#forAFry and FRESH EYES

For what seemed like forever I was in a desert place. It was rocky, dry and sometimes I felt swallowed up by hopelessness. I struggled on so many levels and many of the things I had loved vigorously, my God given passions, seemed to have vaporized like droplets of water on a sizzling hot plate. Others didn't evaporate but I had to set some of them down for a while, knowing in the depths of my soul that the Lord would revive them at some unknown date in the future.

A refreshing began to happen in my life when I truly confessed some things before the Lord, and the overgrown elephant on my chest took a load off and dissipated into the lightest of feathers. Freedom. Even though my trunked friend had gone though, I still felt as though I hadn't been fully released from the huge divot he left on me. I was like one of those tempurpedic mattresses  that hadn't been popped back into place to its original form.  The pressure was gone but the impression remained.

One of my most favorite pieces of my life here in the D.R. has always been to share this country that I love through photo and story, yet my eyes had become caked with sand and my heart somewhat hardened. As I began to confess, repent and share with you all, the Lord brought your sweet comments before me in response to what I had shared and they were life - giving. Thank you.

Recently, one of my friends from years gone by who is on our prayer team responded to an email that she and her daughter (A. Fry) had been talking about what it would be like to live in the D.R. every day. Her sharing this comment with me was like a spring board to my soul and all of a sudden the caked on sand started falling off my eyes. They were made fresh again.

I have started snapping photos again, even if they are not that great through tinted windows with an old iphone normally taken from a moving car! I am seeing with FRESH EYES. In hopes of showing A. Fry what every day life is like in the D.R. it has reminded me of all the crazy and wonderful things I LOVE about this country! Things that have been here all along, all around me, yet I had been looking right passed them.

Also, since I started #forAFry #everydaylifeintheDominicanRepublic, the kids and I have had some pretty hilarious conversations about what is normal here that is not normal in the U.S. Remember that the Sawyer kids have grown up here so when I tell them to be on the lookout for things that we can share with #forAFry about everyday life in the D.R., they are unaware that much of what they see would not also be common place in the U.S.


"Mom, you mean they don't have bread trucks in the D.R?" (think of a bunch of bags of bread thrown into the back of a small 2 door pickup!)

Exhibit A: behold the truck o' carbs :)

"Mom, not many people use motos in the U.S?"

Motos (moped like bikes as well as motorcycles) are a major form of transportation in the D.R. and it is common to see small children, whole families and all sorts of cargo being carried on motos. Also, it is like 75 degrees here today. Notice the winter hat? In her defense, it prob does get chilly zipping through the streets on the back of a bike :)

"What? No chicken trucks? speaker trucks? pineapple trucks? People don't ride on top of the trucks in the U.S?"

Every day we see people riding on top of trucks like this guy on the trash truck.

The list goes on and on and on . . . . . good times!

Do you long for fresh eyes in areas your own life? Are you in a rut or coming out of the desert with sand caked on your eyes?  Every day is a new opportunity to receive a new batch of God's compassions and to see His thumbprints all around us. Every day is a gift to begin again anew.

If you are on instagram or facebook, follow along with us (sawyers5dr) as we document the things that we encounter in every day life here and enjoy :)

Thanks for interacting with us! It is a blessing to all of us to hear, see and enjoy your comments!

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23