The picture is one I posted on Facebook last week. This week’s title comes from a prediction by one of our Latvian neighbours. It is 7:15 am on February 1st as I write this. I just opened the door to check the weather and it is snowing, but no wind at the moment. We heard yesterday that this has been a bad winter the worst in the last 8 years. I haven’t checked into this as to its truth but if that is so we have done very well with the circumstances we have been handed. My dream at the moment is to have our log house built and completely ready for next winter; to thoroughly winterize every aspect of living to the extreme and enjoy Spring and Summer to the fullest possible experiences.
My motto for 2010 is ‘Live in the moment with a heart prepared for change.’ My human tendency is to try to figure out what’s coming so I can get ready (prepared) but God says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.” Does that mean I shouldn’t prepare, I don’t think so. Yet, it does mean not to count on or build my security on my preparedness. We began our life here on the farm knowing we weren’t prepared for the extremes winter might bring and we face difficulties because we weren’t prepared. Even some of our preparations failed but for the most part our hearts have not been locked on to the preparation for winter other wise we would be most depressed. We are learning to live in the moment and adapt as necessary. In praying for God to guard our hearts I am most concerned that my heart not be focused on faulty belief systems that are rife not only in the world but in the church. Some of these ‘unbelief’ systems are rooted in from times long past, things that move us, however slight, from a complete surrender to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Am I completely surrendered? Rarely, if ever, but my hope is in Him not in myself to refine me to that place of total surrender.
So what are we doing amidst all this snow? “Not much,” as Ian would say, lol. Ian has shovelled snow a bit now and again. I attempt to do a ‘bit’ in the house, but again not much. We spend a lot of time on our computers, Ian is back on Facebook and I continue some fun time playing virtual farm games on the beast (FB.) Another bit I heard yesterday, there are more people playing Farmville on Facebook than there are people in the whole of the UK. I enjoy meeting people from all over the world as I play this game, including several Christians, many of whom now pray for us here in Latvia. Just to give you an insight, the creators of the game Farmville have announced in the last 24 hours that if 1,000,000 people request it, they will add a church to the buildings available on the game. They indicated they might add other houses of worship later. It all came about because at Christmas on the Farmville game there were no items directly related to Jesus birth and many have complained. Once the awareness was raised of this dissatisfaction level we are now offered a church building. It does pay to speak up so those who make decisions will hear. I have shared many conversations about trusting in Christ on the game Farm Town because I have a permanent large cross built in 3D format on my farm. So though you may dismiss playing virtual games on social networks, it’s not for everyone, I have found it a new and encouraging way to share faith in Jesus Christ.
Another indoor pursuit is enjoying films together, often with popcorn, even, lol. Now I am not a fan of Clint Eastwood but — Ian has his WHOLE collection of films and we have watched most of them, now. He also has a war film collection again not my first choice but as we watch we share our different perspectives on various conflicts and I have learned much of life in England during WWII and after with rationing, billeting of soldiers, the American troops in Britain and such. On occasion we dip into my small collection of rom coms, period pieces and so forth and so on. It is nice to have the popcorn (Microwave) to accompany our film hour(s.)
All long with the snow shovelling we had another even this past week. 
Our next door neighbours offered to phone our neighbour on the other side of our farm and ask him to plow our driveway as the snow build up was reaching a level that might prevent us from getting out to the road. So along came Leoneides who helped fell our dangerous Oak tree in September. In the picture you see Leoneides and his blue tractor complete with rear loader acting as a snow plow while Ian looks on. He made us two driveways in case one drifted over and one has done just that, drifted over. Yesterday when friends called to ask us to meet them in Madona for a meal we were able to drive right out nice and easy. The cost of plowing, 3 Ls. and it will need doing again probably this week. At 8:26 am the wind is now blowing steadily and the snow is drifting a bit.
One other event I want to highlight is Ian’s prowess in the baking department. He loves his bread machine and launched into a new endeavor on Saturday. He made some lovely crusty rolls and they were delicious hot out of the oven with butter. He was experimenting by adding bran to the flour mixture. He also made one of his fruit loaves that is a lovely healthy snack to much on these cold snowy days.
Finally, Ian, at my urging, bought me an early birthday gift. I have down loaded a ‘Expressing Faith through Writing’ course. It is a very basic course just to get my writing juices flowing again. I plan to go on to the next course after finishing these 9 lessons with the thought toward writing articles for faith magazines. I also hope to get some discipline into the writing idea so that I can make this long held dream a reality. Watch this space. lol
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