Author: Ron Baker

This has been one of those years where fall seemed to stay around.   For a while.  For the longest time.  Until today.

Snow appeared on the sidewalks, the windshields and under my shoes. 

The funny thing is that I really wasn’t expecting snow.  I guess I had convinced myself that we would skip winter and go straight to spring.  A wildly weird thought, but somehow almost plausible in my thinking.

I was not ready with boots available.  I was not ready with an electrical cord for my car’s block heater.  I was not ready mentally.

And so, as the snow falls, I am changing my mind.  Repenting.  Getting set for the next few months.

And here is my prediction.  Lots of snow.  Lots of shoveling.  Lots of comfort food and sitting around the “fire”. 

Actually, I’m rather looking forward to it – now that my mind has changed!!

My mother-in-law just sent a birthday card to her great grandson – our grandson.  He gladly received the card which had been sent by snail mail.

The fun is in the trip to the post office, the realization that there is something for you (at five years old), and then $10.00 included.

Great Grandmother felt $10.00 was so little.  A five year old felt this was more than enough.  I’m so glad that the little we do can be accepted with such enjoyment! 

Thanks, mom, for the treat you have given to Christopher.

From Joni Eareckson Tada interview in Christianity Today, October 2010, p. 33:

Every time we go to sleep, it’s a rehearsal of the day when our eyes will ultimately close and we wake up on the side of eternity.

Or, at least that’s where Lafleche, Saskatchewan is in comparison to where we live in West Central Saskatchewan.  For the last few days I visited my mother, two sisters, a whole bunch of seniors out for a potluck, a coffee row gang at the local “Merchandise on Main” and gas station attendants on the way down and back!

When all is said and done, the days were refreshing.  My wife sent me off with her blessing – in fact, with her insistence.  When life becomes too hectic she knows that I need to just get away.

And away is where I went.  Take a look for Lafleche on your map.  450 people.  Centered in the middle of nowhere.  A small lake nearby.  Fields aplenty.  Town spirit.  And not much else.

But somehow you’ve got to love it!  And that’s just what I did!