Hotel Mountain View Puerto Plata

... has
changed me, and has offered me a new perspective on what is really important in
life.  Sometimes I wonder if the past two years of struggling through this
doctoral program has been worth it.  So many sacrifices on the part of my
family.  Time away from Ellie--
I know that when she gets older, I will tell her about the kind, selfless people
who live in a different part of the world.  I hope that, if anything, this
Sosua, Dominican Republic lstockwell

Hi everyone,
Just when I thought I had seen what living in destitution represented, I walked into a neighborhood this morning that redefined the word "poor" for me.  It seems that this redefinition is a consistent happening here.
This community lives in squalor, not only in ramshackle "buildings" but in filth.  In fact, their homes are literally built upon a dump. So, you ...

We pray for children
Who sneak popsicles before supper,
Who erase holes in math workbooks,
Who can never find their shoes.
And we pray for those
Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
Who can't bound down the street in a new pair of sneakers,
Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead.
We pray for those who never go to the circus,
Who live in an X-rated world,
Santiago, Dominican Republic lstockwell

Hola Todos-
Have you ever thought of how fortunate you are, just because you were born in a certain geographic location?  We went to a Haitian Batey today.  The Bateys in the DR are kind of like a no-man's land, not recognized by the DR, or by Haiti.  Consequently, the people who live in them are literally without a country.  These people live very poorly, and are rarely allowed out of ...

Hi Everyone!
Very busy Monday.  We started out doing home visits with the International Child Care Center.  My group saw two children.  One child was so neurologically unstable, that he really wasn't a great candidate for "therapy" per se.  He is being raised by his grandmother/father, who told us that he has at least nine seizures a day.  In fact, while we were assessing him, he had two.  Not a pleasant sight, and as you can ...

... we will have to read...the syllabus is super long. BUT there are only 3 exams, all take home & the book for the first one, El Matadero, I read last semester. - Community Service...not sure how beneficial the theory part of it will be, but I'm planning to help teach ballet at a public art school. Seems like it will be an activity that is spiritually fulfilling. If i get to work with the precious little 3-6 year olds, that would be so amazing. Most classes are graded by ...

... trust me they're pretty small for growing a tree). This is kind of an ironic point of life because the boat that I lived on and my family owned was called the Mustard Seed, in hopes it would stay afloat. Anyways, I mentioned how the orphanage got started in a previous blog, but I was really excited to go back and actually spend time with the kids. The facility is so nice for these kids, they have in house physical therapy, an indoor and outdoor play room, everyone ...

... they had no suitable meals for us - so we missed the first meal and when the second "meal" came around (half a cow sandwich wrap) and I inquired (stating that we hadn't eaten all day yet) and the stewardess told me she didn't have it, so she gave us a cream cheese and vegetable wrap plus a free can of Pringle chips, which normally cost $2 extra. She took down our special meal order though for the flight back, so hopefully we'll get that then. We arrived on the ground ...

Hi All! In reference to the title of this entry, I am indeed becoming a crazy dog lady. Little Stella is the cutest thing I have ever seen, and I love having a canine companion here in the DR. I seriously have not been bored a minute since I got her, and even when she is being naughty she is so cute I can't get mad at her. Her hobbies include sleeping on my laundry pile, clawing at my mosquito net at 1:00 in the morning, eating trash, and nibbling my ...

... I'm afraid of it... Long story short I did make eventually behind the veil of water. The cave was more of a little outcove, big enough for maybe 5 people. There was a rock at the very end that you could sit on and enjoy the scene for a moment. It was incredibly silent behind the waterfall. But new people discovered the cave and that disrupted the intimacy of the moment. It wasn't long and I ...