Friends and neighbours

    To all of those avid readers of my blog,sorry for the delay in posting this weeks edition.

     We received a visit from a neighbour the other evening, Kristina came bearing a special invitation to a Valentines celebration at the school, would we please come. In her words "It will be a very beautiful" but then to her everything is "VERY BEAUTIFUL" and it did turn out just that way.

    If we were to come, please could we pick up some pensioners from the post office and shop on our way [ they sell pensioners by the kilo over here] oh yes, and please be at the school for 6pm.

It's never a problem to collect our pensioner friends as they are always ready and waiting. With five ladies plus Valerie on board we duly arrived in the midst of quite  heavy snow, but the  school was warm and inviting, we put our coats in the cloakroom, found seats in the hall,and waited in anticipation.


   A group of young ladies had come from Skaistkalne to sing and recite poetry to us, from Stelpe we had a group of ladies line dancing, several singers and a violin solo,and some of the young people from the school presented a short play.


In between some items, presentations were made to different people in the audience,this was the pattern for the evening
   Valerie and I sat there, not understanding a great deal of what was being said, but the entertainment was great, so we enjoyed it. Our friend Egil, was called to introduce the next award winner, you can imagine our surprise when he started speaking in English and called us up to the front, we did as we were asked and found ourselves being given a certificate and a decorated goblet
Egil said more but this time in Latvian and then the school director Dagmara said something!! [about us] Somewhat bewildered we sat down and asked each other " what is it all about"? After it was all over there was a group photo taken.

I then took the pensioner ladies home with strict instructions to return quickly.When I got back I found that a lovely meal had been prepared for all of those who had recieved certificates.The reason for the certificates and gifts was we had all been chosen as "good neighbours to the village". It was a very humbling time, to think the village had selected us.


We are so grateful to those who have sent gifts and money to help us meet the needs of those people in the village who are having such a hard time at the moment. The certificate should have your names on it as well as ours, as without your help we couldn't do what we do.






This week we met a young mum trying to bring her three young children up on just under £30 a month. Desperatly in need of help, financial and practical. We were able to give her some money,and then we came home, collected duvets and pillows and took them to her and we still have enough bedding for our family and friends when they come.
   God provides more than we need at times,so we can share it with those less fortunate than ourselves.


Saturday saw our son Mark and his family arrive [with lots of goodies] real cheddar cheese, proper English bacon, brown sauce, custard powder and oxo's plus other bits!!!
We all had chance to relax and enjoy time together, we were able to get to Bauska castle and had great fun sliding down the slopes on a sheet of plastic.We also enjoyed a lovely walk in the forest, hard going as the snow was way over our knees.Katie and Shelly made snow angels, and Valerie just fell over!!!! We did have sunshine, snow and a great time.


When family an friends visit their departure always leaves a bit of a gap, but Hey!!!! what do you know,? last night friends sent us an emailto ask --"Can we come and visit AGAIN " in March [their third time in six months] No problem !! book the flights and come on over.