Three sheep. Three cats. One baby kitten. A fishbowl. One mommy. Two little boys. One big girl and one baby girl. Seven of us ladies (my World Race team). And our other house family of a mama, daddy, a little girl, a little boy, and another in mommy’s tummy on the way.
This is my family for this month in Latvia, all 16 of us.
For the first week, we lived under one roof in the countryside outside of the capitol city of Riga. Our host’s home sits in the meadow. In the distance lie the tall forests. Immediately surrounding us are soft fields of yellow and white flowers where the neighbors horses graze. Occasionally you may even spot a fox or a large jackrabbit running across the fields.
From our house you can hear the resounding sounds of laughter and joy. Early in the morning and late at night you will hear conversations of Jesus and His great love, as well as what it looks like to live healthy. It is a place of peace, a place filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
As you walk down the staircase in the morning you are greeted with the smell of coffee. Our meals are all fresh and organic. We eat farm eggs in the morning, and then veggies and meat for lunch and dinner. Many days you will smell the bbq smoking up some delicious dinner. All of our dairy products are raw and come from a farm down the road. Our tummies are always happy and full.
As beautiful as it may sound, this life is not perfect and some days are hard. We each still have our struggles and things we are working to overcome. There is no such thing as alone time, and there are few places where it is completely quiet. Many of us are fighting homesickness as this place reminds us of home. But God’s light continues to shine through. It shines through the sun that is up from 4am to 10pm. It shines through the eyes of His children. And it shines through each one of us women.
We are doing life together the way God designed us to. Never have I felt so full of God’s peace. This may only be for a couple of weeks, but it gives me such hope for what God has planned for my future.
This is a beautiful example of a living and breathing community of Christ, and I know it is right where I am supposed to be.
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:13-14
