December Life Update

These past few months in the Dominican have gone by so fast. Between working, meeting new friends, spending time with Luna and Galleta, I honestly don’t know where the time goes.

Luna and Galleta, my two dogs are doing great! When I am working in Elias Pina, the two of them get to spend a lot of bonding time together. They have become great friends! In fact they have both become very fond of jumping into the pond in Palo Saco and chasing ducks! Luna even made her first trip up the mountain to the clinic!! She loved it!

We did not have any teams down this Fall but have kept very busy. We have been running medical clinics, organizing and doing an inventory of the pharmacy, and have continued growing our Monday nutrition program in El Llano. The preschool is doing great! There are 40 children this year! Because of the rain they have had class in el llano so I have been able to visit more frequently!

The week before I flew home we decided to have a full week of medical clinics! We spent two days in Rosa La Piedra and we saw nearly 200 patients and brought 5 children home to their families! I love seeing parent’s faces when they realize that their child is finally home. In general when we bring children back up the mountain their parents have no idea until we get there. The mother of the 2.5-year-old little girl was so excited to see her. This mother had been asking me for the last 4 months how her daughter was doing and when she would be home. I wish I could describe to you in words this moment but it wouldn’t do it justice. I could see her walking up the truck with the biggest smile on her face because she had seen her daughter in the truck as we passed. She took this little girl into her arms and hugged her so tight and could not stop smiling for the rest of the clinic.

I spent a wonderful 5 days in New York with my Dad, Mom, and sister before flying back to Michigan. We explored the city, went to a Broadway show, visited the 911 museum, walked through Central Park, heard my dad sing in Carnegie Hall, just to name a few things.

I am now in Michigan spending time with family and friends before I head back to the Dominican December 28th.

We are going to have a very busy beginning of the year until the end of Spring! We have groups in January, February and March this year!