RIPPLES IN A POND.

So here we are, already a week into 2012 and soon we shall be saying where did it go?
What does a new year mean to you? to me it's the time to be thankful for blessings past, and the opportunity to look forward to all that lays ahead. New years resolutions for me are not worth making,  I know I will never keep them, good intentions they may be,  Oh I have many aspirations, but they are best kept to myself and then only I will know if they come to fruition or last any time.
I was looking for a wise and sagely quotation, with which to impress,  there are many to choose from but I like this one from Michael J Fox [He of back to the future fame] it is,

"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business." So I will try harder to be better but leave the finished work to God.

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So, New Years eve found us deep in Stelpe forest,{didn't get bogged down in mud this time}  with our friends Egils, Sandra and family for what is becoming a tradition for us. Armed with real old fashioned christmas tree candles, sparklers,hot mulled wine and nibbles, we find a suitable Christmas tree, light and decorate it ,then spend a time thinking of loved ones far and near, sing some songs and enjoy a really special time. The forest is so quiet, not a sound.This year the stars were just like diamonds shining in the tops of the trees. Then it was back to Upes Iela to get warm and share just being together, something which sadly does not happen as often as we all would like.

On the stroke of midnight we were all outside to watch the neighbours fireworks, [bit like England] we did invest all of 1.50lat in two hot air paper lanterns which we set off but all to soon they were out of sight and it was back in the warm,for hot drinks and we were into 2012. 

    It seemed a little strange as here we were in the New Year and family and friends were in the old year waiting for the year we already had, with only two hours difference between Latvia and the UK, I still get confused this is not a difficult believe me, heaven help me if we lived farther east than we do.

    I have been asked to give an update on the snow conditions here and up to mid-day today the 7th the situation could be summed up in the technical term used by weathermen 'We ain't got none' but then it all changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye well if I am truthful about an hour and a half and it was white all round. This winter has been a case of!!!

Now you see it!!

Now you don't

   Oops !!!!! Oh no sorry it's gone again

I am told by my Granddaughters that we have just 36 days to get some. {snow that is.} Bit of a tall order but I will see what I can do. {grandads can do the impossible}                                                                This week has been very quiet with not much happening school/village wise, so I got round to making a bannister  for the basement stairs{it's only taken me 14 months } and we painted a couple of walls,went into Bauska to do a bit of shopping,Oh yes I did wash the car!!and the next day it snowed, so perhaps I had better wash it a few more times before the girls come in half term                                      It's Sunday morning now, last one free before Sunday club starts again. Whats that I hear? the door bell, we made sure all the children understood the club starts when they go back to school, can't be visitors!!! Nope it's Victoria and her sister Melanie, just like two bad pennies sure to turn up when you least expect them. We cant turn them away,  they have walked from there home in the cold. So don't go away, as Arni say' I'LL BE BACK!!

Two hours later, having shared our breakfast with them, played games {they like UNO} and made cake's with them I have just returned from taking them home

 Hands washed, apron's on and recipe book at hand, we are probably breaking a dozen or more Health and hygiene rules, plus a load of health and safety edicts. But hey do we care? not a bit we are having fun!!!!

 The cook book is one that Valerie was given as a wedding present and it is still going strong

The finished result

Over the last three and a half years we have learned to expect the unexpected,and take what today offers, good or bad.

 A sad note though this week was learning of the death of the father of one of our Sunday club girls.Making us realise just how uncertain life can be,

 When we left England in 2008 we had no idea what our lives would be like here in Latvia.

We had no mortgage, credit card bills and were debit free,all we had was ours, and yet we realised we didn't own a thing, but just were caretakers of what God had given us to share with those less fortunate than ourselves, so how can we turn away those who ask for help?

And when I took the girls home I remembered something I learned when in primary school in the village I grew up in. I just learned it parrot fashion and I guess it didn't mean anything at that time, It was a prayer written by  St Ignatious of Loyola.

Teach us, good Lord,
to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labour and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that we do your will.

 Though now it has a whole new meaning.                                                                         I leave you with this thought.    One of Valeries favourite illustrations is of a stone being thrown into a very still mirror like pond,then watching the ripples travel out to the furthest bank, likening it to our lives making ripples where we are, though not knowing who we touch or how it effects them. You know you don't have to be a huge rock, you can be just a pebble the size of a pea to make an impression on the surface life. and don't forget think what you are throwing before you let it go!!!

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