Nat's Birthday With Everyone

At church on Sunday Natalie shared a small testimony and we had a cake for her.

Putting the cake together
Feeding the cake

Map Didi's Birthday (#1)

My niece Natalie's first birthday celebration on Saturday. Hosted by her good friends. I didn't even bother decorating my house after this extravaganza...
B Happy

The cousins

Birthday Showers

P.

HB Pictures from E.'s 10th (Late!)

The Happy Birthday girl (November 18th) . Face Painting courtesy of Natalie...
Tiger.

C. with her best friend, Angel.

P.'s face was painted by her sister. Sitting on the flower pot eating candy.

We had a "Fair" -like theme. Lots of various games. Even the adults partook.

September Is Almost OVER

September is almost over and well, it's a busy month! BUT I did need to get back to how my birthday celebration went - since I promised.

I HAD THE BEST BIRTHDAY OF MY LIFE.

Really. Thank you Lord.
Very loud poppers at the cake cutting - notice G. and me covering our ears.
I was fed loads of cake - I think there were a total of FOUR cakes for me.

We had so much fun playing games all night. We just laughed and laughed. One friend told me she got her smile back that night. Another man said that after the party he sat outside his house for an hour and a half and just laughed.

So much FUN!

This is what happened to my girls when the party was over - I pretty much felt that way too, except I spent about an hour laying in bed laughing to myself about ridiculous happenings that night.

I loved all the phone calls and I especially loved visiting our Bible College and Karuna kids and having them extend their hand toward me and pray for me. I love those kids praying for me. I am blessed.

Shhhh It's Coming Again Tomorrow

It's that birthday time of the year around here once again. If you're a regular on atld you know it's my least fav. time of the year.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.

C.'s 7th Birthday

Here's C. in her Birthday Dress. She was 7 years old on April 24th and gorgeous - obviously.
We went for a picnic with all our staff for C.'s birthday. We swam and swam.
Fun for big people too!!

Faces From P.'s Party

Thanks to Joyce for taking these beautiful pictures...

Random Pix From P.'s 1st

New friend Deena who was visiting with us from Guam for a few days.

P. showing off her new payals. (ankle bracelets)

Ahhh, the testimony of P.s birth.

Choir and G. playing with balloons.

Old friend, Joyce, who took all these pictures (except this one, obviously). She was also visiting us from Guam for a few days. Loads of fun.

O. with P. in a big hat.

That's all I can get loaded for now.

P.'s First

P.'s first birthday is Monday but we arranged the party tonight since we'll be away on Monday.

We're expected 350 people. Arg. I left most of the arrangements to O.

Happy Birthday Dad!

We Love you!

10 Years

On Saturday, O. and I celebrated our 10 year wedding anniversary. Tomorrow is Eve's 9th birthday. Busy week of celebrations!

C.'s 6th

Beautiful C. on her 6th birthday (April 24th).
In the evening of that same day before Phoebe's wedding. (In another pink dress...) The girl loves to pose for a picture.
I also promised her that I would take her to the beauty parlor to get her hair straightened for her birthday. So after her "Kid Party" in the morning we went for straightening. As you can see in this photo from the evening, her very curly hair didn't get too straight and it just curled back up in the heat, but she was immeasurably happy about that "straight" hair all day long.

*When I told her she couldn't wash her hair after it was straightened because it would get curly again she said to me, "I'll never wash my hair again."

Samuel Weds Fibi

Friday, April 24th is C.'s birthday AND Phoebe's* wedding. Phoebe has lived with me for the last four years since her mother died and she's finally marrying her long time love, Samuel, on Friday.

It's been a busy week. It's why I've not been around.

* Phoebe always spells her name "Fibi" in English.

Ongoing Trials Since The Year 2000

Yesterday was O.'s birthday. After church we celebrated P.'s birth, O.'s birthday and G.'s (almost) b-day by having cake and lunch with all our believers.


After lunch all our co-workers came to our house to give a gift to O. All of the sudden I heard a sound like rumbling thunder but was in reality several pairs of flip flops running across our stone floors. I thought some of our co-workers were going to the back of my house to bring in the gift for O. but alas, no, nothing that mundane. What I didn't know was that just a moment before that one of our Children's Home children came running to my house and said, "Someone is beating Driver Uncle."


Our driver was taking the children home after church and a family who has persecuted us since we came to this city stopped our vehicle and started pushing our driver around.

It became a big bruhaha with people getting beat by belts and threatened with sticks and stones (literally). There was even a biting incident. Then by this time O. and all our male co-workers (and most of our children) had reached the scene. There was a lot of shouting and threatening and eventually O. decided to just report the incident to the police.

O. and all the men went to the police station and all the ladies and kids stayed at my house waiting for our delayed birthday party. We prayed instead and waited some more.

A couple hours later some police came to my house and asked what was going on. I didn't really know much but I said that nothing had happened here and pointed them in the right direction. All the ladies were standing outside and the police asked "Who are all these people?" I think they thought I had gathered a force of women to go fight. I said, "We were having a birthday party..."

The situation is still going on. This family has done things against us again and again. They put a case against us yesterday claiming we were here only to convert people to Christianity. We weren't even involved in the situation yesterday. Yet we see their planning and scheming all over it. Their desire is to destroy O. and the ministry. We know this because they said in front of everyone yesterday.

Please pray with us for wisdom in this case and pray especially that we will have favor in the courts and with the police. As Christians and as a minority no one stands with us in times of trial. Anything to do with religion is a major political issue over here and we can get stuck in all kinds of problems and bogged down in court cases. Pray for victory in Jesus name in every area as well as wisdom for how to proceed according to God's will.

Through it all O. kept saying, "It's my birthday today..."
Sometimes you just never get a break.

E. 's 8th Birthday Party (In Pictures)

E. could not wait to cut (and eat) that cake.
Prayer for E.

E. finally gets to eat the cake.

Testimony Of My E.

Christians in India usually give a testimony when it is their birthday or a special occasion. It's a really nice thing to do for God's glory.

Today my E. is 8 years old. I'm having a small party at home with just family and a couple of friends. No mad kids parties this year.

MY E.
Things you probably don't know about my E. E. often gives her 20 month old sister a bath, puts her diaper on her and gets her dressed for me. The other night I saw E. carrying 5 year old sleeping C. out of the car, all the way down the street and into the house. She had to stop occasionally, put C. down and readjust her, but she made it all the way. When I am sick, E. brings me food and water. When I am sad, she comforts me. When we go out and people beg money from us, she insists I give. If I give her a coin for the poor she gives it back to me and says, "Mom, you don't give coins, you have to give notes." When she was a teeny tiny little girl I used to have to carry a separate change purse with me on the train because she would want to give to everyone who begged from us - which were a lot.

E. is generous and tender-hearted, she's kind and compassionate. I wouldn't change her for the world.

Early Birthday

O. threw an early Birthday/Goodbye Party for me on Monday night. I'm not really a birthday party person - hence- why I planned my Hindi training over my birthday, but I never seem to win.

It was a lovely party and everyone had a great time and I got lots of beautiful gifts, so I'm not complaining.

At 2AM that same night, friends and family came to drop me at the train station and saw me safely on my train.

Juliana's 1st

O.'s brother's daughter, Juliana, had her first Birthday yesterday and we had a big party. Here she is ready to cut the cake.

Digging out the food.

Tickets Are Booked

You may remember that I mentioned studying Hindi in September a few months back. Well, September is right around the corner and I've already booked my tickets. There is also a three day retreat for foreign women serving the Lord in India being held in Nagpur from Sept 10-12. I'll head there first and then head North for Hindi training.
If I were handy dandy I could figure out how to put "Indiana Jones" type red lines on this map pointing out where I'll be and where I'm going, but as I am neither handy dandy or Indy, I will just write it here.

Since I don't mention where we are on this blog, let's just say I'll start my journey at 3AM on Sept 9th and head West to Nagpur (center of India). The women's retreat is there. On the 13th I'll catch a flight from Nagpur to New Delhi (go straight North from Nagpur) from Delhi I'll catch a train to Dehra Dun (more North) and after arriving in Dehra Dun on Sept 14th, I'll catch a bus to Mussoorie - my final destination.

I'll stay there two weeks and then head in reverse to Delhi where I will ultimately catch a flight home - arriving on Sept 27th.

I'll be all alone. I'll also celebrate my birthday there - alone - happily - alone. (hate birthdays, never good, never. good.) The timing of this trip was carefully planned and thought out.

I'll be leaving my children for the longest time ever... almost three weeks. They'll survive without me.

Party Pix

The little monsters from C.'s birthday party last week. C. is in the blue top near the front. Don't let their angelic expressions fool you, they were only behaving for the photo becase they knew the cake was coming.
I made a pinata, at the end O. broke it open. You can see the little nightmares, I mean kids, kids, rushing for the candy on the floor.