I've been working through jet-lag. I'm mostly over it, but it seems that my wires got crossed and now I'm on Kellen's schedule... ready to be in bed 9:30-10pm and up at at 'em by 6:30am... so not cool since I'm off work! But it is nice to go to bed and wake up with my husband still beside me. Kellen likes it because I'm up to make breakfast... which is strange since I'd typically just eat cereal, not french toast or eggs. I was able to go to chapel with Kellen, the first time in a long time since I've worked about every Tuesday/Thursday for several months. It was a good message and it was nice to be out and about, enjoying the spring weather, walking on campus holding hands with my favorite guy. I missed him!
The final days in India were kinda a whirlwind. My computer stopped connecting to the wi-fi, so I had to use someone else's computer which she was already sharing with another lady, so I didn't want to hog it to write on the blog. Let me see if I can recap the highlights:
Day 4, Wednesday: Typical day with the kids, ate dinner out on SEBTS's dime with all the students and kiddos. It was yum-o and we sat near folks who are working in parts of Asia very resistant to the Good News. It was great to meet them and know how to pray for them. We left and walked by several shops selling merchandise for Holi (festival of colors)- water guns, colored powders, water balloon kits.
Day 5, Thursday: Holi. Today I donned clothes that I didn't care about getting ruined because there was a chance that I'd come into contact with colored powder/water. While taking care of the kids I looked off our balcony to the streets below and saw 3 men with a bucket of colored water and sacks of colored powder throw water on motorcyclists driving by. I watched as a student from our group walked past them and had powder thrown on her head and smeared on her face as she put up a hand in protest. Yikes. We have to cross the street for lunch, so I got a little worried, but all for naught. We got across safely (there was hardly any traffic on Holi) and watched on as people in our group (who had gone looking for Holi "fights") continued the war with each other and natives in front of the hotel. They were COVERED in colored powder, quite a sight. We had a little bit of powder that we gently applied to the kids and our foreheads and noses. After the kids had been picked up I went out with a small group to Holi each other. Lots of fun (see pictures) and we ended up very colorful. We had originally planned on staying in for dinner to avoid the craziness of Holi, but it was quiet in our neighborhood, so we walked quite a ways to go to a mall and ate there. The food was ok, but the night air was cool and refreshing, so it was nice to stretch our legs.
Day 6, Friday: Our final day. We had the kids only for the morning. We were able to give away all the snack and craft supplies leftover from our time with the kids. The moms looked eyes wide at the bounty before them and took away things that will bless their kids for months to come (thanks small group!!). After lunch a group of us headed to the Lotus Temple. It is a temple for the Bahai faith which is a monotheistic religion emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. It was a beautiful temple and beautiful grounds, teeming with people, but empty.
We originally started walking there, but it soon became evident that it was further than we wanted to walk and so 9 of us piled in an SUV taxi with the driver and made it safely there. When we left a group went back to the transit house and 5 of us (the child care group) headed to M-block Market for more shopping. We had a pit stop at the Delhi Haat (a smaller market that subsidized the tuk tuk driver's fare if we stopped there). We each got to try on a saree and were able to find some souvenirs for reasonable prices. The M-block Market was a bit upscale, but I was still able to find a nice saree for about $15 for myself and some post cards. Knowing we'd be up all night for our flight we enjoyed some caffeine in the form of an iced latte- yum :) We headed back to the transit house and had a simple dinner of rice and packed up. We left our place at midnight. Made it through check in and immigration fine and then waited for 3:30am to roll around so we could fly out. We went to McDonald's while we waited. I had a McSpicy chicken sandwich... FYI spicy in India is really spicy, probably should have ordered a milkshake to cool that off!
The rest of the trip home was uneventful for the most part and I made it safely to RDU by 5pm Saturday. My parents picked me up since Kellen was on call chaplain at the hospital. We had a brief meal together and they left me to recoup from my long trip about 8:30pm (which with the daylight savings time change, was actually 9:30pm...) After being out of bed since 8:30pm Thursday (east coast time) I was very ready to go to bed... 48 hours without sleeping in a bed is TOO long!
Once again, thank you for praying! We were always kept safe, mostly healthy (some in our group had stomach issues) and felt like we were a help- the parents of the kids we watched were so sweet- they profusely thanked us at every opportunity for our service- the kids were great and it was a blessing to see the hearts of the older kids- so gracious and helpful- I can hardly wait to see how the Father will use them!
I came home to a couple more checks to go towards the trip fund. Thank you, thank you! This trip was an awesome experience and I can't thank you enough for being a part of it with your prayers and/or financial gifts.
Sounds/looks like an awesome trip. Shelly and Drew Ham used to be our neighbors for a couple years. It's funny I've been seeing Drew's FB updates about being wifeless and your posts about the trip and didn't put it together until I was flipping through your pics. What a small world.
ReplyDeletewow- it is a small world! We've been going to the same church as the Hams for a while now, but I didn't meet them until this trip. Love it when God orchestrates happy things like that!
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