Is there ever a good time !

  The last few days we have been trying to figure out if we have any option of covering some of the Christmas parties from the general fund.  This morning we got a firm NO on that one.  The water boiler in the main house blew out along with some of the main feeder pipes that are under the cement floor. IS THERE EVER A GOOD TIME for something like this to happen? 

We are now fully in the grip of winter and need to replace this right away before we have more damage.  They have ordered the new boiler and have started digging up the floors .  The repair costs will be close to $1500 USD by the time the repairs are complete.   

The parts arrived to repair the the farm truck, and the boys are working hard to get it back on the road in the next couple days .  We have still been able to do some deliveries with the Van and  trailer , but this is just the emergency deliveries .  
We have also had 4 loads of coal donated and will arrive in 4 days .  So on the 25th - 27 we will be bringing coal to another 30 families , and including a food hamper for them. the food hampers will be about $30 each.   The frozen chickens have been ordered for this .. they will be ready on the 22nd.  The chickens will be $100.  While I was ordering them , they told me that one of the orphanages that we have been helping to buy chickens had just contacted them to ask if they could have more . So I guess that's a heads up that I will be getting a request from them in the next couple days. 

So this year we will be taking full advantage of the Orthodox Christmas of Jan 7 to give us a bit more time to scramble and find more money and maybe sell a few cows.