The loooooong journey

We made it! We are in the DR!!!

It was quite a journey getting here. Late Monday evening, Lori dropped us all off at the airport - 11 p.m. Here is Lori bidding us adieu just outside the security check. We were already sleepy, but our 'day' was just beginning.

We checked all of our bags - we had to pay fees to check the five heavy bags. Then we took our carry-on bags to the security check. The first casualty of our trip was the toothpaste - we had a big tube that didn't make it past security. They threw it away.

Shanlee and Megan each had a bag that went through the security check three times. Everything from toothpaste to lotion to contact solution had to be removed and checked by the security people. By the time we were done, Megan's masturful job of organizing her carry-on was ruined. We went down to the gate and waited another 30 minutes before we got on the plane.

The flight to Atlanta was a 3-hour flight. As tired as we were, we slept a lot. Well, at least I slept a lot - here's proof:

Here's some good advice: don't fall asleep on an airplane next to two daughters who both have digital cameras; you're bound to end up looking like this.

All I know is that every time I woke up, I saw two girls sleeping, yet I'm the one who ended up with a flattering picture.

We arrived in Atlanta at 6:30 a.m., then had to wait until 10 a.m. to leave. A 3 1/2-hour layover is good for one thing: eating. We had some breakfast together, then we found the gate for the flight to Santo Domingo. More waiting.

The flight to Santo Domingo was more of the same - really tired, slept, read a little. Once we arrived in Santo Domingo, we had to get a travel card. The cards had really cool pictures on them, so I wanted to save them. Instead, we walked from the line for the travel cards to the line for customs where they took the cards and threw them in the trash. What?!?!? Oh, well. The pictures were of water-falls and beaches. Not Great Salt Lake-style beaches, but beautiful green-and-blue-water-with-white-sand beaces.

We then went through customs and declared the books we had brought. Here is a picture of Shanlee and Megan just before we went through customs:

We then found Greg Denning. He was waiting just outside the airport exit and we went to rent a car. Once we had the car, we drove from Santo Domingo to Sosua - about 100 miles. Beautiful country - everything is green. Trees, grass, sugar cane, palm trees, flowering trees - you name it, they have it. We'll have more pictures to post of the DR tomorrow or the day after.

We arrived at their home in Sosua at about 7 p.m. All told, we travelled for about 20 hours.

When we got all of the books in, Rachel unpacked them. We are so excited that this will have an impact on the lives of many people here. What looked like a few small boxes is really a significant amount of books that we will help distribute to various places over the next week. Rachel took a picture of all of the books laid out in their front room - she will publish that on their web-site: http://www.discovershareinspire.com.

We plan to go to a place called Playa del Rincon (Beach of the Corner) tomorrow - it's supposed to be breath-taking. We will also visit a school built by a group called 'Dream' and visit a few places where we can give away some books. It feels good to finally be here - after all of the work Lori went to (with some help from Shanlee, Megan, and I), we are finally here to do some work.

Plenty of room, no more weight!

With three of us traveling, we have six suit cases we can check at the airport. Each one has to be 50 pounds or less, but we will be paying to have them up to 70 pounds. The problem we've run into is that the books weigh enough that we've reached the weight limit without reaching the space limit of the suit cases.

We are trying not to have books bounce around all the way to the DR, so we've done some creative packing. We've done a few different things, among them:

• Putting some of the packing material in the suit cases to fill the empty space
• Using donated quilts as packing material
• Shuffling books between suit cases to balance out the weight

The problem is that you have to know how much each suit case weighs. We don't have a big scale, so the way to get the weight is easy, but a pain. First, weigh yourself (Shanlee did this). Then weigh yourself holding a suit case, being sure not to drop the suit case on your toes, leg, or other objects in the vicinity. Then subtract your weight from the second measurement. Vois la! You have the weight of the suit case.

This process went on for quite awhile, until we had five suit cases at 65-70 pounds each, and one at about 35 pounds. Now we get to pack our clothing and toiletries into carry-on bags. That should be fun. We don't have much room, but the most important thing is to get the books there - we'll figure out our clothing later.

How does your garden grow?

I'm sure I'm the only one in this situation, but with all of the rainfall the past few weeks, my garden grows really well. The weed-part of my garden, that is. If I look really hard, I can see tomatoes, some beans, a few pumpkins, and something I don't remember. Oh, sure, I remember planting them, I just don't know what they are.


I know, I know, gardens, weeds...and the DR??? Well, on the previously mentioned list that just keeps on growing is getting on top of the weeds that just keep on growing. So, a little gardening is very germane to the DR. Now that we've established relevance, your honor, may I continue? Yeah, I've seen Law and Order, too.


It's been busy enough this year that planting a garden was remarkable, in and of itself. Normally, we'd have a bunch planted already, but I've basically planted about half of what we want. At least we've got tomatoes in - that's what we really like from the garden. And those tomatoes have loved the rain. I need to get the cages around them. Then again, the weeds have loved the rain, too. It looks like a rain forest. If I were an ant.




So, last night I got the tiller, a rake, a shovel, a hoe, and went to work. When I got done, it looked a bit more respectable, although it still needs attention. That's the part where I check something off (till garden), and find a few more things added (plant corn, plant carrots, plant cucumber). The good news for me is that most planting guides say not to plant anything past July 1st. The bad news is we've planted corn well into July before with good results.




And, lest you think the girls aren't doing anything, Shanlee and Megan each have responsibility for a flower bed. They might say it looks more like a sprawling estate in size, but it's a flower bed. Don't let them kid you. Still, the flower beds have received similar attention due to the rain, and now they have been working to clean them up. It's much more difficult for them since they can't use a tiller - it's all by hand. But they've done such a nice job.

I'm swamped!

Now that we're leaving so soon, the amount of 'stuff' that needs to be done seems to be building. It's like trying to keep the water from coming down out of the mountains - not happening. Sure, it's pretty, but the 12 oz. cup I'm holding has a finite capacity, and I can't drink any more. I'm just glad we don't live by the Mississippi River...or Niagara Falls.


It doesn't seem to matter how much I try to do, I have at least two additional tasks for every one that I check off. Bummer. I guess I shouldn't be upset. It's job security for my job as a human being, husband, and father. They can't possibly kick me out of the human race with all I've got left to do!!

The same can be said for Shanlee, Megan, and Lori. Between finalizing plans, getting itineraries, making sure all of the documentation is in place, getting the last of the funding worked out, figuring out how to get all of the books to the DR, and buying clothes for the trip, it's a wonder they have time for anything else.

And, yes, there is something else. Shanlee is working on an online course from BYU - 4 1/2 lessons to go. Plus reading for AP French and AP English every day. Megan is taking a summer physical education course every morning. That class ends on Monday, June 29th. Lori and I are volunteering at the Oquirrh Temple Open House on Wednesday afternoon. And I've been working on a circuit in the garage that appears to have a short in it. Lovely.


I realize we're not any different than the rest of you - it seems we all have so much going on day-to-day that we have little time to do more than wave and say 'Hi' to each other...sometimes not even that. (You know who you are, I waved, and you just kept driving with your nose in the air. Don't worry, I'll get over it...eventually.)


So, with the clock ticking ever closer to departure, we find ourselves ticking ever closer to frenzy. I can only hope the number of things added to the bottom of my list slows down so I can feel better about myself when I leave. Maybe I'll use smaller paper for the list; or a pen with no ink in it; or bigger letters. Suggestions are welcome.

Do you have a soul?

Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, "A room without books is like a body without a soul." As we all know, Cicero was a Roman philosopher. Well, you all probably knew that - I learned it because I know how to use Google. Truth be told, I needed a good book quote, and google came through with this gem from our friend Cicero.

So, if a room without books is like a body without a soul, we are working to bring souls to many a room in the DR, or something like that. I didn't know that's what we were doing - I thought taking books there was, well, taking books there. As it turns out, taking books there is giving souls to the people. That's not bad. I'd like to think that giving books to people is helpful in more ways than just providing them with a bundle of paper bound together and encased in a cover of some sort; that it not only helps them learn to read, but also helps enrich their lives in some way.

One of the things we've learned about the DR is that books are very scarce in some of the rural areas of the country. Many children show up for their first day of school never having learned the letters of the alphabet. The reason for this is that most families don't have any books to read - and they don't have a library or a school that has any books, so the parents are unable to read to the children due to a complete lack of books. That is sad to me - another thing I take for granted that is not a given for others.

I remember hearing nursery rhymes as a child, watching Sesame Street, learning to count and recite the alphabet. This was all before I was four years old. Not that I'm holding up Sesame Street as the beacon of literacy to the world - I just think I learned a pretty good foundation from Grover, The Count, and Ernie. Not only did I have all of that, but I can drive 10 minutes and go into one of 5 different libraries with tens of thousands of books (could be more, I haven't counted lately - it's time consuming, so I only do it during US Census years).

So, the question is, how do we get the books there? There are many options - UPS (what can Brown do for me?), Fedex (Reliability and convenience at no extra charge), the USPS (what if it's outside the U.S.??), and the ever popular carry-it-yourself.

What to do? Well, we'll take it in our luggage, of course! My wife called the other day to ask about my luggage. Each of us is allowed two checked bags weighing 50 pounds or less. That's six bags - 300 pounds for the mathematically challenged - less whatever we need to take in clothing. My wife wanted to know if i could fit all of my clothing and toiletries in a carry on so they could use all 100 pounds of my checked bags for books.

When the books arrived, we found something cool: each box weighs less than 50 pounds each. Meaning we can take the boxes as four of the six bags we'll have. That leaves two bags for the rest of our stuff - curling irons, makeup, three changes of clothing per day, and hair adornments of various kinds.

What this means is I'll be wearing short pants and a t-shirt every day for 10 days. Maybe I'll be wearing the same pair of short pants and alternate between three different t-shirts. I don't know for sure, I just know I will be packing light. Maybe I'll skip shaving while I'm gone (no shaver).

I wonder if Cicero packed light when he traveled? A few books, his soul, and a change of toga...

Entrepreneurship - and great people

Wow. Typing the word entrepreneurship is painful. But there's a good reason for typing it. It exercises my mind. Really. Let me flex my mental muscles for you: gelatenous. Aaahhh, feel the burn.


So, here's the reason for typing entrepreneurship: we are currently in the business of earning money for this philanthropic adventure. We're not opening a business, but it sure feels like it.


Last month, we did chocolate-dipped strawberries for Mother's Day. This month, it was gourmet popcorn for Father's Day. This is Megan with a table-full of gourmet popcorn; the end of the production line. Lori and Shanlee would measure and mix the ingredients with melted vanilla almond bark. (For those of you as uncultured as me, that's white chocolate.) Then it would go on the table to dry out.


There are a number of things that amaze me about this whole process. Allow me to enumerate them for you:

1. A wife who will get no direct benefit from this journey, spending countless hours working on projects to help my daughters with arrangements, passports, permission letters from the consulate of the Dominican Republic, and, most recently, funding. To be honest, having two teenage daughters willing to spend time in another country helping children they don't know is extremely gratifying for a parent. Still, Lori has been the brains and the muscle behind these projects, and it is awe inspiring to me to watch - even when the muscle means grabbing sometimes less-than-enthusiastic girls by their bras and pulling them into action. Another evidence in an endless list that proves to me that I not only married up, I married waaaaaaaay up.


2. Two teenage daughters who are excited to go to someplace they've never been and help people they've never met. Watching Shanlee and Megan get more excited about this trip has been wonderful. The closer it gets, the more they are willingly jumping in to work. Hearing the chants of Ten more days!' is fun, especially in light of this fact: these particular teenagers have been taking French in school. We're going to a decidedly non-French-speaking country. It's not Paris, the Louvre, or the Eiffel Tower. It's the Dominican Republic, orphanages, and much-needed books. And they are, if they'll pardon my use of the term, geeked to go.


3. Every person who has contributed in any way to this cause. So many have given so much. I speak for all of us when I say, "Thank you!" We've seen people give much more than we were asking for the strawberries and popcorn. We've seen people buy more than they needed. We've seen people buy both strawberries and popcorn. Each contribution is appreciated - and, if I'm not mistaken, recorded by heavenly accountants. I hope you all feel the blessings of helping us with this service.


4. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Brielle, Kalli, and Joshua. They've given up hours while Lori, Shanlee, Megan, and I have worked on the strawberries and popcorn. The first few hours isn't tough, but after awhile, they want some attention. We've done all we could to balance it, and they have been great to play on their own.

I guess that's enough enumeration for today. Suffice it to say, I am surrounded by incredible people - here in my home and living all around me. Thanks to each of you!

All hail the single parents

You may be wondering, "Why is Richard going and not Lori?" You may not be wondering that. I would suggest that you wonder that, because I'm going to answer that...wonder. Hmmm. Can you answer a wonder? nb

Where was I? Oh, yeah. I'm going. Lori's staying.

So, the initial plan for this was for Shanlee and Megan to go alone. We planned to pony up the fees so we could drop them off at the airport with a smiling airline worker who would get them to the gate and on the plane. At each layover, another smiling airline worker would pick them up at the gate, take them to the next gate and ensure that they were on the connecting flight. When they got to the DR, our friends would pick them up. Great plan.

Or not.

I can't even count the ways this plan was doomed. First, you can't send them on the last flight of the day - which our plans included. So they were going to have to spend the night in an airport. We figured our way around that by scheduling a 1 a.m. flight out of SLC that arrives in the DR in the afternoon. Beautiful! Except for the little thing where you can't send unaccompanied minors on flights between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Grrrr!

Then we found out that little snag about having problems getting them into and out of the DR without a parent - impossible. The easiest way to solve this is to send both parents with them, which would be fun. Really. There's just the expense of sending two of us and the tricky fact that we five children. That leaves three at home.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Brielle is so mature." Yes, she is - wonderful child. Very responsible. And ten years old. And the trip will last 10 days. Brielle's good for a maximum of 6 days, then we'd need to be home. (Please don't call DCFS - I'm speaking facetiously and would never leave the younger three alone for more than a day...)

So, the obvious answer is to send one of us. Since I know Spanish un poco, I was the obvious choice. Well, maybe not obvious, but as Lori speaks French, and they aren't going to Haiti, it seemed a bit more appropriate for me to go. Plus, Lori doesn't trust me alone with the younger kids for more than 6 hours. =S

Now, I had the opportunity to watch the three younger kiddies last week while Lori was at Youth Conference. Just in the evenings. I'd like to take this opportunity to sing praises to all of the single parents out there - I spent 2 1/2 days as a single parent and managed to botch up piano lessons. Translation: forget completely that on the list 5 of things I had to make sure happened was piano lessons, meaning we forfeited the tuition for that lesson.

Fortunately for me, Lori is much better at keeping track of things, and will be more than capable of staying on top of things while I'm gone - much more than can be said of me. Now if I can just remember how to say 'multitask' in Spanish, I may manage to get Shanlee and Megan there and back. So much to keep track of...

The chocolate helps it go down better...

At least, that's what Miracle Max told Fezzik and Inigo when he gave them the miracle pill for Wesley. And, as it turns out, chocolate can help a great many things. It can even help you get to the DR. Let me explain...no that will take too long. Let me sum up.

One of the things that has been a challenge has been funding this trip. Neither of the girls have a regular job, so they've been relying on babysitting jobs to earn the money they need. That hasn't been sufficient. So, Lori has been the entreprenurial brains of the family. Back in May, she had the thought of selling chocolate-dipped strawberries to earn some money.

Well, it worked well. Let me restate that - they worked hard. During the first week of May, Lori helped the girls get orders for, make, and deliver 50 dozen strawberries. They the day before Mother's Day, she helped them do another 50 dozen. With this work, they earned enough to pay for the flight. Pretty cool. Still, there is quite a bit left to earn. The solution? More chocolate!! Today they did another 30 dozen strawberries. They are professionals at this now.

For those of you keeping track at home, that's 130 dozen strawberries; 260 half-dozen; 780 pairs; 1560 strawberries. In binary: 11000011000. In HEX: 618. I know, I'm a geek. I work with geeks (cool geeks, but geeks, nonetheless). No matter how you write the number, it's a goodly number of strawberries.

Shanlee and Megan still need to earn more money, but Lori's ideas and work has made a huge difference in helping them earn money. We still have a few options provided by Lori. And Mike, my brother-in-law, has also provided us with a way to earn some of the extra cash needed. We may not have it all before we go, but I've told the girls I will cover it and they can pay me back. And my interest rates are very competitive, to boot!

No, they are not performance enhancing drugs

One of the joys of world travel is ensuring your ongoing viability as a living entity. What we take for granted in the U.S. is not so granted in many parts of the world. Warm water isn't always so warm. Tap water isn't something you drink. You even have to be careful with the foods you eat - leaning away from dairy products and food from street vendors...and dogs...and monkeys...and invertabrates.



Another aspect of international travel involves the need to get shots. Not the Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire, New York Yankees type of shots. The kind of shots you need are documented on the CDC site. Very detailed - so much so you almost don't want to go after you read all of the potential ailments you could contract.



Two years ago I spent a few weeks in India for work, and there was a laundry list of vaccinations I had to receive before my trip. Well, the same thrill is about to be realized for Shanlee and Megan. I'm up to date with these vaccinations, thanks to my jaunt to northern India, but they have had no reason to get a Hepatitis A or B vaccination. Not to mention the Rabies or Typhoid shots. Roll up the sleeves, girls!




The list of diseases you can get in the DR is impressive. The CDC lists dengue, malaria, leptospirosis, ciquatera poisoning, histoplasmosis, tuberculosis. and HIV specifically. I feel like I'm back in 9th grade biology listening to Mrs. Spencer say things that just sound horrific; kind of like something that makes your liver and pancreas switch places while your stomach is wrapped up in your intestines. Ouch.




My personal favorite from the list: Malaria. This one doesn't require a shot - it's a daily dose of medication that does a quite a number on the digestive track. For me, it's nostalgic. I spent two weeks of gastrointestinal bliss in India, and from the description on the CDC site for the DR, it could be a similar experience. Ahhh, the memories.

I'm just so glad my family can share these experiences with me.

<Editor's note: due to the nature of images related to shots and the nature of the ailments listed above, I decided not to include a photo with today's post. I hope you will understand.>

The Setup

So, this is a blog of a trip I'm going on with my daughters - Shanlee and Megan - to the Dominican Republic. I'm sure you're wondering why the Dominican Republic, and why not in the winter when it's freezing at home. Well, let's back up a bit and I'll explain.



These are my daughters - Shanlee and Megan - and that's my arm, purportedly jabbing Shanlee in the forehead for freaking out on a ride at Disneyland. This whole story starts because of Shanlee. It's amazing how many things in my life start because of one or the other of my progeny.






Shanlee is trying to do some service while she's in high school - long gone are the days where a good GPA will get you a scholarship; now you have to give service, too! Well, a family in our neighborhood went to the Dominican Republic early this year. Their deal is to give away 1,000,000 books to people who need them all over the globe. They have a web-site dedicated to their adventures: http://www.discovershareinspire.com/. So Lori contacted our friends and asked if Shanlee could help. It started as a project to gather and send books to them. This turned into a trip for Shanlee to go help them in person - reading books, painting schools, etc. This turned into a trip for Shanlee and Megan.






Enter the problem (one of a myriad, but I'll spare you the details): the Dominican Republic has had serious issues with divorced or estranged parents taking the kiddies there to hide from the other parent. They have also had issue with people going there to get children they then put up for adoption. Because of the problems, they have become strict about getting kids into and out of the country. So, if we get the kids there, we won't likely get them out without both of us showing up to pick them up. Expensive. Troublesome. Frustrating. At this point, the trip seemed in jeopardy.



Enter the solution: me. (Hey, it's the one time in my life I get to be the solution - let me have my moment of glory). If we go through all sorts of flaming hoops and red tape, I can accompany them to the Dominican Republic and I will get to bring them home again! Plus, having a built-in translator isn't a bad thing (assuming, of course, that everyone speaks Book of Mormon Spanish...) So I get a trip to the DR (henceforth the official abbreviation for Dominican Republic for lazy people).



What are we doing there? Lots - but I need to give more information on what we are doing in terms of preparation and build up...in a later post. I'm not the young man I used to be, and late nights combined with early mornings are taking their toll on me.