Mom in India!

Our first guest from the States, and the first time we've seen family in over a year. We had fun, but it went by too fast. We wish all our family could visit, but it is a long way over here. Thank goodness for Skype! Here are some pictures from Heather's mom's visit.

 

 

 

 

Brynn and Mom get chapati-making lessons (Indian flatbread, pretty much tortillas). Brynn shows off her finished chapati, and they both taste test.

Visiting with some beggar women and children in a friend's home.

American Football in India!

In India there is cricket, only cricket. I thought I would see some soccer (or football as they call it everywhere else in the world), but only cricket. It's as big as hockey in Canada. We don't watch much football, as it would mean waking up in the middle of the night to watch it online. Oddly, we don't miss it much, even though we both loved football back in the States.

We had a day that made us feel, for a few hours, that we were back in America. There is an American Football League here in India, and we went to one of their final games. The highlight for me was sitting on a blanket in the grass - something you really never do here in the city. The teams were pumped to play and loved this contact sport, and it was fun to watch them.   After living outside the U.S. for over a year now, I can see how silly it is that we call this sport football.

One funny thing: The goal posts looked like they were purchased at Toys R Us, and were about 4 feet wide. One extra point was attempted unsuccessfully, then the rest of the game each team tried for 2 points. No field goal attempts. I can see why. This first picture shows a shot of the goal posts in the background.

Brynn kept saying, "Go Warthogs!" Haha!

It was breezy - almost could have been a fall day in America, watching football, yep it felt normal.

7 Years!

I can't believe we just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary! Brynn made it so special with her sweet drawing! We had a great night out thanks to my mom who's here visiting and able to babysit. Here's how we celebrated our anniversary in India....

  and of course....

 

It's hard to believe the picture below was seven years ago! Seems like yesterday....

 

Things I took for granted in the U.S.

We are living among a culture where you feel like you have too much in life when you are able to buy a box of juice, or own a washing machine. I've been in tent-homes of women where their children sleep on dirt floors and mice run beside my feet.

I definitely have NOTHING to complain about... 

Having said that, I was laughing at myself this morning when I thought about how many times I passed over buying a bag of pretzels at the grocery store when I lived in America, but now I'd kill for some.
I had prepared myself to miss Chick-fil-a, Target, sweet tea, beef and watching college football games, but I actually find myself missing these things instead, in no particular order:

• pretzels
• cheese...real cheese, all varieties of cheese
• sandwich meat
• berries - especially blueberries
• a vacuum
• drywall....yes, a miraculous building material where your whole wall doesn't crumble when you try to nail something into it.
• an oven, a dishwasher, a dryer (for clothes)
• swiffer mops
• hard wood or carpeted floors
• all things in the frozen food section of the grocery store
• yards, fields, anything with grass

Oh, there's so much more, but these are ones that cross my mind daily.

Dinner Invites

People here are so hospitable and love to have us over to their homes for a meal - or in this case, a couple of meals. We were invited over around 5pm. At around 6:30 we ate chicken with gravy, chapatis and rice. We were very full. At around 8pm, we were trying to determine when would be a good time to leave, not wanting to overstay our welcome. They said, "No, you haven't eaten yet." Apparently that was the snack. We had more food at around 9pm. We are slowly catching on to the customs here.

Another funny thing....everyone here keeps their doors open, so in this apartment building where we were guests, the kids ran around and all the other families invited us in for a minute. So before dinner even started, the kids were offered 2 bowls of ice cream in different homes, chocolate, and I had coffee about 3 times - this was all before the food at our hosts' home. Then there was coffee and biscuits in between the two meals. It's crazy here, but fun.

Jimmy at our host's home playing a popular board game called Carrom. Kind of a combination of shuffle board and billiards.

This is how Brynn eats a chapati.

My friend wanted to dress me up in one of her saris, complete with necklace and bangles. She told me to keep it all. I was confused as to whether she wanted me to borrow it to wear home, or truly keep it. It was very beautiful fabric.

 

Luke doing what he does best....snacking.

All loaded up for the ride home!

Brynn is 5!

I can't believe our baby girl is 5! We celebrated a few times...with a cake at her school, at home with some friends, and at a company meeting. She is already talking about what she wants to do for her 6th birthday. In this country the birthday person cuts the cake and feeds cake to each other (family and close friends) like the bride and groom do at a wedding. Brynn fed some cake to Luke at school it was very sweet.

Brynn & one of her Aunties (teacher)

At home with cupcakes.

And one last time!

Slum Life

I stood on a balcony overlooking a large slum and observed what was so out of the ordinary to me, but life as usual for them. The kids were fun to watch - when they're not sick, the kids are always laughing and having fun.

Snacks, Parties and Getting Around

You can't walk down the street near our house without passing a vendor selling an unusual looking snack. I think there is one every other block. We weren't sure what they were until our house help made us some. She told us not to eat them on the street, but we can sure see why people like them.

Our favorite Indian Snack ever!! They are crispy shells with some sort of peas, carrots, onions, and a couple of different sauces. Right before you eat them you drizzle cilantro (coriander in India) juice over them. I can easily eat 15 in one sitting, sigh, but I don't. You put a whole one in your mouth at one time.

A typical day for us is jumping in an auto rickshaw to get where we need to go. Here are some pics of some views from where we sit in the auto everyday.

Although I'm used to seeing children and infants riding on scooters and motorcycles now, I still cringe to think what would happen in an accident.

In an auto rickshaw....Luke loves to jump in the very back behind the seat. This is where people will put shopping bags or whatever.

I also was invited to an engagement party. It was almost as elaborate as the actual wedding. I posted these pics on Facebook, but for those not on Facebook, here are some of the pictures:

A Humbling Experience

I went to visit an amazing ministry today. This man began this work by picking people up off the streets and caring for them in his home. These people are mostly mentally and physically challenged who are near dead on the streets. What a wonderful heart he has. Today he now has hundreds of men, women and children in his care. He and his family live among these people.
Check it out: http://www.newarkmission.org/aboutus.asp

Here are some pictures of some of the orphaned babies. Precious. I saw children the same age as mine, and could hardly hold back the tears.

Precious babies helping hang the laundry.

The little one on the right seemed full of mischief...like my Luke.

South Asian Thanksgiving

No turkey, no football on tv in the background, but people did a good job of trying to make all the side dishes taste the same. My contributions were stuffing and apple cobbler (or dumpcake for those who know the term). I'm not good with from-scratch pie crusts, so that was my version of apple pie.

It was not the same as sharing this day with family and eating all those familiar dishes, but we have so much to be thankful for, so for that reason the day was a success!

Luke trying to sing his heart out.