And Now for the Good News

In case you thinks it's all bad.... It's not. Not by a long shot. There are many bright spots.

For one, and possibly the most obvious, I'm reminded every day, many many times a day, in this country, how blessed I am. It's "normal" to be so blessed in the US; it's no so normal here. And to think how blessed I am with the God I know, family I have, the up bring I've had; with the opportunities I've had, with the friends I have, wow.... seriously amazing.

Part of that blessing is that I get to have Thanksgiving at my home in Stuart this year with part of my family (Eulice/Wanda, Mike, Mark and Keith), the Bergs (David/Kathy/Kayla/Josh), and Mack and Jan. I could not have chose a better dinner party list. But there's more...

Luckson is coming to visit for a week, starting Dec. 12th. He's been my little brother from years and it will be a great time to catch up. And then, the Holiday season starts right after that with my sister Yuvonia and my Mom joining us all in Florida. And then.... when I do return to the DR (probably around Jan 6th), my Mom plans to join me for a few weeks.

So, I'll be surround by some incredible people for many weeks to come. Not that there are not some incredible people here; there is; but not quite the deep long relationships of family and life long friends.

I guess if I were to ask for one thing... it would be to try to capture the blessing of this day. Not the days ahead in the US. But this day. And secondly... to find the strength to love people that extort and manipulate. (Because in some ways, I would do the same thing if I were in their shoes; no excuses; just facts of life) And, no matter how much they try to extort, they will probably never see the blessings I've received. So, really it's mostly sorrow and pity I feel. And perhaps a little guilt. The "why me" questions of why I've been so blessed.

And some of the small blessings.... my dog Zoi is almost house trained. I thought it would never happen, and there are still setbacks, but she's 100% better than before. Thank you Lord.

And the kid that we've been fostering, Kevin, is doing much better. And I've even met with his Mom a time or two. She's much better (for the moment) and Nananina (Kevin's half sister) is also doing good, it appears.

And, while the first week of building the house was insane, and this week has been hard, not quite as hard. The shock of how hard it's going to be has kinda worn off... so I've gotten a little better at pacing myself.

And.... cross your fingers, I've had good electricity for almost 1 1/2 weeks now; not all the time mind you, but with an inverter and batteries, basically 24/7. That makes a huge difference!!!

And, I've started back on a somewhat regular running pace. I had not run for almost 4 weeks, but am back to 3 times a week, and surprised that I was not in any pain.

All in all, things are okay. Tough, but surviving. And I'm thankful God continues to bless, and protect and give me grace. Thanks for the prayers. That's the good news.