normal news

Now that I’ve updated our “big news”, on to the “normal news”, though as we all know, normal is quite a relative term.

First of all, things are going really well here. Our move out of La Victoria was definitely sad in some ways, as we miss the daily life in community there (though we are still there 2-3 days a week), but overall we feel like it was the right move for us and our work here.

With the community center, since our move, Janel has taken more ownership and initiative as Director, making the center more independent of us. He is doing a great job with the ministerial aspect of the center, but will need to improve a little in the business management area (organization, promotion, management, etc.) in order to continue to move toward sustainability (we subsidize around $100 each month for the center to break even). So we are working on that part.

We recently had our first Board of Directors meeting, which we are really excited about. It is a great, diverse group of leaders who share a vision for the community and are also very good friends of ours. This will also help the process of independence to have them (especially David, who is the President of the Board) as an encouragement, counsel, and accountability to Janel instead of just myself. We’ve also clarified the roles and responsibilities of those involved with the center, which has been very helpful in the overall organization. We are also almost legally incorporated as a non-profit, at which point we will be able to pursue accreditation from INFOTEP, a renowned institute in the country. As always, there have been some delays, but we are almost there.

And finally (and most importantly), people in the community are being served and impacted by the center. It continues to be a place where people can come to receive training in English and information technology, use a computer for educational or business purposes, use the internet, attend seminars on different topics important to the local community, participate in various ministry activities, or just hang out. We’ve recently seen a few cool success stories of people who have taken classes and/or taught at the center, go on to get a good job using the skills they had acquired. We’ve also seen numerous people impacted by the ministry activities there. And the best part is it has very little to do with us at this point.

Mercy’s ministry in the “campo” is also going really well. A core of about 7 women have committed their lives to Christ and are becoming involved with Janel’s church. Many others continue to attend the weekly meetings. We have been encouraged by a deep thirst the women have shown to learn more about who Jesus is and the Bible.

On a quick tangent, Mercy and I recently read a book called “When Helping Hurts: How To Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting The Poor … Or Yourself”. I hope to do a more detailed blog about this book soon, as we were really impacted by it, especially as it applies to some of the work we do here. It is very engaging, convicting, motivating, practical, and most important, solidly biblical. I am convinced anyone involved in any way with work with the poor – from giving money to working on the “front-lines”, from short-term to long-term – should read it. I’m actually leading a group study on it with a group of about a dozen missionaries here in November.

Anyway, back to the work in the campo … After being inspired by the book, Mercy and the team spent one meeting doing an asset assessment, meaning instead of asking the women what they’re “needs” are, they asked them what they’re assets are – what skills, abilities, and resources they have. It was really cool to see how this changed their mentality from thinking about their poverty and what they may lack, to recognizing the gifts and skills and abilities they DO have. We’re now using this to see what they can come up with in order to use these assets to help them provide for their families and improve their communities. This is just one of many ways the book has been enlightening and helpful.

We’re also continuing to pursue an opportunity that could provide a more permanent location not only for the community center, but also for the work with the women in the campo. It would also help alleviate the significant cost of monthly rent. I think I mentioned this before, but a few months ago some representatives from the office of the Dominican First Lady, who is involved in a number of great works in the poorer communities here, including 2 programs that are very similar in vision to the community center and the ministry in the campo, came to one of the activities after being invited by the secretary of the mayor of La Victoria, who is a good friend of ours (whoa, that’s a little confusing). Anyway, after seeing the activity and hearing about the vision of both the activity and the community center, they expressed a willingness to collaborate with us by constructing a building sufficient in size, and in a location, that would work for both the community center as well as the activity. A place where the community center could continue to offer classes, internet, space for ministry and community, etc., as well as an area for the women to not only meet, but be trained in applicable skills. They basically said if we find/provide a piece of land that is sufficient in size, they would build it. So the land and building would still belong to “Centro Comunitario La Esperanza” (run by the Board of Directors), would be independent from the First Lady’s programs (ie: we are free to continue the ministerial aspects), yet we would have access to resources (software, equipment, programs, etc.) from the network of the First Lady. We have some leads on possible locations, but are trying to work out the details of what that will look like. We would love for some, if not most, of the funding for the land to come from local, in-country, sources, so we’ll see how that goes. Regardless, we are excited at the opportunities this could open up.

Also, in December, some friends of ours, Antonio and Lissa Fernandez, are coming down to receive a shipment of over a million dollars (!) in medical supplies (many of them from Project CURE) that Antonio raised through Rotary club, for the children’s hospital in Santo Domingo (also a program of the first lady) as well as MIMED, a medical missions ministry that I’m on the Board of here. We will possibly have the opportunity to speak with the First Lady directly about some of our work and how we, along with Antonio and his Rotary connections in Colorado, might be able to collaborate.

And finally, we have been pursuing a microfinance/banking co-op at the community center. About a month ago I was contacted by a friend of ours (who was actually on the first short-term trip I made here about 5 years ago), who happened to have a short trip planned here to get more information about another Christian microfinance organization called (interestingly enough) Esperanza International. We were able to hang out with him and a co-worker of his and show them the center and around La Victoria. He contacted me a few days after he returned and they are really interested in helping organize microfinance banking co-op in La Victoria. I have since spoken with the national director here and we are on our way to organizing it. I hope to post more details on this soon.

So that’s what’s going on here. As for our future, here’s the deal. We have run into a little hitch in the adoption process. We hope to be registered with CONANI by the end of this month and should have a child referral within 3-6 months, and 3-6 months after that we can take legal custody of the child. However, because we are doing an international adoption, our residence here is considered temporary and we can only be here until around December 10^th (6 months after our immigration paperwork was approved on June 10^th). If we stay beyond that, we could cause a significant delay (possibly over a year since we aren’t residents) in order to have a home study done and approved here, or even worse, have to start the process over as a national adoption, starting with getting residency. We obviously do not want that. So our plan is to return to the States in mid to late December and then come back here when we can take legal custody of the child, which will likely be between February and June. At that point (when we take legal custody of the child), there is a 2 month co-habitation period where we need to live here with the child while being observed by CONANI, and a couple weeks after that, it is approved by the court here. At that point, we need to return to Colorado to complete the immigration and adoption process there, at which point we are free to go where we’d like. As you can see, this is a complicated process that does not look or sound appealing, but we are convinced we should follow through on it.

So for us the 2 big questions are what we will “do” during this back-and-forth, and then what our plans are beyond that. We will likely use the first few months as a time of furlough – resting, connecting and speaking with those who have supported the ministry here (our church, friends, and family), getting annual medical and dental check-ups, and making a decision about our longer-term plans.

As for where we see ourselves longer-term, we continue to pray for clarity. I miss teaching a lot. The break has been nice and it's been neat to do what we've had the opportunity to do here, but I really loved teaching. And while there are definitely some opportunities to do that here, there is no doubt that I connect with American youth in a way that I never will with Dominican youth. Again, not that I couldn't do it or it wouldn't be valuable or fulfilling, which I probably wouldn't know until I actually did it. Then of course there is the rest of the family (unfortunately it's not all about me J). Mercy loves what she is doing here - building community and bringing hope (in all it's broad meaning) with the really poor, mainly single-moms here. I'm sure she could do that to a certain extent in the States, but it would obviously be really different. And with the kids, we were doing a combination of a public school and homeschool last year, and now we are just doing homeschool. But I don't know that we are cut-out/committed to that, which weighs into our decision as well.

That's the nutshell. I guess the good thing is we are pretty open and flexible, realizing that God has done a work in and through us here, but that he could also work in and through us in another place like he did before we came. We recognize we aren't any "holier" or "spiritual" by serving him in a developing country than someone serving him in the developed world, so we really are okay with wherever this journey leads. One thing I’ve learned here is that His "will" for our lives is not as much where we live or what ministry we're in, but what kind of neighbor we are and that we serve faithfully. So the most important question is not “Where does God want me next?”, but “Do I love the Lord with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, and do I love my neighbor as myself?” This has been somewhat of a paradigm shift from the way I thought before, and I'd say I'm still learning what all that means and looks like for us.

But as up in the air as our future appears, we are actually really at peace. We have been blessed with generous support from our church, our friends, and our family, which has given us the opportunity to serve here, and we continue to trust that we will be taken care of regardless of where this journey takes us.

Dios les bendiga,

Gregg, Mercy, Taryn, and James Tucker

One of my favorite pictures - James and a buddy on a makeshift swing behind Biemba's house.

Yerald pushing/preventing her from smaching into the wall.

They let the iguanas run loose at the aquarium.

Same with the sting rays. At least it's kind of smiling for the picture.

We eat lunch at Biemba's house every Tuesday and Thursday. This week a friend from Colorado, Bryan Chrisman, was visiting.

Biemba's yard.

Biemba's neighbor playing with Taryn's doll.

Biemba's husband, Bonelli. He was blinded by diabetes about 3 years ago.

Taryn and James at the Colonial Zone. First church of the New World in the background.

James in the bumper cars at MegaCentro, a big mall in city.

Another ride at MegaCentro.

Going away party for the Speegles (Jason, Mandie, and Edwin) at the Hernandez house (Karin, Eric, and Eric).

James pointing at a turtle.

Mercy enjoying the tranquility of the Botanical Gardens.

More Botanic Gardens.

Hiking

Running

Bamboo

Mercy and James posing during the modeling shoot.

"Are they watching?"

Yaniel's birthday party.

Wwwaaaiiitttiiinnnggg for our BIG NEWS!

Is it just me, or does the expression “big news” almost always conjure up the idea of pregnancy? It does with me. Our family has had a lot of “big news” in the last six months. My younger sister (Meghan) and her husband (Damion) are expecting a baby in November, and my older brother (Robb) and his wife (Kristy) are expecting a baby in February. The clan is multiplying.

Mercy and I also have “big news”. Or more accurately, we are waiting for our “big news”. But it’s “big news” of a slightly different sort. It is a “pregnancy”, but not the “carrying a child in the womb” kind. We are pursuing the adoption of a child here in the Dominican Republic. I guess that, alone, IS “big news”, but with no clear timeframe as to when we will actually “have” the child, it is not quite as exciting as your typical “big news”.

Mercy and I have always been open to the idea of adoption. We actually considered adopting a child as our first child, but Taryn kind of “beat us to the punch”. But our desire has grown immensely since being here in the Dominican Republic and seeing just how many children have lost their families through abuse, neglect, or abandonment. And while we understand this is prevalent in the U.S. also (and around the world for that matter), and it is a tragedy anywhere, the conditions here seem to amplify the heartbreak.

So about two years ago (a year after arriving here), we commenced the process of adoption. And while we knew it was going to be a long, slow, involved, complicated, and frustrating process, we were convinced that this is what God would have for us. I’m always a little hesitant to claim “God’s will” for a specific decision about the future, but the idea of taking in a child and providing a loving family where there isn’t one, seems pretty clearly what God would have for us. Being that an overarching theme of Jesus’ life and mission was to love others, particularly the innocent, the young, and the poor, we feel pretty confident that this IS God’s will for us. Not that everyone needs to do it and that there aren’t other ways to love others, but I have no doubt that it pleases God to choose to bring a child home who was not born into your family and make the decision to love that child unconditionally.

As for the process so far, as I said before, we were expecting it to be slow, but it has far exceeded our expectations in that area. Part of the delay has been the unique situation of doing an international adoption while living in the country we’re adopting from. Another part has been that the U.S. recently ratified the Hague Convention which has affected the international adoption process, leaving many of the parties involved confused on the new requirements in certain areas, causing delays. But much of it is just the way it is. At first the amount of time, energy, and waiting that goes into the process was more frustrating, and the “pointless” delays (miscommunications, misunderstandings, poor organization, inefficiencies, etc.) still are a little bit. But overall, as I’ve learned more of the numerous abuses that take place in the area of child trafficking and sometimes international adoption, I have learned to appreciate the care that is taken to assure that a child who “truly” needs a loving family, is being provided with a “truly” loving family. In light of this, the waiting seems pretty insignificant.

We often get asked if we are adopting a child we “know” (sometimes called “pre-identified”). The answer is “no”. We have come across many children in our work here that have been living in extremely poor, sometimes abusive, often neglected conditions, and have even had mom’s hand their children to us and say “take them, please.” And as heartbreaking as this is, we’ve never felt like that was the way to go for us. And regardless, any abused, neglected, or abandoned child must be entered into the orphanage system here, at which point the investigation of the child’s history and family is begun, followed by the process of placement.

So at this point, we continue to wait. We originally thought we could possibly be taking custody of a child by now, but unfortunately that is not the case. The current delay began 4 months ago, when all the paperwork got sent to the lawyer here in the Dominican Republic for translation, certification, and registration with CONANI, at which point we would be on the waiting list. First there was a month delay due to a wrong account number on a wire transfer. Next was a month delay due to a miscommunication between the lawyer and CONANI. Then a few weeks ago, during the final step in the process before being registered (literally would have been the next day), which is certification of the translated documents by the Dominican Secretary of Foreign Affairs, we learned that the documents were not Apostilled, which was the new requirement in that office as of September 1^st… ugh!! So now the documents have been sent back to the U.S. to be either Apostilled, or worst case scenario, we would have to re-do them, have them Apostilled, re-submitted, and finally registered. Once we are registered, we are told it is usually 3-6 months before receiving a referral, and after that is accepted, 3-6 months before we can take legal custody of the child. So that’s where we’re at.

Please join us in prayer as we await our child. For us, please pray for patience, wisdom, patience, peace, patience, efficiency … oh yeah, and patience.

Interestingly, the child that will be placed with us is likely already born. Who and where he/she is? - only God knows. But pray with us that God would comfort and protect this child’s heart and mind. That even now, he/she would sense His presence. Pray for our child’s emotional health in the midst of any loneliness, confusion, or anxiety he/she may be experiencing. And finally, pray for the people that are taking care of our child in these months before we arrive to take him/her into our family. That God would give them a special love and affection for our child, as well as all the children awaiting their families.

Thank you,

Gregg, Mercy, Taryn, and James

Lucky number 7

Taryn turned 7 years old last week! We took a group of some of her friends to the zoo. We actually went to the zoo on her birthday here 3 years ago, shortly after we arrived. It got me thinking how much she has changed since then, which the pictures show.

3 years ago:

Today:

But she has obviously also changed on a deeper level. The word that has come up over and over again to describe her is courageous. Not as much the physical sort (though she did go cliff jumping with me J) as the emotional and relational sort. She took in stride a quite dramatic move from the comforts of life in America, to life in a small, poor, 3^rd world town. Knowing very little of the language and without knowing anyone, she jumped right into the public school here where she was the only white child and the only foreigner. She’s made new friends who are different from her in so many ways (race, language, economically, culturally). And perhaps most courageous, she deals with a rambunctious little brother every day. We’ve said this before, but we are so proud of her – who she is, and who she is becoming.

Feliz cumpleañosTaryn, y que el Señor te bendiga y te cuide! Gracias por ser tu!

MORE PICTURES:

Kit Kittredge (American Girl doll) joined the family.

And Taryn ...

... cut ...

... her hair!!

Chimpancé

Avestruz

Tigres

Hipopótamos

Monos

Monkey eating a banana

Cebras

Cocodrilo

Flamencos

Most of the animals have tons of space to roam freely, but it was sad to see the fastest land mammal stuck in a 30x10 foot cage.

More little monkeys.

Greta and Taryn feeding Doe, the deer.

James wanted everyone to know his age also.

La Victoria Women's Trip

A little late, but here's a video from a group of women who came down in May to help with Mercy's ministry in La Canita.

Our little turn on the catwalk: A weekend as models

So we had quite an interesting weekend. A little over a week ago a friend of ours here contacted us about the need for a young American family to be photographed and videoed as part of a Dominican Republic tourism campaign in the United States. We weren’t really sure what to expect, but since it was a free weekend at an all-inclusive resort, not to mention a pretty decent pay for one day of “work” (especially for missionaries), we thought “what the heck”. We sent in a few pictures, went in for a quick interview and a couple more pictures, and a few days later we were notified that we were selected.

So we drove there on Saturday and were put up in an extremely nice room of a beachfront resort. We met the guy in charge of the U.S. and Dominican ad agencies and the camera crew they had contracted out. He let us know that they’d basically be taking photojournalistic-ish photos of our family at a couple different locations.

So the next morning we met them all and we were off to the “27 Waterfalls of Damajagua”, a popular eco-tourism spot that has (as you may have guessed) a series of 27 waterfalls and pools. We had been there before and hiked 8 of them (all 27 takes 4 hours) and knew it was beautiful. Mercy and I (without the kids for this part) started the 15 minute hike to the first waterfall and the pictures began. We were told to just act natural like it was a normal hike and to not look at the camera. So we did our best. Mercy was very natural, but I found it difficult to be natural with 3 photographers constantly snapping pictures of us. Periodically they would stop us and have us repeat a section, like walking through a stream, or up stairs, or over a bridge, or drinking from a water bottle, or whatever. Mercy kept pinching and slapping my ass to try loosening me up, which was pretty effective.

Once we arrived at the waterfall we moved to the “swimsuit portion”. So I stripped to my speedo … just kidding, I had a normal suit. Anyway, they captured us getting in, swimming around, playing near the waterfall, jumping off some rocks near the waterfall, and then getting out. They wanted us to be constantly laughing and smiling so it would look like we were having a lot of fun, which we were, but it’s hard to keep that up for an extended period of time. Fortunately among the 15-20 people that had gathered to watch us, there was a 50-ish year old European couple that was quite obese and smoking in a bikini and speedo that kept us smiling. By the end I was getting sore from trying to suck in my “barriga” (gut) every time I was out of the water.

Anyway, after a quick lunch break (which was also photographed) we headed off to the town of Puerto Plata. This time they photographed and videoed us with the kids walking, playing and dancing around the central park (where there happened to be a concert so over a hundred people looked on), on different streets highlighting the architecture, eating ice cream, on the boardwalk, and sipping from coconuts at an old castle at sunset. That was definitely the coolest part of it all.

Overall, Mercy did great – a natural. We realized that since she pays a lot more attention to those types of photos in a magazine she knew what they were looking for. I was more like a stiff posing for prom pictures. Taryn did great – also a natural. James did well also – a total ham, but probably a little overboard on the smiles at times. In the end it was a really fun, new experience. It was definitely more “work” than I expected and not easy to “be natural” when being photographed and looked on by others. It felt like it does after an hour of wedding photos, but it went on for 10 hours. That night the whole crew had dinner at a great restaurant in the resort and it was fun to get to know them even better. And of course relaxing at the resort the next day was wonderful.

Now whether they got any decent shots that will actually be used in the “campaign”, remains to be seen. If you see us in any travel magazines or websites for the Dominican Republic, let us know.

"Dominican Wedding DJ" incident

So a friend of ours, Oscar, got married today. He asked me if I could bring the projector, portable screen, and laptop to show a slide show presentation he had put together for his wife. So of course I obliged. Once I got there I also got DJ duty because I had my computer with songs on it. So I just start playing some songs by JEsus Adrian Romero (a very popular Christian artist here) in my Itunes. Well, as I'm talking outside, I suddenly realize JImmy Buffet is playing inside (my Itunes was set to run in alphabetical order). At first I wondered why THEY were playing Jimmy Buffet, when it donned on me that I am the DJ. So I run in and stop it just AFTER the chorus of "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw". And keep in mind this was a wedding with no alcohol and no dancing. Fortunately, I don't know that anyone understood the words, though Mercy wasn't there and it would have been nice to share the moment with someone. Classic!

MOVED!!

Well, we did it. Last week we packed up our lives and moved out of La Victoria, which we have called home for the last 3 years. It’s amazing how much easier moving is when you just don’t have much stuff. What took about 2 or 3 weeks in the States took us about a day or 2 here. The big appliances went to the apartment of the community center; the sofa, kid’s bunk bed, and drawers went to a missionary family in the city; and the kitchen table went to our friend Biemba’s house. Everything else we brought with 2 trips in the Honda CRV.

The "going away" pijamada (pajama party).

Anabel, Taryn, and Jeiri

Emilio towering over James.

As I mentioned before, it is a mix of emotions. We are excited for the change and our new temporary place, but we will definitely miss the community we have in La Victoria.

We will miss the daily unannounced visits from friends and neighbors; being able to see the community center across the street; seeing our sweet neighbor Semina in her rocking chair; the daily conversations with Mangrino (who lives below) about how bad the electricity, water, heat and humidity, or delinquency is, but always ending with “todo tranquilo” (it’s all cool); the almost daily visits from Sammy with a list of English words he wants us to pronounce with him; the Sunday morning church bells; the Wednesday and Sunday flea markets on the road to the prison for visiting day; the constant music from the colmado across the street or the discotec down the road; the peace and quiet of the catholic “Santuario”; the daily “salespersons” walking by – the donut man (especially him), the pan dulce women, the carne women, the toilet paper and matches man, the platano truck, the vegetable truck, the fruit truck; the sound of mangos or avocados falling from trees onto the tin roofs; Lucia’s daily pan de guineo, chocolate and jugo; the sound of slamming dominoes, cursing, and blasting music from the colmados; Janel’s nightly visits for buckets of water; lunch, deep stories, and profound theological discussions with Janel, Biemba, and usually a visitor or two on the balcony; the constant sound of motorcycles, many times dragging wrought iron or wood, or carrying families of 4+ people; the insanely loud trucks with a mountain of speakers announcing the weekend deal for Presidente (the local beer) or live music at the discotec; all the kids (including our own) running through the streets in the torrential rain; our old neighbor sitting shirtless (and sometimes in his skivvies) to try and stay cool every night with the power out; the collective groan (Se fue la luz!!) when the power goes out, but even better, the collective cheer (Hay luz!!) every night if and when the power comes back on; fitting the mosquito nets over our bed every night; the refreshing shock of a cold shower after a hot day; watching the youth play (and dream) on the local, potholed baseball field; the “National Geographic”-ish bike rides in the campo; the site of Taryn and James walking with friends back from school in their pink polo shirts; the daily site of 100’s of uniformed high school kids (blue polo shirt and khakis) walking to and from school in the morning, afternoon, and evening … and on and on!!

Fortunately we won’t be totally removed from all these things, but even those that remain will go from being a part of our daily life, to a part of our visits every couple days. But “good-byes” are definitely a lot easier when you can still say “see you tomorrow”.

And don’t get me wrong. With the move comes a host of “benefits” – much more electricity, more water, hot water (will especially appreciate that come December), screened windows, washer and dryer, bigger kitchen, more than 1 bathroom, a tub, safe streets and relatively nicely paved roads for the kids to play and ride bikes in, a nice park within walking distance, closer to good schools, privacy, much more space, much more quiet, much closer to the city, ... among other things. But above all, we feel like it is a good and necessary step for what we’ve been doing here. It will provide some distance and independence for the projects we’ve helped start and allow us to be a bit more focused and energized in our time there. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers at the beginning of this new sub-chapter of life.

James playing some baseball with his new neighbor friends. And yes, the ball did hit Carlos in the forehead! Fortunately, it was padded.

Nerd alert!

With the community center, we now have our Board of Directors which will be meeting for the first time within the next month, a name registered with the Dominican government (Fundacion Centro Comunitario La Esperanza), soon to be a legally incorporated, non-profit ministry, and a clear description of roles and responsibilities of those involved with the center. We will also be pursuing accreditation with a renowned institute in the city once we finish the process of incorporation.

With Mercy’s ministry they are consistently meeting, solidifying their team of leaders, with the women they are seeking a location to construct a place where they could meet (something more than the mud outside one of the women’s house), and most importantly developing a true sense of community based on the Biblical principles of love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, etc. (again, hopefully she will write about it soon).

And finally, Mercy's parents visited to help with the move, and more importantly, give us a few days of rest and relaxation. Mercy got really sick in the last couple days in La Victoria. The doctor we visited thought it might be Dengue fever and suggested she spend a night in the hospital with an IV, but we decided that was a little extreme and went the "rest and drink a lot of fluids" route. Being in a beautiful, air-conditioned, all-inclusive, beachfront resort helped ... and it worked!

Taryn and Oma posing with what they called their "best friend", the fan.

Dinner out with Oma and G-Pa

Relaxing in paradise.

4th of July, Caribbean style!

"I'm sailing! Ahoy, I sail. I'm a sailor."


G-Pa and James watching some TV.

My little angels who never fight ... yeah right!