Our Christmas Letter to Family & Friends from Port Orford Oregon to All!

Christmas is almost here and another year is ending and 2016 is knocking at the door.

As I get older, time seems to speed up and becomes more valuable & precious each day. These past two years have been a great adventure for Ellen and me. In June 2013 we sold our home in Bend Oregon, also all our furniture, cars and much of what we owned in this world.

We followed our heart and felt so blessed that at this season of our life, we were able to follow the desires of our heart. (A few people thought that we were nuts.)

We flew to South East Asia and from Singapore traveled through Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia into the land of my birth, Indonesia. We traveled by air, train, bus, boat, car, horse cart & betjak and on foot, with a large backpack and suitcase. It was dreams come true for Ellen and me, since we both have family roots to the Indonesian islands and its people. 

For 8 months we rented a home in Kampung Dukuh in the mountain town of Salatiga on Java. We totally enjoyed the sights, sounds, tastes and the sweet island people of Indonesia. Then it was time to leave Asia and we travelled towards Holland and our family there, so we journeyed through Israel, Greece, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. After 3 months in the EU, our visa had expired and it was time to get back to the USA. We had made it all the way around the world.

Coming back into the USA we had no home, so we purchased an old 30 foot motor-home and lived and traveled in that for almost one year, and loved the whole experience. (Another item on our bucket list checked off.) 

But as some of you might know, we recently settled on the Southern coast of Oregon and bought a small home on Garrison Lake in Port Orford, a town of about 1190 people. (+2)

We feel totally blessed to have a home again and to put the suitcases away for a while!            

We comb the local beaches for treasures whenever the weather permits us.                         

Please come by and visit anytime and also follow us on our blog “diemelrv.blogspot.com” 

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas season and a Happy New Year!

 

My Birthday ~

 November 24th - I turned 65....gosh...a retired person - I am!  Well....it sure seemed "old" when my parents turned that age....Oh Boy!

OK! OK! Maybe its not that old after all! 

                               HA!

 Cecile had invited us to come over, it would be a good way to see our friends too!

She had ordered a delicious chocolate mocha cake....so' good!

Thank you so much Cecile!!!!

 Hans & Maria our old friends came, and Leslea and Corinne...Maralin my sis...Nico was glad Hans arrived otherwise he would of been surrounded with women!

It was wonderful to see everyone again!
Thank you All for coming - you made it a special day!!!!

 Leslea and Cecile ~

 Maralin walks in and catches up with Corinne....lots of Dutch speaking going on!

 

        










                                I received many sweet gifts!

 Here's Polly my friend - we've known each other since we were 12 years old!
Fun picture of the two of us Pol!  Hey does that mean we know each other already  
.......53 years????????????????

Wow!

 Leslea gave me a very "noisy" card......!

Lenny & Glenn came to the cabin for an evening visit!

Glenn also had a Birthday! 

Happy Birthday Glenn!

Thanksgiving in Bend w Family!

Last week we celebrated Thanksgiving here in the US...


...and so Nick & I went to Bend to be with the family!  It was a beautiful 5 1/2 hr drive - from here to Roseberg and then through the passes of Hwy 138 to Crater Lake/Diamond Lake area to connect with Hwy 97 to Bend!
Crater Lake
Diamond Lake

(read up on these beautiful sights!)

A Subway to go was enjoyed! 

A "pristine" Day!

It was fun staying at Mar's and to be back in our old home town of Bend!  ...We had a relaxing week, shopping for the Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings...a big FAT turkey, potatoes, vegetables, lots of good eatin'!

Mar had the whole week off, so it was quite a special time together!

We also celebrated my Birthday and that was so sweet - Nick's sis Cecile organized it all and made it so special for me!

The two sisters in the kitchen...preparing the meal...how fun!

Now that was a highlight!


We are making memories!!!

She's a good cook and enjoys preparing a meal...just like me!

Ronnie my brother & Viola also came and so we had a very special Day!

Leslea, Mar's neighbor and friend...also joined us - it was lots of fun being together on such a relaxing day!

We were all very Thankful...to be together on Thanksgiving Day!

Ron carved  the turkey- and it was delicious!  Good job Sis! And we sat down to a very special holiday meal!

(Today was also our oldest brother's John's Birthday and we remembered him!) 

 While we enjoyed a very special day together as a family (such a blessing!) 
it began to snow and snowed ALL day....14 inches!  Wow - such a pretty sight it was...and we were cozy and warm inside the Log Cabin enjoying the fire & a special time together!

Ron & Viola stayed the night - so they wouldn't have to drive home in the evening in the snow, so the next morning we sat around & enjoyed more talking and hanging out...and Maralin made a "good old fashion breakfast like Mom use to make!"

It was so cute to sit down to breakfast that morning...all so  familiar with the 3 siblings together - well you can imagine how special a time we had!  

This Big sis was  Very Very grateful! 

Operation Christmas Child - A WONDERUL outreach to the children!

Operation Christmas Child ~ It's that time of the year again....to fill a box for a boy or girl and this box will be sent to foreign countries where children hardly have such a thing...receiving a Christmas gift!  So people all over the US began in November to do these boxes: filling a box for a  Boy or Girl and you decide what age you would like to work with!

 

 Then you go to the store and do a little shopping to fill the box...fun things that a child that age bracket would enjoy!  Flashlight, hair pens, ball, doll, truck, yo-yo etc!

Then you bring it back to the collecting area and in this
case it was the church we attend!

We packed in the 2 cars...

 
 We then drove the boxes to another town where MORE boxes would be delivered at, and then they would be loaded into a truck to be taken to the Portland Airport and flown to the east coast North Carolina! 
There Operation Christmas Child Boxes would be put into containers and flown to the different countries!

Oh the JOY of receiving a gift BOX!!!! 

 Some of the children have never received Christmas presents before!

 Our little town of Port Orford did 172 boxes this year!  Yeah Port Orford....that's Great! 

 What a blessing to be involved with this!  It's the 'best' to get involved doing something and knowing it brings such happiness during the  Christmas season!