A blog post for Jack

The last couple days I have had a hard time blogging .  There is so much going on, but it is just hard to start.   When we first started coming to Kyrgyzstan, we met a couple, Jack and Carol who live in Espanola.. (Northern Ontario)  early on they started sponsoring many projects and kids here.  But more then just sponsors, We became good friends.  

My friend Jack would start his day by checking in on the blog to see what we were up to, and I knew would be praying for us through out the day.  There were many times when I would go too long with out blogging, but would remember Jack, and that would get me back to the computer.  

I only got to spend time with Jack about once a year when we would make the trip north, but was ALWAYS encouraged and blessed by my time with him.  His stories of life in the north , running a market garden on a small farm, raising rabbits, and his life reaching out to help others.. 

A couple days ago I recieved word that  my friend Jack went on to be with the Lord.   

As the world of communications has moved to twitter and Facebook,  we have kept this blog active.  We post photos every day on facebook . our personal pages, "the farm,"  " the guest house,"   "Goosey" "Bahanka rentals"are all ways of keeping in touch with followers, but I can not tell you how many times I have said, or Julie has said " You better do a blog post for Jack ".. 

So as I sit here with tears in my eyes, I am telling myself .. "You better do a blog post for Jack"... and I will choose to keep doing blog posts for Jack. 

I have to be honest, my heart is just not in it.  I wish I could write one of those bell ringer blogs right now ... The kind that Jack's memory would deserve, but its just not there.   so here goes .. 

The house we are renovating on the farm is coming along great .  The boys are learning a lot about cement work.  Mirlan has been haveing a hard time lately, through the winter there was not a lot of the kind of work that he was suited to, and was starting to get a little depressed that he did not have work suited to his abilities.. Good hard work the kind others would run from is just the thing that Mirlan loves .. We are glad to see the smile back on his face now. 

We were going to build the addition with blocks, but it has been such a cold spring that no one has been able to make blocks so there is a one month wait for them, so we will build it wood frame.  

Out in the green house, the cucumbers continue to reach for the sky, and are still loaded with new cucumbers .   The tomatoes are coming along great as well .  They will be ready to transplant into the second green house by this time next week . 

Yesterday they got two crates of cucumbers, and the vines are still full.  

We took a little run up to the ranch .  The snow is starting to melt a bit, enough to expose the site for the yurt.   We hope to have the power turned back on this week so we can get busy building the base.   Just look at that view.  

The village is having a big Nowruz celebration ( a Persian new years ), and has asked that we could help them, so we doped off supplies for them.  100 lbs of carrots, rice, onions, and a gallon of cooking oil, enough to feed ploff to the whole village .

Little Sammy is getting big, but he is not the only baby growing fast .  

Today there is a volunteer out at the farm that is teaching the kids about carving.  they are starting by carving spoons. 

Tomorrow we will start plans for the kitchen at the farm .  The humidity from all the cooking has created a bit of a mold problem , so our hand is forced a little here and we will have to go ahead and get it done.  We will have to put in new water lines, and paint and treat for the mold, then put up a hood over the cooking area to vent to the outside ,, then we will need to build new counters and shelving , also we need a bigger water heater. We do have some money in general fund to get us started , but if anyone would like to help with this  that would be great .It would be nice to do a little more then the bare minimum  to make the kitchen a nice work environment.