Home.

We are so glad to be home. We've spent lots of time unpacking, visiting with friends and family, and eating a lot of meat.

Samuel and Everett have settled right back into life in Dallas enjoying their old toys, bikes and bunk beds. They weren't home for 24 hours before they asked if they could go to McDonalds!

Going from here to there and there to here is an experience that I hope I won't soon forget. It is difficult to boil it all down to one last blog post, but I will just say this...

Over and over again as we drove through the streets, one thing came to mind. It was C S Lewis's quote describing a "child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea." Lewis uses this statement to describe people who are so taken with the things of this world that they find their satisfaction and joy in them instead of heavenly things.

This statement echoed over and over and over again in my head as every day for 6 months I watched children literally squatting in the street playing with dirt as content as they could be. It still resonates in my head as I look back on our experience and I am convicted.

Am I convicted because I didn't love these people enough? Yes.

Am I convicted because I didn't do enough or give enough to help them? Yes.

But those reasons are not what truly convict me. What truly cuts to my heart is that when I remember the sights and smells and sounds of driving through those streets, seeing the slums and children, I realize that I look at that life in the slum and believe that I came home to a holiday at the sea.

I would ride through the streets and be saddened by the idols built all over the city. Men, women and children worshiping the "creature rather than the Creator," but then I would go home and throw a hissy fit over not having hot water. We may not line our streets with temples but we might as well. Living without made me realize how much I worship cleanliness, comfort, and companionship.

In Jesus Christ and through His blood we have the greatest hope. And do not get me wrong, every single citizen of the United States of America is graced with the ability to live here but our hope of heaven is just as great as a naked little child sitting in the mud. We may dress better and have clean water but we are all just as poor, just as needful of a Savior and have just as much reason to hope in so much more than what we have in this world.

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."
"The Weight of Glory"

Thanks for reading.

Here we come!

Happy Father's Day

*********UPDATE....we're ending our Father's Day celebration with a surprise trip to Germany for a couple of days! We will leave in a few hours. We are so excited....especially Everett who is thrilled about all the sausage!
****************

We had fun celebrating Father's Day with breakfast in bed for Carl and a new t-shirt that the boys picked out for him. I was so proud of Samuel for writing the whole father's day card himself.

Breakfast in bed is a Father's and Mother's Day tradition in my family. In all the years I've done it, I have to say that ordering room service in a 7 star hotel is probably the easiest way to pull it off.

We'll celebrate the rest of the day by running up and down the halls of said hotel terrorizing all the other guests and making our daily call to Continental to see if any seats have opened up on a flight back to Dallas!

Happy Fathers Day to all our favorite fathers!:-)

Hotel Business

My blogging days are about to come to an end. As much as I would like to think that my life in Dallas is interesting and amusing enough to warrant a blog....it's not.

So while I still have everyone's undivided attention (ha) I thought I would just post a little self indulgent prattle.

And here it is...

WHAT must hotel staffs think of us?

There was the first few days at the first hotel, where we loaded our room with groceries and household goods and carried it all out in plastic bags.....like 30 plastic bags.

There was the second hotel where we lived for 2 months. I can't even begin to list the things that we gave them to ponder over a two month period there.

There was the hotel in Delhi and the "incident" that I don't even want to talk about because it makes me itchy.

And now here we are on the last leg of our journey with a few more hotel days. We've had a stomach bug run through the family which has been.....messy. We've barely left the room and we've been surviving on pretzels (thank you kate) and sprite from the minibar. And we've sent out a bunch of laundry which has been....well I don't really want to talk about that either.....

Don't Cry For Me Bangalore

So, Kate happened to be here for "pay day."

Once a month we pay our household and the PMI staff. Carl happened to be out of town for this particular pay day so I was in charge on both fronts. There is a lot of distributing and labeling of money. Some had be put in a bag to be delivered and some had to have notes attached to it because household staff can be frisked upon exit from the compound and they need proof that they are carrying their salary. It's a hoopy as our friend LaDonna would say.

So after Kate watched me pay all these people, she said, "Wow, quite an empire you have here Grace." (We did have her over for her sense of humor)

It's true. I really do. And it will be hard to say good bye to all of them. In truth they are all honest and reliable and very kind to our kids and that's why we love them. We also love them because they take some of the burden of daily chores off of us (let's be honest, me) which is great when there aren't any modern conveniences to help with those chores.

So yes, I will miss my little empire when I get back to Dallas and have to start doing all the chores myself. No one to do the dishes, no one to run errands for me, no one calling me madame.

Also no poo in the water though....so you know....home sweet home.

Good

We are having such a great time with Kate here and I think she is enjoying experiencing Bangalore.

I knew I would enjoy having her here, but I underestimated how much the kids would enjoy it as well. Even though they are young I really think the most difficult part of this move for them has been missing the other adults that they usually have in their lives.

They actually told me today that they wanted me to go to get a job like Daddy and that Mrs. Byrd would take care of them while I was at work.

Yesterday at the pool, Samuel got out of the pool to give Kate a hug and kiss. He looked at her and said, "Mrs Byrd, you smell so good."

He jumped back into the pool and I told Kate that she must smell like America.

Homesick...

Also actually sick. Both boys are sick right now which is just more difficult to deal with away from home....particularly this far away from home. As I have said many times before, knowing what your kids need and being unable to provide it due to your circumstances is very frustrating.

Tonight at bedtime Everett said, "Mommy, I love you all the way to Dallas, Texas."

Me too buddy...me too.

Driver

One of the things I will miss in India is having a driver. I wouldn't say that Jose and I are best friends. Jose is honest and hardworking but he doesn't exactly have a sunny personality. I miss having the freedom to drive, but with the boys in tow, I do love having someone to run quick errands. If we run out of simple things like milk, juice, water, he can go get them for me. Since he's been working for us a while and since I have learned to call peppers "capsicum" and eggplant "aubergine," he can do a bit of produce shopping for me as well.

Where it gets a little dicey is with the protein. Let's be honest, protein is always a little dicey for us, but when I can't go look at it myself, I have to be very specific with Jose. For example, I just sent him for a chicken and I had to specify...."no head, no feet."

Then he asked, "no feathers madame?"

And no.....he was NOT kidding. Jose does not kid.


****For those wondering, it's not ho sa. It's joz.

Okay.......

Our maid comes in every morning and cleans up from breakfast (and I'll admitt sometimes from dinner the night before). She makes the beds and starts the laundry. She then leaves and comes back in the afternoon for everything else.

This morning, in the interim, I cleaned the floors in the living room. When she got here today, she noticed that I had wiped the floors.

Jennifer: "Madame, did you wipe the floors?"
Grace: "Yes"
Jennifer: "I'm so sorry madame."
Grace: "No, it's not you, I just wanted to do it."
Jennifer: "Madame, you let me wipe the floors, you rest, you are not well."

hmmmm....

More From the Street

The other day I decided to walk home from the eye dr. My mother and Carl almost had heart attacks. But you know, I'm pretty street tough now. This from the lady who wasn't able to go get her mail after dark in Lake Highlands....

Anyways, a typical street and by typical I mean, not terrible, is home to lots of dogs, cows, and chickens. There are babies with no clothes on laying in the dirt sleeping while their mother's sweep. There are professional men and women at food stands getting breakfast and drinking tea out of little thimble sized plastic cups. Children darting in and out of traffic barefooted with backpacks making their way to school. There are portions that are paved and portions that are just dirt. There are great smells like the indian breads cooking and there are terrible smells like animal and human waste, and then there are just "indian smells" like insense and burning coconut shells. On that maybe 7 K walk I passed by doctors practicing medicine through a window, women and children dressed in rags begging for money and food, and all sorts of working people making their way to both domestic and professional jobs. There are fruit stands, mutton shops with the freshest slaughter hanging from a wooden pole, and there are caged chickens from which we get our eggs. There are temples to many different dieties all the way down the street and people line up to stand or sit inside the structure before the image itself.

And then like an oasis in the desert.....comes the entrance to our "compound." By the time I got home I had layer of dirt from head to toe.

The streets in Palm Meadows make you feel like you are miles away from what is just outside the gate......but listen, they can still be tough...

Street Food

Carl is the only one of us who eats street food. Consequently, he is the only one who has been violently ill eleven times and lost 30 pounds. But you know what they say, "No pain, no gain...or loss...or whatever...

Here is a video of one of his favorite haunts.
(All comments regarding the wisdom of eating street food and of frankly even being on the street at this hour may be directed to the man himself.)

Power.

Yesterday...

Everett: "Mom, why can't you call the electwishun?"

Middle of the night last night...

Samuel: "Mom, the power came back on, can you turn on my air conditioner?"

About a half hour ago....

Samuel: "Mom? Is the power being mean to us?"

Now, I know this might sound like I'm going to take a negative tone...but I'm not. Despite the annoyance of the inconveniences of living here, at the end of the day, I am so glad the my children however young they may be, have had the opportunity to live under circumstances in which we don't take things like power and water and food for granted.

The other day we were leaving a restaurant and the same little girls who always stand out front were waiting. They are no more than 7 years old, dirty, barefoot, dressed in rags and holding out their hands for money. (As a side note if we were to give them money they would be forced to give it to whoever is forcing them to stand out there so we give them food.) Samuel simply looked at them and said, "Mom, the hungry girls are here do we have any food?" So I handed him a rice krispie treat from my purse to hand to them. He walked down the stairs onto this crazy busy street in the heart of Bangalore and walked right up to these children looked them in the eye, smiled and handed them the treat. They ran off and sat on the curb and shared the treat, and as we drove off Samuel stared at them out the car window.

I am proud of my son that he can walk into that swarm of people and come face to face with what is really the dark side of this city and smile. I am humbled that God in His grace and mercy has allowed my sons to see, experience, learn, extend and, I pray in some small way, accept that grace and mercy.

My Biggest Critic (and the love of my life) (he made me wite that too!)

Well.....Carl informs me that our blog is too negative. Apparently he doesn't appreciate that positive is rarely funny but anyways....

So begins our week of things we love about India (in no particular order).



#1 Mariannick

A few times week I send a text to Mariannick, a French woman who is married to an Indian man and lives here in Palm Meadows. The next day she shows up on her two wheeler with delicious hot baguettes, chocolate croissants, brioche or whatever I have ordered for the day. (the likes of which you cannot get in Dallas) Due to the lack of other available food, we are able to eat several baguettes a week and treats for breakfast and our old clothes still hang on us.

We will miss Mariannick!

But Now We See

To all the naysayers....I mean sweet concerned friends and family...Carl and I are both doing great and are enjoying seeing without our glasses or contacts!

And yes, the bug spray WAS necessary....wish I would have rememebered to bring toilet paper because as we were told, "toilet tissue is not a custom here."

Hoping Dr. Waldrep isn't a reader....

...because I am fairly sure she would disapprove of the fact that I am about to go have a little surgery, and I decided to spray on a bit of bug spray before I go....just to be safe...

Summer Luvin' (cuz it's summer in India)

Samuel was talking to his Dallas girlfriend, Dylan, last night on Skype.

But he accidentally called her Carolina....

He caught himself and just looked at me and raised his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

Sigh....juuuust like his dad....

Everett

I think the heat is zapping my usually glowing wit. So just a picture for the grandparents today.

This is Everett with his post head shaving conciliatory ice cream.

Family Matters

My sister and I have had quite a bit of traffic on our blogs lately. And we have both really appreciated people's prayers and support for our respective families, Clare for actual real serious reasons and me really just because we miss eating meat. Either way though, we both really appreciate people's concern.

That being said, a larger concern has arisen in the family. While Clare has been stuck in a hospital for 5 weeks and I am stuck... in the east, Cook has been holding down the fort on the home-front. I think taking care of mom and dad all by himself might be getting to him.

Consumption....

So...Despite the lack of hot water for the past two weeks, Carl and I are still married and still messaging...

He especially like to message me from a rickshaw because it's so loud he can't talk on his phone.

Here is our conversation from the other day.

Actual Text:
C: What are you doing?
G: Nothing how was your meeting?
C: Good on my way back to office. Had to take auto.
G: Oh sorry Channa (driver) is on his way.
C: Rickshaw just ran out of gas.
C: Driver got me another rickshaw. That was nice.
C: Think new driver has TB though.
G: I guess you have some immunity.
C: What's for dinner?
G: Rice.
C: Great.

Implied Text:
C: Love you
G: Me too.

Hey Hey Hey....Good Bye

Good bye hospital, nurses, doctors, needles, stethoscopes, and all things stinky.

Hello home, horses, chickens, dogs, all other things stinky.

James is home today!!!!!

Thank you Father in heaven for the safe keeping of this child and the upholding of his parents.

A New Game

This morning Everett asked me to play the "x-ray game." Naturally, I thought this was going to be an x-ray of a broken foot. So, I got ready for my x-ray and he stopped me and asked me to stand up and put out my arms. Then he proceeded to run a toy up and down my body and said, "OK, you can go in."

He was checking me for weapons.

I think he may have a future in homeland security.

Dear *********

Dear "5 Star"Hotel (who's name I won't mention for my own protection),

My children gave you lice; you gave me food poisoning. Food poisoning...right before I got on a plane....a plane that was serving a very aromatic chicken tikka for lunch.

Let's say we'll just call it even.

Sincerely,
Sick-Mama

The One Where You Lose Respect For Me

Every now and then in life you find yourself at a crossroads. A place where you must make a decision, no matter how difficult it is. And sometimes that decision requires action on your part that you never thought you would take, but until you find yourself in that particular situation....well you just don't know what you would do.

When I realized that my children had lice, trust me, all I wanted to do was leave. Leave and never ever come back. But it's illegal to just leave your children alone in a hotel so I did what any other well seasoned expat mother would do. First, I ordered a glass of wine from room service. Then I sat quietly on the edge of the bed and came up with a plan. And that was the moment of truth. I decided on a course of action and realized once I started, there would be no turning back.

I called housekeeping to have all the sheets and towels replaced. I sent out every piece of laundry that we had including blanky, lamby, and puppy. Thankfully madame is never questioned here so no explanation was necessary.

And then I did something that I will forever be ashamed of. I grabbed a comb and picked as many bugs as I could out of that beautiful blond hair, and I ran my children down to the salon and asked them to shave their heads. I sat there with a pit in my stomach hoping no one would notice. And they didn't.

As we walked back through the lobby as usual a hundred people stopped to pat the boys on their heads. Truly I would have liked to warn people but they wouldn't have understood me anyway. So we held our heads high, pushed through the crowd and made it back to our room where I did NOT call down for a second glass of wine.

Don't judge me.....until you have walked two little lice infested bald white kids through a sea of indian people patting them and taking their picture....please....do not judge me.

Contest

No, I'm not talking about what led Samuel and Everett to eat an unspeakable amount at the breakfast buffet this morning.

Now with full bellies, they are lounging in their beds watching one of their favorite shows in Hindi Galli Galli Sim Sim.

And the first person to tell me what that is will win a prize. And it won't be bacon or sausage.....because there isn't any left.

comedy

I get so many e-mails saying how funny and well-written my blog is. I appreciate the sentiment but I really don't think it's that I'm so funny as much as funny things just happen here.

You know who is funny? Melissa Hill. Her blog is hilarious. www.hoodmamamel.blogspot.com. The other day she made her car getting broken into pretty funny. I mean, who does that.

You know what else she makes funny?

Lice.

I really really really wish I knew how to do that.

Really.

Chatter....

I think my blog is being monitored. Is the government? And if it is....is it ours or theirs?

You'll never guess what happened to the suitcase carrying the Indian/American china...

"Lost" by the airlines....

A likely story.

Take another little piece of my heart now baby.....

She loves me yeah yeah yeah

According to Everett, Sam* is married to Carrrrrolina, his friend at school. Arranged marriages are quite common here but seriously, we have not been offered money, jewelry, livestock, nothing....

Who is this girl?

JK I know who she is. What kind of mother do you think I am? She's from Slovenia. She wears pigtails every day and she loves Barrrbi. (that's a rolled R in case you were wondering.) She apparently didn't speak any English at all when she started school a few months ago so I doubt she even knew about the whole livestock thing....so I guess it's forgivable.





Anyhooo....I hear the Indian bidet running so I'd really better go.



* Apparently nicknames are not permitted at WeCareDayCare, and not being a huge fan of restrictions, Everett now calls Samuel, Sam at home. Please....do not feel free to do the same.

James Update

I don't have a lot of info but for those who are keeping up, James did great in surgery this morning and is back with his mom and dad. It is my understanding that he has to keep an empty stomach for 72 hours which I imagine will be rough on all of them. Please continue to pray.

Hungry

We had tacos for dinner.

After tacos (3 each), Samuel and Everett both had two bowls of cereal, a bowl of ice cream with mango and sprinkles (thank you Nonnie), goldfish and a marshmallow (the marshmallow was just a bribe to smile for the picture below.)


Sure were hungry tonight.

Let's take a look at the school cafeteria menu to see what else they ate today.

Breakfast: rice flake upma, mixed chutney and muskmelon juice
Lunch: gobi paratha, set curd, and veg sticks

Ohhhhh okay. That makes sense then.

A donkey by any other name....

I met with a guy who does embroidery today. He does beautiful work and can embroider pretty much anything. I was trying to order something for my parents. I asked him if he could embroider a donkey.

He looked at me curiously and said, "You mean an ass?"

Yes, I do. I do mean an ass.


****In other embroidery man news....he let the boys and I take a ride on his rickshaw. The boys were thrilled, it sort of made up for the fact that I dragged them out of the house to look at embroidery. The driver, however, as you can see was not thrilled. In America we might say he was being an......oh never mind...

Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

My sister asked for a funny story this morning. With mom and dad here it was just a matter of picking one out of a hat....

So, not to air our dirty laundry but my parents have had two big conflicts in their marriage. One is Christmas tree stands and the other is packing. (There was this one other conflict over a dog named, Ellie, but we've all worked so hard to repress that memory, I won't get into it) We've asked them to seek counseling but you know, you can't help people who don't want to be helped.

The Christmas tree stand thing I can't even explain but after traveling with them a bit I am starting to understand the packing thing. One issue is that my mom's bags are always overweight. For some reason this bothers dad. The weight requirements are completely ridiculous for anyone that has to carry a hairdryer and a flat iron to combat the indian humidity. The other issue is that mom is famous for packing things in plastic grocery bags. Thankfully for international travel she puts the plastic bags in a suitcase. Can't say the same for shorter trips.

On the way to Bangalore mom's bags were surely overweight with all the wonderful goodies that so many people sent to us. So she has some "room" for the trip back. After a couple little shopping trips, she decided to purchase two sets of the china that we are using in our house here. The pattern is actually called India, and she thought they would be great at the ranch. I don't mean to sound snobby, but it's a really great brand. Most probably haven't even heard of it.

So, at dinner the other night, she confessed to my dad that they would be hauling back two sets of this china. She encouraged him to admire the pattern and the durability. We told the story of how Everett threw one on our marble floor and it didn't break.

Being in good spirits, my dad simply smiled asked where they were made.

So she grabbed one from our kitchen and turned it over.

"Made in the USA."

Ever heard of Corell?

Carl said the customs agents in the US might have to pay my parents some sort of refund for bringing back in exported items.

Update and Thank You

I have a ton of great material from watching my parents navigate Bangalore which I will get to asap, but, in the meantime, I really appreciate so many people "standing in the gap" for my sister and her family.

James has a long road ahead of him but has had a really good couple of days and has gained an entire pound on the TPN (which is total nutrition through a pic line). He will start "hospital preschool" tomorrow which is bittersweet to say the least. His surgery to place the g-tube is scheduled for next Tuesday, and he will have to spend at least another week in the hospital following that. My sister and her husband are a true example of God giving us enough grace for each day as it comes.

The best news of all is that he has been able to walk the past couple of days and has found his smile again which was painfully absent there for a while.

Mom and Dad are going to get out of here a few days early to go see the little....soon to be big guy!

If you want to follow him a little more closely you can read Clare's blog www.sensationalmom.blogspot.com

You'll see she clearly gets her wit and good punctuation from me:-)

Indian Summer

Carl's boss is in town. He only made it about 5 minutes and we had to have an air conditioner installed in his room.

Softy.....

The Worst Part

Most of my complaining is truthfully just in fun. It's not really meant to be complaining at all... just making light of a sometimes trying situation. It's not that bad.

What actually is bad is when one of your favorite small people in the whole wide world is having a really terrible week and all you can do is read about it in texts and e-mails. And when all you want to do is hug his momma and tell her everything is going to be alright, texts and e-mails don't seem to do the trick.

We love you buddy boy! Aunt GG, Uncle Carl and Samuel and Everett are praying for you every night. Your cousins will be back in that deer blind with you before you know it.

Sounds of Morning

Pitter Patter Pitter Patter (bare feet down marble stairs)
Screeeeeeeech (chairs being pulled across floor to refrigerator)
Whisper whisper (plans being made)
Bang Bang Bang Bang (the climb to top of fridge)
Rustle rustle (plastic bags being opened)
Pop pop (the opening)
Silence

"Moooooom? Is it okay if we eat an easter egg?"

"No." (from bed)

Silence.

"Sooooooryyyyyyy"

Aaaaand we're up.

Refiner's Fire

Disclaimer #2....both boys are upstairs totally safe and asleep COMPLETELY unaware of any of the events which unfolded this morning.

As I sat here this morning, typing a pithy piece of potty prose that you can read below, a spark was ignited. The spark turned into flame and the flame turned into a fire. And as I rode in the car to pick up the kids from school, the fire grew and grew and began to spread across a field. A field next to the school.

As I drove behind an ambulance with it's lights flashing, I had the emotion that I'm sure many have had... I hope that's not going where I'm going. I had hardly had the thought when I saw the smoke. My stomach dropped as the closer we got the school, the more likely it appeared that that was the direction from which the smoke was coming. It became uncomfortably silent in the car. We pulled down the road, and I hurried into the school. As I turned to run out the door with the kids, the school staff became aware of the problem. There was a wall of flames moving across the field. The security guards began to unroll the hoses and as calmly as I could, I ran the kids to the car. Our driver ran to meet me, grabbed their backpacks and calmly but forcibly shoved them in the car. With the promise of an ice cream cone, they were happy to oblige a quick getaway. We drove away as several fire hoses sprayed into the flames. I still do not know what happened at the school, but I feel confident that there was plenty of time to evacuate the children and that more than likely, they were able to extinguish the fire before it reached the building.

I put on my dark glasses and cried tears of both fear and relief as the boys rattled on about their day totally unaware of the danger that was behind them.

Fires can happen anywhere, though they are more likely to happen in a city that routinely burns it's trash on the side of the dry, dusty road, but in the United States we have an infrastructure that makes us feel safe. It does in actuality keep us safer than in many other areas of the world, and for that we should be grateful. Things like fire trucks and smoke alarms and the emergency broadcast system make us feel secure. They make me feel secure. If something bad happens, we have backup. It makes me place my trust in firefighters, in technology, in three precious little numbers like 911.

It is no secret to anyone that I would rather not be here. I don't want my kids to be going to a school called wecare daycare that is situated next to a now charred field. I want to be back where everything is familiar and "safe." But we are here, and we are here under God's sovereignty and love just as we were in Dallas.

I read the following last night in Skip Ryan's book, "That You May Believe."

"It is not just that God by His Sovereign grace allows difficult circumstances and people in order to refine our character. Perhaps more importantly from the Lord's point of view, He allows difficult people and difficult circumstances into our lives to refine our worship. God wants our character to be honed and shaped; but even more, He wants our worship to be honed and shaped."

Being here has helped me to better understand God's worthiness of our worship. Having less "stuff" in which to place my trust has allowed me to see His power more clearly.

Even though I don't want them to, Samuel and Everett are going to go back to school on Monday morning. Tonight we will thank the God who protected our children today. Though we struggle, we will believe, by faith, that He orchestrates all, for our good and for His glory.

And we will worship.

Don't forget to put the seat down (w/ disclaimer)

***Disclaimer: This blog was once shared with a very small group of people most of which were family and a certain someone:-) made repeated requests to share it with others so...sorry to have to go the direction of potty talk but we're just trying to share the full experience!!

As I often do these days, I found myself in a situation this morning in which I just never would have placed myself. I tried to talk to the boys' teacher about an issue they are having, but apparently it was a big enough issue that she felt the need to direct me to the school director.

So after getting the boys settled, I headed to the office where I was invited to be seated and the director and her assistant sat across from me. I then had to explain and request that my children be allowed to stand up to pee!

It is really bothering the boys that the "aunties" make them sit down to pee. Aunties are the women who put on and take off shoes, take backpacks, set up and clean up activities serve lunch and walk around with brooms sweeping up after the kids. At first I thought maybe the sitting was a cultural difference that we were going to have to adapt to, but then I remembered that I see about 13 men a day peeing on the side of the road so I'm pretty sure it's a universal practice. I think it might be that the aunties just don't want to have to clean up after those who miss their "target" and believe me, I get that. But really....

Thankfully the school was very accommodating and Samuel and Everett will be back to their normal routine this morning.....whatever that may be these days...

Hit me with your best shot....

My mother will be thrilled to find out that I finally took the opportunity today to get an immunization that I was due. I didn't have time to finish the series before I left the States, and I have not been real eager to deal with it here.

Thankfully, even though I was off my prescribed schedule, it was no problem getting the prescription. There's no word for schedule in Hindi....just kidding there is...it just isn't often used.

So, I went to "get" my shot and I "got it." In a box. With one tiny little band aid on top.

My web md training did not prepare me for that.

Sigh...another day in paradise...

Every Tribe and Tongue

We finally settled on a church this week, just in time for Palm Sunday. We attended Bangalore International Fellowship and many many nations were represented in the congregation.

What a joy to hear "Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest" shouted in 10 different accents.

And even more of a joy to hear Everett shout it out 3 seconds after everyone else was finished.

(This is our street....no shortage of palms this Sunday or any!)

Coconut Milk

He said he "loved it a little." I think he was a little more interested in the machete that the man used to chop the top off.

Safety First..or if not first then really high up on the list...

We spent the morning at HyperCity. This is Bangalore's version of Super Target. Well it's actually the UK's version of Super Target and it opened in our neighborhood yesterday. It is the talk of the town and I actually ran into several neighbors while we were there. I also ran into the guy who is starting Walmart in Bangalore. He was apparently doing a little market research and since we look like people with keen business senses (or stick out like a white sore thumb around here) he thought we would be the perfect people to talk with.

We were like kids in a candy store finding all sorts of hard to find items like olive oil, canned pears and diet coke sold in cases. It really is a wonderful store.

So all this to say, this was a very modern building, very clean, somewhat efficient in it's operation and it even had a parking garage...it was almost like being home....almost....

We are still in India. We still had to enter through metal detectors. I still had to have my purse searched. Our driver, Channa, was, as always, present. There were still throngs of people. There
were still sales people following me around encouraging me to buy. It still took us close to an hour to check out.

My favorite part was going into the very modern parking garage and seeing this.
















Just makes you feel safe.

Prepositions

Carl and I love to "message" each other on our blackberries during the day. Apparently messaging is better than texting because according to Carl, blah blah blah technical term...I don't know, it just is. (also you don't end up sending inappropriate texts to your cousin in Guam that were intended for your husband....someone I know or am related to did this....I can't remember who... Clare)

We message a lot because moving to a foreign country with your spouse is basically like one big giant marriage retreat. Take away friends, family, social activities, television, and well...hunting and fishing, and you end up with nothing else to do but bond.

Anyhoo. This is the message I got this morning. "It is raining in my office." About 3 months ago I would have called that I typo but I knew better this morning.

Someone left the air conditioner on in Carl's office all night and it rained all night on his desk. He has apparently moved his office to avoid electrocution and is soaking up the water with some old fabric samples. I'm so glad he's from Alaska. I feel it trained him to handle these in-climate conditions.

Strength

Everett had his first day of school EVER.

Carl and I had fully intended on Everett's first day of school starting out with packing all his favorite things in his spiderman lunchbox and depositing him into the loving and capable arms of Mrs McGinnis at Coram Deo.

Plans change....

He hit the ground running, or limping as it were, in new country, with a broken foot, all Indian teachers, a vegetarian Indian menu in the cafeteria and no Americans in his class.

How did he do?

Fine. Just fine.

We love you E-ticket. Since birth you have reminded us from where our help comes.

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.". II Corinthians 12:9,10

Radio Silent

We're moving this morning so communication might be spotty for the next few days. We'll post some picture when we're settled.

Sometimes it is inappropriate to whip out a camera...

Apparently one of these times is in an Indian emergency room. It's a shame because I wish I could share, but apparently setting down your screaming child to snap a few shots from your phone is frowned upon.

For all the grandmothers that are reading this, I'll just get the end of the story out of the way. Everett fell off the jungle gym and sprained his foot...or ankle...or something I don't know...which goes back to the whole ER experience. At any rate, other than the fact that he has to crawl around the house, he's fine.

So, in the first 5 minutes at the boys new school, Everett fell off the jungle gym and hurt his foot. Again, for the grandmothers, this was just a happy coincidence which I can only attribute to the fact that Carl was out of town and that seems to be when we make all our ER trips, it had nothing to do with the safety of the school play equipment or the attentiveness of the teachers.

Thank goodness I was there, and I called our one friend here who promptly directed me to the hospital and offered to meet me there. It is very hard to get anything done around here without yelling at people, and you have to live here a while to get used to that so she came along to do all the yelling for me.

Now when I say "promptly," our driver got lost 3 times and then got a ticket which I had no idea was even possible here. But apparently it is. So, promptly, an hour later we arrived at the hospital.

The doctors and nurses were very kind to Everett and to me so I don't want to spend too much time talking about the hospital but let's just say it was no medical city....okay it was no parkland....

So I'll just say...yada yada yada...the power came back on so that they were able to do Everett's xray which looked okay to the lady at the front desk. After some good yelling by my friend, we got a doctor to look at the xray, and she said to just come back in the morning for a cast if he wasn't better.

Hmmm.

I guess I've been here long enough to just go with that, and he does seem a little better this morning. And if you know Samuel and Everett, you know they love to pretend to be dogs so the crawling isn't really bothering anyone....except for strangers....who let's be honest, probably want to whip out their cameras as well.

Truth for Today

E: "Mom, why can only you drink diet coke?"

G: "Because it makes me a better mommy."

This Might be Fun

Many of those who read this blog were present at the infamous dinner party during which we almost lost all our friends.

One fateful night a couple of years ago, Carl and I had a bunch of friends over for dinner and served a vegan meal. You all must feel like you are pretty good friends because almost every husband complained, to my face, about the lack of meat. It's such a blessing having honest (mean) friends.

Well, ironically, we now find ourselves in a situation where meat of any kind is difficult to come by.

So I thought I would appeal to all these wonderful friends (and anyone else) for some ideas for some meatless meals. You can write a recipe or just a quick meal suggestion.

And if you send me some crazy recipe with shitake mushrooms or arugula...well...you're dead to me.

PMI Update

Carl has had so many challenges business wise since being here.

One of those challenges has been hiring staff for the office.

He thinks he has found the right guy though.

He's smart and tough and loyal and won't take no for an answer.....ever....

What would you do?

Or rather, what would your children do if you were driving down the road, you stopped at a stop light and a camel walked right past your car?

We were stopped at a "stop" light near our hotel on Sunday, and man led a camel on rope right by the car.

Samuel and Everett just looked up, took notice, and went right back to playing rock, paper, scissors. They hardly even reacted.

It is so normal to see cows, goats, donkeys, chickens, pigs, dogs, horses, camels right in the middle of the city. It's great....it sort of reminds me of driving around the park cities.

Child Labor

Laundry Day...

Pride and Parenting

I usually ask the housekeepers to take a break on Mondays because I just want to do it myself.....my way!

But it looks like today might be a day for humility....

Winter Footwear Fashion Forecast -- Bangalore Edition

Glorious Riches

I try to keep it pretty light here in blog-world because well quite frankly it can get a little heavy around here. It has been wonderful for our family to be under one roof for 4 weeks straight (well actually three roofs in the last 4 weeks but you know what I mean). Our move has not come without cost. We very much miss all that we left behind, and I don't just mean our dishwasher.

The physical and spiritual poverty that we encounter here on a daily basis is oppressive. Even little Everett has more than once turned his head from the car window and just closed his eyes and gone to sleep.

This morning, against all odds, and after many many wrong turns, the boys and I made our way to BSF. The boys uncharacteristically walked right into their class; they were so happy to be among other children. The ladies (all Indian but one) were very welcoming to me. I loved worshiping and studying with these women this morning. Our attendance this morning was surely the result of many prayers.

I have struggled with believing that God would meet our needs here particularly in regards to the boys. Upon picking them up from their class, they were full of excitement about what they had done. Suddenly in the midst of all of it (and when you are on a street in Bangalore holding on to two children I do mean ALL OF IT) Samuel stops in his tracks and proceeds to ask me to guess the name of his new friend from his class.

Caleb.

In Dallas Samuel has one little boy in his class that he misses very much. Caleb.

God did not have to give Samuel a Caleb in Bangalore.....but He did.

If you can't beat them, Madam,....well you know the rest

Since we are living in country that is not our own, we have made certain changes to our vocabulary in order to blend, or at the very least to communicate. For example if I ask for a hamburger, I will get a ham sandwich. So I have to ask for a beef burger. If I ask where the elevator is, I will get a blank stare. Hence, I have to ask where the lift is.

See the fruit of my beef burger efforts below......






The one thing that I just can't get used to is our interaction with our housekeeper and driver (if all you stay at home moms in Dallas are feeling jealous right now.....trust me....just don't) It's one thing that they call us sir and madam. I've totally given up trying to be addressed by my first name. The funny thing is that we cannot speak to them about each other without referring to each other as sir and madam. For example if I ask our driver to go to the city and pick up Carl, he just sort of gets flustered. I have to say, "Go to the city to pick up sir."

In the interest of keeping it real. Yesterday, in the car, Carl asked him to "drop off madam at the hotel" and then continue on with him and the boys. Samuel sits up out of his swimming induced stupor and says, "Dad, who is MADAM?"

When a Picture Really is Worth 1000 Words

This is the front of our grocery store.

Sometimes You Just Have to Be Here

So after a long and arduous Indian day, Everett locked himself in the bathroom. Despite both boys many suggestions and attempts to help me, I could not get him out of the bathroom. I called maintainance to get him out. This is actually not the first time this has happened to Everett so I knew what to do.

Then we waited. I asked Everett to sing to me so I could know he was okay and he chose to scream, "My God is so great so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do." Way to have faith, buddy.

Ten....yes ten....minutes later, two men come barrelling through our door. Each man has 2 or three random tools in each hand. There was no tool box or tool belt, certainly no key which would have been pretty handy at this point... just random stuff like a hammer, pliers...just whatever.

In the meantime Everett gets himself out of the bathroom (which is actually the same thing that happened at home after I called the fire department) and the men want me to explain how he got locked in in the first place. I kept saying, "He's a little kid." "He's three years old." They kept checking out the door with their crazy tools.

Finally they left.

We're really becoming sort of famous here.

Science Lesson

Don't feel bad if you don't understand this. It's very complicated and scientific.

Here goes....

The equator is an imaginary or maybe an actual (I don't know) line that goes around the earth (or something). The closer you are to it, the more likely you are to get a sunburn.

Peace Out,
Mela-momma

Just Call me Domingo Montoya

Soooo...every night at dinner the boys tell Carl about our day. This is one of the best parts about being here because at home Carl was well, here, so obviously not at the dinner table.

Last night the boys told him all about our school projects, leaf collecting, and swimming. I felt they were leaving out an important event of the day so I pressed them a little about our lunch at the pool. Suddenly both of their faces lit up as they remembered to tell their dad about the six fingered man who served them their lunch.

Yep.

People in India LOVE children. Everyone is always bending down and talking to them and patting them on the heads. Yesterday at the pool, our waiter was no exception. What was an exception was that he thought that it would be fun to show the boys his extra thumb. And you know what? They loved it. They were all over it. It was the most exciting thing that happened to them all day.

I, however, much like Domingo, am now haunted by the image.

Have / Have Not

There is a lot of stuff that Dallas has that Bangalore does not. Though not an exhaustive list, I would say that a few big things come to mind.

Friends
Family
Traffic Laws
Target
Central Market
Potable Water
Big Macs
Mexican Food
Reliable Utilities

I could go on but it might seem like I was complaining.

Oh just one more things that Dallas has that Bangalore does not...

Freezing Temperatures



Happy Valentines Day!

Have You Dined With Us Before?

Often times when visiting a restaurant one is posed this question at the beginning of a meal. If the answer is no, then the server proceeds to explain certain "rules" that exist in that particular restaurant. He or she will offer suggestions to make one's dining experience more pleasurable by removing any confusion or discomfort from the patron's experience.

Every time I walk out the door of our apartment, and sometimes when I'm still in it, it's like visiting a new restaurant. It's the first date, first day of school, first day at a new job....

every

single

time.

An Apology

I want to publicly and sincerely issue an apology to three individuals. I don't even know their names because, regretfully, I never asked.

Day by day by day I used you and, I dare say, abused you. You worked tirelessly, dependably, predictably, and I never appreciated you, or thanked you, or took you out for a nice dinner.

Dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, I'm sorry. I love you. I miss you.

Love,
Prune Handed Momma

Culture Confusion

I remember the first time I took the boys to Mercy Street I wondered what they were thinking, how they were processing it, how it would effect them. Little did I know.....

The boys have seen more in the past 7 days than many people see in their entire lives. By grace, they have handled most of it in stride.

On of my favorite moments in the past week is when a little Indian girl from next door came over to play. It took about 30 minutes of her standing at the edge of our patio for Samuel to go over and offer her a toy. She then warmed up a little and actually crossed our threshold. Then, Samuel gets down in her face and says, "Hola. My name is Sam-well. Feliz Navidad."

Thank you Diego...thank you so s0 much.

Here!

We made it. If not for my mom I would have left the kids in Germany. I could not have done it without her. Boys were, however, troopers and slept a great deal on the plane.

Checked into hotel this morning and will move into our apt after church on Sunday.

More to come...

A bit of bad news....

In an attempt to do everything he can to prepare our arrival, Carl investigated McDonald's yesterday and ordered the "maharaja mac" (which was probably ill advised for several reasons but anyways...)

Apparently, it was disgusting. Now, a Big Mac in the US is basically disgusting too, but it's just wonderfully disgusting.....wonderfully, satisfyingly disgusting....

I'd Better Get Over There

Our departure is just 4 days away, and it couldn't be soon enough. We miss Carl like crazy, and I think he needs me. I am afraid a cultural chasm may be developing between us. This morning, I heard him over the phone tell someone else to "ring his mobile." What??!!

Members

Thank you thank you thank you....you know who you are...

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones." Eph. 5:2, 19,30

Almost "Home"

Thanks for all the prayers and e-mails and texts! Things have been running relatively smoothly down here. Seems that India is not opposed to having us come for a visit. I won't say they haven't made us work for it though. Tomorrow is our last step in the visa process and then we'll head back to Dallas.

I am so thankful that tomorrow is my last day of feeling alone and confused surrounded by throngs of people speaking Hindi.

Oh wait a minute....

The Journey Begins

We are all packed and immunized. We'll head to Coram Deo this morning so that Samuel's teacher can get him all settled for the coming semester. She has offered to send us his work monthly so he can stay on track.

Then we're off to the Endless Sky to grind a little bit of God's dirt into our souls.

Next we'll head down to Houston to spend some precious time with Great Granny, Grandma, Aunt Kelly and the cousins.

Then we'll head back to Dallas to catch our flight.

Preparations...

I don't know what else a mother who is hastily packing up her home and two small children to move to a foreign country (a country, mind you, that I found out today requires us to take daily malaria pills which are not produced in a chewable or liquid form...I digress) would be doing tonight other than creating a blog.