Family Conference Weekend

We had a WONDERFUL weekend at the beach! Our church had a family conference on "Being a Family that makes Glorifying God a Priority" and it was AWESOME! A much needed boost to our spiritual walks with God.
Here are a couple of pictures I took during the week before we left.
Adeline was fingerpainting under Ana's supervision....Adeline walked into my room and said "I love you, mom." PRICELESS!Georgie and Jessie hung out with us for a couple of hours on Wednesday. They were enthralled by "Thumbalina" during this picture. We stayed at Viva Dominicus Wyndham Beach Resort in Bayahibe. It was nice, but not worth going back to before trying something else out. It was our first large all-inclusive resort experience and the grounds were huge! Of course this was the one trip I decided to not bring the stroller. Ana went with us so that we could fully enjoy the conference without having to tend to Darton. It worked out great, but I think she was very ready to be done with us by this evening...and I was done speaking Spanish!
Some funnies about the hotel....
Upon arrival Scott discovered a cockroach on the curtains. He captured it and threw it in the toilet. This fella was just too strong for the toilet current! Second funny moment came when you had to hold the shower lever up with one hand and the drain lever pushed-in with one foot while taking a shower. Yes, you can take a shower with one hand while standing on one foot...just in case you were wondering. The air was less than half working and the floor was nothing but sand when we arrived...but we really just laughed at it all. These things only happen to gringos! Oh, yes, and then the last funny - We got into bed Thursday night sandless. We returned to our room on Friday after the service lady had made the bed (but not cleaned the floor of course) sandless. The odd part of the story...when we got into bed sandless on Friday night, the sheets were covered with sand! The equation just didn't add up. Like I said though, nothing was too bad to move rooms and it gave our Dominican friends a good laugh. We met Jason & Mandy Speegle and their son Edwin this weekend. They have been here for 6 years working with Crown Financial Institute. They adopted Edwin over a year ago and are now waiting on permission to bring him into the States. It's a long story, but it could be at least another year and Jason has already moved back to the States while Mandy and Edwin are here living with different friends.

This was a BIG weekend for Adeline. She has decided that she can put her head under water! I was way impressed since she freaks out about water in her face when we just wash her hair! Notice she's not even holding her nose!! Yeah!

The world got a lot smaller this weekend when the Dominican pastor who taught at the conference, who now works and lives in Miami, works for Komatsu and has worked with Pueblo Viejo (Scott's mine). He will be going out to the mine on Monday in fact! He is a full-time pastor AND has a full-time job in upper-level management with Komatsu. He's the first pastor we've come across in such a position. And his sermons weren't lacking in anything!