Happy Independence Day Dominican

So, I realize I have been very negligent to you all about posting pictures.  So, this is basically a time to catch up on pictures and let you know some of the super fun moments we have had lately!

The Dominican celebrated their 170th Independence Day this past Thursday.  They had a big parade where many schools participate with drums, cheering, marching, etc.  Here are a few pictures from the day.  We have several videos, so I will try to upload those soon.  But it was a really neat experience.  In the picture above, Genesis (Aubrey's favorite neighbor on our street who she always refers to as "Anna") is in the middle looking at the camera.  The kids practiced for about a month everyday for the parade.  We could hear the drums every morning for about 2 hours from the school around the corner.

Another shot of the parade.  We didn't realize Sosua had this many Dominican flags.

 

Aubrey and me at the parade.  Aubrey would actually wave her little Dominican flag around.  She loved the parade.

Aubrey helping Daddy with the laundry.  To the right in the picture is our washing machine.  You hook the hose up to it to fill it, put in the detergent and laundry and then turn it on.  You have to drain it (drenado) and then refill to rinse it and drain again.  Then you put the clothes in the spinner to get rid of the majority of the water and then we hang them.  Aubrey loves helping and has gotten really great about shaking the clothes out before handing them to us. 

A picture of our trip to Santo Domingo to obtain Checo and Freysy's visa for Guatemala.  From left is Pastor Joaquin (a phenomenal man with a love for Christ; we did camp last Summer in San Luis with some of his communities), the police officer who works in this part of the embassy (he is actually from Sosua and is a Pastor himself; he helped us obtain the visas and move the process along), Checo, Freysy, me and Aubrey (and yes she only has one shoe in this picture, she had 4 or 5 mosquito bites on her foot that were bothering her.)

 



A little fun in the sun with our sunglasses.  She wouldn't wear them very long, but I was able to get a few pictures.  Thanks to Tiffany McKinley for these AWESOME shades.  :)

Aubrey's new swimsuit for the season.  This was actually taken several weeks ago (yes, you can be jealous of our warm weather!).  I must say for the first time I am grateful stores put their summer clothing out in January because we needed a new suit for Aubrey while we were in the States.

Daddy and Aubrey sporting their Dominican gang signs.  haha... :)  Thanks to Aunt Martha for this beautiful princess hat for Aubrey.

 

 

 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." Galatians 5:22-23