Spring has truly arrived in our garden: snowdrops and spring snowflakes are blooming, the first crocuses have bursted into bloom, leaves of bulbous plants are sprouting up all over the garden. In the springtime I always feel like coming alive after a long sleep. You can probably tell that from the fact that I usually send out our winter and spring news in late March or early April. The birds are flying back from the south and the Apinis newsletter arrives as well 🙂
Our family
Rasmus is doing well in school. Reading and writing Latvian has become easier for him. He is also going to hip hop dance classes. In February and March, his crew won two competitions in their age group. Now he is going around with a medal around his neck, telling everybody that he won the first place 🙂
Speaking about children, we must say that the queue for adopting our daughter is moving very slowly. We are going through the document submission process for the third time now. Nevertheless, we are hoping to welcome our 1-3 year old daughter into our family already during this year (probably in the autumn or winter). When a social worker asked Rasmus if he was tired of waiting, he answered, „I have been waiting for a thousand years already and I can wait some more!“ 🙂 For a 7 year old child three years might indeed seem like a thousand 🙂
Our house survived the winter well. Thanks to the new heating system, we were not cold (when we had time to be at home and heat the house) and the roof leaked very little. Last year, our landlord mentioned wanting to change our roof this summer. Hopefully he can do that.
Kaspar is working on YWAM Riga tasks, doing physiotherapy and keeping W4W up and running. I (Evelyn) am trying to practise my webmaster skills (although sometimes I feel like I can’t do that much and that I am making webpages only worse – well, at least those pages will have an updated text 🙂 ), working with photography and different administrative tasks. Every once in a while I am offered a chance to teach. The last time was giving a quick overview of care of souls for people with mobile disabilities via Skype for a course at the Tartu Theological Seminary. In April I will have a round number birthday, which we are not going to celebrate with a big party (introverted as I am), but we are planning a family trip southwards at Easter (the destination is not 100% sure yet). You can support our vacation/birthday via the bank accounts found at the end of the letter if you have the possibility.
Wings for Wheels
The biggest news is that we bought our minivan in February. Kaspar went to the Netherlands with his brother and nephew to drive the van to Latvia. Not all went according to the plan, because when they were about to sign the deal, they discovered that the Dutch international car sale web system was down, so they had to spend an extra 24 h in Groningen. The journey home went well, but in Latvia we learned that there were a couple more documents needed to register a Dutch car in Latvia. It took another two weeks for these documents to arrive. When Kaspar finally drove the van to technical check-up, all the employees of the workshop came to see it, as this is the first minivan in Latvia that is adapted in such a way. We still need to do some repair jobs and add an alarm system, but since we bought the van earlier than planned, we have plenty of time for that.
Small group
Since November last year, a small group led by Baiba and Janis meets every other Saturday. This began with just one person, but there have been new people taking part every time – most of whom are still only searching for God.
Ministry in care homes
After years of waiting and trying, the doors of some care homes have been opened for W4W. Our first event called „On the way to changes“ took place in Mežciems care home on 18 January. We are continuing with small group work there after a long flu quarantine. The doors of another care home named Ezerkrasti are also opening, and more than ten people from there were sent to our first board game afternoon.
Board game afternoon
“In a church? Board game afternoon?” Those were the questions we expected when we, Wings for Wheels, decided to organize a board game afternoon in Agenskalns Baptist church in cooperation with Brain Games on March 5. But we received neither questions like this nor skeptical attitude. Together with people from different places in Latvia – Riga, Berģi, Sigulda, Krimulda, Ieriķi (all together we were 41), we had a wonderful time playing games we already knew and learning new games with help from Krisjanis Zviedrans, a representative from “Brain Games”. This experience makes us wish to repeat this event and because of that we are planning it as a regular event! 🙂 More photos
Forthcoming plans
Winter and snow somewhat clip the wings of Wings for Wheels, but in spring and summer we are ready to fly again. Here are some plans that have been made already:
• The presentation of Ailita’s biography on 22 April
• Seminar „Let’s Reach Out a Hand!“ in Valmiera on 13 May
• EDN coordinators’ meeting in Riga from 22 to 25 May
• The celebration of Wings for Wheels’ 10th birthday on 17 June
• Challenge 10 camp from 30 June to 7 or 8 July
Wishing you many blessings,
Evelyn, Kaspars, Rasmus