It’s hard to believe that we are to December once again! I just finished reading my post from December 2014 to reminisce about what was happening a year ago. At that point there had not been any blocks laid at the new land. Braegan was only 1 year old. We had only made one trip back to the states since moving to the DR in September of 2013.
In 2015 we made 3 trips to the states: Florida in March; Illinois, Indiana, California, and Georgia in August and September; and Georgia in December. We have also made 5 trips up to the Samana peninsula on the north coast. Las Terrenas has become one of our favorite vacation spots on the island!
You can read Jeff’s construction updates from the past year on the Revolution blog. He has included pictures and highlights each month.
Upon arriving back in the DR in September, Braegan started preschool at Lucille Rupp. She looks forward to going every morning.
One of her favorite parts of school is the flag raising that takes place before class every morning.
The students line up by grade level and sing the Dominican national anthem as the flag is raised for the day. There are about 25 students in her class. We are thankful that she has time to interact with kids her age every day, since a lot of her time outside of school is spent with the adult groups that come to serve at the guesthouse.
With this being our 3rd Christmas in the DR, there are Dominican traditions that we have been able to enjoy. First of all we LOVE warm winters and being able to enjoy the lights without shivering. People begin decorating their homes with Christmas lights and decorations in early October. Last month while we were in Santo Domingo, we were at one of the malls and had the opportunity to experience a Christmas musical performance by a local school. Braegan has become very fond of the song El Burrito Sabanero.
With all of these exciting things, Jeff and I are also taking on the responsibility of being the interim guesthouse coordinators for Solid Rock. We moved out of our apartment and into the guesthouse at the beginning of December. Dan and Kari are taking a 6 month sabbatical from January-July to reconnect with friends and family, attend spiritual retreats, and be refreshed for ministry. Jeff’s main responsibilities will be to oversee the translating staff, payroll and banking. My main responsibilities will be communicating with group leaders, hotel reservations, donor payments, and random things around the guesthouse. 
You can be in prayer for us in the upcoming year as we continue to take God’s lead as to where He is leading us. More specifically:
• patience as we learn new skills
• for quality family time, now that we will be living and working at the same place
• rest for Jeff, Braegan, and I as we transition into the new role, we have had many sleepless night’s lately, but we know that God is leading us.
• grace from the teams as some things will be different for them then what they have experienced in the past