Hello from back in the States!  Well, it was a long day of traveling to get home on Sunday.  Flights were on time, but there was some running in the terminal to catch the connecting flight from Miami to Chicago!  Unfortunately, Grant and Heather's luggage was lost once we got to Chicago so it was not without a few hiccups!  They handled it like champs and headed on to start clinical on Monday.  It was nice to be back in America where I could read all the signs- we certainly knew we were home when we saw our first Starbucks!  It was a strange feeling to be leaving the DR and it felt like we were just getting used to trying to communicate in Spanish (some better than others), riding to work in the back of a truck, taking cold showers, eating fresh pineapple with every meal, and throwing toilet paper into the trash can instead of the toilet!  It is hard to fully appreciate or process all that we learned and experienced while there among the Domincans.  They have a warmth and compassion for others that is clearly felt even through the language barrier we experienced. 
Our time at the resort was a nice break and time to reflect as well as we spent time with others from the trip learning their stories and sharing experiences from our time at the guesthouse.  Since our group was so large-55 of us in total- it was hard to spend time with everyone as we were going about our busy days during the week.  My favorite parts of our time at the resort was the final meeting we had together with our fearless leader, Dave.  We took turns sharing our favorite memories and experiences from the week.  We all went around in a circle and hugged every single person from the group, it was very special to me made us all realize the relationships we have made and the unique contributions that each person brought to the group.  My other favorite part of the resort was the  beach and the amazing water- warm as a bath and three shades of transparent blue.  My final favorite part of the resort was getting baptized by Dave (aka Okie Dokie, grandpa Dave).  I chose to get baptized this day because this year has been a very important year for me.  I have grown tremendously in my faith and my relationship with God.  I feel that God has placed me just where I need to be and has placed the right people in my path at the right time.  It was an amazing opportunity for me to renew my faith and I will always hold it close to my heart.
I apologize for the lack of blogs and also lack of pictures....I will continue to work on this as I journal about my time in the DR and take the time to go through my many pictures (although I don't have even close to the amount of pictures that Heather took:) )