Soakin' Up The Sun!!

It’s early Monday morning. Our last day in the Dominican Republic. It’s hard to believe that our time here is coming to an end. In some ways, it feels like just yesterday that we were all gathered in the Dayton airport ready to head off for our Dominican adventure. In other ways, it feels like we’ve been here a really long time and we’ve become pretty used to things here. All in all, we’ve had a really great time here in the Dominican Republic and our lives will never be the same.

As I type, I’m sitting poolside right outside of my hotel room enjoying a quiet moment of solitude. In front of me I see beautiful palm trees and birds soaring over the peaceful Caribbean Sea. There’s a refreshingly cool breeze and the sky is slowly waking up and preparing for another beautiful Dominican day. A short distance from where I am, Mrs. Henkel and some of the girls are out on the beach watching the sunrise out over the water. The rest of the team is sleeping and will be getting up soon so that we can all meet for breakfast around 8:30am. We get to spend another two hours out on the beach this morning before we will need to get out bags packed, get our travel clothes on, meet for lunch and check out at noon. Our bus is coming to pick us up at 1:00pm and will drive us 15 minutes to the Santo Domingo airport.

We’ve really enjoyed our time here at the resort. We had about four hours out on the beach yesterday after we checked in around 3:00pm. We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful and sunny day! Some of the team went swimming, some laid out working on their tans, some went snorkeling, some took a ride in a banana boat…but all thoroughly enjoyed a well deserved day of R&R!! We ended up not getting here in time for lunch at the buffet so we had pizza, french fries and hot dogs and pina coladas out on the beach. At 7pm, we gathered together for a dinner at “La Cotica” and then met again out on the beach under a little cabana around 9:30pm for a time of reflection. It’s good to share together all the fun memories and incredible things that God has done in and through us over these past two weeks. He certainly has been good to us and we are very, very thankful.

Well, I should close this blog for now. It’s time to make a few wake up calls and then head down for breakfast. We will cherish our last warm and sunny Dominican moments together…and then we will see you all in a few hours when we arrive back home to cold, snowy Ohio. Adios, DR! Hello, Ohio!