Policy Book

This past fall we had a semester student, Margie Ewald, work with us at the Social Work site. She had several responsibilities including leading Bible studies and activities with several of the groups at the site. But her biggest contribution was a site policy book that she completed almost entirely by herself. We came up with a list of 79 issues that we are confronted with in the community (such as adultry, parenting, financial issues, etc) and looked up Bible verses that relate to each of the issues. Then Margie wrote 1-2 paragraphs summarizing where the Bible stands on each of the issues. The idea is that the book will be kept at the site as a reference when these issues come up. Many times Daisy and I are confronted with issues and though we can often share our own opinions and paraphrase what the Bible says, with this book at our fingertips, we can now share with the person exactly what the Bible says and share specific verses with them. We also hope that this book will continue to be a resource for new site leaders that come in this future, so they can know what types of issues they will be dealing with and how the Bible says to confront them. I have been using some of my time at home (between cleaning/cooking/caring for James) to translate it into Spanish (which has been quite the task...79 pages!)

I really like what Margie wrote as the purpose statement of the book:

The purpose and the heart behind this book is that it would be used as a resource to minister to and build relationships with the women, teenagers, and girls of El Callejon. This book was not created to be a policy book on life, a piece of literature to give to someone who is struggling, or a rigid rulebook on how to deal with problems. On the contrary, it was created to be a foundation for heartfelt and personal conversations where Christ can work through us, with words and loving embraces to walk alongside women who are struggling. Because there is no reasonable way to write comprehensive summaries of each of the topics within, this book promotes conversation, thought, and further study. This is simply a resource to do God’s work of building relationships and coming alongside other people who are in need of a friend or someone to talk to. Other uses for this book might include ideas for the formation of Bible studies or personal study.

Margie with Rosa- a girl that comes the activities at the site

Mt. Mogote

Every so often I like to do something special with the boys from El Callejon. Sometimes we'll go to the river for a day. One day I invited them all over to my house for dominos and dessert. It's always a lot of fun and a good bonding experience.

A couple weeks ago I took them all on a hike to the peak of Mt. Mogote at an altitude of 5450 ft. It's a grueling hike. The total climb is about 2000 feet and it's really steep, one of the most difficult short hikes I've ever done.

I pumped the boys up for weeks, using the trip as a way to keep them behaving well. We met in El Callejon on Saturday morning and piled 13 kids into 2 CRVs. The hike takes about 2 hours to climb and I honestly questioned if some of the boys would even be able to make it.

I even told Micael he couldn't come, but then after some whining I let him go on 1 condition: his older brother had to agree to stop and turn back with him if he gave up.

To my surprise, every boy climbed all 2000 ft without a complaint. The peak is breathtaking and you can see the entire city of Jarabacoa and even all the way to Santiago. It was cool to see the exhilaration and sense of accomplishment in their eyes when they made it to the top.

They made me proud.


Francis posing for a picture about half way up. He's one of my leaders and has grown a lot spiritually since the club began 2 years ago.


He hasn't just grown spiritually...He's grown a foot taller this past year. He's old nickname of 'Gordo' no longer applies. He wanted a before and after picture of his gut because he was convinced he was going to lose 10 lbs for the day.


I love this picture. 9 days out of 10 Luis Miguel wears the same torn shirt, pants, and flip flops. This is what he wore for the hike...he thought he was the coolest guy around. In fact, at one point he helped a teenage girl that we passed get down a rock and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. I've never seen someone strut the way he did after that.


The whole crew made it to the top.


"ok, now let's do a crazy one"

1 month!

Our little boy just turned 1 month on Monday. Everyone says this, but time is flying so fast!! He's already gained about 2 pounds and is noticeably bigger (and chubbier). He's starting to look (and eat!) more and more like his daddy every day. He has a lot more control over his movements. He's made a couple beautiful smiles. He can push himself to standing on my lap (with a little help of course). He's had a few poopie diaper overflows on me and others. His sleep intervals at night at getting longer (yay!). He loves to stare at windows. It's true what everyone says that having a baby changes your life completely. It takes 5 times as long to complete a simple task...but it's so worth it! He bring us so much joy. Enjoy some pictures....

Sweet Baby James

I'm sure that you have all already heard and seen the pictures....but our beautiful little boy, James Warren Holloway was born on January 28 at 9:53 pm. He weighed 8 pounds, was 20 inches long, and is completely healthy.

My water broke at about 2:30 am on Friday January 28. After getting our things together, we headed straight to the hospital. I was 2 cm dialated when we arrived but hadn't felt any contractions, so we knew it would probably still be several hours before we saw our little boy. So we passed the time watching The Office and The Big Bang Theory episodes. The doctor continued to check me periodically but I stayed at 2 cm for hours. Sometime in the afternoon (I think around 4, I don't really remember) we decided to give me Oxitocin to induce because at that point it had been around 12 hours since my water broke. Once your water breaks you have about 24 hours before the baby must come out or else the risk of infection increases dramatically. So I got the meds, dialted 1 more cm right away, had irregular contractions for a couple hours but didn't dialate any more. Sometime around 7 the doctor suggested that since I wasn't making any more progress and that the risk of infection was now so much greater, we should do a c-section. We decided to wait it out a couple more hours, but at 9:00 when nothing had changed, we decided to go for the c-section. Then very soon after, at 9:53 pm, James was born. It turns out that his head was pushing toward my hip instead of down the birth canal, which was why we weren't making any progress. All in all, the delivery wasn't exactly what I imagined, but what delivery is?? We are just so thankful that we both came out 100% healthy.

James is already almost 2 weeks old, and we can already see changes in his appearance and development. He is a pretty easy baby- sleeps and eats a lot and rarely cries for something other than food, sleep, or a diaper change. He is such a little miracle and I love that I can spend each day with him.

Caroline and her large belly patiently waiting

Prepped for surgery

Mommy and James meet for the first time

A couple days later...sleeping on Grammie

Skyping with Daddy