Christmas,
2015 in snowy Sisters, Oregon
Merry Christmas! What a special time of year as we spend time
with loved ones and celebrate the birth of Jesus! We hope that you are seeing the hand of the
Lord on your lives and in your hearts.
It has been a couple of years since
we’ve sent out an update so I will try to fill you in on what we’ve been up to
since returning to the States in 2014!
In February of 2014 we said many sad
goodbyes to dear friends, pets, and our home sweet home of nearly six years in
Costa Rica. It was a bittersweet time. We were all very sad to leave Costa Rica and
at the same time very excited to return to the States.
When we returned to our home state
of Oregon, Tim had a job, but we did not have a home. We had
tried to secure rental housing from Costa Rica, but could not do so from such a
distance. Well, God had better plans and
we were invited, as returning missionaries, to be long term guests on a working
ranch near Tumalo, Oregon, just 20 minutes from Tim’s job! While there Laura raised a market lamb for
4-H and we all learned how to feed and care for a herd of sheep as well as help
with the other farm animals on the ranch; a llama, a goat, horses, and cows. We also experienced our first spring in 7 years
and our fist snow in several years. We lived
on the ranch from March to November of 2014 while we searched for and purchased
a home of our own. It was a special time
and made transition back to the States so much easier!
It was exactly a year ago, during
Thanksgiving break, that we moved into our own home near the picturesque
mountain town of Sisters, Oregon, where I went to grade school and Jr. High!. We were able to buy an acre of land in a neighborhood
two miles outside of Sisters. It feels
like we are living in a campground with forest all around us and deer,
squirrels, and birds as our regular visitors. Living in a retro 70’s/80’s manufactured home
while we save up to build a house, our home fits the old adage “Be it ever so
humble, there is no place like home!” It is very cozy and homey and we quite
like its vintage character. It was also
just about a year ago that we adopted a sweet 8 year old dog named “Lexi” who
is part Beagle and part Chihuahua of all things. She has been a great addition to our family!
We continued to home school the kids
last year and joined a local home school co-op called “Classical Conversations”. After following their curriculum for 2 years
on our own in Costa Rica, it was great to be part of a larger community. School was quite cozy at home, spread out on
the living room floor in front of the wood stove. Laura studied classical guitar and was part
of a children’s choir and both kids were Bible quizzing champs! As a family we were involved with Spanish
ministries at our church and the kids were in a bilingual play last summer.
Last January we had the privilege of
returning to Costa Rica with a team from our home church in Hillsboro, Oregon
where Tim was part of a Work and Witness team to build a church foundation in
San Jose. It was something out of a
dream to be with some of our closest Oregon friends in Costa Rica! The kids and I traveled by taxi and bus to Atenas
and after the Work and Witness team returned to Oregon, Tim joined us to visit
friends and our church in Atenas, our pets in their new homes, and we even got
to have dinner in our home of nearly six years since some good friends are now
renting it and making it their home. It
was surreal to be in Costa Rica again, but also helped with closure to see our
pets well cared for and our home lived in and well cared for as well. The friends we have there are for keeps and
we hope to return again for another visit in a couple of years!
Tim commuted daily to his job in
Bend, where he didn’t feel he fit in.
Based on his interview it had sounded like it would be similar to his
eMi office in Costa Rica, but it ended up being a lonely place to spend his
days. It was therefore a relief to us when
he was laid off last June after the firm missed getting a couple of big
projects. Because he was laid off at
the beginning of summer, we got to enjoy a lot of family time during the kids
summer break.
In fulfillment of a longtime dream,
we took classes last April to become foster parents! We were almost through with our home study
when we were asked to take in two boys on an emergency basis while their
grandparents were getting certified to take them. Over the month of July, 2 year old Grayson
stayed with us and each day one of us visited his baby brother Isaiah at the
NICU to learn about his care as he is medically fragile. It was a busy, but a rich time and our kids
were a great help! The foster boys are
now with their grandparents and we provide respite care for them one weekend
per month. The boys are growing and
doing really well! We hope to finish
our home study soon so we are officially certified to be foster parents.
While laid off, Tim applied to several
firms in Bend, all the while wishing that he could work for Steve, a previous
employer and mentor, and that Steve would let him work remotely from the
Portland area. Steve is someone Tim
really respects and the two have a great report. Well, when Steve found out that Tim got laid
off he offered Tim a job, but it did involve a move to the Portland area. With my urging, Tim accepted the dream
position and in August we left our dear little home and headed back to the
city, where Tim grew up. We spent six weeks
in Beaverton and learned that the city life is just not for us. We also learned that we can live on much less
in Sisters so we decided to move back. When
Tim shared this with Steve he was offered a position to work remotely from
Sisters! So we moved back to Sisters and
Tim is working remotely out of a nice office space just 10 minutes from home. It was a bit circuitous, but now Tim has his
dream job in our dream location!
Once again we were moving to Central
Oregon with a job, but without a home.
We had rented our Sisters home, furnished, for the month of
September. Once again God provided and we
got to stay at the Tumalo ranch for the last week of September! The
kids had a blast at the ranch, revisiting their forts and all their farm
friends. They also spent lots of time at
the barn with the new barn kittens. It
felt like we were in a delightful time warp!
As part of moving back to Sisters, we
decided that it would be good for the kids to experience going to school and it was time that I do something about getting
in nursing hours to keep my license. I had been trying to get set up to be a
contracted nurse through the State of Oregon to care for medically fragile
children in their homes, something I had done before and really enjoyed. Just after we learned that we were moving
back to Sisters I got a call from a caseworker through the State asking if I
was available to start working. So in
early October the kids started attending Sisters Christian Academy (SCA) and I
started my new job!
The kids are doing well at their new
school. It is a classical school so the
subjects are very similar to what they’ve been studying at home and through
Classical Conversations. They are together most of the day since grades
6-8 are in the same classroom. Tanner is
in grade 6 and Laura is in grade 8. Laura’s
favorite subject is art and Tanner’s favorite subject is Science plus both are
enjoying P.E. Both kids are taking
private music lessons from their music teacher; voice for Laura and cello for
Tanner. We are still looking to sign
the kids up for a sport in our area.
Laura likes to dance and Tanner likes the martial arts. Tanner loves going to school, but Laura is
not sold on it and often says how she misses home school. Still, she has made some great friends
already. We are praying about next year
as Laura will enter high school!! The
local high school has great programs for art and music that she would enjoy and
they also offer alternative options such as attending part time and doing homes
school as well. That sounds like a good
fit for Laura and maybe Tanner will continue on at SCA through Jr. High. We’ll see!
Well, I usually try to make our
newsletters short, but I hope you don’t mind a longer one since it does cover
two yearsJ
We would love to hear from you!
God bless you and
yours!
The
Clem Family ~ Tim, Cindy, Laura, Tanner, and Lexi McDoggie
