Stay Tuned....

Here are some old pics of Caleb & Kelden in the village. He loves going to Pasakha and gets so excited to hear that we are going back.

Today we are going to load into our jeep, drive two hours down the hill to Siliguri to get some medicine, pack that up, then drive 4 1/2 hours to Kelden and Pema's village, then strap the boys on our back and make the 5 kilometer hike up the mountain for our outreach. We will be there for a full week with a doctor and 3 other men who have come from Houston, TX. SO, I will be out of touch with any internet, or 21st century kinds of things for awhile. We will be cooking with wood fire stoves, and roughing it. So I will be sure to send you more about all our adventures and update you on our fun Easter day!

"White Boy is Comin' "

Ok, I havent quite figured out how to put the pictures in the order that I want them to be yet, but anyway, I wanted to update you all on our last few days happenings. The boys have had the past two days off of school so we have been trying to get out of the house and get all the energy out. So, yesterday we went to this school field and the older boys played cricket, while I chased Caleb and Judah around the field. Judah was so cute just takin' off. He didnt really care where he was going and wasnt paying attention to much, he was just off and trying to eat everything in sight. And I mean everything....goat poop, rocks, leaves, candy wrappers, etc....so I was always running to take something out of his mouth or hand. Caleb was throwing and chasing a bouncy ball and just having a blast. It was really nice to be outside and have somewhere for them all to just go.

This is a picture of Caleb and Judah on our front porch playing with "Rusty", our adopted dog.

Today, on Friday we went to the river with some friends and Judah thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the sand and playing. (and eating it!) Every time I would turn around he was shoving another handful of sand in his mouth. He had a blast and he loved the cold water too.
Here is the "white boy"! When I took off his shirt I said something about him being a white boy and then later he was coming from over and playing in the sand and was saying, "the white boy is coming" I was cracking up! It is so funny how kids here things and then repeat what they have heard, not really knowing what they are saying. He is a crack up!

Dawa was also having a blast today and was trying to put together his own fishing line. There were some other men there fishing, so he thought he would try it out as well. He didnt catch anything, but had a good time trying. He is a funny boy and such a village boy. Every spring these certain bugs come out, I am not sure what they are called, but I have heard someone call them flying termites, but anyway, Dawa was catching them and eating them. He said he only ate the butt and not the head though. Oh, that is SO much better.......funny, huh?

Easter?

Easter bunnies...
Chocolate bunnies...
Fake Green grass....
Easter baskets....
Easter dresses....
Little yellow chics.....
Cadbury eggs....
Isles of candy....
I imagine that at home it is hard to forget about Easter coming with all this stuff bombarding you everywhere you turn.
I actually almost forgot about Easter here until the kids found out they had a school holiday. So, today I took a walk into to town to see what I could find in the way of Easter stuff, and on my way ran into one of our Korean friends who was shocked to learn that Easter was this Sunday. So, needless to say, there is not much here in the way of "Easter things", but it made me think a lot about what Easter is all about and why we use eggs, and where did the Easter Bunny ever come in anyway? Living over here where there is not as much "stuff" is nice at times because it helps me to see the real meanings behind things, instead of all the commercial things. It is funny though at times, because I think we really could have missed Easter all together, had it not been for the boys' school.

So, I walked to town past a funeral procession, past the bazaar where all the people sit and sell their veggies, past some road workers who were sitting and having their tea break, and didn't find much of anything. I did get some candy and some vinegar so that we can all color eggs together this weekend.
I will have to do my research so that I can answer the questions that I am sure will come to me about "colored eggs"? (Anyone know anything helpful?) But it was a good time to get out of the house and think about how I can share the true meaning of Easter with these boys. May we ALL remember what an amazing holiday this day represents, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but that now He lives!!!!!! Hallelujah!

Happy Birthday Dax-man!

Ok, so I am not the best auntie....because I am not sure of the exact date of your birthday! But I want to wish my nephew Dax a very happy 2nd Birthday!

What is Love?

If someone were to ask you, "What is Love?" what would you tell them?

This question came up yesterday with the boys and at the first instance when I was asked to give a definition I didn't know what to say. "Oh my goodness...I thought, how am I going to explain love to them. It is seems difficult enough in my own language, but to have to tell them in Dzongkha, that is even harder" So, I made Mike go first.

The reason this question came up was because we went to church today and the family that Dawa used to stay with was there, and he hid from them, because he was shy. So when we got home Mike told him that they really loved him, to which he shook his hand at Mike, as if to say, "No way" So that started our conversation about love. We asked them to tell us what love was, and they all got shy and kept pointing to the other to give a definition. I then asked Kelden if they ever hear anyone in their village tell someone else that they love them and he said that they have never heard it said. Can you believe that? Can you imagine living in a place where you have never heard loving words spoken to another. If you have ever been to their place too they are a very rough people. Usually family members yell at one another and they are very quick to hit each other. So, the concept of love is a very foreign one. Even the way that they talk to each other normally is very rough and abrupt.

So, we started in to tell them, and they were sitting around the table very intent to hear, "what is love?" Mike started first and as soon as he started, then the passage in scripture came to my mind in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. It goes as follows:

"Love is patient,
Love is kind,
It does not envy,
It does not boast,
It is not proud,
It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.
Love never fails."

There was a song written by an older Christian group Petra that used this verse and then at the end said, "Love is God, sent in His Son. Love forgives ALL we have done."
As we explained this definition of love and even now as I write it out again I am surprised by how their lives have been filled with SO much of the opposite. Really...they are not kind to one another, they love to keep records of what others have done wrong to them, they talk about each other all the time, they love to point out the bad that anyone else is doing or has done, and on and on. (I guess we are all challenged in these ways, but we are quicker to hide it in our culture. I know I am very often guilty of not being loving towards others)
Anyway our prayers are that these boys may see God's love in and through us and truly be changed for the rest of their lives. And that most importantly they would be changed by God's love and His sending his Son for them.
How would you describe love?

Makin' Momos

Mike and Anup came back with 19 kgs. worth of meat. I think that is about 41 lbs. So after cutting meat all day, we all made momos together.

Dawa and Saroja rolling out the dough

This typical Bhutanese style to store you meat. You hang it out to dry. It is called Sha-kam. They boys were really excited to see all of this hanging.

Bye Bye Binkie

Judah's days of his binkie are over. One day he went down for a nap without it and slept well, so I thought, "It's time" Although yesterday I SO wanted to pull one out and give it to him because he didnt feel good and was whiny, but I withheld....so, gone are days of pics like this with a binkie in the mouth!

A quiet house...ahhhh....

Judah just went down for a nap, Caleb and Mike went to Darjeeling to buy meat, (a whole 'nother story in itself), and the boys are off at school. Ahhhh....so for a few brief hours the house is quiet. As I sit here and type I can only hear the sound of the washing machine going in the background, cars honking their horns as they drive by, a rooster crowing outside, someone's pressure cooking letting off steam as they prepare lunch, and the beautiful sound of some peace and quiet in the house. Have you ever thought that God created babies to have to nap more for the parents sake? He is so amazing in how He created everything to work just right in relation with each other and really, I think that the parents are the ones who need the break more then the kids need the nap. God is so good like that!
So, what will I do with myself with all this peace and quiet....Hmmm...not sure....but I should probably enjoy it and then prepare for the crowd to come back and to feed them all. Wow, who would of thought that boys could eat so much. I am constantly challenged with trying to keep food in this house and keep everyone fed and happy. When Mike and I first moved here four years back, we didnt plan ahead when we bought our fridge, that's for sure. This is what our fridge looks like... and our pantry as well (messy i know)....

So, now that we have all these people in the house we don't have much room to put anything. Although, someone really cool (you know who you are :-) blessed our friends with a nice big fridge, so we can store stuff in there when we need to.
Oh yeah, feeding everyone...so that is why Mike and Anup are driving about an hour, hour and a half to go get some beef, so we can keep this house fed. (The meat there is much better then what we get in Kalimpong) That is a picture I should take is of the meat market. Yikes! That will make you seriously consider becoming a vegetarian. Maybe sometime I will have to walk their and take come pics....ok, I am out for now.

Pouty face

This seems to be the face that I see a lot these days. I am really hoping that it is just the age and that he will quickly grow out of this phase. Ugh...it is tiring! These days Judah is not feeling well, maybe from teething, Caleb doesn't want to share anything with anyone else and has been whining all the time, and he always wants to eat "chewing gum". The other boys seem to be doing well, although they are constantly at each other and half of the time they speak dzongkha really fast to one another, so I don't exactly know what they are saying, I can just tell by their body language that they are not being nice. Oh Lord, please give me patience....

Fired Up

Some friends came to our house the other day and made some comments to us that got me all fired up. Those of you that know me well, know that this is hard to do. Most of the time I am pretty mellow and don't allow too much to get under my skin, but this really irritated me. Living in this part of the world you have to be careful who you can trust and who you cant and you have to decipher whether or not someone is your friend just because of the color of your skin or because they really like you. But another thing that happens here is that there is so little room for getting ahead in life, that nobody wants anyone else to get ahead. So people backbite like crazy and are always pointing out the negative in everyone else. It gets so annoying!

The comment that they made was in reference to a good friend of ours, and they were basically saying that he is only our friend for our money. How rude! That would be like someone that you are an acquaintance with coming to you and saying something bad about a family member of yours. But the only thing they were saying was based on rumors that other people were telling them. And yet this same person, is friends with your family member and treats them nicely while face to face. Yuck! It makes me want to tell my friend to run the other way, although I know that is not the right thing to do.

Imagine living in a society where there is NO work. You have a family to feed and you try to do what you can, but no matter what you try, there is just no income anywhere. Then some people come to town and offer you a job and you are a good worker, and you are finally getting paid and able to feed your family. Woohoo! Except that now everyone else in town is super jealous of you and wants to speak all kinds of bad about you. So wherever you go, you have to try and prove yourself 10 times more then you would normally have to because of the slander that has been said about you. Ugh! I hate this.

It is something that we don't experience at home much (I don't think anyway), because it seems that for the most part in America, we are happy for others when they succeed. Maybe because there is room for us to as well....I don't know. Sometimes people act like jr. highers in the way they deal with things here though. It is so annoying...

Just hangin out

Today the boys had off of school and so we thought we would try and do something outside. So we drove up the hill to this place called Delo, but by the time we reached it was just about to rain, so we just jumped out and took a few pictures and then hopped back in the jeep. This picture turned out great, except for Kelden in the back making a funny face. He has this twitch that always makes him contort his face like that. It is strange...it will change from one thing to another periodically, but for now it is the face twitch. He is a funny boy.

This morning while I was making pancakes and tea, Caleb and Kelden were out on the front porch playing cricket, Dawa was driving Judah around on the little tricycle that we have and Pema was singing his heart out to Prashant Tamang, last years winner of Indian Idol. He is convinced that he can try out for the next season of Indian Idol and win, so he is practicing every chance he can get. I hate to dash his hopes....so we just let him sing his heart out! It is quite amusing, although I am soon never going to want to hear those songs again. People here dont seem to get burnt out of stuff like we do. I dont know if it just the lack of resources or what, but we used to have a neighbor that would listen to the same song ALL the time and have it blasted for all to hear.
Right now, the boys are napping and the bigger boys are watching a Nepali movie, so I decided to get a little bit of blogging done.....

Taking things for granted

Living in this part of the world has made me realize SO many things and has especially made me realize how we in the west are SO blessed. There have been so many things that I take for granted. The other day I was sitting at the table with Judah feeding him oatmeal with a gerber baby spoon that I brought from the states. You know the kind that change color if the food is too hot. Just something as simple as that will put people in awe over here. When our friends Anup and Saroja were over the other day I showed them the spoon and she was so surprised. She said that she is for sure going to have to tell her friends that she works with at school about the spoon. Little things like that remind me of how much we take for granted at home......Running water, hot running water at that, electricity, gerber baby spoons, well made toys, educational toys for kids, (another thing people are in awe of) washing machines, vacuum machines, structure in our society, customer service, kindness, knowing not to smack the heck out of a loved one, knowing that it is wrong to lie, there is SO much and I could go on and on and on....but I am learning to be thankful for all things. There is a verse in the Bible that came to my mind the other day, it is found in Romans 12:16. It says, "Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation." In the footnote, it also says, accommodate yourself to lowly things. Many of the people that we have befriended over here are from low caste in this culture or are just very poor. (oh, that is another thing I have taken for granted, that we have no real caste in the states and there is room for opportunity or to better yourself)
Anyway, the boys that live with us come from very poor families, our friends Anup and Saroja are from a low caste and we have three girls that come over about once a week that are from a very low caste. I say all this to say, that having them in our lives has made us realize how so very lucky and blessed we are as Americans. I wonder if this is partly why God wants us to associate with the lowly, so that we don't get too caught up in "keeping up with the Jones'" ya know, when you are surrounded by people that have all the coolest and latest gadgets, it is hard not to want to follow suit. But when we are surrounded by others that are in need, it makes us realize that we are blessed and we really don't even need all of the "stuff" anyway. Don't get me wrong here, Mike and I have our share of stuff, and our friends are in amazement, but I have been continually reminded that I am blessed....and I am thankful for the friends that God has brought into our lives to remind us of that.

life in Kalimpong

Caleb helping our helper make chapati's this morning.

Downtown Kalimpong in all of it's glory. Many times since there is not much to do here in Kalimpong, Mike and I will come and park here downtown and people watch. It is definitely entertaining.

Usually when you go to town and you park, someone comes by to collect your parking fee, which is about 25 cents.....recently we got a new man on the job and this is him. The other day I was sitting in the car with Caleb and Judah while Mike went to get a few things and he came by. I didnt have any money on me so I was trying to explain to him that I had no money and that we would pay him when Mike came back. Oh my goodness....he was freaking out and saying a bunch of jiberish to me. I know I dont really speak Nepali, but I dont even think he was speaking Nepali and looked like he was motioning something like he wasn't going to be able to eat. He would leave and then come back, and finally Mike came back and was able to give him his fee. Ugh! So the next time we were in town I had the 10 rupees out ready to give to him, so I didnt have to encounter that again and he would hopefully take it and be on his way. Luckily it worked, although he did try and get in the car to sit at the driver's seat to take a picture as a driver. Luckily, Saroja was with us this time and told him not to.

So glad winter is over

Anup, Saroja, Pragya and Caleb at our house

Anup and Saroja at their house

This is sweet Pragya in our new sitting room. She is the daughter of Anup and Saroja, who take the boys when we are away

Here is a pic of our old sitting room, which has now become the play room. the kids love to throw the pillows

Judah as well is all bundled up here. I would usually have in at least 3 pairs of pajamas, so changing a diaper was a nightmare, But our house is made of all cement, so most of the time you could see your breath in the house. Now we are down to only two layers....and no more hats, so it has been really nice. In this pic, you can see a little of what our living room looks like. After 3 years of sitting Bhutanese style on the floor, we had some western couches made. I was pleasantly suprised by how nice they turned out.

Here is a pic of Caleb all bundled up in the house

Some recent pics

These are just some recent pics that I have taken of the kids lately. The one of Caleb on the potty is one that he is probably going to kill me for later on. But I thought it was pretty funny.

Today we went to the doctor so that Judah could get some of his immunizations. Ugh....this is not a fun experience here and one I wish I could avoid, but Judah is already behind in getting his immunizations, so it is something that has to be done. I wish I had taken my camera, so that you could see the hospital. It is a bit scary and the nurses always seem to get a little offended because we bring our own needles, instead of using their scary needles. But the nurses wear these funny uniforms, that looks like they stepped out of a British hospital in the 60's. They have the triangle shaped hat and everything. The whole experience is even more frustrating because the shot records I have for Judah are a mess. He was born in Thailand, so has a Thai record book with those shots in it, then he had some shots in India, and then some in America. So keeping track of what shots he has had when and where is like trying to solve a puzzle. This is one of the joys of living overseas, I guess.

Judah walking & the boys in our house

This morning I decided to take a picture of all the boys in our house before they were off to school and looking so handsome in their uniforms. From left to right, they are Pema and Judah, Kelden, Dawa (just arrived last Saturday) and Caleb!

As I am sure most of you already know, who have more then one kid, the second child usually doesn't have as many pictures taken of them. I used to always get mad with my mom about this fact, and now I am guilty of the same. In any case, these are not Judah's first steps....but some of his first days of walking...

Why Save your Fork?

you may be asking..."why, save your fork?" Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE dessert...whether it is Ice Cream, Cheesecake, brownies...you name it and I love it. I have had a sweet tooth since I was little and my mom and dad found me under the covers at night with a lollipop in my mouth. so when I read the following story it was great. It helped to remind me of what is important and to fix my eyes on what is to come! Something better is coming! I cannot wait!
There was a woman who had been diagnosed with a terminal Illness and had been given three months to live. So as she was getting her things "in order", she contacted her pastor and had him come to her house to discuss certain aspects of her final wishes. She told him which songs she wanted sung at the service, what scriptures she would like read, and what outfit she wanted to be buried in. The woman also requested to be buried with her favorite Bible. Everything was in order and the pastor was preparing to leave when the woman suddenly remembered something very important to her. "There's one more thing," she said excitedly. "What's that?" came the pastor's reply. "This is very important," the woman continued. " I want to be buried with a fork in my right hand."

The pastor stood looking at the woman, not knowing quite what to say. "That surprises you, doesn't it?" the woman asked. "Well, to be honest, I'm puzzled by the request," said the pastor. The woman explained. "In all my years of attending church socials and potluck dinners, I always
remember that when the dishes of the main course were being cleared, someone would inevitably lean over and say, 'Keep your fork'. It was my favorite part because I knew that something better was coming...like velvety chocolate cake or deep-dish apple pie. Something wonderful, and with substance! So, I just want people to see me there in that casket with a fork in my hand and I want them to wonder 'What's with the fork?'. Then I want you to tell them: "Keep your fork....the best is yet to come". The pastor's eyes welled up with tears of joy as he hugged the woman goodbye. He knew this would be one of the last times he would see her before her death. But he also knew that the woman had a better grasp of heaven than he did. She KNEW that something better was coming.

At the funeral people were walking by the woman's casket and they saw the pretty dress she was wearing and her favorite Bible and the fork placed in her right hand. Over and over, the pastor heard the question "What's with the fork?" And over and over he smiled. During his message, the pastor told the people of the conversation he had with the woman shortly before she died. He also told them about the fork and about what it symbolized to her. The pastor told the people how he could not stop thinking about the fork and told them that they probably would not be able to stop thinking about it either. He was right. So the next time you reach down for your fork, let it remind you oh so gently, that the best is yet to come.

Ok, I have decided to try and start a blog. I am not the best at writing, but I wanted to be able to stay in touch with everyone and give people a small glimpse of how life is on this side of the world.