A Prayer Remembered

We brought our first team from Cascade Covenant Church down to the DR in 2004.  I distinctly remember our first team.  I can remember Brian Jenks and I laying on an old deck built around this tree during siesta time (12:00 - 2:00).  I remember praying and asking God for His blessing as I tried to speak and understand Spanish. Oh how badly I wanted to learn Espanol.

Well, in this picture of the building you can see a second deck.  That building wasn't there in 2004.  But that upper  deck is where I now have my language classes.  One day I was waiting for my teacher, sitting up and looking down at the tree.  Tears filled my eyes as I all at once remembered crying out to God to please grant me favor in learning this new language.

Currently I have class 2 days a week for an hour each time.  I also have a new friend, Carlos, who is graciously giving me an hour of his time once a week to just walk and talk Espanol.  I also have a staff member, Willian,  who is taking time with me almost each day to just talk, gently correcting me and walking with me in this journey.

Also, so many other staff members pour their time and energy in helping me.  I am finally at a place now where what I thought would never happen is slowly, but surely becoming a reality.

I will never forget that day as I looked down at that tree and God reminded me of my cry, and His answer.  A true picture of the meaning "everything in His time".

His faithfulness endures forever!

The great "Prayer for Learning Spanish Tree"

As I sat up on that second level, God reminded me of the time I prayed.  And.. He hadn't forgotten even though I did.

My brother in Christ, Carlos, who has made a commitment to sacrifice some of his time weekly to help me learn espanol.

Helena Arrives :)

Karen and Helena

I’d like to introduce everyone to our 2^nd of two wonderful volunteers for the summer.  This is Helena .  We are super excited and blessed to have Helena for this summer and look forward to the great season God has blessed us with to live in community.

Helena & Courtney  2013 Summer Volunteers :)

Three awesome women ready to serve

Super excited to serve together

Our 1st Volunteer

We are so excited.  On Monday Courtney Barlow arrived in Jarabacoa and came to stay with us.  She is officially our very first volunteer.  A volunteer is someone who has come as an intern for a summer and feels a call to come and investigate possible long term ministry. Volunteers live in the community rather than on the base like interns do. Next Monday we will pick up the 2nd and final volunteer for the summer.  Then on Wed, May 15th, 10 interns for the summer will be arriving with teams beginning on May 20th.
It is such an exciting time for Karen and I as this will be our first summer as Teams Directors.  We pray God will bless us with humility, grace and wisdom as we model leadership, servanthood and love to all those we walk with this summer.

We are so thankful for all those back home who continue to support us financially and prayerfully so that we have this great chance to impact students lives hopefully for eternity.  Please pray God will give us, SI-DR staff, volunteers and interns wisdom to love well this entire summer.

INTRODUCING - COURTNEY BARLOW
Kenny and Karen Miller's very first volunteer! Courtney will be running our SI-DR Media site for the summer!

Thank you to all

As many of you know,  we came home to Seattle for about 5 weeks due to my dad being hospitalized because of a fall and a serious infection throughout his body.  Thank you to so many who lifted us and him up in prayer, provided a home for us and loved us while were home. My dad spent about 10 days in intensive care and then another week at the hospital, then was moved to a rehabilitation home and spent about 2 weeks there.  During this time we prayed for my dad, visited him regularly, all the while cleaning out his house and garage.

Praise God for his faithfulness!  What looked so impossible to us turned into God blessing us over and over.  God brought family, friends, neighbors, and people we didn't even know to help us and Grandpa.  I have no doubt some were angels :)

During this process we also needed to find my dad an adult family home because he was still so weak.  God again was faithful in that He blessed us with just the right place for my dad.  We absolutely love the home we found him and we are so thankful for Marc and Claudia, the owners of the adult family home.

We were so sad that we didn't have much time to spend with our family due to how incredibly busy we were trying to accomplish all we needed to. But we did have a few days along the way to spend with them.  Here are some pics.

Again, thank you to all who prayed for us through this incredibly tough journey we just traveled. God is good!

The Jayne Family - looking good! (Daughter Amy and family)

Micah and Jonah's best friend Johnnie, with Oma too :) (Our daughter Amy's boys)

Matching smiles !
(Daughter Amy)

3 generations of beautiful :)
(Oma, daughter Lyndsey, granddaughter Ellie)

Grandpa, Oma, and one super happy kid
(Karen, her dad Jerry, Lyndsey's son Eli)

Notice any similarities ?
(Daughter Lyndsey)

One day we had to go look at some property Grandpa owned, so we took the boys with us.  Great day
(Amy's boys Jonah and Micah)

TREASURES

It was a great day!

Perfect form !  Looks like a home run from that swing
(Our son Trapper's son Wyatt)

Thats one proud papa
(Trapper with daughter Addison)

A great night with our grandson Carter playing cards, he beat everyone.
(Our daughter Crystal's son Carter)

Oma and Carter

I know what they're saying here.  I just got a new camera and was a little click happy.  They're saying  "Man, I hope his battery dies
(Sons Kenny Jr, Trapper and his wife Kaysee and daughter Addison)

I double checked, they don't make them any more beautiful :)

Again, one proud papa 

This guy....... Is Awesome !
(Daughter Lyndsey and husband Tom's son Eli)

Addison - Oma - Opa 

Much love,
Kenny and Karen

Assumptions and the Unexpected!!!

It's amazing to me how Kenny and I  become comfortable and "at home" in Jarabacoa. Yes, there have been tons of difficulties and many obstacles but at the end of the day when we walk into our home we sigh that same sigh of relief that we sighed when entering our home in the states.  I think we assumed that we would continue to settle in and serve there and that life back in the states would go smoothly, we would spend August with our grandchildren, our children and our parents. But unexpectedly, Kenny's stepdad, Marvin, had a fall and here we are - back in Washington for a month as we care for Marvin and do our best to make sure he is well cared for.

Before leaving to come back to the states, we had just said good-bye to a wonderful mix of adults and college students from James Madison, Indiana Weslyn, Wintonbury and the Humphrey family. We were busy preparing along with our interns, Martha and Sarah, for the next two one week outreaches.

Marvin went into the hospital and within a couple of days he was near death due to a serious infection. Our children faithfully stayed by his side until we could get there. Against all the doctors expectations, Marvin healed from his infection but still remained weak. He transferred to a skilled nursing facility and we are currently navigating and learning about Medicare and Medicaid. 

Among many other things, we have been cleaning up Marvin's properties to prepare them for sale. Marvin was a mechanic in his younger years and he loves machines and thinking about how things work. Just the other day he was talking about modifying his walker to better serve him! :-)

This is Marvin's garage after 8 days of us cleaning and clearing. Our children have pitched in to help! We have all been reminded of the many times we worked together as a family. Paul Klacson, our neighbor in North Bend, came out to help us as we navigated the new world of scrap metal! We had no idea there were so many different categories of metals! We were sitting in the Lowe's parking lot the other day and I found myself wondering if the carts in front of me were aluminum. Crazy!

Aside from clearing out the house and garage, Marvin had a few trucks and cars, a couple trailers, a skid loader, a Bobcat, and this awesome 1941 Chrystler that we still haven't sold!

There were 25 brand new boxes of these along with 150 brand new Toyota master cylinders for 1972 Toyotas. One man's junk is another man's treasure!

When we first arrived, it was impossible to walk into the carport or the garage. They were so full!

Paul discovering a new treasure!

We are committing to prepare for our later years by making sure our will is in order and our possessions are few! This whole situation would have been incredibly more difficult if Grandpa had not named Kenny as his Durable Power of Attorney.

Hazardous waste removal has been complicated! We are so grateful for King County's recycle and waste disposal station only 10 blocks away from Grandpa's.

This morning in our devotional it says "In me you have everything. In Me you are complete. Your capacity to experience Me is increasing, through My removal of debris and clutter from your heart. As your yearning for Me increases other desires are gradually lessening." Lord, please help us to desire only you as we sort through all of this clutter. Let this be a reminder for us that we are not store up treasures in this world, so that we can focus more on you! Please draw the two of us and our family closer to each other through this experience. We pray that Marvin   will know how much you love him and that he will grow in relationship with you, that he will spend eternity with you!

An Unexpected Surprise

Tara (far right) arrived here on a Sunday night.  Then on Monday morning Karen and I drove her about 3 hours to a town called Las Terranas on another part of the island. She spent a week helping Rachel, Vanesa and Fernando (our SI  medical/dental staff) while they were on a mission trip. Yes, missionaries go on mission trips!

We really enjoyed spending time getting to know Tara. As we were driving we came acrossed this cave.  It was pretty awesome!

Looks kinda scary to me :)

We sensed we were in for a treat about 2 hours into our drive when we came acrossed this road.  

They literally just cut away parts of the mountainside for this new road.  With the red rock opened up, mixed with the green vegetation, aqua blue water and blue sky, wow, it really looked beautiful.

This picture does'nt do justice to how beautiful the red rock is.

Again, they literally cut this road right through this hillside.

Pretty cool!

Beautiful

Can anyone say "The hills are alive with the sound of music"?

A mere 78 degrees and cloudy, perfect :)

It was a very good day!

 I'm thinking a house right about here :)

This water will definitely make you smile 

On the way home.  Sad to be leaving the beach but still speechless over the beauty of this island

On the way home.  Just had to stop for one last look.

Not long after our beach trip we got to spend an evening going out to dinner with some great friends.

From L of Karen moving left,  Catalina Spanish teacher, Lourdes - In the DR on a medical mission, our interns Sara, Tara and Martha, Vanesa - SI Dentist with her husband Jose, Melissa -missionary,  Rachel - SI Community Health P.A.  Dick & Mary Ellen SI Hospitality 


We are getting ready to go for a pretty hard push so this was a wonderful break.  Please pray for strength, wisdom and most of all, an overabundance of God's love to freely give to all who come down here these next 10 months.  Thank you to all who partner with us to bring the Good News to the Dominican people and  American high school and college students.  

Kenny