Random thoughts from the other side of the world...

This is the view out our bathroom window screen. It reminds me of a National Geographic magazine story. The women are always out working in the fields, carrying huge loads on their heads,etc. Meanwhile cows push a wooden plow through the fields and children play.

I have found that my new favorite time of the day is night. I tucked some of the boys in to bed the other night and sang them a lullaby that Kathryn Lino sang to us at night on Wilderness trips. Amanda has sung it to them many times, so they always ask for it. It goes:
“Goodnight boys, sleep tight boys, Jesus keeps your dreams. For the God above is a God of love so little boys sleep in peace. And if you ever wake up in the middle of the night, remember God is watching you and everything is alright.” I had to try to not cry right in front of them as I sang. I kept thinking that here are these sweet boys in their hard bunks (with no pillows even!), and there is no mom or dad to tuck them in, talk about their day, see their papers from school, etc. They are hungry for attention and love. Then one of them asked me if I knew the song: “Jesus, Jesus loves (insert name) yes, He does.” They were surprised to know I knew that one too, because it is one our mom sang to us when we were little. The boys got a big smile on their faces and some hid under the covers when I said their name in the song.

I am also continually amazed at their strength. Rahul (riding in the bag in above pic.) was climbing a tree the other day. Jeff said the branch broke, he fell and got the wind knocked out of him, but didn't even cry. They have to be tough and very independent.
I’m at an internet café, and will try to come here every weekend. It’s about a 35 minute walk from where we live. This will be a long blog post because I have a lot of random stuff…
Every afternoon when Kindergarten is over, there are 4 boys who have been on their own in the past until all the boys are out of school. Amanda suggested that I do some creative things with them and let them come over and play, so I am going to have a little playgroup at our house each day for them. Friday was our first time. We played cars, read books, and got out the game Jenga. At the end, they said, “We come again on Monday?” “Yes, Monday.” (Big smiles all around.)
Clayton is having the hardest time of us all adjusting to life here. He asks every day if we can go back to Elkhart. We're trying to work on his attitude, eating spicy foods, remembering Hindi names, starting school, etc. He was vomiting last week and now today it was the other end... It's hard to find the balance between patience and also just making him do the tough thing. He asks lots of questions like, "Why is India so dirty?" "Why are they so poor here?" I'm sure his little mind is having a tough time comprehending this new world here. I know it will be great once he gets over the hump!
Some questions we've been asked: TRAVEL--our trip over went very smoothly, considering the length of it. The flights went great because there were movies, lots of snacks, etc. SCHOOL--Jeff is just teaching one class each morning to 7th and 8th graders. In the afternoons, he makes chipoti for awhile with the high school boys, then plays volleyball with them. He does devotions with them at 7 and then dinner is at 7:30. Then we help with homework and put kids to bed.

I am going to be with Emma in one of the Kindergarten classes now. We went the first day to preschool, but unfortunately none of the kids spoke any English, and the teachers did 90% in Hindi, so we were not very involved. It will probably work much better for us to be at the school with the older children where more English is spoken.
Today marks one week that we've been here. We are finally sleeping at night and awake during the day. We're learning to eat the food with only our hands, like the Indians do. Imagine eating rice and curry soup with only your hand. It feels so strange! I am reminding myself how valuable this experience is and will be for our family...to live in poverty, but to still be filled and happy. These people have taught us so much.