Slowing down in Punta Cana

  Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Friday, April 10, 2009

Flat Staley in Punta Cana

We landed safe and sound in the DR and are enjoying a relaxing 4 days together at a resort in Punta Cana. We are weaving in a block of schooling time in the morning and in the afternoon...otherwis e it feels like we are on springbreak and that we will be heading home in a few days.

The 3 Pilgrims drinking "free" mixed drinks

The kids are not always eager pupils, but overall we are settling into something of a rhythm.

Lexi "homeschooling"

Ross and I are enjoying reading the kids books on the explorers & colonial settlement and we are learning along with them. I am amazed at how little I really know of this time period, and how as an adult revisiting things you learned as a child you see things from a much broader perspective. I am intrigued with the larger flow of human civilization... the human impulse to discover & explore & survive...of course on a less savory note, to conquer and wipe out and force one's customs on other peoples. It is interesting to see what connects with each of us... Luke does seem interested in the Viking explorers, Erik is getting into reading The Mayflower and discussing it with Ross, and Lexi connected with the story Cocoa Ice about two girls, one from Maine and one from Santa Domingo, who never meet but become friends by trading a shell and a balsaam pillow on a trading Schooner. Little do the kids know, that it is all down hill from the resort... museums here we come! We are heading from here to Santa Domingo, the capital, and then to visit friends who work at an orphanage. It may be abrupt to their little world views to go from the all-you-can-eat of the resort to the real world. I wish I had this on video: Ross asks Luke upon sitting down with a huge plateful, "So Luke, do you have a strategy when you go through an all you can eat buffet... do you survey the scene first and decide what you want?" Luke responds with a little gleam in his eye "No, I just go around and pile things on." "What do you do if you run out of room on your plate?" "I just pile it on top." Lexi in her wise inner-knowing, says "Luke, you have to listen to your body."

In our remaining 2 days here, the kids are doing fun activities like ping pong tournaments (Erik is in the finals), eating too much, a little cheesy resort dancing, working out, hanging by the pool, and enjoying sweet moments... the sweetest are seeing the kids pal around together & when they without realizing it grab one of our hands... LOL, the kids seem determined to see a bikini contest (one in particular...) thanks to their dad announcing it... and they seemed very intrigued by all the ladies with "more stretch marks" than their mom walking around in bikinis.

Here is Lexi who wants to say something to her family and friends and her class about our time here in Punta Cana:
She says to her class "It is not the same without you either in a scrunched up family of 5. Here I am with Flat Stanley on the porch of where we are staying. I am drinking a strawberry smoothy. The weather is very hot here. Sometimes I wish it were winter. But I am enjoying lots of things here too, like swimming and "free" food. I like the trees, they're really pretty because they wave around in the sky. Also, I like our hotel. We're leaving in 2 days to go to Santa Domingo which is the capital city. My mom and I read Cocoa Ice about two girls who live in Maine and Santa Domingo and we are starting Kaya and I am doing math and spelling workbooks for my homeschooling. What are you learning"

All in all we are enjoying a slow pace and feel like we are getting into rhythm with each other and you could say with God too. I cannot resist sending some excerpts from my book on Beauty which speak to this and on this Good Friday to the invitation of Christ to let the clay of our soul fall into the ground:

We were once enwombed in the earth and the silence of the body remembers that dark, inner longing. Ancient, forgotten things stir within our hearts, memories from the time before the mind was born. Within us are depths that keep watch... The earth is our origin and destination. The ancient rhythms of the earth have insinuated themselves into the rhythms of the human heart. The is not outside us, it is within: the clay from where the tree of the body grows. When we emerge from our offices, rooms and houses, we enter our natural element. We are children of the earth: people to whom the outdoors is home. Nothing can separate us from the vigour and vibrancy of this inheritance. In contrast to our frenetic, saturated lives, the earth offers a calming stillness. Movement and growth in nature takes is time. The patience of nature enjoys the ease of trust and hope. There is something in our clay nature that needs to continually experience this ancient, outer ease of the world. It helps us remember who we are and why we are here. from "Where does Beauty Dwell" in The Invisible Embrace: Beauty...Rediscovering the True Sources of Compassion, Serenity, and Hope.