As I am sitting down to write I’m realizing that this is the 5th year that I will celebrate Christmas in the Dominican Republic. 5th year! So it’s been 5 years since I went caroling with my small group, 5 years since I opened up presents under a tree on Christmas morning with Bud and Sue Eby, Brett and Jen and my nephews, 5 years since I have been at a Christmas family reunion, 5 years since I’ve walked around Longwood Gardens to check out the lights and smell the divine pine scent. Incredible. How can that be? 5 years! My longing for a white Christmas must be a little bit stronger this year. 
Here in the DR our Christmas lights are up (and have been since early October) and we’ve had our translator Christmas party. Fabulousness. There are apples and grapes for sale on every corner and yesterday in the capital the airport had at least 10 billion people in it. Yup, December in the DR. Everyone comes home for Christmas. The roads are full and the music is cranking. Navidad. Navidad.
It has been an interesting build-up to December though. October and November were BUSY BUSY with teams. I enjoyed the craziness of ENT surgery (nearly 40 surgeries in one week!) and heading out to the barrios with Ivy Tech, Brookside, and ONU. We had a blast with Crossroads in General Surgery at the clinic and are looking forward to working with SUU in the barrios this week. I was thrilled to attend Neonatal Resuscitation classes with Sam and Terry Wellman again. Fall has been GOOD. We are also prepping for a crazy winter with teams pretty much straight from January 2 through March 20th (one week break in there!). There are some short-term changes at the Guesthouse, with Dan and Kari on a 6 month sabbatical and Jeff and Kamanda moving in to take over Guesthouse roles through July. So it feels a bit crazy…although in the back of my mind I feel a real peace about this winter. I have been really psyched to see our translators stepping up and taking on bigger and more serious roles in both providing care and providing leadership at SRI and in our barrio/surgical/construction/VBS sites. I’m excited to continue to watch where God is leading all of us in our various roles and professional lives.
On some personal levels, it was fabulous to have my home pastor, Steve Crane, come down to spend a few days this fall with Laura, myself, and our husbands. I CRAVE pastoral care…and the love and encouragement that was shared with us was vital and life-giving and so very needed and appreciated. It was a sweet gift from home!
Monchy and I were also able to participate in the Global Leadership Summit during a weekend in November. The speakers are always dynamic and we left inspired and filled!
We have also enjoyed a sweet gift from Jesus, a baby brother! Yup- it’s surprising but a delight to have a 5 month old brother in law. Monch and I are both crazy about baby Michael and he just had his first sleepover at our apartment about a week ago. There was very little sleeping but lots of giggling and cuddling. We still fight over who gets to hold him so obviously the novelty has not worn off!
The new clinic construction continues advancing faster and further! They recently had “The Big Pour” which was essentially a 36-48 hour (straight!) of pouring a concrete floor/base. I’ll leave the details to Ken Potter and Jeff but it was a huge undertaking and another big success on our way to completing the new clinic. Check out Ken’s blog for updates at www.sriclinic.blogspot.com!
Monchy and I celebrated our first anniversary last week with a few days cruising around the country, returning to our favorite hostel in Jarabacoa, checking out a baseball game, and visiting friends in the capital. It was a great trip but we find ourselves always ready to come home to our sweet apartment and funny chickens after a few days away.
Our biggest prayer request at this time would be for paperwork. Monch and I are hoping to head home this summer for an extended visit and are waiting on Immigration paperwork to be cleared in order for him to come with me. We haven’t had great experiences with visas or embassy visits up to this point and I’m nervous and worried. It will be two years (in June) since I’ve been home in the States and I’m craving some time with my peoples! Please join us in prayer that all of our paperwork will get to the correct channels and be approved. I’m excited for my stateside family and friends to meet my husband!
My beautiful baby brother-in-law! Michael- gift from God!
Watching Sam and Terry Wellman teach NRC!
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