staircase to heaven.

dramatic title?
possibly.

but let me tell you about one of the beautiful things that is occurring at our house.

as you may (or may not) know, in the DR, it is acceptable...nay...required (another slight exaggeration) to sit on your roof.
there are many reasons why one would choose to perch atop the roof:
1. stargazing (the most obvious)
2. shadow puppet shows on the neighbor's house at sunset
3. quiet time of reflection and prayer
4. sleeping (yes, I slept one night on the roof)
5. watching people in the poor neighborhood (barrio) on the other side of our house.
6. talking to great friends
7. cooking s'mores (yes. for Christy's birthday we sat on the roof to make s'mores. and stargaze and talk. ique bueno!)

Needless to say, there are many great reasons that one would particularly fancy a good sit upon the techo (roof in spanish...one of my newly acquired vocabulary words).

Now onto the good story:
BEFORE:
We used to have to get up on the roof by a homemade ladder that our wonderful, wonderful landlord, Guido, graciously allowed us to borrow.
(below: the ladder)


AFTER:
Guido decided that his girls (that's what I think he thinks of us as...his daughters) should maybe be a little safer when they are going up on the roof. and maybe potentially he wants to build a second story to our house...ENTONCES (therefore) he built us a staircase. Yep. It took him maybe a week, but not we have a fully-functioning staircase. AND Kelsey, Karyn, and I carved our name/initials into it. que bueno, indeed!
(below: the staircase...not fully complete in this picture, but now it is. I don't have many recent pictures)



MORAL OF THE STORY:
get an awesome landlord who thinks of you as his daughters. get a landlord who is motivated to get projects done.


I'm thankful. :)