Dominican Housewife Chronicles - When the door closes

Hello everyone.  I've been back for 12 days and I think I can finally say things are back to normal here.  I came back with a head cold which had me down for a few days.  Just as I was back on my feet and working on getting the household affairs back in order my husband came down with a cold which was much worse than mine (at least according to him).  He's a trooper though he didn't miss any time of work but once he got home I was in full nursemaid mode, making tea and trying my best to get him to take medicine.  I have my stash of medicine from the US with me,  you know the basics NyQuil and DayQuil.  Well those don't look like anything he's used to so it wasn't easy convincing him to take it.  I finally just gave up and went to the pharmacy to get something he was more familiar with.  It's still not easy getting him to take medicine.  He's one of those people who prefers to tough it out or natural remedies.  The good news is that as I write this post he's on the mend and just in time for his vacation which officially starts on Monday.

I'm happy to report that my cooking skills remained in tact even though I took a month off.  There haven't been any bad rice incidents or anything burnt, over or under cooked.  I guess you can say cooking is like riding a bike LOL.  As for laundry well I remembered the process just fine but  my husband seems to have forgotten to rules around what clothes to place where so my first laundry day consisted of me washing almost a full load of already clean clothes.  In my defense they were very close to the dirty clothes hamper and NO I don't smell the clothes before I wash them (My husband asked me this question).  If the clothes are in, on or anywhere remotely close to the dirty clothes hamper they are getting washed. 

I titled this post when the door closes because while talking to a good friend of mine this week I expressed to her that one of the things I still struggle with is the door being open all day.  So here's the deal.  When my husband wakes up in the morning one of the first things he does is open the front door.  Once the door is open it stays open all day until we are ready to go to bed at night.  This doesn't just apply to the front door in our house.  It's just a cultural thing.  Most doors are open here and that means that everyone is visiting and talking (mostly yelling) to each other from house to house.  This steady stream of visitors throughout the day means that my husband is always entertaining someone. So when I was talking to my friend I told her that I don't feel like I get any of my husbands time until the door closes at night.  Of course I'm exaggerating a little bit but not much. I talked to my husband about it and he confirmed that this is the culture here, people hanging out, visiting etc especially in the evenings after dinner time.  He encouraged me to join him on the porch and not to stay inside away from him and his friends which is what I typically do.  I'm working on it but it's a little uncomfortable for me to be sitting among a group of men with no other women around and especially when they are all speaking Spanish and it's hard for me to follow the conversation.  This picture is one I took a few days ago.  After my husband's friends left he closed the door and we shared some time together with him laying on my lap.  I posted a black and white version of this picture on Facebook a few days ago with the caption 'when the door closes my heart is full'.  It lead to some pretty interesting comments and responses. Some confusion about what I meant but at the end of the day I knew what it mean so that's all that matters.

A brief update on my non profit.  I had a Spanish version of my logo created for the baskets here.  I filed my application for tax exempt status and am awaiting a reply.  I am waiting for the supplies I sent over to arrive so that I can start putting baskets together and delivering them to the women in need.

My husband is off work for the next three weeks so things are about to get real interesting.  I'm a creature of habit and I love my routine.  With him here with me everyday all day my daily routine is out the door that of course will always be open:-)

Dominican Housewife Chronicles - Babies & other new beginnings

Hello everyone I'm back in the DR now.  I took a few weeks off while I was in PA.  I arrived in PA on June 10th and my newest grand baby couldn't wait to meet me. He wasn't due until June 28th but he decided to come on June 12th.  All is well with mommy and baby.  It actually worked out well that he came sooner than expected because I had more time to spoil him to death, oh yes and of course help my daughter out too LOL. This is my daughters third, the others are 8 and 1 1/2.  I have no clue what she was thinking having another one so soon after the little princess Jaleah but hey he's here now so she's going to have to figure it all out and she is.  I think each day gets a little less stressful for her and her boyfriend.  Here's one of his first pictures from the hospital.

My youngest sister was also expecting and her little (well actually not so little) bundle was born on June 18th.  Meet my newest nephew Avery James Cruz Wimms.  These two little guys are just precious but there's clearly a big difference.  Jalique the oldest is about two pounds lighter than Mr. Avery.  We're signing him up for football now, Redskins of course LOL.

This trip back home was the longest period of time that my husband and I have been apart since we got married in October.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Of course I missed him terribly but I guess I was just so busy holding the babies that I didn't miss my daily housewife chores LOL.  You know I only cooked one time the entire month I was home.  My husband complained almost daily about how much he missed my cooking.  Little did he know that I wasn't cooking anything while in PA.  My youngest daughter Jenni and I were on a mission to visit all of our favorite restaurants while I was home and I must say that we did a pretty good job because towards the end of my visit we were having a tough time coming up with places to eat.

I actually did get some other important things accomplished while I was home I didn't just eat all day long.  I'm happy and excited to announce that I started a non profit organization called A Blessing For You.  This organization is designed to provide new mothers with supplies to help them during the first weeks following delivery and connect them to other community resources.  This is something that I had been thinking about and working on for the past couple of months while I was in the Dominican Republic.  Initially I wanted to start locally in my hometown of Harrisburg, PA however the more I thought about it and prayed about it I realized that the need for this was much greater in the Dominican Republic.  In the Dominican Republic when you go to the hospital to have a baby you have to bring everything with you.  The hospitals there do not supply anything at all.  No blankets, diaper, wipes or anything for the baby or the mother.  Instead of waiting to get this started when I'm  back in PA permanently I decided to start now where the need is greater and do more than just be a housewife while I am in the Dominican Republic.   While I was home in PA this time things just took off and I was able to get my paperwork filed with the state and I have my Facebook page and website up and running.  I'm working on my tax exempt status paperwork for the federal government now.  I've started to receive donations and was able to secure enough supplies to send over three boxes full of items to create 30 blessing baskets for new mothers here in the Dominican Republic. Here is a picture of a sample basket unwrapped and wrapped.

Attached is an informational flyer which lists the types of items needed.

There are so many women in need so please share this information with your network and consider making a donation of supplies or a monetary donation.

I came back to the DR with a little head cold so it's going to be a slow start to regaining the momentum I had when I left to keep up with my daily chores.  I hope I remember how to cook for my husband ya'll LOL.
The boxes I sent over will take a couple of weeks to arrive but once they do I will be full steam ahead putting the baskets together and distributing them to as many as possible.

Stay tuned for more from this Dominican Housewife/Non Profit Organization Owner