Traveling

I just got back from Tamil Nadu with the family. We went for the day yesterday as they had speaking engagements in a village there. We also were able to visit a dam that also had a park and it was a lot of fun. The village where they spoke is at a school where Compassion International is involved with as well. So it was neat getting to see the place and look around. The kids were not there at that time but only the teachers. I took several pictures of the grounds and it was just neat to be there.
Today my stomach is feeling a little bit off again but I thank the Lord that He is my healer and He is definitely keeping me. Also on Friday night the family took me out to Papa Johns so that was nice to have pizza :) Tasted pretty much the same and they even had the garlic sauce :)

The grounds for the school

Bathroom

Watching the birds

We picked a guava and then ate it... my first one!  :)

School

All the shoes left outside

Scenery on the way back

A dam that we visited 

I know most of you are having snow.... but it's not like that here :)

The park we walked through

View from the top

Monkeys! I finally got to see some  :)

Enjoying coconut water!

The Lord is good all the time :) I am constantly being reminded of it :)
Tomorrow the kids have a spelling test of 50 words... so hopefully they do well. We just keep adding more words each week it seems :) Also this weekend I get to travel somewhere 3 hrs away (not really sure where) with the family so I'm looking forward to that. Also this past week I got to see George and Sally as they came here for a visit. It was an extremely short visit but it was still nice to get to see them.  The weather has been very nice this week. The sun has been out and it has been pretty warm here. So I am back to my spot up on the terrace which I still throughly enjoy :) It is still a bit chilly in the late evening and early morning but when the sun is out it is hot. Just recently I decided to eat with my hands now all the time. So its fun and its becoming much more normal now :) I should be getting pretty good at it by now although I still think I'm a bit slow. Oh well. Ok well heres some pics of the last week. Enjoy :)

This obviously is for you Adam :)  (I also saw one the next day that had Jan written on it but wasn't quick enough)

Outside having fun... some flowers that she picked for me

This was today...there were cows right outside so I made them pose during our snack break :)

A Happy Birthday

I had a very wonderful birthday today :) We did so many things and I wanted to put up the pictures. So enjoy them and it will show what all I did today :) God is so good to me ALL the time!   

First this is Manju and I organizing the kitchen. I seem to do that everywhere I go :)

Barbeque Nation... WONDERFUL :)

Our mocktails and a view of the grill in the table :) It was all sooo good

My very extravagant birthday cake

With all of the kids

Cutting the cake

And following the tradition of feeding all the kids a bite

All of my wonderful gifts!

To the movies!

3-D !!! They enjoyed it!

Happy New Year!

There is so much to update everyone on. I had a very nice Christmas and enjoyed my week in Kerala. I have put up a lot of pics to show what I have been doing. On Dec 23rd we had a Christmas program for all the staff which included dinner and skit/song that the kids did. That was nice and then on the 24th we went to a slum and gave presents and brought dinner to them. Here are some pics about that.

The dinner for the staff

Visiting a slum

Handing out presents

Then our children got presents :)

They were very excited :)

On Christmas day we went to the church service and then we all went to a park to let the kids run around and have fun. It was a nice park and the kids all enjoyed playing. Afterwards we went out to lunch and had our Christmas meal :) For dinner I think we had left overs from the previous days because we left that night by train to Kerala. The 14 hr train ride was definitely an adventure and I found it to be very exciting. 

At the park relaxing

The trees were very beautiful

Out to lunch for our Christmas meal... on banana leaves!

The train! There were 3 tier bunk beds

And I was on the top!  :)

Views of the inside of a non AC train

We all slept as well as you can on a train and then awoke early the next morning

The scenery was beautiful the next morning!

Mathung explaining the train to me....

Almost there! It started getting very hot in there

 We made it! And there were many familiar faces there as you will see :) Enjoy!

Moni... We were roommates also :)

Selling t-shirts

Some of the girls all hanging out

The last night: the Children's program, all watching the youth

Got to spend a lot of time with her which was nice :)

Mother and daughter

Elijah and Tim

Jeffey, Deepa, Joel

Hannah and Anjali 

On the way we fit all 18 ppl and 17 pieces of luggage in 2 taxis. On the way back we all fit it 1! This year was the first year I think since I  was young that I slept going into the New Year. We were all on the train and I was pretty tired and everyone went to sleep so I did as well. But it was nice and I will just be nice and rested for this year :)

New Years Eve waiting for the train again

And waiting....

The whole group: 18 ppl and 17 pieces of luggage....   An adventure for sure  :)

Kerala was fun but I am glad to be back "home" now :) The Lord is good all the time and I'm expecting to continually see His goodness to me even more this year!