Winter rages on

The boys are busy out in the green house .  Its time to plant the flower seeds as well as the tomatoes and peppers that we will be giving out with the seeds. Its not a bad job when it is -20 outside .

Many of you know andd love Kamala.  for over a year now she has had custody of her three neices and cares for them.  Things are going well and they are working through the challanges.  We have been able to help Vika, the youngest, to go to a childrens day program.  She has been doing fantastic there.  She loves the activities and the meals , but most of all she is thriving with the reading writing and math .  she loves the challange.  This gives Kamala a little bit of time with out her to be able to work to help suport them. 

The two older girls are doing exceptionatly well . Romina has been going to art class. She always was a great painter but now her work is over the top. 

They have had a difficulty that we have been trying to work through.  We can not get them a space in the schools close to the apartement.  This means that they must spend over two hours each way on the public busses to get to school and back.  This has been so hard on them both. 

We have tried to figure out all the options but are not able to get them into a school closser to home.  There is a VERY good private school that is only about 10 minutes away . but the problem is that it is $200 a month each .  We have been so tempted to just say go ahead and we will figure it out as we go along, but that is just too much and not the responsible thing to do.  Maybe some of you would like to be part of this solution and like to set up a monthly sponsorship for them.   Education is so important, but so is quality of life .. and if we can avoid 4 hours a day on a bus , that would be incredible. 

Today was Misha's birthday so the farm guys took a drive up into the mountain to celebrate with him .. Happy Birthday Misha. 

While in the mountains they were in contact with a little school that we have been helping .  We brought them coal , and when Possibilities International was with us in the fall we brought tears to their eyes when we brought them a kettle , a hot plate and a fridge for them to be able to cook and reheat food for the kids.   

They have contacted us to see if there is any way that we could help them by purchasing a color printer for them to use in the school .  The cost of that is $300 to get them set up .  I am sure they would be very blessed if we could help with this need . 

These pictures are from september .. I can asure you that they have a bit more snow now.  Here is a picture of the boys on their way into the mountain .  

That leeds us to the next need .  As winter continues to rage, so does the need for Coal.  We have been recieving calls for more coal for some of the families we had helped, as well as several new families that thought that they could make it through the winter but have run out.  Sergey has asked if we could buy some more .  They think that 3 more loads will make it through the winter .. That will be $2500.  I don't have anything left in the coal fund, but as soon as any donations come in I will forward them so we can help those in need. 

We have about 2 weeks left worth of coal on the farm .  We should have a lot more, but how do you not share when there are people who are freezing.  So they have been sharing what we do have.  

Here is the delema we have ... the value of the plants in the green house exceeds the cost of the coal to heat it , but at the same time how can we heat a green house when there are people who are freezing .  In some cases this is a mater of life and death.   

Not everything about winter is terrible , I am reminded of that when I recieved this picture of the yurt down on the farm ..