Thank you for caring

Once again we were so blessed by our friends at Luke Services International .  During the coal season they stepped up in a huge way and helped us to purchase coal for so many families.  Today they recognised the work that the boys put into this project .. LOTS of work , and HARD work.  Thousands of lbs of coal broken up and bagged then delivered ..

 So Today LSI treated the boys to a day of Bowling and dinner in the city. 

They even remembered that it was Misha's birthday and had a cake for him . 

The boys had such a good time .  For some of the newer boys it was their first time having an outing like this . 

Thank you Ravil and your friends from LSI for such an awesome day 

thank you from 

For Everything there is a Season

Its that time of year when we need to start plans for the planting, not just our fields but those of about 200 other families. 

I hesitated to share this earlier as we are falling a bit behind on some other needs and was trying to clear them off before starting the seeds , but as many of you know .. planting does not wait .. the other needs we are working on right now are still there but we have to move on . here is a recap :

Vlady house fire repairs ... $3700 

Tanya men's home washroom renovations ($1500 )... $700 to go 

Baby orphanage room dividers ..... $700 

but that said , 

Its time for us to prepare for the gardens again , planting both the fields on the farm and those of 200 families who would not otherwise have the resources to plant . We will start many of the plants in the green house ourselves . as well as the seeds we would like to bring them groceries at the same time so that they are not tempted to eat the seed potatoes, and so they will have the energy needed to plant the gardens . for this we would like have a budget of $10 a family for seeds and $10 a family for food .. total $20 x 200 = $4000 in total this will see over 200 acres of garden planted and producing food.

A pretty special guy

I think that we can all agree that Nuric is a pretty special guy.  He has not been so hip to the idea of the work shop and the apprentice  work they do there. He was always TOO BUSY for that.  Today he warmed up to the idea.  Good job Nuric !

There is a young mom that we know. She grew up in an orphanage and has been struggling to support her family.  She has contacted us, and needs between $75 and $100 to get work done on her daughters teeth.. money that she does not have.   When she contacted us she said that she has been making hair bows that she would like to sell to us for $1.50 a set to help pay for this dental work. 

Here is what we are going to do .. with your help, we will pay for the dental work to be done right away, and will also purchase 10 sets of the bows from her.   We can put in the bows in the gift shop on the farm as well as use for gifts to the orphanages and children we work with .  We would also like to give people an opportunity to help with this and maybe if we could come up with an extra $15 a month that we can have a standing order and that will give her some extra spending money . 

 

Fun, Food, and Fellowship

Fun day up at the kashar .  The farm kids had a visit from a young adults group from the city who came for a day full of fun, food and fellowship.  

The kashar is a great place for an outing like this.   I love seeing the happy faces on our boys at outings like this. 

Even into the evening the fun continued .. with a little warm up by the fire time . 

Down on the farm the boys have been busy learning how to weld.  The have just finished up a front hall coat and boot rack, and now they are learning how to weld chairs. 

 

As I am sure you saw, we are raising money for Tanya so she can renovate the washroom at the mens home and even bring them Hot water for the showers.  We are just over half way there , and just need another $700 to make this possible.  

Please remember Tanya in your prayers as she is dealing with Covid one more time.  She has been home quarantining, and has had the Dr come to her a few times.  She had a friend who brought her food, but now the friend is quarantining with covid and Tanya is feeling a bit better so is bringing food to her friend .  

We had one of our boys return to the farm for a visit on the weekend .  It was nice to see Akbar again and know that he is ok. he is living with some family and going to school and working . 

Its always nice when they can return for a visit and keep the connections open so that they know someone cares and they have a fall back if things don't work out. 

Over half way there.

Last week I did a post about a few needs  and wanted to give you a happy update .  One of the needs came from Tanya, and it was to renovate the bathroom at the mens home so that they might have warm water for the shower and a toilet that works .  maybe even clean up and repair some old water damage and get them a mirror.  We were looking for $1500 USD.  

We had a friend do a birthday fundraiser that ended a couple days ago that raised $500 CND and today I received another $500 CDN unexpectedly from another friend.  So we now have $1000 CDN ($780 US) So that just leaves us with $720 to go .  W can't wait to get the renovations started.  

Remember seek JOY

More food deliveries to the rehab centres and some of the families that are affiliated with them .  We had some of our farm friends knitting socks for them so that was fun to be able to add to the food hampers .

Back on the farm, the work continues for the Banya attached to the green house  on the boys farm .. I can't wait until it is ready for use .. I am sure that they are looking forward to it too. 

After the holidays, the welding classes have resumed.  

Back in Canada I am digging out of a big dump of snow, but remembering to look for the JOY.

 

Feeling Loved and Blessed

The sheep have arrived and the family is feeling so loved and blessed . thank you to everyone that helped sponsor items from the Christmas wish book.