We've had a few neat opportunities to go to an orphanage and hang out with the kids and adults there. I always love our time there, and it is just so much fun. I really love taking our kids and seeing them in the midst of all these kids, singing songs, playing games and running on the playground.
Some amazing things about this:
They know when we're coming, and when we arrive, they are all ready, sitting in this big room--
quiet--no noise coming from ALL these kids! They are usually working on their homework/schoolwork!
When we arrive, in this Asian culture, they all immediately stand up out of respect as we walk into the room.
In many Asian cultures, students quietly stand up when their teacher, an elder or someone respected walks into the room. It's kind of humbling, but so incredible to see!
They are like any kids. They love to sing loud, funny songs! They love to hear stories. We usually share a story from the Bible with them. They love to run and play. They love to be silly!
We usually teach them a song, but they also usually teach us a song. Their songs are SO loud, and their clapping is SO loud. I do not know how Indians clap that loud. Seriously, how do they do it? Of all ages. They clap so loud!!!
Here is a video of a some singing. I wish you could hear some clapping though. ;)
Oh well....make sure to listen to the drums!
I've always gotten to talk with this sweet girl.
She asked for a photo with me, so I got one with her too!
My favorite thing about going is my kids right in the middle of all these kids.
That's Jackson beside the boy in the yellow striped shirt.
We loved having our house full this summer--with our friends here in Indore, with the students from Clemson, and this picture is probably when it was most packed out. We had our team, the students and the vision team that came for a week from Crosspoint! It was a full house, and we loved it!
I loved it even more because a very special, a dear friend for more than 14 years, came with that group. My friend Liz! What a gift, a sweet and wonderful blessing! I loved every minute of my time with her.
Jeremy and Liz have known Gray and I for the longest!!! They were there when we first met. Then, they counseled us and discipled us through our "getting to know you year in SK" before we were even dating. Then, we spent our first two years of marriage in the same town with them, playing cards, eating dinner and watching Survivor almost weekly, having our first babies, and lots of fun in Raleigh during our seminary years! Even after being away for a year and a half. On a date night, it felt so normal and like it was just yesterday we were together!
I loved that we did normal things like go to the grocery store, pile in the car, holding our babies in our hands, and shopping at the mall. It was so fun that a dear friend saw much of our everyday life! You have to check out her blogpost to see more of what we did and Liz's videos and viewpoint of India. This is a fun post, and she also has fun videos on there too (after that post)!!!
They brought us 4 bags of stuff! I should be kind of embarrassed about that, huh!!! This is how we can get some things like birthday presents, Christmas presents and other things we like to have sent from the US! One bag was full of homeschool books for this year. There were also maternity clothes....but sad to say, a HUGE chunk of my maternity clothes (some I've had for 6+ years) were stolen. Bummer! She also brought loads of gifts from friends at church, my cousin and her family, and others that sent things along with them. So awesome!!!! Here she is pulling out some of the gifts for the kids! They loved it!!!
I love this picture! Through all of Liz's jetlag and some belly issues that almost everyone experiences when they come to India...she still came over and hung out almost everyday she was here! She was such a trooper! I loved having her with me...even if it was taking a nap or she and I resting while the rest of the team were out and about. But most of the time, we were talking and chatting about life, books, our kiddos and such. She definitely got to go out and experience India's culture, the work the students were doing and some fun things out and about, but most of the time, she chose to hang back with me. It was SO fun to just hang out with my sweet friend! Liz, I love you SO much!!!
They brought their baby boy, Spencer, and he was SO easy and SO fun. Such a delight to be around! Our kids loved playing with him and getting in his face. You could definitely tell he's used to so much sibling love in his own home! We're so glad to meet him! I miss seeing all of our new nieces and nephews and babies of close friends!!! Such a treat to be with him!!!
Can I just say again that I loved watching my kiddos love on him!!!
I was a little nervous about all the things we were asking the team to bring over--books, clothes and things we had purchased. So, at first, I didn't ask for all the food treats we miss from home. However, she insisted and insisted that they wanted to know and that they wanted to bless us. They did bless us indeed. Look at all these YUMMY goodies that they brought to us!!!!
I'm NOT a hoarder and saver, and we're STILL enjoying these good treats!
After the vision team left, we went with the students on a little retreat to a fun city in Rajastan, Udaipur. It was a beautiful, clean city, with some incredible lakes! Beautiful, and a fun getaway retreat for us and them. We loved our special time to do some mid-summer briefing with them
These are actually views from our hotel room.
These are some views from a special dinner out on the water our last evening.
A family picture in the pretty city
Our hotel was AWESOME!
I couldn't resist taking this picture of Parks sleeping in the crib there.
Us, with the team
We sure do miss all of you guys!!!
But, you've left such an impression on us...and lots of fun sayings our kids continue to repeat that bring fun reminders of you! "Go bananas, right home, home, homeboy!"
We loved being on the go with the team all summer and doing fun things out and about in the city with them. They actually have a lot of fun pictures of our kiddos from the summer--mostly on FB...and this is one of my favorites!
Their last full week here, they served us and a lot of other folks that live and work in the states close to us. They did childcare while all the parents were studying Hindi...all day long!
At the retreat--our boys dressed like their friend, Elijah.
Go Man-U!
Here they are doing some of the songs from the week
and telling the parents what they learned in their VBS while we were in class!
I cannot believe I haven't posted about this family yet! What have I been thinking?!
This (drum roll, please) is our language teacher and his family! Mr. Moti Lal!!!
He is the "Hindi Doctor" and he taught us Hindi...and then doctored a lot on the Hindi we had learned last year! Motilal, his wife Kamla, Neha and Abishek. Gray and I had class time with Motilal, Kamla and Neha. We are so thankful for this dear dear family. They are more than Hindi teachers. They prayed for us. They cared for us--Kamla is a nurse and gave us much advice and help in sickness and health! They helped us learn many many cultural things that kept us from so major mess ups and embarrassment (of course not all--that would be no fun at all). We laughed much together and had a fun time together in 2010!!! They always told us that they were more than our teachers that they were family, and they were!
This is Dolly, she helped me and Gray a lot with our Hindi.
We had many conversations with her. She's also a sweet friend.
And, as some of you might remember, our househelper's daughter.
This is Amit! He and Gray spent many hours together in conversation and practicing Hindi. He was a blessing to Gray and encouraged him in many ways.
About a week before we left DD, we did a language and cultural immersion. We left in the morning and went and spent the day with a family in their home all day. The family we visited with are actually relatives to our teacher and his family. We enjoyed being with them. They were so hospitable as most Indians are and made some yummy food. Sam even said one time about the fresh mango they served, "This is so yummy I don't want to stop it." We were there until evening (over 9 hours) and we actually left earlier than we should cause it was simply a long, long day and our kiddos were FILTHY!!!
The kids loved playing in the courtyard with other kids...and this goat!
It was a HOT day, and I was so tempted to buy an icee--it really is literally shaved ice. It's a block of wood with a hole in it and a knife/razor that the ice slides across. It's definitely not hygienic, so we pass on the shaved ice here.
The kids were sweet to share their toys with our kids.
These periwinkles made me think of my mom.
They were planted all around in the courtyard. I actually see them a lot here.
At one point, they turned on some cartoons for our kids.
This particular one was about some of the gods here fighting to save others.
It was cultural learning for sure, but we didn't watch much of the cartoons. ;)
Then, we all had the typical rest in the afternoon.
It was a really hot day and not a break from the heat, so it just makes you extra tired, and
even the non-nappers in our family (Gray and Sarala) took naps.
I slept with Jackson and was the first to wake up--no pics of me.
One more picture of their family. They actually have another son who is one of Gray's language helpers, but he works all day long and wasn't at home....which was a good thing cause we're used to speaking with him. I'll post another who's who about him later.
