Let me start off with our highlight of the month, we are officially Dominican residents!  Braegan, Jeff and I made a trip to Santo Domingo on Thursday, November 20th to finalize our residency!  The next step for us is renewal next November, so it is nice to have a break from thinking about all of the paperwork.  We are so thankful for all of your encouragement and prayers throughout the last 18 months.  I feel like our residency process has been mentioned in almost all of our previous blog posts.

Our official identification

 

Braegan looking at her personal Dominican Resident’s card

 

Another big highlight from November was groundbreaking at the new clinic property.  That took place on Tuesday, November 18th.  This has been a dream from the beginning of Solid Rock’s history!  There was a special Groundbreaking group that came for the event, and they spent 3 days at the guesthouse.  They had a busy schedule touring all of SRI’s ministry throughout the area.  It was great to sit around and exchange memories from the past several years!

My grandma, Deloris Shaffer, was one of the special guest in the group that was able to visit us.  We are thankful that she was able to be a part of the team and spend some time seeing what all is going on in San Juan.  A lot has changed since her last trip here in 2008.  Next year will be my dad’s 40th year of ministry in the Dominican…goodness, he is getting old!

4 generations of Shaffer ministry in the Dominican Republic!

 

Braegan breaking ground at the clinic property

 

Jeff, Braegan, and I just returned from a family getaway to Punta Cana.  It was our Christmas gift to one another.  It was nice to be able to have some down time as a family.  We spent a morning at Playa Macao, and Jeff was able to spend some time snorkelling with his GoPro (one of his favorite hobbies)!!!

Jeff’s next adventure is to climb Pico Duarte at the end of December with some friends.  He has been studying up on lots of survival skills!

Jeff and I also spent an evening last week decorating our apartment for Christmas.  We live on the corner of the main Agenida through town.  We are already preparing for the noisy, midnight parades throughout December!  This year they won’t be as much of a surprise.

 

Front view of our apartment

 

Entry way to our apartment

 

God is faithful, and we are thankful for the many of you who are praying for us daily.