far and away

 Yeah...some Dominican food was NOT so much what I have been longing for...Ice Cream, but mostly just in "Prune" and "Buttermilk" flavors with prunes or honey as toppings...lots of liver pate, lots of rices and beans ("Not one grain!" for this bunch), and lots of creative assortments of jello.  BUT, there was also Mexican night, a sweet lunch away at Donato's (the BEST thing we ate all weekend, hands down) awesome coffee, tons of pickles and cucumbers, diet Coke and yogurt (all non-existent on this side of the island), and Matt's "I've-never-seen-Matt-move-so-fast-laughs-Julie" chocolate truffles.

"Poppy!  Monkey!"

 Our last night, the hotel did a little "mini disco" for the kids on stage...Lily floored us all, not just being bold enough to go up on stage by herself, but by dancing wildly with all the kids the whole time, running off the stage to where we were sitting every 5 minutes yelling, "LOOK, Mommy! Look!" and then running back up on stage...It was SO FUN to watch her have so much fun and to learn more about who God made her to be.  More than dancing, however, she stalked the babies....just following them around on stage and tried to hug them...SO fun.

 my 'blessed' tree

Don't worry!  We took of our childrens!

 Peek-a-Boo!

Lil had this look the whole weekend..."vacation face"

She loved it ALL, but this sweet little Haitian/American baby enjoyed an actual bath-tub, strawberry yogurt and playing with other children more than anything else, no question.

 hard to believe this was a 2 hour drive from Haiti...

Hannah (Oregon, x-ray tech) Julie (Northern Ireland, physical therapist) and us...both of whom Lily just adore...so blessed to have this extra time with them before their one year terms end in January!

Now, we are safely home, all is well, and ready to "take on the world" tomorrow...

Grateful, grateful, GRATEFUL, grateful, grateful for a miraculously refreshing, incredibly distant "different planet 5 hours from home", and beautifully restoring 72 hours away.