Lucas

I bought a male rabbit, finally. His name is Lucas. (Yessica suggested the name). He is shown here with me and Gabriela.

We put him with Titi for a few hours, because it seems she was in heat, but time will tell whether or not she got bred.

Judd

I'm really posting this for my sisters to see. I've had this Cabbage Patch Kid, named Judd, since I was three. When I moved to the DR, he moved, too. Yesterday I took him to Los Higos to use him in a drama in the mom's bible study, but his picture shows Carina playing with him. Carina was convinced that Judd was a girl and she really wanted me to get her a doll like mine.

Reciclando papel

As a part of encouraging creativity and friendship in knitting, yesterday we recycled paper together (rather than knitting). For about two years I've been saving every piece of paper that could be recycled for such a time as this. (I don't know if this is extreme pack-rat'ism or frugalitiy or environmental responsability).

Here, a student from California pulls a piece of paper up out of the batch of liquified paper.

Marta has just formed a round piece of paper here.

And Raquel shows a round piece of paper (sitting on a piece of felt) that is ready to be put out to dry.

gorros

I have felt convicted that I need to think about what it would mean to knit in a Biblical way. I believe that as a Christian, my faith should affect all of life, even my knitting! (Even as I read that, I realize how cheesey that would have sounded to me just a few years ago).

So, we talked about it in knitting class and came up with a list that would characterize Christian knitting. Here is what I can remember from the list:

Responsability

Creativity

Generosity

Honesty

Friendship

Service

Quality production

And we talked about ways we could incorporate those characteristics into knitting. We decided to start by making hats to donate. We have yet to send the hats, but are thinking of sending them to Ukraine or to Haiti (because I have connection through my church in Fertile to ministries in those countries). The ladies came back the following week with these beautiful children's hats:

Melvin came up with the idea of also doing a creativity competition- each knitter will design and knit something of their own imagination. Afterward we will sell their creations and donate the money. I was pretty happy with that suggestion.

My hope is that knitting class won't just be knitting chaos, but knitting with a purpose and we are trying to take steps in that direction.

Forgive me for not updating the blog for so long! I kept waiting to get my camera back from a friend who barrowed it, so I can post some really old pictures of a quincinera (15th birthday party), but haven't gotten it back.

In the month of May, we had a team from Trinity Western University come and live in Los Higos. The only picture I have of them is this tiny one that I copied off of one of their Facebook pages. The team lived with host families and worked in the preschool, the women's center and the club.

Last fall, when Andre left SI to begin full-time ministry in the church, under Mission Door, the club became a church ministry (rather than an SI ministry). The club has met once or twice a week since then, because Andre has had many other new responsabilities as pastor. This summer, however, SI is using the club as 'partner ministry', which means that the club isn't an SI ministry, but we will be sending students to work there when we have teams. So, two TWU students worked with the club (which is meeting 5 days a week during the summer). And an intern, Josh, has come down to work with the club for the rest of the summer, along with whichever students might come down on two-week teams.

In other random news, our sewing class got their first 'job'- take make 10 bags to sell in a local art gallery. Fire ants have moved into my worm composting area and we're trying to figure out how to get the ants out without killing the worms. Titi, the rabbit, is getting huge! The church starting a church plant in Hatillo, a neighboring community. The knitting class is making hats to donate to an orphanage. I could write a whole entry on any of these items, but will wait until I can get pictures to expand on these subjects.

coneja

I bought a bunny. We haven't named her, yet. She is living at the site and I hope to get another rabbit soon, so she won't get lonely.

costura

We have begun to sew again and the new class has two new members (Josefina, shown above, and Janieri) and one old (Sara). We also have one member and isn't very committed, but I could count her and say I have a total of four girls. I was hoping to get more ladies involved, but none-the-less am happy with this small group of young ladies.

Today they began their first project (up until now they have just been learning to pedal the machine and sew straight). They each made an oven mit (shown in the picture below) and I was happy to see how well they sewed around the curves and were able to successfully put the trim around the bottom.

I have also appreciated all the moments of community the sewing class has allowed us to have. About a week ago, about eight ladies were hanging out at the site while sewing class was going on, visiting and laughing. I enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and the coming and going of women. I pray that this new site will become a safe and inviting place for women to come.

Today, one lady's daughter was at the site during sewing class and she threw a fit because I asked her not to cut paper with the sewing scissors (a pet peeve of mine, because it ruins the scissors for cutting fabric). Anyway, the daughter said to the mom, "you don't love me," and the mom replied, "no, I don't love you, because you don't behave."

In the other room I mentioned to Maribel, the lady that helps teach the class, that we need to learn to tell our children that we love them even when they misbehave, and let them know that we don't allow bad behavior because of our love. Maribel, immediately walked back onto the schene and said in a loud voice, "We DO love you and that is why we won't let you misbehave!" It was one of those chances to speak truth that occurs when we all get together.