You are currently browsing the monthly archive for April 2009.
St George’s flag flying from the British Embassy building
The 23 April found us at the British Embassy for a reception celebrating St. George’s Day. All Brits in Latvia were invited if they had registered with the Home Office that they were living in Latvia. We went with our friends Joanna & Ian and met other friends, Roger and Valerie. This was our first embassy reception and it was pretty much what we had expected. The invitation said dress was smart casual but of course most of the men, being British, showed up in jackets and ties. I told both Ian’s trousers, shirt and jumper (sweater) would be appropriate but as an American, what do I know? Still, I think they were both comfortable and would dress the same on another similar occasion. I wore wool trousers and a blazer but definitely no tie, scarf but no tie. As we entered and proceeded upstairs we were greeted and offered our choice of drinks from a large tray arranged with white and red wine, juice and beer. We then entered the reception room where a few people had already congregated, probably Embassy staff. The room was moderate in size and emptied of furniture except for a grand piano being energetically played by a pony-tailed quaffed fellow. We immediately spied a further room containing buffet accoutrement’s. I had done some research so I recognized the ambassador, Mr. Moon when he arrived as he moved around the room welcoming people, including us. Later my Ian had a bit of a chat with him expressing his desire to see the sheep industry grow in Latvia. Mr. Moon remarked he had never met a shepherd before and may I add, one like Ian with such a passion for educating people in the care for and about sheep. We spoke with several people throughout the evening and then just before the food was offered the Ambassador spoke. At the end of his welcoming talk he introduced a special guest, Pastor Juris Calitis, the Rector of St. Saviour’s Anglican Church in Riga. As he was introduced Ian and I turned to each other with a knowing look, meaning this is important. The Rector had come to appeal to the Brits gathered for funds as the church is struggling to pay for their basic needs of electric and other services. Shortly after he spoke Ian urged me to go and speak to him letting him know I was a licensed Reader. When I told him his eyes lit up and his face errupted in a large smile. He immediately ask for my contact details that I wrote down on the church information card he was carrying. He told us that the church has a home for abused children about 30 kilometres from Ergli. So how we are to be connected has yet to be seen. My prayer today as I thought back on the whole meeting was amazement and then leaving the connection and its timing in my Father’s hands, as always. His timing is perfect and I know this meeting was his design so I am trusting for him to orchestrate further contact.
So what is the sheep situation? Over 70 with just a few left to deliver. Most are all outside now frolicking in the sun. Though I went out Friday I failed to take any pictures, perhaps next week. Sunday Ian and I took a walk down our road toward the lake and took this picture.
The sunshine was warm and in the past few days things are greening up a bit but it still has the brown of winter. After our walk we returned to eat a pork roast dinner and take long naps. More about that later.
Yesterday, Monday 27 April, I went with my friends, Kim, Joanna and Mo to Madona to get our hair cut. A lady in the Madona Church where Kim & Bruce attend has a salon. Kim says she is one of the top hairdressers in Latvia. She was the stylist who cut my hair and as I watched her work I knew she was very good. I have very fine, thin hair and as she cut she shaped it very well. I went for a summer cut, much shorter and taking advantage of naturally curly hair a real scrunched look with smooth fringe (bangs.) Though Ian’s amused comment was, “You look like you were dragged through a hedgerow backwards” I like it and think it will work very well for the summer. Joanna’s hairdo was the best of the bunch in all our opinions. It really opened up her face and softened her look considerably. Of course the real test is: what can we do on our own with out a stylist to do it for us? We were all happy with our looks and then went out to a delicious lunch and more laughter. A lovely way to spend the day.
Now about ‘Done In.’ Saturday and Sunday we took as real rest days. On Friday Ian came home very tired from working with the sheep and the grasslands; he then proceeded to dig a compost trench in our garden plot and he was “done in.” He has been working very hard most days this past month with the sheep and advising on the grasslands and even running the tractor. He has been wanting to get out in the garden to continue preparing the soil after it was rotivated last week but even if he had the time the strength wasn’t there. When he finished digging he came in, near colapse and went to bed. So Saturday though he forked over the soil a bit I put my foot down and we took some currant loaves he had baked out to the camp just for a drive and a relax. ‘Course while we were there twins were born and though he watched over he let Santa do the job. Sunday continued our rest and he felt well enough yesterday to go out and do the follow up work on slaughtering some ram lambs at another friend’s farm.
Currently, we have a lamb carcas hanging in our store room downstairs to dry and age before being cut up. I resisted taking a picture for those who think their meat comes nicely packaged from the super market, or don’t want to know about the process. So it will be leg of lamb for Sunday dinner this week. Yum, yum. These were ram lambs from last year’s flock so no cutie little ones, recently photographed, were harmed in the writing of this blog.
So how are we in general at this point in our rural life in Latvia, just great!!!!!!!! Tired at times but really enjoying our lifestyle. Relishing our relationships with Jesus and enjoying his creation all about us. Learning to hear his voice and eagerly awaiting each new day’s adventure, challenged by our aging bodies but not defeated. Today as of 9 am we had done devotions, breakfast, washing up, making the bed, me hair & makeup, Ian’s lunch and flask, a load of laundry hung out and another in the machine, checked the emails and waved Ian off to the camp. I think that is a record for this ol’ girl and with that thought I will leave you till next week.
Yesterday the 20th we were up to over 60 lambs. These are just a few of the little ‘uns. “The wolf and the lamb will feed together” Isaiah 65:25. No wolves in this picture but today a pen is being built outside for ewes and single lambs as they are running out of room in the shed and there are about 16 ewes still to lamb. The concern is that there is a fox who has been worrying the ewes waiting to lamb who are still in their pen outside. It is a hard choice as there is no room inside and if they are crowded any more in their pens lambs will get trodden on and die. So outside some must go and we pray for angel protection for the little lambs and shepherd alertness as well. We ask our Good Shepherd to give grace to the human shepherds and send this fox to another hunting ground. Just as our enemy seeks to devour so the fox as a natural predator seeks a lamb dinner. We must be ever vigilant and stay close to our Good Shepherd, listening for his voice and obeying his loving commands.
I never cease to be amazed at the gentleness of my shepherd husband, Ian. What a powerful, tender picture of the Lord’s care for us, his sheep. I often watch as Ian casts a caring expert eye over the sheep looking for any needing special attention. “He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers his lambs in his arms, and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” Isaiah 40:11 I now have the privilege of seeing these verses in very real situations and how they live in my heart in a new and fresh way. Ian too is relishing a new understanding of his work as a shepherd and how akin it is to the way the Lord cares for him and all the ‘sheep of His pasture.’
Last week I also gained another perspective of a shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. 
Here is Ian, a shepherd on the run at 71! He was helping to round up rams so that one could be sold. I, looking on, was concerned that he had indeed forgotten himself and the reality of his age. His said later that as a shepherd you don’t stop and consider you just take whatever action is needed at the time. Laying down your life for the sheep. Ian proves almost every day that he is in very good shape for his age and for any age, really.
You may be wondering if our lives consist only of sheep and shepherding and for the most part that is true. All work in the flat has been suspended during this intense time of lambing. Although on Saturday our garden allotment was rotivated.
What a gift to have the boys from the camp bring the tractor over and do up our garden plot. It provided an event of interest for the whole ‘house’ as the neighbours gathered to watch. They were probably wondering how that Englishman has such contacts that he got a tractor in to do his plot? Hopefully they are rejoicing to see that a plot that has been unused for so long now has a renewed life again.
Here is the start of our garden resting warmly on our living room window sill. They are growing far too fast as we can’t plant them out until next month but you just can’t hold a committed gardner/shepherd back. Now lest you think I am only a domestic goddess (ha, ha, ha) here is my contribution to the agrarian lifestyle. 
This is my just-planted tray of sweet peas soaking up sun on the kitchen window sill. I can almost smell their scent when I plant them to grow up onto our little terrace/balcony. I hope to border our vegetables with other flowers and I am told this will make our Latvian neighbours very happy as they love flowers and vegetables, equally.
So is all happy in our little rural homestead? Almost, we still have the ongoing problem of Ian’s daughter Chriss troubling Dad and trying to discredit us as having abandoned him. Her latest tactic was to put a message on my Facebook page to this effect. We are holding fast to the Lord and living in the silence toward her, that He has commanded.
Also our flat sale has not completed and there maybe blocks on that as well. We see all of this as an attempt to distract us from God’s placing us here in Latvia. We choose to believe that “no weapon formed against you will prosper.” Isaiah 54:7 We did not imagine that this move would be pain free and indeed it has not been but oh the mercies of God are indeed new every morning. His faithfulness sustains us in the face of all attempts to cloud his presence in our lives here in Latvia. We are so thankful for the many who are praying for these troubling situations and friends who visit Dad and continue to encourage him and pray for him in his 97th year as he prepares to go home to rest with his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
“But you are a shield around me, O Lord, my glorious One, who lifts up my head.” Psalm 3:3
This is a picture of the sun rising on a recent glorious morning over the trees as seen from our kitchen window. These are the messages God delivers most every day to us as we enjoy his creation.
Even the little signs of His presence like these little snow drops who popped up just as soon as the snow departed. He does all things well. These we discovered near our balcony as we saw with sadness the rose we planted last September didn’t make it but our tulips are coming up so we win some and we loose some. Over all we put our trust in the One who has won the victory over death and darkness.
One day last week the door bell rang, neither of us answered it a little later it rang again again we being in separate rooms and not inclined did not answer it. This time the door opened and a cheery voice rang out in Latvian. Ian went into the hall to be greeted by one of our neighbours. She was carrying a plastic bucket and talking a mile-a-minute, gesturing at the bucket. Ian led her into the kitchen and took out a glass thinking she wanted a drink but no she gestured she wanted to give him the ‘water.’ He pulled out a jug and she filled it from her bucket. She indicated with a smile and hand gestures it was good for the back perhaps even the kidneys. Language communicated this way involves a great deal of guess work. He thanked her, “paldies” and off she went. A few days later we saw her walking across the garden with another bucket in her hand, in gest I said “she’s bringing us more water.” To be certain the door bell went and in she came, this time we got out bigger containers and she emptied her bucket with many smiles and words. Again we said, “paldies” and “labdien” and off she went. A while later she returned with the note you see above, explaining that the water was Birch juice. It was so nicely drawn and so clearly written in English and we were so appreciative of the effort wondering who wrote it out for her.
On Easter Sunday we saw her go down to feed her goat and I encouraged Ian to bag a loaf of his current bread and take it to her. I quickly signed an Easter card and off HE went. A little while later the doorbell rang and upon opening the door their stood our generous neighbour in the company of a tall blond young woman. She spoke saying in perfect English that her grandmother wanted to give us some coloured Easter eggs, a Latvian tradition. 
She wanted to thank us for the bread and hoped we were enjoying the Silver Birch juice. We learned that our neighbour is called Leotina and her granddaughter is Sonder. We learned many things through Sonder’s translation. We only wished that Sonder lived close but she is an accountant in Sweden. These gifts have made us feel very welcomed here in our little community. There was a real sense of God’s purpose and blessing in placing us here.
As promised last week we have lamb pictures and stories. 
The first event was a sad one, a ewe aborted a deformed lamb and later she died. Ian thinks she had pneumonia. Then came twins puny little things. This one didn’t look like it would survive but she is still going strong. Ian and Santa hand fed her to supplement her food as she was too weak in the beginning to stand and reach for her mum’s nourishment.
Hear is Ian doing what he is gifted at, helping one who doesn’t realize she needs to eat, getting enough nourishment in her for survival.
I love watching him handle the sheep his hands are so gentle and encouraging. He was able to get her to drink when others could not be quite so successful. How often does my Good Shepherd long to feed me and I turn away but so many times he has persevered and I have more than survived through his loving care. We often don’t know what we really need but he does and pursues us until we yield and are blessed. Ian gains great satisfaction over moments like these and is so grateful to the Lord for allowing him to re-enter this role of shepherd. He is loving reflecting on so many scriptural passages that speak of sheep and shepherding. These are Merino sheep and are quite docile but he is encouraged that this flock is starting to acknowledge his presence.
BULLETIN, just in. The shepherd has returned from a difficult birth of twins. Two large lambs born today in addition to two other sets of twins. Ian was in there with his hands soaped up into an unyielding cervix to find one coming too slowly and born blue. His years of practice and experience took over and he rubbed it down very vigioursly and it came ’round sputtering and coughing. He then went back in to discover its twin, feet forward but the sack had not burst so he broke the waters and out came the second. Dr. Herriot Langridge I’m calling him now. He is so pleased to be able to help in this way.
As he reflected on the lamb activity at the camp the other day he shared his vision that as the sheep flock prospers so shall the human flock of young people who come to the camp be ushered into the Good Shepherd’s flock. We believe the two are joined together in God’s economy.
Did I mention that we have a mini Oregon state group here in Latvia. I’m from Oregon, Dustin Peterson, pastor of our local Baptist Fellowship is from the N.W if not exactly Oregon, Kim & Bruce Thompson our missionary friends met in Oregon, and Dan Roth, a rancher involved with the camp is from Christmas Valley, Oregon, also Marvin, operations manager for the camp is from Oregon. There may be more floating around but that is it for now. Oh yes, and Paula a friend out in Tilza, Latvia is from Oregon. So if you are reading this in Oregon, come on down and join the crew, even if you are not from Oregon we would welcome you. Also there are several from England and me being ‘from’ both would love to see many come and visit and listen to see if God is calling you here.
It is now Tuesday and we are off to Madona to hopefully finish our registration process for Latvia. We may do a little shopping while there and consider getting another gas cylnder for our gas cooker. You never know when these things run out so it is good to have and extra at the ready.
This week we also received a very welcome gift of fire wood from our friends, Ian and Joanna. They have access to a friend’s land that has a good amount of fallen timber and were able to go out and cut some up and brought it to us just at a very needy point. With our wood stove/boiler we need a constant supply and what came with the house was running low, very low so this came just at a critical point. We now have another source of wood to dry over the summer in preparation for next winter so that will be a rather large collection job after a price is negotiated in the next week or two.
We are preparing to start our garden soon. Ian has planted up some beans in a seed tray and they are really going to town growing ever so fast, maybe too fast. It is still too wet to prepare the ground but we need to get the plants started so they can go in as soon as all the signs are right. For those of you in England it really is ‘The Good Life.” Tom & Barbara we aren’t and not a posh neighbour in sight but it is good.
They have returned. The storks are back in Latvia, a good sign of Spring. We are blessed to have a nest at the bottom of our garden area and so the picture you see above. We begin our days checking to see if one or both of them are in the nest. We have observed mating activity and await the time when they will sit upon the eggs. We enjoy watching them come and go from the nest.
They are so interesting to watch, the way they seem to communicate – we often put words in their mouths making up conversations they might be having. The nest seems to be built on a man-made platform. In Latvia having a storks nest on your land is purported to bring good luck, so measures are taken to ‘invite’ them to nest. The white stork usually nests near people and is generally not bothered by human activity near by. Underneath our storks nest is the goat shed and also a chicken shed with people coming and going. The storks seem to ignore the activity and get on with refurbishing their nest.
Today Ian was inspired by the sunshine to get out and wash the ‘baby.’ After one month of driving through snow and now slush she really needed a bath. The sun is quite warm and you can see our drive is now clear of snow but not quite the garden, yet. The ’baby’ really needs a proper wash but he did what he could.
Other activities today included taking an old sack of ash and spreading it over our garden plot to help the snow melt. We also were inspired inside the house to use an uneeded bookcase shell and make a holder for wood next to the wood stove.
It may seem like a small thing but we are enjoying the small things in life that make a difference. I had the idea and Ian cut down the shell and painted the area of wall just behind the position of the wood holder. It makes for a very tidy look and somewhat easier to keep that area clean.
We know that Spring is making its presence known as we only had the stove going this morning and left it empty until this evening. As we went to church this evening I only wore a blazer and no outer coat. The sun is quite warm even with the snow in close proximity. I am hoping that if the sunshine holds I can hang out my sheets tomorrow, ah sun dried sheets, can’t wait.
Yesterday held an interesting experience. Our friend Joanna offered to go with us to the local butcher as it is open a few hours on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. So we picked her up and went just up the road and joined the queue that was nearly out the inner door of the small shop. We knew before we went what meat would be available, pork, pork and more pork. But I still craned my neck to see what the glass cases held. I wanted Ian there as he is gifted in picking good cuts of meat. We talked with Joanna about what sausages would be best and she pointed out the black pudding and some nice small roasts. Of course not having the language it is, point and hold up fingers to say how much or viens kilo, meaning one kilo. This I did for 4 sausages, 1 black pudding and 1 small roast. Then she added it up and in good English said 4.56 Lats, please. I smiled and said paldies (thank you) and gave her a five lat note. Joanna said outside how surprised she was that the lady spoke English as she had never done so with her. I hope she is there when I go back on Tuesday to buy more of those yummy sausages.
Outside the shop and elderly nearly toothless lady stopped me and indicated she wanted money. I smiled and said no but it was hard. Many here are quite poor but you just don’t know the circumstances. Ian was carrying the meat and had gone on ahead or I may have given her some sausage. It shook me a bit and I keep remembering her and praying for provision for her. Joanna said she hadn’t seen her before and had not been approached by anyone in Ergli, begging. Riga, the capitol, yes but not here in such a small place. Again the issue of language, I would have liked to ask her, “what do you want me to do for you?” I am waiting for discernment and preparation from the Lord if there is a next time. I will ask my friend Kristine who is Latvian and has lived here for a few years, she may know something of this lady. Kristine’s husband is American, Dustin, and is a local Baptist pastor. They sat and chatted with us after the fellowship service this evening. I have known them for several years. I was introduced to them when my friend Kim and I went to visit them in Canada before I came to England. They also visited me in England a few years after I had moved there. Now here we all are in Latvia. Amazing the way the Father works.
We are still waiting for the lambing to start. We are going out to the camp in the morning to the prayer meeting at nine and then out and about to have a good look at the flock. Ian will be casting his experienced eye over the pregnant ewes looking for imminent signs of birth. Me, I’ll just be tagging along with the camera to shoot any photo opps. Next week will probably be focused on the lambing, we hope. When we spend time near the sheep so many scriptures become very real coming to life in ways that just reading them, can never convey. Be prepared for some sheep/lamb/shepherd meditations – sermons.
