For Gabi

Winter has taken a firm grip on Ellerslie, turning it into a world that is far different than the one you knew. It is a world devoid of color, but truly beautiful for it. Waking for 5 a.m. prayer now requires everyone to meet in the chapel, for Jack Frost has made certain the mornings are a bit too cool to brave for an hour or more. My window now greets me with happy little trails of frost and my breath dances out in puffs, running here and there through the air. Students bundle up with coat, hats, and gloves, crunching through gleaming snow as they come back and forth from sessions. Often they will come sprinting into the dorms, laughingly relieved to be in out of the frigid air.

And the lake. Ah, our little lake has taken on a new look for this time of year. No longer does it allow the sun to sparkle and dance across its surface. No, it is a bit more serious these days. From wherever lakes keep what they choose to wear, it has dug up an outfit made of deep blue, thin ice, which runs here and there along all that it is. No longer the laughing little lake you left, it now contemplates the world about it, and often I wonder what it must be thinking of. Indeed, there are days when we just sit and wonder about all sorts of things together. You can do that with lakes, you know, only if you've taken the time to become great friends with them. I know you and our little lake were great friends, for it tells me often of how it misses you:-) Yes, as I was sitting by it's shore only the other day, it wondered to me what you must be doing and if you ever thought of it. It wondered if I might tell you that you are greatly missed and to please think of it now and again. I assured it I would let you know and that I was quite certain you had not forgotten about it. Lakes need to be assured now and then that those who have left them think of them still. Especially our little lake, it is so small after all.

Life is moving along at quite a fast pace as always. It is beautiful and wonderful and full of many grand, ordinary adventures! The kiddos are as precious as ever, curious about everything and constantly saying the funniest things! Life can never be dull when one has four little ones to fill their time:-)

Presently, I am watching as the sun has begun to light the mountains on fire. There is something especially beautiful about winter sunsets here, I wish you could come and see one. You are greatly missed here, dear one, and thought of often, especially by our little lake and me:-) We miss you terribly and hope you are growing in Jesus, pressing into all the He is, and finding His joy unspeakable.