Rediscovering What We Love

It has been so much fun having Kailynne with us.  For one thing, it has helped our family rediscover everything we love about our second home…that we had come to take for granted.  It’s easy to take for granted the things that are right in front of you…when you see them every day.  But when you are helping someone else discover a place that is new for them and common place for you, it helps you to appreciate again and even to rediscover what you love about it…the precious people…the delicious food…the amazing spices…the vibrant colors...the beautiful mountains...the lush forests and tea gardens…our favorite hang-outs…the gorgeous sunsets…and so much more!

Isn’t that true for so many things in life though?!?  We have had this experience several times since we began this journey.  For instance, when we went home on furlough, we had the tremendous and overwhelming joy to be surrounded once again by our precious family and friends.  You bring such joy to us!  We dearly loved and cherished every second we got to spend with you…every hug we got…every meal we enjoyed… every laugh we shared.  Living so far away from you, helps us realize even more how precious you are to us and reminds us not to take your presence in our lives for granted.

Not only that…but being home also reminded us of all the conveniences that we used to take for granted…like an unending supply of clean water…that we don’t have to filter and bottle ourselves, multiple times a day.  Or like having a reliable and uninterrupted supply of electricity and internet...that doesn’t switch on and off multiple times a day for no logical reason.  Or having a meat market where you can get a huge variety of clean, neatly packaged meats that are instantly ready for cooking…rather than taking one-hour to clean before they can be cooked.  Trust me…we will never take these luxuries for granted again…no matter where we live.

We can also say this about our relationship with God!  It is so easy to take His Presence in our lives for granted, isn’t it?!? We know He’s there…that He’ll always be there…that He’ll never leave us or forsake us…But, being over here and helping people discover Him for the first time...and struggling through some of the things that we have…I, for one, have learned even more powerfully not to take Him for granted.  I’m still learning what it means to be “calmly conscious of Him [each moment] no matter what.”  But, I have grown in my ability to trust God and to rely on Him and to lean into Him…even when I feel like giving up.

Isn’t it a joy to rediscover that which we have taken for granted?!?!  I hope you have the joy of rediscovery too…

Bengal Safari

So, our city has a new zoo!  It’s pretty exciting!  It’s open but not completed.  They have two “houses” for wildlife viewing…1) birds (containing 1 peacock, 2 golden pheasants, and lots of “exotic” roosters) and 2) cats (containing 1 swamp cat).  So far, there’s not much to see but they have big plans to expand adding tigers and bears and other animals.  The big attraction at the zoo is a safari ride.  It is pretty legit! For 50 Rupees ($0.75) per person, we took an hour long safari ride.  We saw tons of deer, several peacocks and a few other wild animals.  We are so excited to have this new attraction in our city!  It’s almost like having the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium just down the road.

The best part about our first visit to the zoo is that we were able to take some friends with us.  We have a family visiting us because they chose to have their baby in our city rather than back in the States or where they are serving.  They have two adorable children…and our family is having a blast hanging out with them.  Their baby sister was born last week and she is so precious!

We had nice time at the zoo...hope you enjoy these pictures!

Spontaneous Road Tripping

What do you do when you have a beautiful day after it rains for more than 50 hours straight?!?!  Well, if you are us…you go on a spontaneous road trip in the Himalayan Mountains.  The roads were a little sketchy in some places due to heavy monsoon rains over the past 4 months.  But, Tony is an ace driver, the views were spectacular, and we had a fabulous outing.  This was Kailynne’s first experience with mountain road driving as well as with our spontaneity…but she did great with both.  She even got the joy of using her first squatty potty at the place we stopped for snacks.

The kids really enjoyed pointing things out to Kailynne as we drove through the mountains…even though we ran into some roadblocks along the way.  The waterfalls were amazing from all the rain…and that was awesome!  But, we were detoured from our intended route by the remnants of a landslide that blocked the road.   We tried to take her to our favorite lookout in the mountains, where it feels like you are standing on top of the world…but it was overrun with mosquitos from the monsoon rains.  So, we jumped back in the van almost as quickly as we jumped out.  Then, we tried to take her to several of our favorite spots for momos (Nepali steamed dumplings) but all the shops were either closed or out of food…that happens more often here than you can image.  So, we had to settle for a healthy snack of chips, cookies and pop to tide us over until we got back down the mountain.

We love our crazy life!  And even though things did not go as we had hoped on our outing today we still had an awesome time together singing, laughing and enjoying the breath-taking beauty of our India.

Making Chicken Curry

Last night we assimilated Kailynne more fully into our life here.  Praveen, our friend stopped by earlier this week, and we decided to make chicken curry together on Friday night.  Together is a loose term which usually means that I cook and he supervises and offers direction when he is around.  A few days later, I invited five more people to our meal.  And then Friday, as we were cooking, three more people arrived and needed a place to stay overnight and dinner.  So our “small meal” for 8 turned into a huge meal for 16 people. 

On Friday, Tony ordered the chicken at 11 am – three whole chickens.  The shop owner said it would be done by 3 pm.  At 2 pm, we all set out on foot for the favorite store to gather our supplies for the meal.  After that trip, we dropped Kailynne and the girls off at home with a bag full of supplies, and Dylan and I continued our shopping by heading into town.  It was 2:40 pm, so I asked Tony to call the chicken guy to see if the chicken was done.  He said he would need another hour.  Oh India!  We had to walk past his shop on the way to the vegetable shop…so Dylan volunteered to stop by to talk to him about our situation. 

After gathering our vegetables for the meal, we went back to the chicken shop to wait for and watch our chicken be prepared…this is like the worst form of torture for me…But I wasn’t sure who I felt more sorry for…me or the other chickens that I stood next who were waiting for their demise.  Ugh!  It’s quite the process to debone 3 whole chickens.  He was working on the last one when we arrived.  He usually removes most of the excess fat and cartilage and skin, but in order to expedite the process I asked that he only remove the skin and I would do the rest.  As the flies swarmed overhead, he gathered our chicken in a bag for us.  Then he packed up the skin in a different bag and then the bones in another.  I stopped him; I don’t want those this time.  He looked at me quizzically.  I suggested he give them to someone else as a gift or keep them for himself.  Then, we delightfully took our chicken and headed home to prep.

Meanwhile, Kailynne was at the house carefully chopping 1 kilo of onions.  We worked hard for 4 hours on our chicken curry with sweat pouring…One hour was dedicated to inspecting and cleaning the chicken.  Whenever I do this, I have three bowls: 1) one bowl for the kids and I with the breast meat and other pieces that pass my rigorous inspection, 2) another bowl with the rest of the meat that I think is revolting but I know Tony likes, and of course 3) a third bowl with the rest of the scraps that I cook for the dog.

Praveen arrived while we were finishing up the chicken.  He asked Kailynne how chicken prep in India compared to similar prep in the States.  I said…other than the fact that it is chicken…nothing is similar. When Praveen saw me set aside the pan of Oreo scraps, he asked what I was going to do what it.  When I said it was for Oreo, he objected stating slightly disgusted that there were plenty of good things in that pan to eat…Yes, indeed…good for Oreo!

We roasted coriander seeds, mustard seeds, peanuts, cashews, and coconut individually and made them each into a paste and then used them in various ways and quantities in addition to garlic paste and ginger paste, cilantro, salt, cinnamon, a lot of chili powder, the kilo of onions that Kailynne chopped, 8 cups of rice (with a few bugs added for good measure) and of course the thoroughly cleaned chicken to make an amazing meal that was ready by 7 pm.

It was a great meal and we had so much fun making it…and eating it!  Sorry, I don’t have any pictures to go with this story...