Sunday, August 12, 2007

How This All Began

Welcome to the story of our Adventure!

We are just your average, middle aged couple in Charlotte NC. We have a great life here. Our daughter, Melissa graduated from college a year ago and is living and working independantly as a nurse. She went with us to the Dominican Republic in February 2007 (see picture below)


We had a wonderful cottage in Plaza Midwood neighborhood, where we had dreamed of living for many years. Cindy is a school nurse and Greg works in the IT department in the Public Library system. We have been taking week-long mission trips to the Dominican Republic for 2 years, building latrines and working with the people living in a Haitian community called a Batey.

Last February, we felt a nudge to come down for a year and try to do a blitz on latrine building. The nudge became a conversation with the Sisters working there, which turned into an application to spend a year as a volunteer, which became a committment to a year in the Dominican Republic.

We are working with the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus through their Lay Volunteer organization called Response-Ability. We aren't exactly sure what we will be doing, but we envision that Greg will be working to build latrines and Cindy will be working in the small clinic in the Batey. Stay tuned to see how our job descriptions evolve!!

We have sold our home, put our "stuff" in storage and are living with our wonderful friends (aka family!) Madge and Steve Daly. (See the Dalys below)


Our last days of work are coming up at the end of August. We have spent 2.5 weeks in training with the Maryknoll Lay Missioners in New York and with the Response-Ability group in Philadelphia. Our flight for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic leaves on September 7.

Our church family, St. Luke Catholic Church, in Mint Hill, NC is supporting us in this journey. We are so grateful to them and all our friends and family for all their love, prayers and financial support of the projects in the Batey.

This blog site will serve as a journal documentation of the upcoming year. We have no idea what this year will bring, but we hope to keep you all on the journey with us through pictures and stories.

Welcome to Greg and Cindy's Most Excellent Adventure!!!