How I Know Its Diwali

It's the smell.

Several contiuous days (actualy, mostly nights) of firecrakers and fireworks, small blasting bombs and sparklers, the smell is distinctive.

Today, it's Diwali, Hindu New Year.

What E. Fears

E. and C. like a story before then go to bed at night. A couple nights ago I was tired and so I said I'd just tell a short story, E. requested a "really scary one." I wasn't really in the mood so I decided to tell them a story with a moral for once.

The basic premise of this night's story was not to get into cars with strangers.

Without retelling the whole story here I'll cut to the chase where the 2 little girls were locked in the dark basement of the bad man who beat them and didn't give them food and there were really scary noises in the dark all night. (The girls eventually escape in the morning and learn never to go into a car again with a stranger.)

Anyway, when the story was finished E. said,"If that ever happened to me I would bite that man... because you know, if someone doesn't give me food - I'll eat anything."

Obviously, the most terrifying part of that story for E. was not being fed.

Mostly Bathrooms

The tiles are mostly up in our bathrooms at the new house.
This is our master bedroom bathroom. I always wanted a black and white bathroom. The tiles have a really pretty reflective design on them that you cannot see in the picture.
This is the ground floor guest bathroom.

This is our favorite bathroom, the 2nd floor guest. Unfortunately, its the most unclear photo. We love this bathroom so much that we're thinking of moving into it.
I went yesterday morning to choose all the bathroom fixtures and sinks. Toilets have already come. We should be getting those things in in the nest week or so. We're in a bit of a rush, not only because we want to get in by the first week of December, but because the HUGE holiday of Diwali is almost upon us and we're going to lose all the people laboring on our house for 10 days or so.

These are a picture of our steps taken from a really weird angle. They are made from stone, not wood, although it does appear to be wood. That's why we liked it so much. They have not polished the floors yet but are starting today. Once they get clear I'll post some pictures of them.

I also chose the wall tiles and floor tiles for our kitchen so that means we should get working on the kitchen by some time this week!

My last two works for today or tomorrow are choosing railings for the stairs and upstairs and glass for the windows. Decisions Decisions. O. leaves it all up to me and says I'm the one who has to be happy living there. I order it, he gets it installed. Works for me.

Goa Ladies

I don't have a group shot of all the people who were present at our Goa Conference, but here are the ladies. The 2 Americans in the middle front row were part of the team of 4 from the US who were involved in running the conference.

Goa Retreat

O. and got back from Goa late Friday night, it was a little touchy at the end because our first flight was late causing us to miss our second flight, but we caught the last flight out of Bombay at just the last minute. Whew.

The conference was sponsored by EFI (Evangelical Fellowship of India) and Barnabas International. It was a wonderful time to fellowship with other ministry leaders in India and their wives. One couple said it was the first time in 28 years of ministry that they had both gotten away together! Mostly the wives were delighted to be invited along with the husbands since we usually send our husbands off to these conferences and we stay at home and hold the fort.

It was a lovely resort, right on the ocean in Goa and O. and I had a great and refreshing time.

Back To Goa

I am just on the road all the time these days. O. and I leave for 5 days in Goa on Monday. It's not a vacation but I'm sure it will be fun. We were invited by the Evangelical Fellowship of India for a Conference being held in Goa for husbands and wives who are leaders in different Christian ministries. (that was a mouthful) Apparently, there will be 3 couples from each Indian state in attendance.

I have to leave the girls behind which is heart wrenching since I was just away for a long time - not great timing, but at least it will only be for 5 days this time.

This May Freak You Out

This nasty creature visited my room once while I stayed in the guest house in Mussoorie.
Here is his buddy who visited me on another day (see right hand upper corner of carpet). A passport size photo of myself is in the foreground for size reference. You'll see the spider is quite a bit larger than the photo.
That vacation to Mussoorie isn't sounding so great right about now is it????

What We've Been Doing Around Here

As you might remember we had a rally on Sept. 2 to protest the persecution in Orissa. A great thing that has come out of that is a monthly meeting between all the Christian pastors/leaders in our city and surrounding cities and villages. It's been great for unity building.

The first official meeting was last Saturday with 30 men in attendance. Very exciting. I am waiting to see what God is going to do through this team in the coming days.

Please keep praying for God's people in India and especially in the state of Orissa. The situation and persecution remains intense.

"Severe Persecution"

I sent out a general email yesterday requesting more prayer for the persecution going on in India. I must have written the phrase, "severe persecution" in the email because someone wrote me back requesting clarity on what that means.

Here is what I responded:

"Being hacked to death by sword in front of your wife and children. Being raped and dragged naked thru town, being burned alive, churches and homes of Christians burned...All of this and worse is happening in India every day and there is not much being done to stop it."

I think the above constitutes "severe persecution."

Persecution Continues

The persecution against Christian believers in India has continued on and on. I've been thinking lately about how if we were in the US and we heard about the murder of a pastor or a family - just because they were Christian how we would be so shocked and it would take a long time to get over it. Or if we heard or knew about a church being burned to the ground simply out of hatred toward Christians. What would we do?

Yet, when we hear of persecution in other countries, of a pastor being murdered, a Christian child being burned alive, a church being destroyed - why is it not so real to us? Is that Christian brother in another country any less valuable to God than a Christian brother of our own culture?

I hear about churches burned, pastors killed, property destroyed and Christian women raped every day in India. And we weep and we pray and we cry out to God.

Time For Some Beauty

The Himalayas were not visible for most of my stay in Mussoorie but, thankfully, by the last 4 days the weather cleared up and the clouds moved away and these are some of the breathtaking views. The mountains are even clearer in person, the camera just doesn't capture it.

Landour Language School

I did finally get around to posting pictures of the school. Here is the office.
The church where the classes meet.
Me and my teachers.

Life Without Mom

I came home from my 18 days away from the family and was happy to see my girls all alive and well. I was, however, much happier to see that E.’s fingernails were long and nasty and that G. had a whole heck of a lot of black crud in her ears.

They survived without mom, but not too well.

Home In Mussoorie

I stayed in a lovely Guest House in Mussoorie called Dev Dar Woods. I was fed well and I loved the staff and other guests. Here is my very cold room.
The road a walked everyday to and from - well, anywhere.
Dev Dar