Pictures

Going native

Well, I think I am starting to blend in a little here. It's that or I'm becoming immune to the looks of disbelief that seem to follow me. I think it helps that when I go out I rarely wear 'Western clothes'. It has also given Mom some direction for when we go shopping, otherwise she will just buy a lot of stuff that I really won't wear. Monday was Republic Day here (think Flag Day) so my niece and nephew did not have any classes. So, the four of us along with Minie (sister-in-law) and Johnathan and Jennifer went to the Hanging Gardens, which is actually not hanging. It is basically a large grassy/garden like area that also has a playground. The weather was beautiful and sunny, but not too hot and there was a nice breeze. Josiah had a grand time running around and loved climbing with his cousins on the playground. And I actually saw some Caucasians for the first time since arriving. I thought it quite ironic that I would find myself staring at them as much as the Indians stare at me!! Does this mean that I am starting to feel at home and comfortable here?

I am certainly getting used to the traffic and crowds. I can risk life and limb and cross the street with the best of them. I confidently walk down the street by myself or with the kids, to the little medical store to buy diapers (which I have to do every couple of days as they only come in packages of 2, 5, or 10), and no longer clench my teeth when riding in a car or rickshaw. It is quite unnerving to have 2 lanes of traffic each way on a road with absolutely no lane markers!! The rickshaw drivers are amazing in that they come within inches of pedestrians, motorcycles, buses and trucks without batting an eye and know the turn around radius of their rickshaw down to the millimeter. On the road at the same intersection you can see bicycles, motorcycles, 3 wheeled rickshaws and small trucks, taxis, buses, big lorry (delivery) trucks, dogs, cows, push carts piled high with banana, garlic, onions, and the like. Certainly a sight to see!

Josiah is slowly getting better and I am thankful to God for providing me with more patience to deal with him. On Saturday we fly down south to Kerala for about 2 weeks and I'm not sure if we are going to be able to get online and blog or not. So, please pray for our continued patience with the kids, safe journeys and a fun and relaxing time.

Faith & Patience

This week has been a little rougher than I was hoping that it would be. I seem to be severely lacking in patience when dealing with my 2 year old son and I have to say that I take much of the blame. I need to keep reminding myself that he is ONLY 2 and just 2 weeks ago we were at home, in a familiar environment with lots to keep us busy. Ghatkopar is not the best place to be an active 2 year old as there are no sidewalks, no real grassy areas to run around in and no playgrounds. So, needless to say, he tries to keep himself busy, but not exactly using the best methods. We do get out a couple of times a day, but there is not much to do. However, he does like saying 'good morning' to the watchmen and shaking their hands

I finally figured out this morning that the real reason that my patience is lacking is that my priorities have not been in order and I have not been spending time with God and His Word. Additionally, I have not been taking time out for myself either. So, I started a new routine this morning (we will see how long it lasts). After getting up, Josiah and I will do devotions and then he will read his Bible, while I read mine. Then comes my time to go for a walk and become the focal staring point in the area. The road that Dad & Mom live on is not crazy busy in the morning, so many people from the area use it as their walking path. It is about a city block long with a center divider, so there I am (with Lydia in a front carrier, not sure if they are staring at me or Lydia in her carrier more) walking up one side and down the other while Jeneson and Josiah are out on the balcony keeping an eye out for me. It was great to be outside and getting some exercise, I'll have to try it again tomorrow.

Next Saturday we will be taking a vacation from our vacation as we will be going down south to Kerala to a wedding, to meet some family, and most of all to relax and enjoy what I hear are beautiful beaches. Josiah and I have some really cool Indian duds to wear and will certainly post some of those photos. We fly down there and I think we will be down there for about 2 weeks and then take a train back so we can see some of the countryside. I have had a couple of requests for more pictures on the blog, which means that I have to take some more. I'll try to take some of church tomorrow and get those posted soon. We appreciate everybody's prayers and please continue to pray for our transition as we are truly blessed to have this opportunity and want to take full advantage of it.

Church

Right now I am sitting near the balcony window sipping on a cup of Indian tea lovingly prepared for me by my niece (like she does almost every morning). It is Sunday morning and in a couple of hours we will be leaving for church. It is amazing to worship God in other countries. During our mission trips to Benin and Central America we had the opportunity to participate in worshiping our One True God in other languages. It gives us just a glimpse of what heaven will be like. Too often we think of church and heaven as an extension of what we are familiar with in our home churchs in America. In Africa the worship was loud and vibrant with singing, dancing with hands raised and boisterous preaching. In India we go to Dad's church.

My father-in-law preaches at his church in one of the upscale slum areas of Ghatkopar West (Mumbai is divided into areas like the neighborhoods of Chicago; Austin, Little Village, Lincoln Park, etc...). I say upscale slum area because the homes are constructed of solid material like concrete and not sheetmetal or tarps and rags held up by sticks. The houses are small (a large house would be about 10 feet x 10 feet, housing 4 -10 people in each house) and his church building is about 10 x 12 feet. Every Sunday about 30 men, women and children gather there to sing, learn about Jesus and read the Bible. While Harvest is great and we miss our church back home our God is an awesome God. Our God does not need a big fancy church building. Our God does not need an interpreter to hear us praising him. Our God does not need us to be literate, but to keep His Word in our hearts with memorization. Our God needs us to submit ourselves before Him and to His will. Church is about relationship with God, not the details of when, where, and how.

The sights and sounds of Mumbai

OK, so you all will just have to forgive the bad formatting on this one, because I have never posted pics on the blog yet and am too tired to try to figure out how to make it look better. The first picture is of Josiah with his Ammachi and Minie Aunty helping to sift wheat kernels out on the balcony. The second is of the daring Mumbai fire brigade who just finished rescuing a pigeon suspended in midair by kite string right outside our window. OK, that one needs a little further explanation. There is an annual kite flying festival going on and often birds get caught up and injured in the kite line. There was even an article in the paper about a man who received a deep cut on his neck from a kite string while riding his motorcycle. To make it even more dangerous for birds and people there is manja (kite string) that has crushed glass glued to it for use in kite wars. The intended purpose of this 'glass string' is to cut loose other kites during kite wars. And the third picture is of our sweet Lydia sleeping soundly in her suitcase bassinet.
Things are going well here outside of the Josiah sleeping/eating struggles. We try to get out at least once or twice a day and Josiah is starting to get comfortable with some of the guards. The noise level here is amazing, but I have already gotten used to it and just tune it out as background noise. The kids have even gotten used to sleeping through it. The neatest thing is waking up early in the morning (OK the waking up part is not all that fun) and hearing almost total silence. Then slowly, slowly, slowly the sounds start. First it is just the occasional rickshaw or lorry truck delivering goods, then more rickshaws join in the chorus. Along with all these vehicles (bikes, cars, taxis, rickshaws, buses, trucks, tractors) comes their engine noise, bells, and horns. Horn use here is completely unlike horn use in the States. Back home, the horn is generally used to say "hey you idiot, the light is green or you almost ran me over". Over here there is constant honking, essentially saying "hey man, here I come or I am about ready to pass you". Then a little after six you can hear the Muslim call to prayer over the mosque's loud speaker. The chorus quickly builds as shops open and people go about their daily business. Right now it is 10:40pm and I don't expect the noise level to fall until at least midnight, but that is not going to stop me from going to sleep!!

Week 1

Well, we are almost through our first week here in India. It has been quite a week of adjustment. Mostly, I think, for Josiah & Jeneson (the two people who need structure). Josiah has taken to his Appachan and Ammachi (Grandpa & Grandma), Minie Aunty, and cousins Johnathan & Jennifer quite well. In fact, one of the first things he says in the morning is "where's Johnathan?" I am waiting for him to fall into a sleep routine, he goes to sleep fairly easily if I lay down next to him until he is asleep, but he tends to wake up about 4 hours later and doesn't want to go back to sleep for about 3 hours. We are trying to keep him in the bed so that he doesn't get used to getting up and playing in the middle of the night. Oh ya, that is the other thing...the four of us are in the same room. Josiah is sleeping on his own little bed (a mattress on an underbed storage unit) and we fixed up (i.e. padded with blankets) a suitcase for Lydia. We had her in the bed with us for the first couple of days, but that got old real quick. Eating is another issue. So far he has survived on about 3-4 bananas a day (his eyes just light up at their mention), an apple a day, eggs, toast, and oatmeal. I cannot even really get him to eat rice (usually one of his favorites). He is not tired and listless and seems to have plenty of energy, so I am not going to break out the emergency jar of peanut butter just yet.

Jeneson, on the other hand, is not working or in school for the first time in many, many years. His comment the other day: "If this is what being rich is like, I would have tried to become rich earlier!" So far he has read two entire books completely for leisure, the first time in 10 years he has read a book for enjoyment.

My goal this week was to start the little preschool program I had put together for Josiah, but with the sleep deprivation I just don't have the patience for it right now. Maybe next week. We have not had a chance to call home yet, but will try out Skype tomorrow. I cannot wait to see Josiah's reaction to seeing and hearing his Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Katy & Uncle Kurt. Seeing as I am falling asleep as I type this, I should probably go to bed in anticipation of being up with Josiah in about 2 hours. Please continue to pray for our transition and would love to hear from you with comments or e-mails.

Hello from India!

Well, after a 48 hour frenzy of packing, shifting luggage around, weighting, unpacking and redistributing packed contents along with some last minute errands we finally boarded the airplane on Wednesday afternoon. Thankfully the weather cooperated and we took off shortly after our scheduled time. Again God/motherhood/sleep deprivation/jet lag amnesia has set and looking back the kids did quite well. Of course, we did have moments when our active 2 year old was not happy about his small area of space on the plane and wanted to get out.

After 2 long flights (about 7 ½ and then 8 hours) along with a 4 hour layover in London we finally arrived in Mumbai at 12:45am on Friday morning. Of course, just as the plane was taxiing to the gate Josiah fell asleep for long enough to recharge and was a spitball of energy for the next 5-6 hours. By the time we retrieved our 4 bags (we almost lost one), went through passport clearance, customs, found Dad, Minie & Jonathan, found the van and driver and got home it was almost 4am!! Talk about being tired.

It has been an adjustment over the last 36 hours, but we are all healthy, happy and just a bit tired yet. Last night just as one child fell asleep, the other one would wake up! I have realized that I need to relax my expectations right now and use a little more TLC. This slapped me in the face our first night. Josiah did not want to go to bed, even though I was laying right next to him and he was exhausted. I have to say I was getting quite frustrated and was not the most patient or nice mom. It was not until I finally took my little boy into my arms and rocked him to sleep in about 5 minutes flat that I realized he was just freaking out a little with all the newness and activities and wanted some loving reassurrance from his Mommy. I have to keep reminding myself that he is only 2 years old and we have just brought him half way around the world to a place he does not yet know with people he knows only in pictures. Please pray that the kids adjust quickly to being 12 hours ahead and that we are able to relax and enjoy our time here. At the very least, it is nice and warm here (~80 degrees). Sorry to our family/friends in Chicago, didn’t mean to rub it in your face. Will try to blog in a couple of days when I have caught up on some more sleep! Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we start our adventure and adjust to living in Mumbai.

Less than 3 days

The countdown continues. Those lists in my head and paper continue to flow as we prepare for our new adventure. Thankfully when we went to church today, I was reminded of a few things: God is our constant, consistent companion. We cannot rely on others to our providers, whether it be provision of shelter, food, love, money, security, safety, material things, the list could go on. The Lord is my strength, shelter and provider of all.

After church today, we were pleasantly surprised by an out pouring of love and support by some of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We thought we were going for a relaxed lunch with friends but walked into a living room filled with people wanting to pray with us and send us off to India with love. We were so touched to have so many praying over us and know that they will also be praying for us while we are away. While our objective for this trip is to spend time with family, we are anxious to see if God will use us in other ways.

Ok, now off to make more lists. I think we will actually start to pack tomorrow.