I can't hardly believe it

I'm HERE! I rolled into San Juan de la Maguana on Thursday night full of excitement (and exhaustion!)  Still amazed how this has all come together that I am now living my dream of working in the Dominican Republic.  Love seeing mi gente here.  Trying to take it one moment at a time.  and enjoy each of them.  But before I get ahead of myself...  I am WAY late on this blog thing and want to share a little of my prep time and goodbye memories from home...

I missed out on Autumn in PA last year while living in Nicaragua, and was SUPER excited to be around for it this year.  My dad and I headed out to western PA to visit my brother, saw some GORGEOUS leaves, and took a last boat ride on the river.  It was COLD! 

 It SNOWED!  Now, those of you who know me well, know that I am not a huge fan of winter, BUT I also missed snow last year and so this was EXTRA SPECIAL! Snow in October!!!  And I obnoxiously sang about it all day long while hanging out with my mom- you know, cuz I don't have to deal with it for the rest of winter- I'm here in the Dominican Republic in sunshine and warmth :)

 

I LOVE Thanksgiving. and my sweet mom and sister celebrated with me early. YUM!

 I have some of the greatest friends ever.  And they may kill me for these pictures, but we've been having breakfast together every week (almost) for over 5 years at 6am- so yes, we do look tired- well I do anyway, they are beautiful as always.  This is us with our favorite waitress and hostess :)  And we have ridiculous amounts of fun together, as you can see...

And girls you can't kill me, cuz I'm international now. HA HA.  

There has been so many more memories with so many more folks that I love and will miss, but how blessed am I to have been able to spend these past 4 months back home before heading here to the Dominican Republic.  I can't wait to share all the stories that I already have and new ones too about why I love living life and serving God here.  But to start, here's a welcome to my home at the Solid Rock Guesthouse for the next month or so until I move to El Cercado...  Room 14 baby, that's where it's at...

So BIENVENIDOS to Room 14.  It's at the top of the stairs and is fabulous. and yes, at the moment, I do decorate like a teenager :)  (Shout out to some cool peeps for the kickin decorations)

Much love, Laura