20 Years Ago Today

On August 22, 1994 I was laying in a hospital bed. I was only 22 years old and the heaviest I'd ever been (or have been since) weighing 180 lbs. Even with the doctors leaving the IV in too long, so that I was much more medicated than I should have been, the pain was intense.

Outside the rain was coming down so hard that I could not even see the parking lot beyond the hospital room window. It was over, and just as the doctor and nurses left the room, the electricity went out and after about 10 seconds the back-up generator came on. Although the lights in my room remained off, the room was softly lit by the pale gray glow from the storm outside. I remember being thankful that the electric hadn't gone out sooner, as well as feeling comforted by the heavy rains that were drowning out all the noise of the world. Although I was not a Christian yet, I felt that something beyond me created those few minutes in time where the whole world seemed to stop, as if to acknowledge that something important just happened.

In fact, something important had just happened, Simon Andrew was born!

Today, 20 years later, is a celebration of that day, a celebration of the amazing, talented and handsome young man who I am lucky enough to call my son. As I look back on the past 20 years, I can see God in so many moments leading up to Simon's birth, as well as in many occasions since then.

Like the dream of a little blond-haired boy named Simon 2 nights before I knew I was pregnant. At the time, my exact words were, "That's the stupidist name I've ever heard. I would never name my child Simon!" I may not have believed in God at the time, but He already had plans for Simon, including his name, and so "the stupidist name I've ever heard" soon became a name I love dearly.

Or how about the drive to the hospital when we ran over a snake in the road? Other than being freaked out, wondering if somehow the snake could have gotten caught on the tire and might somehow still be alive and about to slither into the car (thankfully it wasn't/ didn't!), that isn't a moment I've thought much about since then, but now Genesis 3:15 comes to mind, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

One thing I did think about was the number 22. Simon was born on Aug 22 at 2:20 pm when I was 22 years old. It wasn't the last time I'd notice the number 22 in connetion with Simon.

 Simon was 5 weeks premature and could not even maintain his own body temperature for the first 8 hours after he was born, so he was taken to the nursery where he was kept under a warming light- like a fast food burger! He would get so tired after just 3-4 small sips from his tiny bottle that he would fall asleep, so the doctor decided that he needed to stay in the hospital until he was eating better. Now I am not your typical mom who can't be away from her baby (I live on the opposite side of the world from him now!), but leaving him in the hospital that second night after he was born was almost as painful as childbirth itself. Luckily the next day he was allowed to come home, but he had jaundice and had to keep going back to the doctor to give blood samples so they could monitor his bilirubin levels. I knew this was for his own good, but remember crying and calling the doctors "vampires" who were taking "all" of my baby's blood- I can be a bit dramatic.

One of my favorite drawings by Simon

From a very young age, Simon loved to draw. He has an amazing gift and until he was about 16, if you asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would say he wanted to be an artist of some sort. Japanese animation, graphic design, creating video games, maybe even ads for the military were all possibilities at one time. I will never forget the time I told Simon we were going to go to Schlitterbahn Water Park for the weekend. I thought he would be super excited, and he was, but first he wanted to make sure that we were leaving AFTER his Saturday morning art class. This was a class he took every Saturday for many years, so I figured he wouldn't think twice about missing 1 class, especially to go to a water park, but I was wrong. We ended up leaving for Schlitterbahn AFTER his Saturday morning art class.

Aunt Natasha turns Simon punk rock-
a sign of things to come

Then in 11th grade, Simon and some of his friends started a band. Honestly, when I found out about it I figured it was just a phase. What teenage boy doesn't dream of being a rock star? Besides, Simon didn't know how to play any instruments and had his mother's singing voice (not the voice of an angel, if you know what I mean), so I figured the dream would die out pretty quickly on it's own. Again, I was wrong.

Through his passion for music he has taken it upon himself to learn so much. Although we offered Simon voice lessons, he instead chose to teach himself guitar and has become a much better singer all on his own. And something I noticed almost immediaitely was his natural talent to write lyrics as well as to organize band practices and meetings, along with ideas and plans for recording, videos, albums and things like that. I have watched as band members have come and gone, yet friendships have remained strong, not letting band disputes or differences get in the way- a talent much bigger than art, music or anything else.

Mother's Day weekend before Sam and I moved to Nepal, Simon and I went to Austin. As we rode in the car Simon was in charge of the music. We listened to stuff I had never heard before as well as a few songs that I had listened to when I was his age. Then, at one point a song came on, and I thought it was one of his friends, CJ, on guitar. CJ is an incredible guitarist. I was shocked when Simon told me it was him on guitar!

Simon pursuing his dream

This past year his band has started to get gigs at some well-known clubs in Houston- clubs that my sister and I both frequented in our younger days, which is very strange and just makes me feel old! They've also made it to the finals of a Battle of the Bands competition that will take place on August 31. And although I still sometimes dream that he would have a more stable job as a Graphic Designer, I could not be more proud of Simon for following his dream and passion.

But there have been many times when he has amazed me, like when he was in kindergarten. We were outside waiting for the school doors to open. It was winter and pretty cold out, and we noticed this little boy standing there in his pajamas. He was obviously embarrassed, not to mention cold. Simon walked over to him and started talking to him. The boy's parents were divorced, and he didn't have a change of clean clothes at whichever parent's house he had stayed at the night before, so here he was in his pajamas. His name was Mayonnaise. Several kids had gathered around him by then, and I figured they were about to start teasing him about his name, his pajamas and anything else they could think of. But Simon told him not to worry and that they would go find a teacher to call his other parent to bring him some clothes. That's when I noticed the kids around him weren't teasing him, they were huddling around this boy, protecting him, telling him they'd all go with him to find a teacher. Just then a teacher opened the door and all the kids walked in together to tell her. That's MY boy!

And then there are other times he's amazed me, like when he was 17. I had just gone into my bedroom to have some alone time when Sam walks in and says, "I think we have a problem. I just saw Simon's friend carrying Simon's bean bag chair across the front lawn, and he didn't go out the front door." So Sam and I walked into Simon's bedroom to see him moving out through his window! And why was he moving out? Because we had made him "friend" us on Facebook. Yep, that's MY boy, too!

Yes, there have been more times than I care to remember when I've cried... "God, what were you thinking making me a mom? I'm no good at being a mom!" And even more times when I know Simon has said, "God, what were you thinking making HER my mom? She's NO GOOD at being a mom!"

So here we are 20 years later and things are nothing like I imagined, but I do believe things are exactly as God planned. A few years ago as I was reading my Bible, a verse that I had read many times before jumped out at me in Luke 22 (there's that 22 again). Luke 22:31-32 says, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

Happy 20th Birthday, Simon! 

We love you, and we're so proud of you. 

You truly are a gift from God. 

Simon's first birthday- he liked the ice cream cake!

My favorite picture of Sam and Simon                                 My favorite family picture                      

A Little About Nepal

Most people know little or nothing about Nepal, except maybe that it's the home of Mount Everest. To be honest, up until about 3 years ago, I couldn't have even told you where Nepal was on a map (it's between India and China) and didn't know it's where Mount Everest is located.

Although nothing compares with experiencing Nepal for yourself, and no amount of words or pictures will ever truly capture how amazing this country is, I realize not everyone has the time or desire to come to Nepal. My hope is that through this blog, we are able to give a bit of a glimpse into Nepal. And while the greatest part of Nepal is her people, which is why so many of our blogs are simply about our day to day life with them- celebrating birthdays, Christian weddings, Hindu weddings, Mother's Day, Father's Day, and more, I recently realized that there is so much about Nepal that we have not shared. So for those who would like to know a little more about Nepal, the country, here's a glimpse.

First some statics to put things into perspective. Nepal is slightly larger than Arkansas, or about 1/5 the size of Texas.

Population of Nepal: 30.4 million                         Population of US: 317 million

Nepal Unemployment Rate: 46%                        US Unemployment Rate: 9%

Nepal GDP Per Capita: $1,200 USD*                   US GDP Per Capita: $50,700 USD

Nepal Inflation Rate: 9.5%                                  US Inflation Rate: 2.1%

Nepal Literacy Rate: 60%                                   US Literacy Rate: 99%

Nepal Life Expectancy: 67                                  US Life Expectancy: 78.5

Infant Mortality Rate: 43 per 1,000                       US Infant Mortality Rate: 5.9 per 1,000

*Nepal's GDP per capita is $1,200, which puts Nepal in the bottom 5th percentile in the world. To see more comparisons, click here.

Besides Mount Everest (or Sagarmatha, as it is called in Nepal), here are some other popular places to help you get a feel for Nepal:

Swayambhunath Stupa in Kathmandu- aka "The Monkey Temple" that Sam and I lived across the street from our first few months here. In the video (link below) it talks about how it's rumored to have 365 steps to the top, although we've heard that's not actually true. However, Sam used to go running and did prayer walks around the temple and up those steps many of the mornings during the months we lived across the street. I am not as "gung-ho" as Sam and usually slept in, although I did make it up those steps, just barely, on two separate days, which I figured is enough for a lifetime! And we never counted those steps, so I'm not sure if there really are 365 or not, but both times I climbed them it felt like 365 MILLION steps! Click here to watch a  video.

Pashupatinath in Kathmandu- this is where the Hindu cremation ghats (the cremation area with steps leading down to the Bagmati River where the ashes, etc. are swept into after the body is burned), including the Royal Ghats (where the former kings, other royalty and big political people of Nepal were/are cremated). We've been here twice, and each time I have found it very surreal with people bathing downstream from where the bodies are being burned and swept into the river, as well as cows standing along the river eating & pooping, holy men walking around half-naked with yellow and orange paint on them, lots of shrines, smoke from the cremations, monkeys and merchants selling jewelry, paintings, handicrafts, water, snacks and more- all with people dying and being burned maybe 100 meters away! Also, the holy men are happy to let you take pictures of them, but only tell you afterwards that you must pay them for the pictures, and if you start to walk away, they will follow you until you pay them. Click here to watch a video. 

Pokhara is the city we live in now. It is a popular tourist destination with the natural beauty of Phewa Tal (Phewa Lake) and the Annapurna Mountain Range as a backdrop, which is a popular trekking circuit. We have visited Phewa Tal multiple times, including a trip with Ambika and the girls, but have not done the Annapurna Trek yet.

The birth place of Siddhartha Gautauma (Buddha) in Lumbini, Nepal. We have not been here as it is in West Nepal, but click here to watch a video.

As for architecture, Durbar Square shows some of the common Newari style buildings in Nepal (Newaris are one of the people groups of Nepal). Click here for a video.

While many of the homes in Kathmandu and Pokhara are made of concrete, brick and/ or stone, the older homes, as well as homes in the rural villages are typically made of wood, clay, mud and/ or cow dung with tin, wood or thatch roofs, like the one we stayed in during our first trip to Thingan back in June 2012.

So that's a little bit about Nepal, the country, but as I said before, the people are the greatest part of Nepal. Often, Nepali people will ask us what we think of Nepal. When we tell them we LOVE Nepal, they almost always react with delight and thank us as if we've just paid them a huge personal compliment, which just makes me love Nepal even more.

For God

Prayer. What do you think of when you think of prayer? For me it conjures up lots of images as well as mixed feelings.

Images of candles, solitude and perhaps a cup of tea. Time when I talk to God and share my hopes, dreams, concerns, worries and praises, time to think beyond myself for others and their prayer needs, time to be still and listen for God's still small voice- much nicer than the alternative of making Him take drastic measures to get my attention!

Of course, there are also the prayers that are spontaneous throughout the day. Thanking God for the cool breeze that accompanies a monsoon rain, especially at night after a long hot day, as well as desperate prayers as I struggle to communicate in Nepali or even to simply study Nepali! 

Prayers for friends, family and the people of Nepal in general with their struggles and hardships, some that are familiar to all of us... for children to do well in school, jobs for the unemployed, healing for the sick, but also prayers that are not as common for those of us from America. Prayers for the Dalits or "untouchables" because even though the caste system was officially outlawed in Nepal in 1990, and while it is not as predominant or rigid today, it is still very much a part of life in Nepal, especially in the rural villages. Prayers for the government which has been working under an Interim Constitution since 2007. Prayers for things like safe, clean drinking water and electricity, or for families to be able to afford the luxury of education for their children.

But I am also convicted when I think of prayer, knowing how many opportunities I miss to talk with and listen to God. Prayers that others have asked me to pray that I pray once or twice for and then forget. Prayers that aren't just a list of me telling God what I think He should do, but prayers where I go before God, be still, listen and let go of what I think and "let" Him be God. Prayers that aren't just a quick "shout out" to God, but an enjoyable conversation with my Abba, Father, the living God who loves me more than I can comprehend.

Last night before I went to bed I was reading through my prayer journal, which I'm sad to say I had not looked at in about a week. As I read through the current prayers, as well as looked at all of the prayers that are highlighted in yellow (prayers God has answered), I was filled with a longing to spend today with my Abba, Father... a Sabbath day, if you will, but more than that. 

Unfortunately even Sabbath days can be more about me than God. They also can be days where I do things that fill my soul... read my Bible, pray, sleep, have good food, relax... all good things, but today is more of a "date day" with God for me. It is all of the things I do on Sabbath days, but more. It is simply being with God and enjoying His presence. For that I don't need candles, a cup of tea or even my Bible.

Having said all of that, I never imagined that I would write a blog today. That doesn't fit into my idea of spending time with God. But today is not about me, so when I felt God nudging me to simply share my day with others... to share Him with others... not as a blog I need to write, but as a love letter to Him and to anyone He leads to read this blog, I sat down and did it. 

As I read back over it, I question why God had me write this. To me it seems rambling and like it doesn't really say much. There are no pictures. Surely with an extra day or two I could come up with something better, something I would be more pleased with, but as quickly as those thoughts came, again I felt God saying, "This is not about you. This is not a marketing piece." So here I go posting this entry in faith that He knows better than I do... this one's for You, God. :)

Love,

Wendy

Moving to Pokhara

What is moving like in Nepal? For us it was another adventure.

We were well prepared with things carefully packed, had LOTS of help, including an American friend of ours, Ambika, all ofher girls, one of Ambika's nephews, Ambika's brother-in-law, Pastor Lazarus, his assistant Ramhari and Ramhari's uncle (who was also the driver of our moving truck), as well as me and Sam, so you would think it would have been pretty easy... or at least WE thought it would be pretty easy.

The truck arrived at about 7am, and as I already mentioned, we had packed carefully, knowing that the road to Pokhara is winding and not always paved. There are no Uhauls in Nepal, so our moving truck was a 10 wheel vehicle that looked something like this...

Along with all of our stuff, we loaded our scooter and motorcycle on the truck. Then Ambika, her nephew, her brother-in-law, Sam and I all rode to Pokhara in our Tata Safari, while Ramhari's uncle drove the moving truck. It was a teary good-bye, as everyone else stayed in Kathmandu. Although the truck left about an hour and a half before us, we got to Pokhara about 2 hours before the truck showed up at the house. By the time it arrived, it was dark, the wind was picking up and we could hear thunder and see lightning off in the distance heading our way.

Dirt path from our house to the road..

If that wasn't enough stress, the truck was too big to make it down the dirt road to our house, so we had to carry everything down the dirt road- not super far, but with it being dark and a storm approaching, and lots of stuff to carry in, that didn't make things any easier!

We also discovered that the motorcycle had fallen over in transit and gasoline had spilled on some of our stuff, the motorcycle was scratched and the kick-stand was severely bent. The scooter also had some damage and just about every piece of furniture we own was damaged in some way or another, mostly scratches and cosmetic damages, but a few things were completely broken/ ruined... thankfully nothing irreplaceable like keepsakes, pictures, etc.

The really cool thing was that quite a few of our neighbors (who live along the dirt road) came out to see the bisheshis (foreigners) moving in, and they all immediately started helping us unload the truck. It was pretty amazing to have all of these strangers helping us like that, and not only did we get everything moved into the house before the rain arrived, we even had some neighbors ask if they could bring us tea or make us dinner! We very graciously declined their offers, being more in need of showers and sleep than food, but Sam and I have already discussed inviting them all over in a few weeks for tea and food.

View of Mount Machhapuchhre from our roof.

Each day since the move has continued to be an adventure in both the good and bad sense of the word. We have the most amazing view of Mount Machhapuchhre from 2 of our bedroom windows and our roof (the roofs here are flat and used like balconies, not like most roofs in the States).

But, we've also had to have the electrician and plumber here for the past 2 days (and the plumber will be back tomorrow) getting us set up and fixing things. Some of that we expected, like having the electrician setting up our inverter for our back-up batteries during loadshedding (when there's no electric) Luckily, we're down to only 10 hours of loadshedding per day right now!

Squatty potty downstairs

Western toilet upstairs

And some of it was a surprise, like the western style toilet that is in our upstairs bathroom (as opposed to the Nepali style "squatty potty" we have downstairs) needed to be completely replaced. Our first night here we noticed there was a crack in the tank and the base, so it was constantly leaking, and by the next morning it was getting worse (actually gushing water), but when we called the landlady she said it was not like that before and we must have broken it.

Even after the plumber said that it was an old toilet and that the cracks had been there a while and there was no way we could have caused the damage, our landlady would not replace it. And while I'm glad to have my very own "squatty potty" downstairs for practice for when Western style toilets are not available, I was not ready for it to be my only option (let's just say I have personal experience with "pee sprinkles" on my pants legs- sorry, that was probably too much information!), so now we have a new toilet for about $70 USD... I can think of a lot more fun ways to spend $70 although not having to use the squatty potty all the time is actually beyond priceless! Oh how the things I have come to appreciate have changed! lol!

Happy Mother's Day!

April 28th was one of the best days of my life. April 28 was Aamaa's 89th birthday (Aamaa is Ambika's mom) and April 29th is Mother's Day in Nepal. And unlike in America where celebrating these events is fairly common, it's not as common in Nepal, at least not with the families we know.

Aamaa had NEVER had a birthday party in her entire life, nor had anyone ever celebrated Mother's Day honoring Aamaa, Ambika or either of Ambika's two sisters. That all changed on April 28th, as we all gathered together to celebrate both occassions.

The best part is that this was all a surprise for Aamaa! She had no idea that we were having a party for her, since Ambika's sisters often come by to visit and everyone else stayed hidden or showed up at the last minute.

When it was time for the festivities to begin, Ambika had Aamaa go up to the roof where we often eat dinner when the weather is nice, and when Aaama was sitting at the table, all of us came out and surrounded her. Sam was carrying her birthday cake and we "crowned" her with a "birthday topee" (birthday hat). As soon as she realized what was happening, she almost cried!

Then, as is the tradition here, she feeds someone a piece of birthday cake and they feed her a piece of birthday cake before everyone else gets a slice. Well, Aamaa chose Sam AND one of her sons-in-law, and as you can see she had LOTS of fun with this!

After the cake, we gave Aamaa her birthday card and a few small gifts... Snickers bars (she LOVES these) and some peanuts. You would have thought we had given her diamonds... and little did she know, there were more surprises to come.

I had talked with Anipa (Ambika's daughter) and arranged for one of Aamaa's grandsons to bring flowers for Aamaa, Ambika and her two sisters for Mother's Day. What I didn't know is that when Anipa called him, she also told him to bring flowers for me. As they started passing out the Mother's Day bouquets, I'm not sure who was more surprised, me, Aamaa or Ambika's middle sister, who kept turning away, completely unprepared for such a gift.

I had also bought a bunch of plastic tiaras, so that each mom could feel like a queen. I will never be able to put into words what I experienced watching these grown women, including 89-year-old Aamaa, being honored as mothers with flowers and plastic tiaras.

Afterwards, everyone enjoyed a meal of fried chicken, paneer (a kind of fried cheese that I am fairly certain is what the Bible calls manna, because it is nothing short of a gift from God!), some vegetables and rice that Ambika and her sisters had made (they thought this was just Aamaa's birthday celebration). As Sam and I left to go downstairs to our flat to go to sleep, I wished each of the moms a "Happy Mother's Day". Ambika told me, "Never in all of our lives have we done anything like this. This is a great day. "

Still, there was one more surprise awaiting Aamaa that only Sam, the girls and I knew about. The girls had blown up about a BUNCH of balloons and filled Aamaa's bedroom with them, along with a "Happy Birthday" sign hanging on her wall, so as she went into her room that night, she was again reminded that she is loved and her birthday is very much worth celebrating.

The next morning when I went upstairs to say "Hello" to everyone, Aamaa was all smiles. Apparently, after Sam and I went to sleep, everyone else kept partying. They strung the balloons together that were in Aamaa's room and hung them throughout the living room... and they are still hanging up 2 weeks later! Ambika's oldest sister and her husband, who normally leave somewhat early to get home to her husband's mom who lives with them, stayed until midnight and then had to stay the night because there were no buses to take them home at that hour!

It was truly a magical evening, and beyond just "our family" we were able to bring joy to several others. When I went to buy the plastic tiaras, the balloons and the candle for the birthday cake, there were some women in the shop. They asked me what I was buying all of this for. When I told them we were celebrating Mother's Day and Aamaa's birthday, they looked like little girls hearing the most wonderful secret they had ever heard. They laughed and smiled and were so excited at simply the thought of grown women celebrating in such a way.

Happy Mother's Day from Nepal!

The Lake House

As I mentioned in the last post, Sam and I recently took a trip to Pokhara with Ambika and the girls. When we initially started planning the trip, looking up hotels and guests houses to stay at, it seemed too expensive. After all, there would be 10 of us, so we would need several rooms for several nights which adds up to a lot of money very quickly, and that doesn't even take into account food, any activities and getting to and from Pokhara.

Then just as we had pretty much decided we weren't going to be able to go, Sam found a place called The Lake House on Facebook. It had just recently opened and wasn't advertised on any of the travel sites, so we called to find out more about it. We ended up getting a whole house with 3 bedrooms, a kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a huge deck that overlooks Phewa Lake for less than any other place we had found.

Even more exciting, when we arrived in Pokhara, we discovered that to get to The Lake House, we had to cross Phewa Lake in canoes, which was especially fun for the girls. It also separated us from the all of the activity and noise of the main Phewa Lakeside tourist area. In fact, the rides in the canoes were so peaceful and relaxing that Sam and Ambika both fell asleep during our first 25 minute canoe ride across the lake!

View from The Lake House

From the moment we arrived at The Lake House we were greeted by Tikaram, his wife Sabina and their son Rajit. They had beautiful flowers for each of the girls, Ambika and I, and then offered us all cold refreshing lemon water to drink and asked if we were hungry. We had stopped to eat just before the canoe rides, so Sabina made us some popcorn as an evening snack while we watched the sunset over the lake.

After living in Kathmandu with the constant sounds of dogs barking, motorcycles, cars, bus horns and merchants walking the neighborhood streets calling out the various items they are selling, hearing only the beautiful sounds of nature is about as perfect as it gets.

The next day we were all still exhausted from the 6 hour drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara, so we just layed around during the morning and planned to go across the lake later in the day, but a storm rolled in, so we decided a trip across the lake was probably not the best idea and just enjoyed a day at The Lake House.

Wendy, Ambika, Sabina and Rajit

The girls had fun going down by the waterside and looking for fish, as well as playing games with Wendy Auntie (who tired out quickly!), Rajit and two other little girls, Sabina and Salina, from one of the neighboring houses who stopped by. We also got to know Tikaram and his wife Sabina better. They are a wonderful couple and made us feel very at home and like we were all one big family.

Tikaram, Sam and Rajit

We especially had fun bonding over food. Sam made pancakes the first morning and Tikaram wanted to learn how to make them. That evening Tikaram and Sabina made some delicious traditional Nepali food: dal bhat (lentils and rice), curried potatoes, and chicken along with slices of fresh cucumbers and carrots, followed by apple slices and grapes for dessert. Tikaram pulled out the grill a few times too, and according to Sam, its some of the best BBQ in Nepal!

Nepali New Year's Eve at the Lake House

We didn't realize it when we planned the trip, but the night before Ambika and the girls took the bus back to Kathmandu was Nepali New Year's Eve, so we actually got to celebrate altogether sitting out on the deck, overlooking the moonlit lake, eating BBQ and popcorn... and there were even a few fireworks across the lake! Happy Nepali New Year!

Leaving Kathmandu

After less than a year in Kathmandu, it looks as though we will be leaving within the next month! Just as when we were planning our move to Kathmandu, I am both excited about what lies ahead while at the same time my heart is breaking at all we will be leaving behind.

Pollution in Kathmandu

As many of you are aware, Sam has had severe health issues during our time in Kathmandu. His allergies and asthma do not go well with the high levels of pollution and dust that are "trapped" in Kathmandu Valley by the surrounding mountains. We have prayed that God would heal him, he has tried various medications, essential oils, vitamins, working out, eating healthy and anything else we could think of to stay in Kathmandu, but it seems God has other plans. As this became obvious, we had to ask a very common question here in Nepal, "Ke garne?" (pronounced "kay garnay") which means "What to do?"

At the end of January, we decided to visit Pokhara (another city in Nepal with less pollution) to see if that would make a difference, and it actually did. In fact, as we were on our way to Pokhara, Sam realized that we had accidentally left ALL of his medications (for allergies, as well as his asthma inhaler, vitamins, etc.) on our living room table- making the trip a true test!

Sam allergy free, headache free and happy!

In Kathmandu Sam gets severe headaches pretty almost every day, usually multiple times a day, even when he takes medicine, but the entire time we were in Pokhara, he was headache free. What was even more convincing for me was that in Kathmandu Sam usually wakes up with red, itchy eyes, but in Pokhara his eyes were clear without any eyedrops. Also, Sam has had problems with snoring and sleep apnea, but while we were in Pokhara, the snoring and sleep apnea were gone.

Could this be our new home in Pokhara?

During that same trip, Sam and I decided to walk around the neighborhood where we were staying. Suddenly, we both saw a house down the road and at the exact same time said, "That's our house!" We laughed and wondered, "Was this a sign from God? Was that really 'our house'?" As we got closer we realized the house was occupied, there was no "To Let" or "For Sale" sign posted and no one was even home to even ask about the house. Still, Sam took some pictures of the house, and when we got back to Kathmandu, I added it to my prayer journal to remind me to pray daily for God's will.

While we might not have been right about "our house", one thing became crystal clear as we arrived back in Kathmandu and Sam's health issues all returned within the first few hours we were back. It was time for me to admit that we needed to move from Kathmandu. On the bright side, Pokhara is a great place. It's smaller than Kathmandu and easier to get around (from the layout of the city, as well as public transportation and less traffic). Sam and I agreed we could both see ourselves living there, but we were still on tourist visas, and decided there was no point in even looking for a flat in Pokhara until we had our business visas in hand and were more certain we would be allowed to stay in Nepal for more than 5 months.

The next few months our main priority was getting our visas, and thanks to God, our amazing lawyer and some wonderful people at the Ministry of Industry, as well as at the Immigration Office, we received our business visas just in time... the day our tourist visas expired! As a friend of mine likes to say, "God has missed many opportunities to be early, but He is never late!" That was certainly true in this instance!

Now we could truly consider moving to Pokhara, and decided to take another trip there to look for a place to live. Since Ambika's girls were finished with their exams and had two weeks off before the new school year started, we decided it would be a perfect time for all of us to take a trip there. We would spend the first few days having fun with Ambika and the girls. Then they would take the bus back to Kathmandu while Sam and I stayed behind an extra few days to look for a place to live.

We had told Ambika about the house we had seen on our first trip to Pokhara and one day when we were near that neighborhood, we decided it would be fun to go by to see if the owner was home and was wanting to rent the house. Yes, I know how crazy that sounds, but after seeing some of the crazy things God has done in the past few years, I've realized that crazy does not mean impossible.

When we arrived at the house, we could tell it was still occupied, but there was still no "To Let" or "For Sale" sign, the gate to the house was padlocked and there was no sign of anyone home even after we knocked on the gate.

Okay, so just because crazy does not mean impossible, it's not always a sign that God's at work either, and a two bideshi's (foreigners), a Nepali woman and 7 kids knocking on a strangers gate calling out, "Hello, is anyone home?" tends to attract a bit of attention from neighbors! God only knows what they must have been thinking! So Sam and Ambika went over to talk with one of the neighbors and managed to get the phone number of the lady who owns the house... and the craziness continued!

That evening Ambika called the woman, told her a little of our story and asked if she was interested in renting or selling her house. Needless to say, the woman said she and her family were not planning on renting or selling the house, but she would talk with them and let us know in a day or two. I wasn't sure what to think. Were we insane? After all, we had only seen the outside of the house. Who knows what the inside was like, if it would fit our needs or even be in our price range. But there was also the possibility that God had led us to the house and that it would be perfect and all work out.

Meanwhile, Ambika and the girls went back to Kathmandu while Sam and I stayed in Pokhara and planned a day of looking for a place to live, since we still weren't sure if the house was "our house" and we had to get back to Kathmandu in a few days.

Hit and run damage

Just as we arrived in the neighborhood where we planned to look, a motorcycle that was weaving all over the road ran into our vehicle! Sam pulled over to the side of the road, but the man had driven off! It was the Nepali New Year's Day, and the accident happened right in front of a police sub-station with several police standing outside who witnessed the whole thing, so we assume the guy who hit us was probably drunk and that's why he left the scene.

Luckily, several witnesses, including some police officers, saw everything, got a partial license plate number of the guy who hit us, helped us file a police report and told us to get an estimate for the repairs to our vehicle in case they caught the guy. Along with damage to the side of our vehicle, there was also some damage to the rim of our tire that needed to be repaired right away so that it didn't ruin our tire. By the time we did all of that, we were exhausted and needed to get back to the guest house... so much for our day of looking for a place to live!

On the bright side, Ambika had spoken to the woman who owned the house again. She had talked with her family who were open to the idea of renting the house and agreed that we could come look at the house sometime. The only problem was that we were leaving to come back to Kathmandu the next morning, so we needed to see the house that evening, but the lady wasn't available to show us the house that evening, so we agreed to meet her at 9am the following morning before heading back to Kathmandu.

We showed up at 9am, but no one was there. We called Ambika to see if she had heard from the woman, but she had not, and Ambika couldn't fnd the women's phone number to call her! Luckily, one of the neighbors came out and was able to call the woman. She was eating breakfast and said she would be at the house in about 30 minutes, so we walked around the neighborhood and waited for her.

Sam, Wendy and their soon-to-be new landlord

Finally the woman showed up and showed us the house. It is beautiful and perfect for us. Lots of windows for natural lighting, a view of the mountains, a big new water tank, so we'll have plenty of water, it's at the end of a small road, so there won't be lots of traffic and we agreed on a reasonable rent. Plus she wants to leave most of the furniture there since she doesn't have a place to store it, which helps us out since it is bigger than our current flat and we would rather not spend more money on furniture.

We will most likely move into "our house" in the next few weeks, God willing. Happy Easter from Nepal!