Monday, March 31, 2008

d to the r


i am fully aware of how long ago we returned from this trip but things have been insanely busy. we went to the dominican republic for spring break to work with a non-profit organization called building homes, building hope. no, this does not mean that cade and i are responsible for the corrugated window in the above picture. because we were only there a week, we weren't able to build a house, so instead we laid a cement floor in this house for a family of six. before, they were living with a gravel floor that had plenty of scorpions and rats cozily cohabitating with them...a little sketchy. we had to sift the dirt and mix the cement all by hand, which was a good work out to say the least- but the family was so grateful.

yes, that is a sweat rag hanging out of my shirt. don't judge me. when we weren't working on the house, we were at the elementary school. cade drew a huge mural on the school wall and we all helped paint it while playing with the kids. the kids were great- i only had to break up seven or eight fights during a simple game of 'simon says' but we had a blast. the only thing they found more interesting than the mural we painted was our friend, dave kuwada. a great asian boy, he spent an entire week being followed by children who continuously chanted 'jackie chan.' needless to say his, hand was sore from all those autographs.

we made a lot of new friends in this little town. it was an amazing experience. we split into twos and lived with different families throughout the community. we had no running water and we had to bathe in a river. quite the experience. the food was amazing and it was refreshing to see how little we actually need to be happy. the people there were perfectly satisfied in life with just the bare necessities because the most important aspect in life is a family.

the kids would come over every night to our house and we would play games with them. others gave us scooter rides around town, a near-death experience. yikes. they were so great!

this is the river we bathed in. sooo pretty.
don't worry, we were able to go to the beach (cade fit right in with his speedo), see the santo domino temple, eat spaghetti on the beach and even go to church while we were down there. it was amazing. the dr is a beautiful place and the people there are so genial and loving. we loved every second of the trip.

7 comments:

The Buckley's said...

That looks like so much fun! What an awesome experience!

Kate said...

I was wondering when this post would come along. Honestly! It looks like you guys had a great time and I can't wait for LOST to start again so I will see you both!

Nicole said...

What an awesome experience! Aren't you such good people.

Nordhoff Family said...

You are a busy girl Bullough! It's been entirely too long since I have seen you! I hope the plans are coming along well!

{Rollins Family} said...

i made my blog private, email me your email adress at dlrobinson02@yahoo.com

Kristen said...

I am so so happy for you! I can't even believe it! You guys are adorable! I have that exact swimming suit in black! ;)

Anonymous said...

Ray and Leslie said: You are right! We do monitor this site for all kinds of laughs and admiration for you both. You 2 are the best couple ever! You warm our hearts and we love you so much. We are so excited for May 9th. You both look so handsome (Cade) and beautiful (Ashley) We are so grateful you belong to us.