The Bridge

We decided to watch some people walk across to see how deep it actually was.

This is one of the side rails. I think the other one was just as covered.

We made it across safely. No worries :)

Just another week...

Lately, it feels like the weeks have been running together. We are now in the 3rd week of homeschooling & 8th week of teaching, & things are moving along smoothly. I think we now have a rhythm. Everyone appears to have adjusted to doing school in the morning (8-9:30), going to the bateys in the afternoon (9:30-1:30), & finishing school in the evening (2:00-5:00).

We missed several days of teaching last week thanks to hurricane Irene, but we're back on track. As you might have guessed, we came out of the storm in good shape. We only experienced rain (and lots of it) along with some high winds one evening. The roads also flooded, but once the sun came out, the water dried up quickly. We had trouble getting to the bateys because the bridge we have to cross was under water. There were a couple of days following that it was still covered, but we crossed anyway :) I'll put up some pictures so you can get a better idea.

Anyway, not much else has happened. We appreciate all of your prayers (and I can't say that enough). Hope everyone is doing well & feel free to call or email. We love getting updates from all of you!

Hugs to all,
Katie

Estamos aprendiendo

From our apartment roof

       This week was the last week for having American groups here for the summer. We enjoyed getting to know a lot of new people & spending time sharing life with them here in the Dominican. It was wonderful to have extra hands helping out in the bateys! We are going to miss everyone & count it a blessing that we were able to have them here :)

Moving forward... we have 5 more weeks of VBS ministry in Lima & Pinones. These next 5 weeks are an area where we're going to need your prayers. The kids in the bateys have spent the last 4 weeks being able to play with lots of people, enjoy new toys, & make a craft everyday. Now that the groups are gone, it will be Pam, the Hilgeman boys, the Simos' kids, & us (the Clines). We will not be doing a craft, & we have made it a point not to make our relationship built around giving them things. So... it will be a drastic change in what they've become used to. Please pray that the kids will respond positively to the change,  and that we continue to make progress in our relationships.

We love you all and we encourage everyone to consider when you might think it would be a good time to come and visit ;)

PS.  If you haven't been following "Around Freedom in 60 Seconds" you should check it out on http://itisforfreedom.com  (top right hand corner of homepage) We just posted week 5's video about 10 minutes ago.  It is a great way to quickly stay involved.

Kurt and Katie

Each day, all the kids in Piñones gather in this small building for the lesson.

One thing you will see the kids eat all the time are limoncillos. They have several 

limoncillos trees in the bateys, so it's a very accessible fruit. One day, play time 

was spent trying to get the limoncillos out of the nearest tree. All the kids wanted 

to give Katie one... let's just say that she's had her fair share!