Home

I am so thankful for going home tonight. I love sleeping in my bed and laying on our couch and being lazy. Even though my parents aren't even here, its so nice just to be back in our house. Its just a completely different feeling than being at school.

This was a really short post, sorry, I'm going to bed now haha

Amazing women

Today, I am thankful for the amazing women that God has put into my life that are helping me to know and love Him more. What a blessing to have these women pouring into my life and constantly sharing with me. I'm thankful for their example, for their willingness to share their struggles, and their willingness to talk to me and let me help them do their laundry and play with their kids. I have a wonderful example to follow in my mom, but I definitely hope to be like these women too when I'm wife and mother.

Also, funny story- yesterday at church, RG was giving me some serious love. She loves me anytime I go their house, but can be iffy at church- sometimes she likes me, sometimes not. But when I walked in yesterday, she asked me to come play with her and build a tower and then told me that I was her best friend!! : ) Love it!! But then later, I tried to give her a kiss and ended up kissing her on the eye and she looks at me with all this attitude and says- "Don't do that! You could hurt someone doing that!" So in case you were wondering, never kiss someone on the eye, apparently its dangerous. 

A Few Random things

So I was trying to think about what I wanted to put up that I am thankful for today. There are so many things, but I just don't know how to post them all. So here's a few random things.

My friend Becca says that I should say I'm thankful for my washer and dryer- which I very much am. She is currently using it. I am very thankful for a washer and dryer- no more taking all my clothes home once a month to do laundry (which means that I am actually doing my laundry more often haha). I am also very thankful for my dishwasher. Its wonderful!!

I am also very thankful for my new gadgets. In the past week and a half, I got an iPhone and a Macbook and I am having so much fun figuring them out and using them. I am severely technologically challenged, so its been interesting, but fun. Macs come with some really great editing software, so I have also been playing with that, so I wanted to share the pictures I've been messing with. They are from my trip this summer.

Some of the beautiful flowers at my sister's house. 

One of the sweet girls that K introduced me to- rocking a Caroline G bow. 

SC United

I just got home from our monthly SC United (Summit College United). Once a month, all the campuses (meaning both college and church campuses) meet together to worship and meditate on God's goodness and grace to us. It's AMAZING! It's so great to take one Friday off a month, gather with students from all across the Triangle, and worship God and envision all that He is going to do on our campuses.

We believe that God is moving and He's moving big time. And we're so excited that we get to be a part of it. We are blessed to have really great leadership, with big dreams of all that God is going to do here

If you are in college and you do not go to SC United, you need to come!! The next one is going to be on December 8th. I know its right in the middle of exams, but use it to take a break. We are going to have all sorts of yummy Christmas treats and Matt Papa  is going to be leading worship. It will be just a really chill, relaxing evening, so come take a break and remember what is really important. A little perspective always helps during exams! 

love my small group

So I totally meant to post this yesterday, but I forgot (had a lot to do).

God has really blessed me with a really great group of girls to meet with each week and learn and grow together. It has been so great to be with these girls again this year. We were able to really pick up where we left off last year and grow deeper in our relationships with each other and with God.

This is my group from last year, a few of these girls graduated and Rebecca is now leading a different group, but I love all of them and miss those who aren't here anymore. 

Thank you girls for teaching me so much! 

Need to remind myself to of this today

Today, I'm thankful for the education that I am getting. Actually, I'm not entirely thankful for it, I'm having to remind myself (through writing this) to be thankful.

Right now, I have a lot of work to do, work that sometimes seems a bit futile/useless. I'm trying to figure out how to make movies on literacy when it would be so much easier to just put together a powerpoint and present it to the class. Don't you agree?

And so, I'm telling myself to be thankful for the chance that I get to study here, to learn from these professors with so much experience and expertise, and to get the best training that I can. I get the chance to learn all that I can, so that when I go to India, I will be the best teacher that I can possibly be.

So, despite the workload I currently have, or how frustrating these classes can get at times, I am glad that I can be in this program. 

Kids that keep life interesting

I love children, obviously, and I am so thankful for the kids that I have been able to be a part of their lives.

These girls keep life interesting all the time. I never know what R will say in class on Sundays. 

Here are some pictures of R and K after I got back this summer. 

R really liked this pretty, sparkly outfit from Central Asia, until she realized that it was long sleeved, then not so much. Granted it was August at the time, maybe now she would like it a bit better.

I showed K how to put on the sari that her dad had bought them in India a few years ago. K went on her first overseas trip a few weeks ago. Love seeing how she is already developing a heart for the world and seeing people know Jesus. 

I don't have a picture of A from this day and I just switched laptops, so I'm still working on getting all my pictures sorted and everything, but I love that girl. She says the craziest things and always makes us laugh. 

I'm so blessed to get to be a part of these sweet girls lives. Love them so much! 

The Summit Church

Day 4 of being thankful.

Today, I was blown away by God's generosity to me in the church that he put me in. As I have been at Summit for so long, it is easy to forget that not every church is like this. Not every pastor presents the gospel week after week. Its a gift to be reminded to rely fully on God's grace and not on my own ability to change or be holy.

Yesterday, I was talking with a friend in school of ed about how stressed we get thinking about student teaching and how overwhelming it can be to think about the future and what being a teacher is actually going to require. There are days when I am completely overwhelmed and have no idea how I am going to do this. I have no idea of how to be a teacher, much less teach in Hindi.

Today, I was reminded that I am the daughter of a king. not only that, but I am royalty, I am a queen. I can have confidence in Christ that  I can do all that I have been called to do and I can come BOLDLY before God and ask for the things that I need. I can come before God and tell him that I can't do these things, because on my own, there is no way that I can. But I can ask him for his help, and I can have confidence that he will hear me and will answer my prayers.

I am the beloved daughter of the king and creator of the universe.

That blew me away this morning.

I am so thankful to be in a church that preaches truth, that keeps me focused on the gospel, and always directs us to respond in worship.

I am thankful that we have such talented worship leaders, who direct our praise, not to them or their abilities, but always to God.

And I am thankful that I get to serve the people of Summit and get to be a part of making it possible for other people to experience God like I get to.

I really love my church.

Thankfulness day 3

I have the craziest friends. Seriously though. They are wonderful. We are currently eating dinner, "studying" and watching Harry Potter. It's wonderful. We also just spent a lot of time looking at HP things on Pinterest. I love that I can show my complete insanity to them and they don't care, they love me for it! 

I'm very thankful for these 4 girls and glad that God put us in the same Cru small group freshman year. The friendship didn't click then, but I'm so thankful for them now! My life would not be nearly as interesting as it is without them! 

Bemi also suggested that they be the people I'm thankful for today, but I was already going to write about them. 

That's all for now, we're going to a Harry Potter in a bit!! 

Seriously though, HP is not the only thing that we talk about, but it is a major thing haha. 

Thankfulness day 2

Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday Wednesday! It was wonderful! It's weird to be getting older and crazy to think that I am one step closer to being a "real" adult (whatever that means). My wonderful small group surprised me with dinner (but more about them another day).

I meant to post this yesterday, but I failed, so we'll call this a 2 in 1 thankfulness post.

Today, I am thankful for my brother and sister. Again, I'm super biased, but I think that I have the best siblings in the world. Having siblings is like having best friends, only they have to like you! And thankfully, mine do (at least I think so).

My brother is just about the craziness person that I know. He can make us laugh, no matter where we are. Don't tell him, but I love his over-proctectiveness, but I will continue to be annoyed by it. Brent is one of the hardest working people that I know and he is also one of the most generous. (He also tends to add to my circle of friends).

 

What can I say about my wonderful sister? I wish that we were as close as we are now when we still lived in the same house (or at least the same continent). K has paved the way for all that I now see myself doing with my life. I look up to her so much and find so much comfort and motivation from her life. 

Thank-you, Brent and K, for loving me so well. Love you guys! 

With Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which I cannot believe, but I'm SO excited about cause that means this semester is almost over!! Yay!

But more to the point- Thanksgiving is in just a few weeks and so this is the time that we are supposed to be thinking about the things that we are thankful for.

College students, say it with me- yeah right.

This is the time that we are so overloaded with work that we have no free time. Between last week and next, I had projects due in every class (2 in one class). This time can be ridiculously overwhelming and stressful. This is the time that we are tired of our classes and just want the semester to be over. These are the when I complain way too much.

And this is the time that we are supposed to be remembering what we are thankful for?

And so, I'm going to steal an idea from one of my favorite mommy bloggers, Amy, and post about something that I am thankful for each day.

I hope that you will join me in being thankful for one specific thing each day. We are so blessed so let's take some time and thank God for all that He has done for us.

Day 1- It seems only fitting that on my birthday I should be thankful for my parents.

I have the best parents in the world. Parents who love me and raised me to know the Lord. Parents who modeled how to live their life leveraged for the gospel. Parents who understand that we are not theirs, they are only borrowing us from our Heavenly Father. Parents who support all of us without fail, even when we say crazy things like, "Hey, I think I'm going to live on the other side of the world" or "Hey, I think I'm going to start living in downtown Durham, while still finishing school" (that one isn't me haha).

Mom and Dad, I know that we don't say it enough, but thank you for all that you have done for us. Thank you for how you raised us. Thank you for trusting God with our lives and salvation. I know that we all scared you for a little while, but you trusted in God's plan and it all seems to have worked out ok, right? I am who I am today because of you. I am able to say yes to all God asks of me because of the example that you two set for us. I love you so much.

Also- that picture is from the Sunday before I left to spend the summer in Central Asia and India- talk about trusting God with their daughters.

Book update (finally)

Hi everyone!!

I wanted to share with you some pictures of the new library that your generosity made possible for the children in India. I was able to buy some of the books while in India and R has been continuing to purchase more since I left. There is still room on their shelves so they can collect donations and purchase more in the future.

Some of the kids with the books that I bought while I was there. They didn't understand why I gave them books for a picture and then took them away haha. These are basic fairy tales/ Disney movies told in Marathi. 

 The books that have been donated and purchased. Still room for more!! 

One of the oldest boys enjoying their new books.

Thank you all so much for your generosity and willingness to give to my trip and this project! Your generosity allowed me to bless these children in amazing ways!

If I am perturbed by the reproach and

misunderstanding that may

follow action taken for the good 

of souls fro whom I must give 

account; 

if I cannot commit the matter adn go 

on in peace and in silence, 

remembering Gethsemane and the 

cross, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

 And this is my verse for this week (I didn't do so great last week)

Acts 4:12

And there is salvation in no one else, 

for there is no other name under heaven

given among men by which we must be saved.

If I cannot bear to be like the father 

who did not soften the rigors of the far country;

if, in this sense, I refuse to allow the law of God (the way of 

trangressors is hard) to take effect, 

because of the distress it causes me

to see that law in operation, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If in dealing with one who does not respond, 

I weary of the strain, and slip 

from under the burden, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

If I deal with wrong for any other 

reason than that implied in the words, 

"From His right hand went a fiery 

law for them. Yea, He loved the 

people";

if I can rebuke without a pang,

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I know little of His pitifulness

(the Lord turned and looked at Peter), 

if I know little of His courage of 

hopefulness for the truly humble and penitent 

(He saith unto him, "feed My lambs"),

then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

If I do not feel far more for the grieved Savior

than for my worried self 

when troublesome things occur, 

than I know nothing of Calvary love. 

If I can write an unkind letter, 

speak an unkind word, 

think an unkind thought without

grief and shame, 

the I know nothing of Calvary love.

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another; 

if I can in any way slight another in conversation, 

or even in thought,

then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

The fast I choose

Last week I posted this verse from Isaiah--

Is not this the fast that I choose;

to loose the bonds of wickedness, 

to undo the straps of the yoke, 

to let the oppressed go free, 

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry 

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

  

Today, I watched this video and was convicted pretty quickly. 

1.4 billion people in the world live on less than $1.25 a day. 

I spent $1.50 on a Diet Dr. Pepper today and I do on a lot of days. 

How can I so easily spend what someone lives off of? And its nothing to me. I didn't even think about it. 

But I am now. 

And so, to take Isaiah's words, this is the fast that I am choosing. No more Diet Dr. Pepper, no more Diet Coke. No more dropping a person's entire earnings so that I can get a drink. 

At church on Sunday, JD talked about giving generously. Sometimes it is hard to think about giving. But it is easy to buy a drink? Something isn't right there. I was listening to one of David Platt's sermons (he's one of my favorite pastors, I listen to him on my way to class) and he said that in America, we spend more on dog food than we do foreign missions. Dog food. 

I'm not saying give up the dog and he wasn't either, but we need to seriously look at what we are spending our money on and whether or not it is crucial to our lives and whether or not it is stopping us from giving. 

I'll say it again, 1.4 billion people live on less than the amount that we spend on soda. 

I'm done. I'm done throwing away that money that would be so precious to them. 

What fast will you choose?

If I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another;

if I can in any way slight another in conversation, 

or even in thought, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

Midwifery

Yes that is a word, I swear- I've checked because it sounds so silly to say.

What do you think of when you hear midwife?

I think 2 things: crazy hippies who wear long skirts and have crazy long hair (nice stereotype) and I think I want to be one.

This summer has put a lot of thoughts into my head, a lot that I will be gradually sharing with you, this one thought has definitely been the most prevalent.

I think I want to be a midwife.

That thought is a little terrifying to me, to be honest.

I hate science. I'm not good at it and I have only ever taken one science class in college and that was geology and I hated it. If I'm actually going to do this, I will have to take so much science. I will have to get caught up on all those science classes I was so thankful I didn't have to take (chemistry, biology, anatomy, etc, etc). And then on top of that, I will have to take 2-3 years of classes on how to be a midwife.

That's a lot more school than I ever thought I would want to do.

But I think I may want to do this.

Why you ask? I'm so glad that you did.

Because in Afghanistan, 133 babies per 1000 births die (according to UNICEF).

Because in Afghanistan, a woman faces a 1 in 11 chance of dying in childbirth. That means that for every 11 women that give birth, 1 will die. I can easily name 11 women that I know who have given birth in the last year or will be giving birth soon- I'm sure you can too. Imagine one of them dead. 

Because in Ethiopia, 94% of women give birth without any sort of professional help. In the UK, 1% of women give birth without help, and I'm sure that is a problem that they are desperate to fix.

Because in India, a woman died on the road in front of the land where I will one day live, trying to walk to the city that is an hour away by car, so that she could give birth.

Here's a fact that boggles my mind- in the UK there are 749,000 births a year and 26,825 midwives. That is 1 midwife for every 28 births. I don't know if that figure includes OB/GYNs, but I would think that those wouldn't be included, meaning there are even more professionals per birth. In Rwanda, on the other hand, there are 400,000 births a year and there are 40 midwives. In the entire country. That is 1 midwife for every 10,000 births.

Could you let that sink in for a moment.

By the way- most of these facts are coming from this BBC article.

Worldwide, about 1000 women die every day giving birth.

In India, the infant mortality rate is 52 deaths for every 1000 births. 254 women die for every 100,000 births. 

I am not ok with that. I hope that you are not ok with that. This makes me mad.

I am not ok with women dying all around the world from childbirth.

And it makes me mad when we start talking about how bad the US health care is because our infant mortality is 6 for every 1000 births. Obviously, that is not good, but we need to see the rest of the world.

This world is broken, but we can help make it less broken.

We know things about how our bodies work that women living in remote villages in Afghanistan, India and Rwanda have no way of knowing.

We have access to education and health care that these women couldn't even dream of.

So what are we going to do with it?

I don't know what all this means for you. I don't know what all this means for me. I desperately want to be in India. Adding this schooling could add 3 more years onto my time here. Could I wait 5 years?

I'm sitting in my bed and just looked up at a picture of sweet Heena and thought, can I wait 5 years to be with you? 2 is hard enough.

And so I'm thinking through all this. I will be praying through it. Is this really what God wants for me?

I'm asking that you think through this with me. All my friends out there in the nursing school/ heading to med school, could this be where God wants you to serve?

We need people in health care here, but I think we can safely say that they need them more.

Will you think about this with me?

And also- this is totally part of orphan care also. how many of those 1,000 women that died today in childbirth do you think had 1, 2, or 3 kids already at home. Who is going to care for them now?

Maybe we can stop orphans from being made. Wouldn't that be amazing?!

If I find myself half-carelessly taking 

lapses for granted, 

"Oh, that's what they always do,"

"Oh, of course she talks like that, he acts like that,"

then I know nothing of Calvary love."

If I can easily discuss the shortcomings 

and the sins of any;

if I can speak in a casual way even 

of a child's misdoings, 

then I know nothing of Calvary love.

Daily If

If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, 

talk of their weak points

in contrast perhaps with what I 

think of as my strong points; 

if I adopt a superior attitude, 

forgetting "Who made thee to differ? 

and what hast thou that thou hast not received?"

then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

Great words from Isaiah

Is not this the fast that I choose;

to loose the bonds of wickedness, 

to undo the straps of the yoke, 

to let the oppressed go free, 

and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry 

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Isaiah 58: 6-7 

Daily "If"

My blog has been sitting pretty quiet for a while. I haven't forgotten about it, I've just been trying to think of something to write. I don't want to just post nonsense things on here, I want this blog to have a little bit of a purpose.

I do still have some things to share with you all from my summer, I'm just trying to figure out a way to word them.

But until then, I'm going to start something new. Last year, I posted a picture every day-I'm not doing that again. That got old really fast haha.

This summer my sister gave me the book If by Amy Carmichael*. Its just a short book of "If...then..." statements that are really great and convicting. And so, each morning I'm going to share with you the next "if" statement. If you want, you can check here in the morning for the "Daily If" and then allow your heart and mind to meditate on it throughout the day.

*If you don't know anything about Amy Carmichael, you should look her up. She is one of my spiritual heroes. She lived and worked in Southern India, providing a home for girls (and eventually boys) who had been sold to the local temple. She worked there without furlough for over 50 years until her death. I wrote a short article about her life in the last edition of Virtuous Woman here at UNC.

Also, besides the Daily If, I am going to be trying to memorize scripture. And so, I'm also going to be posting the verses that I am memorizing on here. Right now, I'm just going to memorize a rather random stack of verses that my sister gave to me years ago. I may eventually get a little more systematic about it.

I hope that you will find these two things beneficial and meaningful to you. I know it will be for me.

So here's our first "Daily if."

If I have not compassion on my fellowservant, 

even as my Lord had pity on me, 

Then I know nothing of Calvary love. 

And my first verse is going to be 2 Corinthians 12:9

But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. 

I have the best major!

And you should all be jealous!!

Just kidding.

I did just want to take a second and point out that I have the best major ever!!

Seriously, my homework has been to read a kids novel and blog about it-- 2 of my favorite things!!

Finally, the work that I'm doing, I can actually see myself using!

I'm not going to lie- I was a little overwhelmed the first week of classes. Will I be able to do everything that they are asking of me? What if I'm terrible at teaching? I can't change my major now (like that was ever a thought for the past 2 years).

What if I fail?

But after a few pep talks to myself and, more importantly, getting some serious reassurance from the Lord, I can say that I am so happy with what I am doing. God has a purpose for me being here. He wants me to learn these things. He has a plan for how I am going to use them in my life. There is a reason He put me in this program and didn't just send me straight to India.

And now I am in absolute school heaven! I love the people in my classes. I love that I am going to be with the same 30 people for the next 2 years. I love that I will actually get to know them and build relationships with them!

I'm happy that I finally get to be with children! I finally get to be in a classroom, to see how a school operates. 

I'm just so excited!!

oh, and I get to read Harry Potter for class!!! Dream come true!!

Broken Hearts Become Brand New

Hi everyone! I haven't posted in forever, but I've been running around like crazy! I'm all settled in Chapel Hill in my new apartment and classes start tomorrow! I'm super excited about this year, but I'll tell you all about that later!

I have so many stories and amazing things to share with you all from my summer that I will share as I process through them myself. I've put up pictures on my facebook- so go check them out if you want, you don't have to though. But I want to go ahead and share with what I have been thinking about this weekend and was really struck by this summer when I was in India.

This summer, we were blessed to be able to hear a lot of the stories of the children in the orphanage. They were so sweet and willing to share what happened in their lives and how God worked. Every time one of them would share I would always come away thinking the same thing.

How is any of this possible?

and I don't mean how is it possible that these precious children have suffered the things that they have. They have lost parents, grandparents, been abandoned, watched people set on fire, lived on the streets by themselves-- basically seen things that I can't even imagine.

But I know why those things happen. We live in a world controlled by sin. It is broken. People suffer. Innocent children suffer. 

What blows my mind is that despite everything these children have been through, they can smile. They can laugh. They can love. They can worship.

Everything that I know about how our minds work (which, granted isn't very much) tells me that this is not how things work. Everything that I see here in America tells me that these children should not be like this. The little bit that I know about psychology and children tells me that these children should be scarred, deeply scarred and that it should affect how they act, how they relate to people. My experience in public school tells me that they should have behavioral issues. What we see of kids coming out of foster care says that kids don't have a future.

Rani should not love me. The fact that I come and go so much should make Rani afraid to get close to me, because I'm just going to leave her again. She should be guarded.

But she's not. 

She loves me.  And it is a love that lasts. It doesn't matter that I hadn't seen her in over a year or that I had only ever spent about 3 weeks in her life, she loves me. She greeted me with a smile and a huge hug. And when I left, she gave me a note saying that she loves me and can't wait for me to come back and that she is praying for me.

She shouldn't be able to joke around with me. But she does.

They all love us in ways that I can't understand.

One night, one girl shared her story and after she sat down, I looked back and she was crying. She had her knees pulled up and she had hidden her face in her knees and was crying. 

I was taken aback. 

Because I forget the pain that these kids carry in their hearts. I forget that their lives have been so hard. That their pain is so fresh. It was the first time I had seen any of them sad. 

I went and sat next to her and hugged her and just held her as she cried, praying over her. 

I wanted so badly to take away that pain she was feeling, to take it upon myself. I want to take all of their hurt and their pain. 

But I can't. All I could do was hold sweet Priya and beg Jesus to give peace to her heart. I can't carry her pain. 

But Jesus can. 

Jesus has done miracles in these children's lives.

It is a miracle that Rani loves me. 

It is a miracle that Shivani and Esther can get up in front of everyone and sing and dance. 

It is a miracle that Anosh can pour out his heart in worship to God. 

It is a miracle that all of these children can smile. That they can laugh.

It is a miracle that they can look at their lives, already, and see the work that God has done and how He used their pain to bring them to Himself. 

Jesus is doing miracles. 

Every smile, every hug is a miracle. 

That night, I wrote this in prayer to God, "I praise you for their smiles, every smile in that place is a testimony to your greatness. Every laugh, every hug is a sign of the miracles you have worked, a sign of the life you give to them. Because they shouldn't be able to smile. All psychology and common sense says that they shouldn't be able to smile, they shouldn't love, they shouldn't be open to love. They should be distant and cold, to protect their hearts from pain. But you are bigger than psychology and you can heal in ways that would baffle therapists. While they would be diagnosing, you have healed and you have given life."

There is a song that always makes me think of India. The chorus says, "I've seen dreams that move the mountains, Hope that doesn't ever end, even when the sky is falling. I've seen miracles just happen, silent prayers get answered, broken hearts become brand new. That's what faith can do."

I have seen the miracles that Jesus has done. 

Jesus has made these broken hearts brand new. He has made my broken heart brand new. He can make your broken heart brand new.  

Praise Jesus with me right now for the miracles He has done and is doing, in India, here in America and in Chapel Hill.

Praise Him for this smile, because it is a miracle. 

Leaving India

Hi friends, sorry that I haven't posted anything real for a long time. It's been really busy here. We had 25 high school and college guests for the past 2 weeks, so we have been going and going with them. They left on Wednesday morning and are now on a plane back to the US.

I leave India tomorrow morning and will be heading to Dubai to meet my sister and then from there we are flying to Greece for vacation with our parents.

I definitely have very mixed feelings about leaving India. This summer has been wonderful and hard and confusing and reassuring all at the same time. I will be putting up more pictures and writing more about my time here when I get back to the States, have no fear. I just haven't had time and want to continue to process what I've seen and experienced this summer.

Thank you for remembering me and thinking about me while I have been here. It has been a constant comfort to know that I have so many wonderful friends and family thinking about me while I have been away.

As hard as saying good-bye always is, I am looking forward to time with my family (even more time with my sister!) and seeing all of my friends again. It is going to be a whirlwind of activity when I get back. I get in late on August 10th and start moving into my apartment on the 15th. So needless to say, I will be busy, but I do want to see those of you who I can and share with you about my time here. I also will be returning with a bag full of purses and scarves that I will be selling to raise money for the orphanage here, I'm thinking another purse/chai party will be in order (I can also make chai a lot better now).

Bittersweet, that's what I'm feeling right now and what I will continue to feel. But I'm excited about this next year at school. I think that it will be really great and I'm excited for all that is to come and the ways that I am going to grow and be stretched as I enter the last half of my time in college.

Oh yah, I also get to see the new Harry Potter movie tomorrow night, so that gives me something to look forward to ;)

Thank you, sweet friends, for all your love and support. Thank you for making this trip possible. Thank you for buying scarves, having me babysit and just giving generously to my work here. This summer would not have been possible without each one of you. 

The blog will probably be quiet for the next week and a half, but then I will be back with lots of beautiful pictures!!

check out these cool shoes and a give-away!

One of my favorite blogs, Sit a Spell, has been doing a series of posts about caring for the poor while still living in the USA. The woman who writes the blog, Heather, lives in Haiti with her family, so a lot of the posts are talking about how they made the decision to give up everything and move.

One of her posts was about one of her friends who works in Africa for a shoe company. This company helps woman earn money for the education by paying them well for the work that they do making these shoes.

Check out Heather's post here.

Monsoon Time!

Its monsoon season here in India, but it actually hasn't rained that much. It has sprinkled a few times- enough for us to go running to get the clothes off the roof, but didn't end up doing much.

But one day last week, while we were out, it rained like crazy! and I mean rained! We couldn't go home because the road in front of it had become a lake!

Here are some of my pictures from the day.

You can see the water pooling on the side of the street. Everything was flooded within minutes.

Chickens hiding from the rain under a truck.

Sweet school girls running home in the rain. I felt so bad for them, they were soaked through.

This day was also the first time that I felt scared while driving. I trust A's driving and I'm not normally scared, but in the rain, Indian driving is terrifying! 

India pictures!!

Hi Everybody!! sorry I haven't put up pictures recently! We've been pretty busy and there were other girls here so I couldn't hog the internet to blog.

I'm having a wonderful time in India. Coming back gets sweeter every time.

Here are some pictures from my first week here. I'll just put up a few and then when I get back to the States I'll probably do some more posts about my entire summer.

I'm so happy to be back with these precious girls. I'm also very happy that I don't have to leave them again for a while. 

I can't believe how much they have grown in the past year. Girls that seemed so young the first time I met them are now beautiful teenagers. 

I have so many pictures of my girls already and its only been a week, so I'll be putting them up for a while!! The first night we with the kids, a couple of the girls came up to me after and were saying "Laura Didi (sister), don't go back to America, stay, stay." I was laughing and crying at the same time. Oh I love these girls so much! I was very happy to at least be able to tell them that I would be staying for the whole month. 

Camels, just chilling behind the vegetable market. Gotta love this place. 

Ever had to avoid a herd of cattle while driving down the road? Typical day here.

The tractor clearing the land where the new campus for LCH will be. What an answer to prayer! If you look closely you can see 2 little boys helping the driver.

"and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head..." Matthew 27:29 Seeing these thorn bushes definitely gives new meaning to this verse.

This picture may not look like much, but this is where, one day, I will be teaching the children of LCH.

And to continue with the theme of flower pictures. There are fewer flowers to take pictures of here, but they are still so beautiful. 

That's all for now folks!! I'll post again soon hopefully. In a few days, we begin shopping for books!!

I'm in India!!

Hi from India!!

I arrived in India this evening and have just been hanging out for a bit before going back to the airport to pick up my friends.

Let me tell you-- it is hot!! and humid! As soon as I stepped out of the airport I started sweating. But whatever!! I'm so happy to be back here it doesn't even matter!


I wanted to let you all know that on Tuesday at 7 there is going to be an Orphan Care meeting at Summit. I'm sure if you were at Summit this weekend, you heard about it, especially with Dr. Moore there (can't wait for that podcast). But I wanted to mention it because they are going to be sharing some ways for people besides those adopting to be involved, specifically, how you can be involved with the work that I am now doing and the orphanage that I work with.

Everyone in the area should go, because it the responsibility of every believer to care for the orphaned and the fatherless, not just those who can foster or adopt. The Bible is extremely clear about this. No excuses. "whatever you did to the least of these my brothers, you did unto me."

Bandamir, CA part 5

yah, I'll go ahead and put up some pictures now. Why not?

We also visited some lakes while we were away.

I know that doesn't sound exciting, but picture with me. You are in the middle of the desert, surrounded by mountains made of rock (sandstone- thanks for ruining my life, Geol 101) and dust when all of the sudden, you come across this-

 

 Seriously, the bluest, most pure lake I have ever seen. All we wanted to do was dive in (except that all the water comes from underground and was freezing!!)

 Look at that aqua color water behind the reeds. Gorgeous!

And my lovely sister, kindly posing for my camera (again). We joked that this is my revenge for her using me as her photography model when she was in high school. Seriously though, the photography teacher at RHS still uses pictures of me that K took in her class. 

That's all for now folks! (for real this time)

Also-- I just signed up for pinterest to find cool crafts and photography ideas, can someone explain to me how to use it?? I am severely technologically challenged!

Trip to B-city, CA Part 4

K and I went up to another city in her country. We took the smallest plane I have ever been on-- holds a total of 9 people (including pilot and co-pilot). The cabin wasn't even pressurized so we had to fly really low around the mountains, it felt like I could reach out and touch them. It was a little scary, but really fun. New experiences right!!

That tiny shadow, looks like a teeny tiny bird-- that is the shadow of our plane.

We visited the site where two giant Buddhas were until they were destroyed in 2001. (Know where we went yet?) It was really cool to climb to the top and see the view of the city. It's a beautiful part of the country, but it was also really sad to think about how history more than 1500 years old had been destroyed for no reason. 

This was the larger of the Buddhas. 

The foot of the smaller Buddha. It was taller than K, that's how big these things were!

Yah, we went back there anyway. Rules?? What? That's craziness?

Also, its harder to get used to not putting on seatbelt than it normally has been I feel like. I keep reaching to put in on. K thought I was crazy the first time.

Our guide kept wanting to take our picture. He would stop us and volunteer. It was really cool to see someone so interested about their history and really excited to show it off to us. It was also sad because he was probably in his 40s and illiterate. Not because he's not able to learn but because he never has the chance. A large portion of the population here is illiterate because they never were able to go to school. They would love to, but its not an option for a lot of them. Knowing this makes me even more irritated with the high schoolers in America who still can't read even thought they have been in school their entire lives. Let's stop complaining about the crappy school systems in America and just be thankful that they are there at all. Be thankful that our children are in school and not out harvesting potatoes by hand. 

Sorry, getting off my soapbox now. I have more pictures but our trip to B-city, but I will put them up tomorrow. We're leaving bright and early to go visit one of the staff's village so I need to go to bed.

Babur's Garden

Today, we went and visited the grave of the Mughal emperor Babur. A quick history lesson of Central and South Asia. The Mughal's were a dynasty of emperors out of Central Asia that took over a lot of India in the 16th century and had control of the majority of the subcontinent until the British took over and kicked them out in the 18th century. A lot of the famous architecture from India is from this era. Babur's great something grandson built the Taj Mahal. Babur was the first to come to India. He really wanted to take over Central Asia, but was unable to and so he settled for India. But, man did he not like it there. He was one of the first to keep a diary/journal so we have record of his personal thoughts as his empire expanded. He writes a lot about how the Indian people were so uncivilized and mainly, their lack of melons. He really missed the melons from Central Asia. When he died, he asked to be brought back here to be buried. Around the grave, a huge garden was planted and was well-maintained until fighting in the past decades, but since 2002 has been fixed up again.

 This is Babur's grave. All around were other graves of his family members.

 I love these flowers that are everywhere. There were a lot around the garden and there are some outside K's gate, they are in this deep purple and also a really pretty white/cream-yellow. K thinks that they may just be weeds, but I think that makes them even better. How cool that even the weeds are so beautiful?

There were a lot of pomegranate trees all over the garden too. This is one of the fruits growing out of the blossom. Pretty cool.

My very beautiful sister in front of the garden and mountain. I loved the mountain behind it- so gorgeous! 

Easily my favorite of the flower pictures I took today. So pretty. Also- I love taking pictures of flowers cause I feel like its pretty easy to get a cool shot. Nothing moves haha. 

This man is weaving the floor rugs that are sold everywhere here. He ties individual knots in the different colors to make a pattern. It will take him about 3 months to make 1 rug that is then sold for around $1000.

Cute kids and pretty flowers, CA part 2

I got a new, fancy camera for Christmas and I'm just now trying to figure out ways to take cute pictures. Yesterday, I read these posts by the Pioneer Woman about using aperture and shutter speed and have been experimenting. We've had a little bit of down time here and so I was just messing around. I told you that I have been feeling crafty recently and I guess this is part of that haha. And I think I'm catching the photography bug a little bit-- meaning, Erika, you need to teach me!

Here are some of the flowers near K's house.

This is the look I have been experimenting with, focused in the front with the background blurry-- I don't know any terms yet either, I'm a beginner!!

I love the pretty flowers that they have planted around the buildings here. I'm sure the guards thought I was crazy sitting there taking pictures of a broken fence post, but I loved it. 

 Not quite what I wanted in my head, but I'm learning. 

Then we went to a friends house and played with the cutest girls I have ever seen (Don't worry V and other mothers whose children I love-- I say that about every child I see). We gave them a couple bows, courtesy of Caroline G.

1 of the 3 sweet girls. 

And their very sweet brother, sitting on a shelf- his dad put him there. 

the mom didn't like this picture very much, but I loved her laugh and her happiness with her baby- so sweet. 

Lots of playing- lots of spinning. 

I'm having a great time here and have some pictures from today that I will post in a bit, this post is a little heavy on the pictures. My heart is definitely in India, but I think I'm going to need to come back here at some point.

Central Asia, part 1

Sorry guys, my post titles are not going to be very interesting.

K and I spent a few days up in a city where she used to live visiting old friends. We had a really great time. I love this country. Its very beautiful with mountains on all sides. The view coming in the first morning was amazing. All around just these giant mountains that don't have trees on them so you can see the sharp points and deep valleys. Gorgeous. It was also very hot! But I just keep reminding myself that its not as hot as India's going to be-- which is not as encouraging as you might think ;)

The kids here are super cute. One day while visiting friends, I got to hang out with their kids and play games. It was a lot of fun. And just like the kids in India, they could not grasp the fact that I couldn't understand what they said to me and so they would just talk and talk and I would have to grab K and say "Help! He's talking to me!!"

This was my buddy for the day. Her parents jokingly asked if I was going to take her back to America with me. 

We played a lot of Uno.

We stayed with some American friends and brought a new pool for their little girls and got to spend some time watching them cool off in the water. Emphasis on watching them, we did not get the pleasure of getting in the water.

I'm having a great time! Keep checking for more posts and pictures!!