Auld Lang Syne

Then Pa began again to play the song about Old Grimes. But he did not sing the words he had sung when Ma was making cheese. These words were different. Pa's strong, sweet voice was softly singing:

"Shall auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to mind?

Shall auld acquaintance be forgot,

And the days of auld lang syne?

And the days of auld lang syne, my friend,

And the days of auld lang syne,

Shall auld acquaintance be forgot,

And the days of auld lang syne?"

When the fiddle had stopped singing Laura called out softly, "What are the days of auld lang syne, Pa?"

"They are the days of a long time ago, Laura," Pa said. "Go to sleep, now."

But Laura lay awake a little while, listening to Pa's fiddle softly playing and to the lonely sound of the wind in the Big Woods. She looked at Pa sitting on the bench by the hearth, the firelight gleaming on his brown hair and beard and glistening on the honey-brown fiddle. She looked at Ma, gently rocking and knitting.

She thought to herself, "This is now."

She was glad that the cozy house, and Pa and Ma and the firelight and the music, were now. They could not be forgotten, she thought, because now is now. It can never be a long time ago.

Celeste, Avril, Bronte, Takis, Mother, Phoebe, Father, Sonnet, Heath, Boaz, Mercer, Rachelle

December 2021

Contact Celeste

Meditative Silence

Hark!

The herald

Angels sing

Glory to

The newborn

King

Peace on Earth

And mercy

Mild

God and sinners

Reconciled

Ellerslie, CO

This is not an attempt to explain everything that has happened in my life since I last wrote - that has never been my intention. But with so many dear friends so far flung, I would like to give you a peek into where I have gone and what I have done, with one big description and a handful of pictures.

"At first being at Ellerslie was all about the newness. Acclimatization was the first and foremost hurdle - made higher by the arresting previous four weeks, the excitement and sorrow and goodbyes of the wedding just before, the whirlwind leaving and border crossing, and the all-night drive. But the newness was quickly surpassed by information, inspiration, and conviction, getting dumped on us load after load, each session - relentless, continuous, building, overwhelming. Eventually we caught up with our progress, and began to really thoroughly enjoy ourselves, until in the end of the third and beginning of the fourth weeks passivity briefly became a concern.

"But coming on fast and quickly overtaking all the other problems was the end of the semester and the inevitable goodbyes to what had now suddenly become all our favourite and closest friends. We dreaded it, and saw the dread in each other's eyes. How could we separate now? Why had we spent any time - almost three whole weeks! - being anything but all the best of chums? If only - !

"But the goodbyes must come, and now they were the day after tomorrow. Tick, tick, tick. Our last minutes together slipped away and we found ourselves eating pie and ice cream by firelight on the last evening, laughing ourselves sick and thinking - at that moment somewhat distastefully - of home, to which we headed the next day, weeping as we extricated ourselves from clutching embraces.

"It was a long, quiet, melancholy two-and-a-half day trip home. We stopped and stayed with a new family each night, and met and talked with them cheerfully enough, all the while thinking sadly of the time and people we had left and longingly of home. We were glad for the long drives each day, to reminisce, listen moodily to music, and gaze out the window unseeing, lost in memories.

"To arrive home then, and start to try and implement what we had been taught - to live relying on Jesus and seeking Him - was to have to jump back over the hurdle, now made doubly high by all the turmoil of these added goodbyes and experiences.

"All this to say, I am not the person I was before September 4th, who wasn't the person I was before August 8th. I am stepping forth into an unexplored vacuum, holding tight to the hand of the dear One Who is changing me."

I spent a week at Fisher Bay Bible Camp in August. Here we play British Bulldog.

My best cousin Isabelle wedded Joe on September 4th.

Our Goertzen family; crushed, broken, grieving, rejoicing.

Chums and laughs at Ellerslie.

We spent many hours a day in sessions...

...and doing homework in the warm Colorado sunshine.

The class, including four Lawrensons.