags are here & so are we. Love you all, & we'll be keeping you updated. Hopefully, we can get some pictures soon!

Katie

Friday, June 10, 2011

One More Week!

It has been such an exciting journey over the last 3 months. God has provided in ways we could hardly imagine. The most amazing being that we reached 100% this past Sunday! If we weren't confident in our decision to move to the Dominican & join Freedom International Ministries, we definitely are now :)

For those of you who didn't receive our member letter, we are now in sunny South Carolina with my parents. We loaded all of our belongings into Ken & Connie's attic & set up our bedroom :) Our plans for today are to visit downtown Spartanburg & enjoy the great weather. My parents will be here with us until Monday when they drive back to Ohio.

The following week will be filled with packing & determining what we can fit in our suitcases! We'll be taking 2 checked luggages a piece, 1 carry-on, & 1 addition bag (like a backpack or briefcase). I keep praying the process goes smoothly & my patience is in full supply... so far so good :)

Thanks again to everyone who helped us move & for all of our financial supporters! I can't say enough how much we appreciate our friends & family. We have been truly blessed.

Love, Katie