We are on a break right now between groups. Ethan leaves for the US tomorrow. He will spend time with friends and go to Camp WAMAVA. I completed our first newsletter. It only took me 6 months, 3 tries and many hours, but I am finally happy with the outcome. Follow the link to the right and view my wonderful creation. Tim says he will add my pictures later. On a side note… the pad to our porch is done. Next comes the roof. We are using the tin that was the original house roof. Tim says he’s doing it by himself. Hopefully the next pictures I post won’t be of Tim in a cast…or worse.

In the Dominican, most people sit around and visit with neighbors on their porch. Since our porch is on the back side of our house, that has been very difficult. We decided to remedy the situation and contracted JB to build us a porch on the other sid of our house. In their spare time the team from Mericamp/Ocala volunteered to move rocks to fill in the frame for our new porch. They had so much fun they insisted on helping JB pour the cement on Monday morning before they went to the beach. It was hard work, but they got it done with time to spare. JB is putting the finishing touches on it this week. It’s gonna be great to have a place where our neighbor will feel more comfortable to sit and visit. The porch will also be used as space for the teenagers Bible class on Sunday mornings.

Lindsey left for the US with the Fairfax group. I must say, things around here are very quiet without her. We miss her already. I definitely miss her being around to talk to. She is a good listener and she is funny. She was also my running errands companion. A trip into town is not the same, alone. If you see me looking a mess, well that’s because I don’t have Lindsey around to tell me I look ridiculous.

Lindsey is working in Manassas until she leaves for Harding. I will join her and we will have one last road trip together before she is totally out on her own. I am looking forward to the time together, but not to the goodbye that follows.

If you live in Virginia and see Lindsey, hug her neck for us and remind her that we love her!

Sorry for the blog silence. We have been busy hosting Fairfax Student Ministry. It was a really good week. We really enjoyed seeing familiar faces and friends. Ethan and Lindsey moved into the dorms for the week and spent as much time as possible with their friends. The week went by smoothly, except for some rain. The group painted houses, poured a cement floor for a family, taught local kids about David and Goliath, spent some time with the kids from the children’s home and lifted our spirits.

Everyone had a great time this week. It was nice to get news from “home” and catch up with friends. Thanks FSM, We miss everyone already.

We had a graduation party for Lindsey on Thursday night. It took weeks of sneaking around, but we finally pulled it off. We had to reschedule, due to Harrison Lamb’s birth on our original date. But I think the final party was even better. Tammie asked Lindsey to accompany the group to the airport on Thursday. While she was gone we went to the restaurant and set up. Tim made some horrible excuse about getting lost and drug Lindsey to the restaurant. She had no clue what was going on. I am totally not good at hiding things, but we did it!! Ethan hacked into Lindsey’s Facebook account and got e-mail addresses fir her friends. They sent her graduation greetings and pictures. Tammie and the interns made a cute video. Tim played a Graduation speech, titled, “wear sunscreen” and read “Oh the Places You Will Go”. We had great food thanks to the staff at Los Gringos. All in all it was a great party. Thanks to everyone who helped make it a great night.

Thanks to the generosity of our co-workers, Cory and Laura Beth, we spent 2 nights at a resort in Cabarete. It was a beautiful place. We hung out in AIR CONDITIONING, watched US TV, played in the pool and read at the beach. It was nice to get away, just the 4 of us. By the looks of the pictures the kids had a good time.

What do you do when the men folk have all left and taken the group up the mountain? Why, paint of course. Lindsey decided the wall in the study could use some personality. Mostly, I think she was just plain bored. She drug out every old can of paint she could find in our house. Some of them were left by the original residents. She proceeded to doodle all over the wall. Luckily it was a small wall by the stairs. It didn’t turn out half bad, although my study now looks like a teenagers bedroom…

A work in progress

Viola!! a masterpiece is born

We just said goodbye to our first Mission group. It was a team comprised of 8 people from Searcy, AR and 4 people from Fairfax. We had a great week. The team treated almost 300 people! Our children’s home kids all got much needed exams. We had a couple of kids end up being pretty sick with various things and all are doing great now thanks to Dr Dana and Nurse DeeAnn. It was great to not only see the whole team band together to heal the peoples bodies but also to take the time to get to know people in the neighborhood. I practiced my Spanish being the pharmacy front person. It was a struggle to understand people but I believe I managed to give everyone accurate instructions on taking their medications. I even got a few free lessons in simple medical care for our kids here. I can now listen to your chest, treat your ring worm and various other simple medical procedures. The team even left us with a treasure trove of medications, wound care supplies and medical instruments (stethoscopes, BP machines etc). We thank God for the wonderful work the team did while here and pray that God continues to bless them as they return home. Team 2 from Levy Church of Christ arrives today. They plan to hike up El Morito to a mountain village first thing in the morning. Please pray for them this week.

Tim has gone with Brian to pick up our first mission team for the summer. We will hit full speed ahead when they arrive at the camp for dinner. This begins our first 3 weeks of non stop mission groups. We will drop off one group at the airport and pick up the next. Please pray that each week is safe and successful, that we reach out to the people whose lives we touch and that each group returns home safe and enriched.

Harrison Henry Lamb
May 24, 2008
9lbs 1 oz
50 cm

The proud parents, Cory and Laura Beth are ecstatic and so are we. He is adorable! Lindsey, Lisa and Tammie drove to Santiago to see him the day he was born. We are so glad that Cory and Laura Beth have shared this blessed event with us all.