Our state-side schedule

Hello All~

I know you have all been dying to know what we are doing while we are in the states, so I am putting together a little schedule (although not filled yet) of where we are going to be over the course of our stay in the states. As weekends fill up, I will fill them in on this schedule. Get your dates into me ASAP.

October 26, 2006: Arrive in the United States of America (or Los Estados Unidos)-DONE

October 27-28: FAMILY~Louisville, KY-Grandma and Grandpa Basham's 50th wedding anniversary-DONE

October 29-Nov 2: STAFF~Louisville, KY-Working in Office-DONE

November 3-November 6: SUPPORTERS~Marion, IN-DONE

November 6-9: STAFF~Louisville, KY-Working in Office-DONE

November 9-12: FAMILY~Wisconsin-DONE

November 12-13: SUPPORTERS/TEAM~Marion, IN visiting Women's B-ball team-DONE

November 13-15: STAFF~Louisville, KY-Working in Office-DONE

November 16-20: STAFF~Staff outing-DONE

November 21-24: FAMILY~Roanoke, VA for Thanksgiving-DONE

November 25-26: WEDDING~Michigan for friend's wedding-Couldn't go-VERY sick! :(

November 26-December 3: SUPPORTERS~Wisconsin for numerous presentations-DONE

December 4-8: STAFF~Louisville, KY for end-of-the-year Staff meetings-DONE

December 8-11: CHURCH VISIT~Roanoke, VA-DONE

December 12-14: STAFF~Louisville, KY-Working in Office-DONE

December 15-18: CHURCH VISIT~North Lakeport, MI-DONE

December 18-25: FAMILY~Wisconsin visiting family for Christmas-DONE

December 25-26: FAMILY~Louisville, KY for Christmas-DONE

December 27-29: STAFF~Louisville, KY-Working in Office-DONE

December 30: STAFF~New Year's Party-DONE

December 31-January 1~OPEN-DONE

January 2-5: STAFF~Louisville, KY-Working in Office

January 5-7: FAMILY~Possibly in Nashville, TN helping Tim move in

January 7-12: STAFF~Louisville, KY-Working in Office

January 12-14: FRIENDS~Marion, IN-Visiting some friends

January 16, 2007: LEAVE FOR DR

Hope this is helpful to everyone. As you can see, the dates are filling up. Miss you all and looking forward to seeing you in a month or so.

Love, Mike and Mandi

Our trip to the Capitol

Last Wednesday, the G.O. Staff went on a trip to the Capitol of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. It's about a two hour van ride there (maybe a little less with Timmy driving) pretty much staying on one main highway. Santo Domingo, in many ways, looks like downtown Los Angeles. Lots of highway lanes, beat up houses on one side, huge, expensive houses on the other. We went to the capitol, mainly for one thing...OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE! This is a rare thing for us down here. Whereas in the states, almost every decent sized town has an Outback, you can pretty much only get it at the capitol here. Although, we had a few stops before we were to reach our much anticipated destination. We visited a few historical sites, which I have pictures below! It's good to know the history of the country we are living in. It was especially good to see the museum which had MANY artifacts that dates to several hundred years ago from when Christopher Columbus discovered the DR. No pics from the museum though. Enjoy!



THIS IS THE FIRST ARCH TO EVER BE BUILT ON THE ISLAND!



THIS IS THE FLAG OF LA REPUBLICA DOMINICANA!



THIS IS ONE OF THE FIRST CATHOLIC CATHEDRALS BUILT ON THE ISLAND!



INSIDE THE CATHEDRAL



STAINED-GLASS IN THE CATHEDRAL

Thanks to the Staff at Wisconsin Curves

Mike and I wanted to extend a special thanks to the Staff at my mom's Curves in Wisconsin. They had a yard sale and donated items and all of the money was raised for Mike and I. They raised $250.00 for us! Thank you so much. As a result of your donation, Mike and I were able to purchase a new gas stove and washing machine! These two new items have made our life so much easier! Here are some pics for you to enjoy. Thanks again! We hope you are blessed greatly because of your generosity.



OUR NEW GAS STOVE!!! Isn't it cute?



OUR NEW WASHING MACHINE!!!!

Thanks again! You all are the best.

Home Improvement

We have had a busy week. Sorry to many of you who have tried to e-mail us, our e-mail server was down for two weeks so we couldn't send or receive any e-mails. If you tried to e-mail us during this time, please resend those documents as we never received them.

Last week was "home improvement" week. Mike and I painted our ENTIRE apartment. It is such a huge change and it makes everything feel more like home now. Here are some pictures of the difference just a little paint makes in a tiny apartment.



BEFORE: Our kitchen and "living room" area with BROWN walls.



AFTER: Our kitchen and "living room" area with MARFIL SUAVE walls (off white).



BEFORE: Our bathroom with BROWN walls.



AFTER: Our bathroom with BLANCO HUESO walls (Bone White).



BEFORE: Our bedroom with ORANGE walls.



AFTER: Our bedroom with MARINO VERDE walls (Sea Green) with our wood board/concrete block shelves that we hand painted!

Hope you guys enjoy the pics, more to come!

Blast from the Past

Today's post is a little unconventional compared to previous ones. I just wanted to post some pictures I had from two of my friend's weddings that I went to this summer. I miss my friends a lot since I've been down here, and since communication is limited to either e-mail or skype (which only one of my friends has skype) I just wanted to post some pictures of my buddies so that they knew I was thinking about them. So if any of you guys check our blog, please know that even though we are far away, you are incredibly close to our hearts. I love being here, but I can't wait to see all of you in November and December.

As for this week, Mike and I will finally have internet of our own in our apartment! No more using the school's internet and having to walk down the street to check e-mail. Plus we will have a landline phone that goes along with our service which we can call the United States for 6 pesos a minute, which is roughly 20 cents. Not bad. Also, my mom secretly held a yard sale with all of her employees at Curves and they raised money for Mike and I to buy a washing machine and a stove! WOO HOO!!!! The blessings are just over-flowing. We are so incredibly greatful. Sometimes it's hard to say how much. As long as God will's it, we will live in the Dominican.

This week, as soon as our internet is hooked up, I will be updating some stuff on the G.O. website (www.go-ministries.org). If you have looked lately, I have made some adjustments such as: if you look at our name under the Staff page you will see a section called "more on Mike and Amanda." There will be a picture and some more info on us. But there will be several changes made in the next couples months so stay posted.

I guess that's it for now. Hope you guys enjoy the pics and I will talk to you next Tuesday! Love ya'll!!!