Sending Holiday Good Cheer!

Peace and Love to You All!  And the Happiest of Solstice Holidays!

We are so thankful for all the support and good wishes that have come our way since arriving in Uganda and we want to send our gratitude and love back to you during these holidays.

We recently arrived in Tavira in the Algarve region of Portugal after spending a couple of wonderful days in Lisbon. We had this wild idea of spending Christmas with Derek, missing him so much. Since it was way too far to fly back to the US for a week, and equally as far to bring him to Africa, we figured that Portugal was about half way between and offered, hopefully, some warmer weather at this time of year…..so here we are. His girlfriend, Courtney, is with us also, which is great.

We explored Lisbon for a couple of days. What a beautiful city, so old and historic. There are lots of hilly, winding little roads through interesting neighborhoods, old churches, cobblestone streets, tons of coffee shops serving amazing baked goods, also tons of small grocery stores with delicious cheeses, cold meats and breads. Needless to say, we are enjoying the gastronomic delights very much. We then drove about 2 ½ hours south of Lisbon to Tavira, a lovely seaside town in the Algarve region, along the southern coast of Portugal, where we are spending Christmas together.  Since Spain is so close to the Algarve, we took a day and drove to the beautiful and dynamic city of Seville. The city is in full swing for the holidays with Christmas lights everywhere and people out and about enjoying the sights and each other. 

Lisbon City Center

View of Lisbon from the Castle San Jorge

Of course we went birding in the Parque Ria Formosa

Plaza de Espana in Seville

On a sad note, we are feeling the loss of Louise Vaccaro – mother, grandmother and mother-in-law – who passed peacefully after a long hospital stay in mid-December. She was 95 and had lived a very long and good life. We are glad she is at peace, but certainly miss her, especially at Christmas time.

We feel blessed to have your friendship and encouragement. We are grateful you are in our lives and we miss you very much. We wish you a lovely holiday season and a New Year filled with good health, fulfillment and peace.

Much love and peace,

Karen, David, Derek and Courtney