Day 1!

This is looking down the road to our hotel in beautiful santo domingo (not really beautiful, very dirty, stinky, pouring rain, and a little scary)

BUT, the hotel itself is very nice and we are very comfortable here.

For anyone reading this, this is a diary for myself and the kids to remember this trip, so this may get boring, sorry, just look at the pictures and call it good:)

We had a very long day. Started at 4am, got to SDQ early though, 1:45 instead of 2:30. Then....noise, people, Spanish, and PEOPLE! It was so quiet and calm as we went through customs, very very few people. But after getting thru customs and to the outside of the airport, there were SO many people, and it was hot, humid, noisy, and smelled....not like home:/ And we had to find a taxi!! So, we were hoping to get a deal, but no, after haggling a bit we wound up paying $50 to get to the hotel! A joke! But we were kind of stuck. Apparently when you travel with 7 people you pay double for the taxi:( 

But we got here!

The man at the front desk of our hotel speaks English, and is amazingly nice and helpful.

He suggested a restaurant a little ways up the street so after we waited for it to stop POURING, we walked to the place he suggested for us, but it was a bit spendy, so, we chose the pizzeria that was right next door. Cute little very local place. (Hope we don't get la coocarrachas) 2 medium pizzas, 2 waters, and a LARGE beer, with tip for $25.

Not bad...except:) we are not at home eating Dominos and all the kids thought the pizza smelled like the petting zoo and the sauce (which I think was just catsup) was too sweet, and they were sure the pepperoni was dog! LOL!! But the crust was really really good. All the kids ate it except Jude, he couldn't do it. So Jason bought him a bag of Doritos, we told him we'd break him in slowly. There were a few tears shed! Not from me:)

I must admit, after paying an outrageous price for the taxi and being so tired and hungry and the city is SO filthy, kind of stinks and it's grey and pouring and....NOT hearing back from the guy we rented the house from and having paid half down (pretty sure at this moment we lost our money and have no place to stay for the majority of our trip:'( )...I was feeling very stressed and overwhelmed and a little depressed. Not to mention scared. And honestly I was wondering what I had done and feeling like I did not want to be here for 2 months. And kind of wanted to be home:( 

But, we ate, we all feel better, AND we saw other Americans AND the front desk guy knows where the branch is and thinks we can get a taxi there tomorrow for our tour for under $20!! And I truly truly feel so much better. I'm excited to be here now, and I am absolutely certain Jehovah will take care of us! PLUS, we remembered there is probably a new jw broadcast out today!!:) woohoo

PLUS, I can not overlook Jason's amazing positive attitude. No matter how he might really be feeling, he has put his hand on my back and said, very sincerely and positively, "it'll be ok, Jehovah will take care of us"

And he keeps making us laugh!

SO, my note to myself...it's had some stress, but we are here and about to taste the spiritual blessings we've been working for! Brother Richards asked on Sunday "would you struggle for a blessing?" Yes yes YES!!