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!

Dancing in the Streets of Kathmandu

Sam in his daura suruwal and me in my sari

Sam and I recently attended a Hindu wedding. The celebrations last 2 days, and Sam and I each bought and wore traditional Nepali outfits. Sam wore a daura suruwal with a black topi (pronounced toe-pee) or Nepali hat, while I wore a sari, blouse, high heels, lots of bangle bracelets and Ambika even talked me into wearing a little make-up!

I had heard that learning to put on a sari is quite a task; an art form, if you will. But honestly, it's a piece of fabric that's several yards long and about 4 feet wide that is wrapped around the waist with one end draped over the shoulder. How hard could that really be? As it turns out, even after trying on 3 different saris and then wearing the one I bought for both days of the wedding celebrations, I still have to have someone else help dress me!

The first day started at about 8am at the bride's parents' restaurant with lots of Hindu pujas (worship, prayer and ceremonial traditions), but everyone shows up throughout the day, so Sam, Ambika and I arrived several hours later, which was good since I needed the extra time and help to put on my sari, heels, bracelets and make-up! The bride and groom sat and welcomed everyone, while many pujas and traditions were performed, music played and a few men were dancing in traditional Nepali style... at one point they even got Sam and I to join them for a few minutes!

Of course, there was a buffet with lots of delicious food... and soda. I don't normally drink soda, but it was a special occassion so I had 2 glasses, which meant I was good for the next few hours before my "sugar-caffeine high" wore off! Luckily, Sam and I went home for a few hours to rest before we left for that evening's festivities across town at the groom's parents' house.

The procession of music and dancing leading
the for the bride and groom's car

The evening festivities started about 6:30pm several blocks away from the groom's parents' house. People started getting out of their vehicles; there was a band (like a small marching band) playing and the whole entourage walked and danced down the street followed by the car with the bride and groom in it.

Ambika and Wendy dance in front of the groom's parents' house

When they got to the groom's parents house, more of us were waiting dancing, singing and celebrating on the sidewalk, and everyone continued to dance in front of the house and in the street, including the bride and groom for what felt like hours, at least to my feet, but was probably only about 15-30 minutes! People walking by, as well as neighbors, stopped to watch the celebrations, and just before we all went inside, a bunch of strands of Christmas-like lights were lit up and hanging from the top of the house to several stories down. It was beautiful!

Puja to Laxmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity

After that the bride and groom stopped several times on the way upstairs to perform a few more pujas and traditions before making their way to the groom's parents' living room, where more blessings and tikas (the red "dots" on the foreheads) were given before they took a bunch of pictures with everyone. Finally (by this time it was about 10pm, and remember, the festivities started at 8 am!), they served some more food and slowly people started to go home to get some sleep before the next day's festivities.

The groom's parents had prepared a room for the bride and groom that had previously been the bride's room during the week leading up to the wedding, so at least they didn't have to go anywhere else that night, after more than 14 hours of celebrations! We didn't get home until after midnight, which is WAY past my bedtime, but luckily, the next day's festivities didn't start until 3 pm!

The next day was more relxed for the bride and groom, since there were not a lot of pujas going on. It was more like our American Christian wedding receptions. The bride and groom started off sitting at the front of a large room filled with lots of chairs for the family and guests. People offered congratulations, gifts and took pictures with the bride and groom, while everyone mingled, visited with each other and waiters and waitresses came around with snack foods, sodas (I only had one this time!), etc. There was also a separate room with another delicious buffet style meal for guests to enjoy throughout the evening. And of course, as the evening went on, the music started and there was more dancing!

Princesses posing for "Sam Uncle"

Ambika's girls attended the second day of festivities and after an hour or two of sitting and eating the snacks that were being brought around, Sam suggested the girls might enjoy it if we took them down to the hotel courtyard, so they could run around a bit, and we could take some pictures of them. The girls are definitely NOT camera shy! Sam would be in the middle of taking a picture of one or more of the girls, and any of the girls that were not in that picture would be in various places in the courtyard yelling, "Sam Uncle, take my picture!" or "Sam Uncle, over here!" This all lasted for about an hour before Sam and I were worn out and the girls went back upstairs.

Sam takes a break from behind the camera to get a picture with the girls

Finally at about 7 pm, I was exhausted and ready to go home, so Sam and I said our good-byes, loaded our pariwar (family) in the car and headed home. That evening as I fell into bed, Sam and I heard the girls upstairs singing Nepali Christian praise and worship songs before they went to bed. It was like falling alseep to a choir of angels singing from above... an amazing end to an exciting (and exhausting) two days!

A HUGE thank you to the bride, groom and their families who were amazing. They made us feel welcome, checked to make sure we were having fun, getting enough food to eat and included us in pictures, conversations, etc. Basically, they included us as part of their family. Raju and Dhenu, we wish you abundant blessings and a lifetime of happiness. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your wedding celebrations!

The bride and groom with the groom's parents and brother.

My Birthday in Nepal

I have always loved my birthday. Not just as a kid, but probably even more now that I'm an adult. I figured my first birthday in Nepal (I turned 42 on Februay 12) would be one I'd never forget, but oddly, as the day approached, I found myself less excited than normal.

The day started with Sam and Ambika waking me up singing Happy Birthday, giving me hugs, and asking me what I wanted for breakfast. Sam fixed us all some tea and made me a peanut butter and honey sandwich that was delicious.

After we had tea, Ambika left to get the girls ready for school, while Sam and I started getting ready for our language lesson... because nothing says "birthday celebration" more than a foreign language lesson, right?! Not sure what we were thinking, but at least we had arranged to meet our teacher at my favorite pizza place in the whole world... not that I've been to every pizza place in the world, but out of the ones I've been to, Roadhouse Cafe near Jawalakhel, Kathmandu tops them all!

Anyway, as I was getting ready, I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, all of the girls were getting ready to leave for school and started singing "Happy Birthday" to me. My birthday just got a lot better.

After the girls sang "Happy Birthday" and left for school, Sam and I left for our language lesson at the pizza place. We got there a little early, so we ordered a piece of the chocolate truffel cake to start... and the day got even better.

Then our language teacher arrived and we started our lesson. I knew the pizza would be amazing (it was), but even our language lesson was awesome. We normally joke and have fun during our lessons, but we were having so much fun eating, practicing Nepali and reading some of the Devanargari (Nepali) script that at times we even had the waiter laughing... with us because of our joking around, not at us because of our language skills for those of you who were wondering!! This birthday was turning out pretty good.

Next we ran some errands and headed home. At 6 pm my time, my mom called to wish me a happy birthday. She woke up super early her time for the call, and my mom is NOT a morning person, so that made the call (and the day) even more special. (Thanks Mom!)

After my call with my mom, Sam and I went upstairs and celebrated with Prem, Ambika and the rest of our pariwar (Nepali for family). Prem had fixed a special birthday dinner of pasta in my honor (yes, I really like Italian food), plus they ordered a yummy black forest birthday cake.

We actually started with the cake, and Sam sang Happy Birthday to me in Nepali (Janmandinko Subhakamana), followed by my Nepali family singing "Happy Birthday" to me in English.

In Nepal they have a birthday tradition that we decided to embrace - the birthday person feeds a piece of cake to someone special. As you can see I had lots of fun with that... and Sam did manage to get me back, but this birthday is now my favorite birthday so far.

Thingyan Trip Part 2

So the adventure continues....

Prem, Ramhari, me and a villager from Thingyan get in the Gypsy, and glide most of the way down the steep mountain roads that almost seemed like some insane obstacle course. But luckily we did not need to turn the vehicle on for most of the descent from Thingyan. This really helped ease some of my concerns about the fuel. One problem with the Gypsy is that there is no power steering, even when the vehicle is turned on, so this can be quite challenging but rewarding when you're low on fuel!

It was a beautiful day and we had some amazing worship in the car, It is always nice to bring Prem along when possible, his passion for Christ is quite infectious, combine this with his worship leader talents and we are a traveling praise team!

As I said before, the terrain I was driving on is not very easy on any vehicle, but the Gypsy's jarring at every bump suddenly increased 500% as the front passenger shock's mounting had broken off the vehicle. Everyone in the vehicle wanted to stop, but was at least another two hours from any town or shop, and no cell phone reception, so I decided to continue at a slower pace. We did this until we heard the next !BANG!, and this one did not sound good. I got out and found that half of the front bumper was sitting on the ground.

In Nepal, scarfs are often given as a sign of respect for visitors and highly regarded peoples. Luckily, I had one of these scarfs placed around my neck just before leaving Thingyan, and this came in handy as it was the only thing we could find to tie the bumper back on. Off we were again finally coming to a paved road leading to Hetauda, a large city where we could have work done on the vehicle and spend a night at a hotel of some sort.

I felt like a horse running to the barn, about to get home. Then the worst happened, I noticed smoke starting to billow out from below the dashboard, I looked down and saw fire through the firewall! We quickly pulled over and unloaded everyone out of the vehicle, including our luggage. We got the hood open and the fire was huge. Luckily we had a 5 gallon bottle of water sitting in the back which we poured over the fire, putting it out moments before the whole thing would have exploded!

We had quite a crowd and many kids were standing around watching. We had no water and were exhausted. We were about 15 minutes from Hetauda so Prem called his buddy Reuben who lives in Hetauda who said he was calling a mechanic to come and tow the vehicle in. This is Nepal, and nothing here happens fast so we wait... and wait. But God's provision is always there if we are looking for it. Walking down the street, far from town was a man pushing an ice cream cart! I couldn't believe it, we all sat there eating ice cream which we also bought for all of the kids around, still singing our praise songs.

We finally got a tow and the shop told us the vehicle would be ready the next day! I could not believe it, and looking back, should not have believed it. We ended up spending 3 nights in Hetauda with many more amazing stories to be told in the future. All in all my quick trip to Thingyan lasted about a week but we made it back to Kathmandu, by the grace of God. When we arrived we found the air filter cover had fallen off and the air filter was stuck in the radiator fan, plus we had a dead battery! We sent the car back to the shop where it stayed for the next month due to holidays.

Quick update: Upon returning to Kathmandu January 2nd, we replaced the battery and drove the Gypsy for the first time after the trip, after our short run around town we pulled into the drive and found almost all of the oil had leaked out of the engine. "Ke Garne?!" which means "What to do?!" So once again it is sitting in the drive gathering dust as we await word on our visas.

Thingyan Trip Part 1

In September, I took a trip to Thingyan. For some reason this blog was never posted, so here we go.

Wendy and I have been hard at our language and culture study in Kathmandu, but I was so excited when I was able to take my first real trip to rural Nepal on 17th of September since moving here. I traveled in my now infamous Gypsy (jeep) with Ramhari and Prem from Kathmandu. The plan was to meet Pastor Ratna about half way there in a major city called Hetauda. Pastor Ratna was to take a bus which would arrive just before we would and ride out with us in the Gypsy the last 4 hours so I could already begin discussions with him about the Hope Fund, and to learn so much about the success or any problems with the program there.

But, this is Nepal, so we ended up waiting 5 hours in Hetauda. Pastor Ratna did not come by bus, but instead came by motorbike, and to take his place in the Gypsy, we waited for two other passengers I did not know, who needed a ride to the village.

I was told previously that the road was quite nice from Hetauda to Thingyan, much better than the way I had gone on a previous trip last year. Yet, after a heavy rainy season that had just ended, these so-called roads were nonexistent, almost. This road was by far the worst road I have ever tried to pass, at times it was like going straight up the mountain!  I noticed pretty quickly that there were no other vehicles on the road at all, and it was then that I was told that no vehicles were passing at this time to Thingyan because the roads were almost impassable! Great to find out this information 3/4 of the way up the mountain.

During one of the many jarring bumps we began to smell fuel, so I got out and checked the fuel tank for a hole, but found it only had a new large dent in the pan, which also killed the fuel gauge, so it was no longer working and registering at empty. Later, during the last leg of the journey, we found that the gas cap had somehow been lost and this was the reason for the gas smell. My missing gas cap was quickly replaced with a potato and a plastic bag! This was the start of problems once again with the Gypsy.  We knew we  had lost some of the fuel but with the gauge not working, we had no clue how much or if we would make it to Thingyan, much less make it back to the major city of Hetauda.

The Gypsy worked great, it made it up some roads that I did not think were possible to be able to pass. I wish I  had taken the time to take pictures of some of the roads we traversed. Next time! Luckily our potato and plastic bag held strong the rest of the trip!  All of  the passengers had to get out at some points just for the jeep to be able to make it up the incline. Our 7 hour trip turned into about 13 hours, but we finally made it to our destination after some tough work by the Gypsy.

I was anxious to meet the people of Thingyan and find out about their lives. Pastor Ratna also had a great dinner prepared for us. From the church we heard chanting and drums going for hours during our talks. I was told  it was actually Ratna's mother practicing worship to idols, currently Ratna is the only member of his family that has come to Christ. I was asked if I wanted to see how they did this, and I jumped at this opportunity but was shocked when I saw what was taking place, I was told it was a ritual from the first century. Ratna's mother was completely wrapped in a blanket and sitting on the floor. There were two people jumping around with burning  fires in one hand and some kind of alcohol in the other as they were chanting they would throw a hand full of alcohol through the fire onto his mom wrapped in the blanket. Each time someone, would quickly brush the fire off of the sheets which surrounded Ratna's mother.

After this we went next  door to the church building and had the most amazing time of prayer and worship to the only true God, he joined us with his presence and we were all refreshed. After some time we planned  out the next day, I would take  many interviews with the DSLR camera that Adam had left with me on his last trip to Kathmandu. Learning how to be a  much better photographer is also one of my new goals. We went  to sleep that night with the chanting and drums going on in the background,  lasting most of the night.

We actually slept great in a room with about 8 guys sleeping on the floor. The next morning, we set out early to talk with the 5 latest Hope Fund recipients, to see how things were going and to learn more about who them and how the program has effected them. When we started walking, I quickly realized that we were heading down steep mountain rocks that were still wet from the morning dew. Unfortunately, I was wearing the wrong kind of shoes for this type of trail ( my hiking shoes were in the Gypsy,)  I must have slipped and fallen at least 20 times on my rump! They all got such a good laugh and I even had Pastor Ratna helping hold me up until they found something I could use as a walking stick!

Pastor Ratna doing his best to keep me from falling!

The conversations were great and I was able to meet some amazing people. The work being done here through the Hope Fund has truly changed this entire community, raising it out of poverty and empowering them to provide for their families and their children's food and educations. I was able to meet with the chairman of the Hope Fund in Thingyan and his wife. I feel so blessed to have had the priviledge of making this trip, meeting these people and hearing their stories.

Pastor Ratna and I on the trails.

Thingyan is one  of the most amazing places I have found on earth with beautiful mountains every direction you look, and the people were even more amazing. Peoples of all religions in this place are being blessed by the HopeFund and other programs Servlife has brought to this remote location. The Christians now have the respect of the entire village, including the Hindus. Out in the villages, they speak no English and even with a translator I missed so much of what was going on. This has given me a greater drive to really put more effort towards learning the Nepali language.

After a long day we had a nice  meal  and finalized some conversations. I was deeply impacted by the way the Hope Fund has been such a success here. We packed up the Gypsy late in the afternoon to head back to Hetauda. But, did we have enough fuel to even make it, or could we face even greater difficulties on our journey down....
Find out soon in Part 2. It gets very interesting, stayed  tuned!

Back to the States

Why, God?

I'm sure we have all asked this question at times, and this is where we found ourselves as we booked our plane tickets out of Nepal for October 25th, the last day on our tourist visas. In Nepal, you only get 5 months a year on a tourist visa, and to our great dismay, our work visas did not come through in time.

Wendy immediately realized that we would miss Christmas with the girls at the Peace Loving Home, who have taken us in as family. That was unacceptable, so we decided to celebrate early with them on October 24th. We had a wonderful evening together, ate a lot of food and even had a "Happy Birthday Jesus" cake as well! As you can see in the pictures, we were able to buy new winter coats for all of the girls, as well as a plush robe to keep Aama warm all winter. 

October 25 came and we were in tears to be leaving Nepal, still not understanding God's plan in this. After 30 hours of travel we made it back to Texas and were picked up by our son, Simon, who we we thrilled to see. It took about a week before we were feeling normal again from the 12 hour time difference - that is as bad as jet lag can get!

It has been great to see our friends and family, and God has seen fit to give us rest and rejuvenate our souls. Our plans for our stay in the states includes two weeks traveling and seeing our family and then getting back to work learning Nepali.

It has been fun watching God's plan come together for our lives, even though we don't always understand it or like it. He has placed his finger on some things we need to change or remove from our lives so we can better serve Him and the people of Nepal. Best of all, my marriage to Wendy has jumped to all new heights as God has us breaking down walls and defenses in our own marriage.

We look forward to spending as much time as possible with our family, friends and partners before we fly back to Nepal at the end of December.