Before the Mountains

Buying Time

2012-02-15T18:22:00.000-08:00

It has been way too long since I wrote an entry on this blog. Life, motherhood, school, and just general cranial disorganization has contributed to a serious lack of content. We recently moved into our new flat, and the craziness of it all has left me thinking about how I can manage to cram all the things I need to do into a day. At the end of the day, I often feel like the "to do" list has only grown longer. Those same days are typically ones filled with the frustrations of trying to teach two toddlers to grow into godly children despite their being the seeds of the Fall just like their parents and all the time that is consumed trying to keep a house cleaned, laundered, and fed in the South Asian context where neither electricity or water are particularly dependable. I have been challenged by the thought of how one, whether overseas worker or person living at home, buys more time. How do you carve time away from other less important things to place that oh-so-valuable time where it really belongs? We know that time is precious, but how do we get more?

In those few moments I have to just be quiet at the start and close of the day, I have been reading a book called One Thousand Gifts about a woman's journey to transforming her life from one of ingratitude and dissatisfaction to one of thanksgiving and joy. Eucharisteo. She commented in the book of the difficulty of taking time to say thank you when she had so little time to begin with. In giving thanks for all the little things throughout a day, from the warm smiles of her children playing outside to the curls of cheese she piled on a pizza, she began to feel a sense of having more time, similar to when Jesus gave thanks before feeding the crowds--that thanks took a little and made a lot. Essentially, this slowing of the heart and mind to recognize every gift from our Maker slowed time, gave her more, because she began to live fully in every moment. Another person in the book commented, "Wherever you are, be fully there." This week, I have been battling my scatterbrained nature to instead stop and live fully in each moment, rather than rattling off "to do" lists in my head while someone talked to me. I am learning, despite the fact that my flesh does not want to be taught, that thanksgiving has a transformative effect. Maybe it really is how we begin to buy time in this precious, short life.

2011 is over

2011-12-31T13:50:00.000-08:00

Well today is the last day of 2011. We have been in America the last 6 months, and therefore, very little has been posted to this blog. All that is about to change. We will be back in Asia in two and half weeks, and life will be more interesting. It's not that life in America is boring, but it's normal. We enjoy normal, but we are ready to get back to our crazy home half a world a way.

2011 has been a great year for us because of you guys. Your prayers have accomplished much. God has done great things. If you are thinking, "But I haven't been praying," then you are missing out on an amazing opportunity to be a part of what God is doing. The first half of this year was full of firsts. Being in the studio recording the first worship songs in the Tazig language, recording the first scripture in the Tazig language, and P.J.'s first trip to Tazig land to deliver those first scriptures and songs. We are so thankful for the work God has given us and the wonderful partners He has brought us together with to learn from, encourage, and labor together with.

The second half of the year has been a wonderful time with all of you and our amazing families that love and support us in all we do. We have seen God provide as He always does and have partnered together with three new churches! We've been able to spread the news in Illinois, Ohio, and Virginia, about the great need for workers all around the world and share specifically about the Tazig people.

It's been a great year. 2012 is going to be even better. We can feel it.

Content

2011-06-10T04:42:00.000-07:00

After our first three years in South Asia, we had a long list of things we were looking forward to in the U.S. On the top of that list then and now was, of course, family and friends, but that was just the beginning of our list back then. We had a long list of things we wanted to do, experience, eat, and see. We couldn’t wait to dry our clothes in a dryer, drink water out of a tap, eat some ribs, go to Wal-Mart (and Home Depot), and frequently visit that beautiful American invention called the supermarket! After three years, we were desperately longing for advanced western civilization.

We find ourselves in a different position now three and a half years later. We have been back here in South Asia for another two and a half years, and we find ourselves ready to be “home”, but not desperate to be there. We have been thinking and talking a lot about this and asking ourselves the question “Why?” What is different this time? Have we just become more South Asian and feel more at home here? Yes, possibly. Is it because we are now living in the place where we feel like God wants us long term and so we have put down more roots and made this place more our home than our previous city? Yes, I think that is part of it, too. This place is our home. We have now lived more than five combined years in South Asia, and our personal culture has changed. Naomi has lived in Asia nearly 90% of her life. Ezra has lived here 100% of his life. They know no other home than Asia. So we have changed, and our kids have grown up here.

Something else has changed as well: Our memory of the beauty of American has become more realistic. When we were leaving the first time, America was more or less perfection in our minds, and as you all know, that is not true.
So, this time there is a shorter list of things we are looking forward to and now there is a list of things we will miss from here. P.J. is going to miss getting a real haircut, a straight-razor shave, and head massage for $1.50. We are both going to miss being able to go out to a nice restaurant and spending only $15-20. We will miss our friends here, and we will definitely miss our work.

Really what I am saying is that we are content. We are content here, and we will be content in the U.S, and contentedness is the best place to be.

Being the Entertainment

2011-05-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

On this past trip we went to some pretty remote places. It always amazes me, while traveling around the sub-continent, how people have chosen to live in some of the most remote and difficult places. The set up their villages in the middle of deserts, in nearly barren valleys, and some villages seem to barely cling to the sides of mountains. These places prove very difficult for national infrastructure to reach, and therefore, many villages go without electricity, roads, indoor plumbing, and most shocking of all – any kind of digital entertainment. That’s right, no T.V., no movies, and sometimes even no radio.

So, when two white people walk into one of these villages, village life stops, and all focus is on the living, breathing entertainment that has just entered their world. To the western eye we may seem to be the most normal looking and acting people, but let me try to envision for you what we look like to the 12-year-old villager living in a remote place. Top 10 most entertaining things about two white American men (as recounted to their friends the next day):

10) They were so huge! One of them must have been 9 feet tall!
9) Their skin was so white! One of them was so white it hurt my eyes looking at him (sorry K)! And then they pulled up the sleeves of their shirts… and that skin was even whiter!
8) They slept outside in a tent. Don’t they know that you can get eaten by bears if you sleep outside? (Most South Asians seem to think their countries are crawling with bears.)
7) Then they went down to the freezing cold river and swam in it? That’s a good way to catch a cold.
6) And they washed their bodies with soap. Right in the river! Totally unnecessary.
5) Do you know what they ate? They ate just potatoes and some kind of meat with gravy. They didn’t eat any rice! How can you go to sleep without eating any rice!?! They must have been poor white people.
4) They had a horse with them. It was the oldest, slowest, and most stubborn horse our village has ever seen!
3) One of them had orange hair. No, I promise you it was totally orange!
2) Both of them had hair growing on their chins! What do they think they are--goats?
1) They had hair on their arms! All over their arms hair was growing just like it grows on our heads. The funniest thing was that when you pulled the hair on their arms… they acted like it hurt!

What Do You Do With a Slow, Old, Possibly Blind, Stubborn Horse?

2011-05-18T22:45:00.000-07:00

If you are considering going on a long trek and buying a horse to save money on porter fees, I would recommend it. You have to be careful though, as not all horses are created equally. Here are a few things you want to avoid:

1. An old horse – Despite the obvious reasons for not buying an old horse (might be slow, can’t walk more than a few hours a day, horse arthritis*, etc) the main reason is you are also buying all the bad habits that have been going on for years! Our horse was allowed to set the pace for 9 years, and all of a sudden he has two Americans behind him trying to get him to go faster.

2. A Blind Horse – This one doesn’t really need to be explained. Horse that can’t see well + narrow cliffs a thousand feet up = not good.

3. A Stud – As a man, it is hard to say this, but unless the sole reason for the horse is to make babies, castration is the way to go. Our horse had always been a pack horse, but he secretly thought he was a stud and strove to make a change in profession.

Unfortunately, all of these things may have been true about our horse (we thought he was blind early on, but we aren’t so sure any more, maybe just farsighted). Despite all his inadequacies, he was with us for three weeks and walked carrying our load for well over a hundred hours. As the end of the trip drew near and we only had three days of walking back to the airport where we hoped the sell him, we thought our decision had really paid off. We thought we could sell the horse and save hundreds of dollars on paying people to carry our supplies. Well… 3 o’clock on day one of our three day descent he stopped and would not move. At all. We beat him (don’t worry P.E.T.A. not that hard), we yelled at him, we threw rocks (again P.E.T.A. not that hard), we pulled on his rope, we pled, begged, prayed, cried a little, tried to reason with him, but nothing worked. So we went to bed hoping he was just tired. Day two: Packed up ready to go at 6 a.m., and he won’t budge. So what do you do? Well, we wanted to take him out. Push him of a cliff? Knock a big boulder on his head? Anything (I have no excuse P.E.T.A. This horse was so bad you would have picked him off, too).
So what did we end up doing? Worse than killing him. We gave him away. The horse won. He was stubborn, and he got his way. We adversely affected another poor human’s life by giving him a horse named Lucky. I feel terrible.

* There may be nothing called horse arthritis.

The Life We Lead

2010-11-10T19:25:00.000-08:00

When your child says that they want to go home that is a pretty easy request to grant, but what if you are not sure what they mean by home? About a month ago we were staying in a hotel in Bangkok for three days. A hotel so nice and a room so big that we parents wanted to call it home for the rest of our lives. We had just spent the last 2 1/2 months living on an island in the south of Thailand which Naomi called home. We were leaving for our "home" in South Asia the next day which, of course, Naomi calls home. So when we were playing in the hotel room and Naomi asks "to go home" we are not sure what to tell her. Unfortunately for our parents, home for Naomi is definitely not the U.S. She has spent less than 20% of her life in the U.S. So where is home?

For the most part, home is where Mom and Dad are, but there is one more element - her toys. When we walked in the door of our house in South Asia and Naomi headed into her room and saw all of her toys she had left behind for the past 2 1/2 months... she was home. Mom was there, Dad was there, baby Ezra was there, and all of her stuffed animals, blocks, coloring books, story books, baby dolls, and cars were there. So where is home? Geographically I am not sure, but Naomi needs very little for a place to be home, and for the life we lead, that is a real blessing.

Just Gotta Dance

2010-11-05T04:11:00.000-07:00

Last week we came home one night around 8 o'clock from visiting some friends, and our neighbors across the street were having a party. Naomi loves music and can't help but dance when she hears it. On top of that, whenever we step into our front courtyard a motion floodlight comes on. A live band playing across the street... the "spotlight" shining on you... what can you do? You've just gotta dance.

Enjoy this video: (copy and paste in your web browser)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neU-fs6HZCY

We didn't want to leave Ezra out so at the end of the clip there is a little footage of Ezra doing what he does best, falling asleep.

Commence Deworming

2010-10-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

There are some things you pretty much never have to do in the U.S., except for pets that is, that become a part of ordinary life here. When our child continually complained of an itchy backside, the first assumption here, other than "Did you wash it?", is the dreaded worm. In fact, worms are so much a part of life for many people that most organizations recommend that the entire family be de-wormed twice a year "just in case."

Today our sweet little girl joined the de-worming club. So, just how do you de-worm a 2-year-old? Pretty much the same way you do an animal. Hide something nasty in something they like and send it down with peanut butter. Not looking forward to the other end of the process...

Update and a Brilliant Idea!

2010-08-29T04:55:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to not just write a blog about Japanese T.V. show I will give you a quick update on what is going on with us. The fourth and smallest member of the family should be entering the outside world any day now. Lizzy’s mom arrives on Thursday and part of Lizzy wants to baby to wait until Thursday to come but probably a bigger part of her wants baby boy to come yesterday!

Naomi is doing well with potty training. Potty training is the most up and down emotional experience ever. One moment we are cheering in the bathroom and giving out treats and an hour later we want to quit and keep her in diapers forever while mopping up an accident. Over the past four weeks we have had to routinely remind ourselves that if there are more successes than accidents then we are making progress.

Now, on to the good stuff; a lot of American T.V. is pretty worthless. Half of the T.V. shows that are exported to Asia make me ashamed. I always wonder what Asians think when they watch shows like Jerseylicious, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Moment of Truth, and Cops episodes from the 1980’s. So, I think we should steal a brilliant T.V. show from Japan. I have no idea what the show is called because all the lettering on the show is in Japanese and the show is dubbed in Thai. Each episode they seem to have a competition between the contestants to complete an everyday task with extreme precision and speed. The first episode I saw was between chefs, and it was pretty similar to an “Iron Chef.” The second episode I saw was between several guys to see who could park a car the best! What a concept! A whole show based on reversing a car into a parking spot, albeit with an extreme twist. On each episode there are three rounds. Despite the language difficulties, here is what I believe the three rounds consisted of: In round one the contestants had to accelerate the car in reverse to about 30 mph, and as they entered the parking space, brake in time to land the rear bumper as close to the back of the parking space (made up of a tall stack of empty paint cans) as possible. Round two was a game of musical chairs. The cars drove around in a circle with four parking spaces, pointing in four different directions, in the middle. When the music stops, you have to back into a parking space about a foot wider than your car as fast as possible. Round three, very simple, the contestants had to park their car in a parking spot literally a mere 2-3 inches wider than the cars. Fastest time wins, but any contact with any part of the car is an immediate disqualification. What made this episode so exciting was the speed and precision with which these guys parked their cars. Absolutely incredible! Now, if you are a lady reading this (you may have given up at this point), then you are thinking, “I would never watch that show.” If you are a guy, though, you are probably thinking “that sounds amazing” and “I bet I would be great on that game show.” I don’t know what it is about guys, but we all think we are probably the best driver ever to grace the road. I know every time I park I always take a step back to check my handiwork. So there you go America, a new exciting game show!

A Change of Pace

2010-07-30T03:16:00.000-07:00

We are no longer in South Asia. We are now in the beautiful kingdom of Thailand. For a country that is so close, Thailand couldn’t be any more different, and we are greatly enjoying those differences. We are here, of course, for the birth of our second child, and we have come here to take advantage of the far superior medical facilities. We had a doctor’s appointment last Monday, and we were greatly encouraged by the whole experience. Besides the beautiful and clean building, world-class equipment, and knowledgeable staff, the most shocking divergence from our last experience in South Asia was that people were smiling. The staff was smiling and helpful, and the patients seemed happy to be there as well! There was even a sign in one area that said, “If you’ve been waiting more than 15 minutes, please see a staff member.” Needless to say the appointment instilled a great deal of confidence in us.

We are also enjoying a few other comforts of home, too, not that there aren’t some challenges that come along with those. Well, I say a few comforts, but there are actually many of those here that have made this first week and a half a much needed recharge for us. Here is our top-ten list so far:

10. Pasteurized milk (Lizzy’s contribution)
9. Burger King (P.J.’s contribution)
8. A Target(ish) supercenter
7. Cold-cut sandwiches from our fridge
6. Delicious Thai food
5. Having a car
4. Swimming in the pool every day
3. Never losing electricity!!!
2. A beautiful beach just minutes away
1. Air conditioning

Top these all off with the fact that there is a 7-Eleven nearly every block of road—sometimes 2—where Slurpees and strange barbeque pork buns, which can easily be confused with minced pork and fermented egg sandwiches, abound.

Early Bird Beats the Traffic

2010-07-18T03:01:00.000-07:00

Lately, our little one has taken quite the liking to this little ride-on toy car she has in the house. She will happily return to ride it around the house at least once an hour. She was sick yesterday, but she still was keen to play on her car. Although she normally sleeps until about 8 every day, she woke up this morning at 4:30 feverish and hungry. After taking care of her and sending her back to bed, all the while struggling to keep my eyes open, all was calm and quiet--until the wheels began to turn.

Sure enough, at 5 o'clock in the morning, this sick little girl decided to get a move on the day to beat the busy city traffic. Part of me was so tired I didn't care if she wanted to play in her room quietly, but when the driving moved into our room it didn't quite work. I woke P.J. up, and we both just started laughing through our grogginess thinking the whole incident was actually pretty funny. She seemed to think it wasn't the least bit strange to be riding around the house on a plastic car at 5 A.M.

Funny as it may have been, we hope she does not choose to do any early morning traveling again any time soon!

Our Strange and Wonderful Daughter

2010-07-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

She is beautiful, sweet, and incredibly smart. She melts our hearts when she runs up to us to deliver an unexpected kiss or throws her arms around our necks to give us the biggest hug a 21-month-old can give. She can count to seven, knows all her colors, and can name at least a dozen different animals. She surprises us on a daily basis.

Lately, though, she has mainly been making us laugh. She is definitely one of the funniest kids I have ever known. Let me give you some examples:

She is a little monkey who loves to climb anything and everything. She can go from the ground to on top of the kitchen table in about seven seconds. So now, when she gets hungry she thinks she can just help herself. If she is quiet for more than one minute, then she is most likely doing something she isn't supposed to be doing. If she is in the kitchen, and quiet for more than one minute, then she has most likely found something she would like to eat and is eating it. Twice in the past week Lizzy has gone into the kitchen to find Naomi sitting on the table, mango in hand, biting straight through the mango's hard skin to get to the goodness inside; just like a monkey. She has also helped herself to a tomato in this same manner.

Speaking of things she likes to eat, she loves all the usual suspects: bananas, sugar, candy, chocolate, etc. She also loves onions, raw. If one of us is chopping onions for dinner, she wants a piece. The first time I thought, "Oh this will be funny," as I handed her the onion waiting expectantly for a disgusted face, but she likes them. We don't like her breath afterwards!

Today we went to the zoo. Our little girl absolutely loves animals. She loves to pet dogs and cats. She loves to look through her animal books and tell us the names for all the animals and the sounds that the animals make. So, I thought she would love the zoo. She couldn't be bothered. There were tigers, leopards, monkeys, and rhinos, and she thought they were all lame. We went to see the elephant, which she knows the name of in two different languages. We were standing eight feet from this huge majestic animal with no gate or fence to separate us. She was more interested in the swings nearby. There was one animal she was very happy to see which is not found in many zoos in the U.S. The one animal that caught her attention? The Guinea pigs. Squeak, squeak.

You Know You Live in South Asia When...

2010-07-05T09:48:00.000-07:00

You watch a DVD, and when it ends, there aren't any credits--just a trip back to the main DVD menu.

The DVD menu background is stretched and way out of proportion.

The DVD menu background is the cover of Entertainment Weekly with the film characters on it...literally!

That was hilarious!

One Word: Litchis

2010-05-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

If you've ever tasted a litchi or litchi flavored jellies at home, you might think they taste like nasty perfume. Most tropical fruit does have that sort of "musky" flavor that is reminiscent of some perfumes. P.J. recently blogged about mangoes, and closely on their heels come another sweet treat, litchis!

They don't come in a can, and when they're fresh, they are amazing little fruits. They come attached to a big green bushy thing and are small round things surrounded by a rough red shell. Without the shell, they look and feel like eye balls, but man are they tasty!

No, not all of life here is suffering. We may not have electricity, and we may have to reuse our laundry water 3 times, but some things make it all worth it!

Mangoes

2010-05-01T22:31:00.000-07:00

Living is South Asia is full of struggles. You struggle to obtain basic necessities like water, electricity, food, and clean air. You struggle to enjoy basic freedoms like the ability to drive a car on any given day, the ability to worship freely, and the rights every citizen should have, the ability to obtain a driver's license, a package from the post office, or even admission into a school without the need to pay a bribe. America is not perfect, but water, electricity, food, and in most places, clean air are taken for granted. They are widely available and, relatively speaking, cheap. You can drive your car or go to work or school any day you would like. You can believe and live out any kind of strange doctrine you would like. As a matter of fact, the more radical or strange your beliefs are, the more rights and freedoms you are granted.

Despite all this, America is lacking one great necessity and freedom. Mangoes. We have just entered mango season, and for some reason, the lack of water, electricity, and clean air don't bother me as much. What? Today is a strike and nobody can drive their car or bicycle, and all the stores are closed? No problem. I bought mangoes yesterday, I don't need to go to the store. Mango sorbet, mango and banana smoothies, mango, strawberry, and banana fruit salad... are you getting hungry yet? Then we have the granddaddy of all desserts: mango puree over rich, thick vanilla ice cream. It's like a Creamsicle on steroids.

I feel sad for all of you Americans. Sure you can buy a mango for 2 dollars that was picked last month completely green, boxed up, put on a truck, loaded on a ship, set sail for 2 weeks, loaded on another truck, dipped in chemicals to give it some color, and dropped in a bin at your local grocery store. No, I am sorry, you haven't eaten a mango yet. Right now you can get a pound of mangoes here for about 50 cents, but towards the end of the season they are as cheap as 25 cents a pound. Or you could just pick one off a tree for free at the peak of its freshness. All of a sudden life here is not looking so bad. I am beginning to pity all of you stuck in America. Then I remember blueberries, peaches, and crisp Washington apples, which we don't have, and I am lost all over again. I better go eat some mangoes to cheer me up...

We've Got the Powa!

2010-04-21T04:35:00.001-07:00

As you may know, the Thanksgiving/Christmas season marks the end of long stretches of electricity, and no chances of 24 hours a day ever! Last year, a significant loss of a power station put the city at 16 hours of cuts daily shortly after our arrival. The cuts continued at least at 12 hours per day until May when ice melt began to provide some much needed power. The pre-season rains did not come as they should have so that compounded the problem.

This year we did not hit the 12 hour per day mark until March, which was a huge blessing! We lost power for 6 hours, followed by 3-5 on hours, 6 more off, and the remainder of 24 on. Thanks to generous supporters, we have not been without lights at all this year because of our solar-powered backup system. Yes, the fridge and TV stay off, but you might be surprised what you really don't need to be doing just fine. The real joy, however, has been the much needed rain fall we've been receiving 3-4 nights per week recently. Most of Nepal's hydro-power stations are small-scale hydro-electric plants which are not capable of storing large capacities of water. Since you can't really save hydropowered electricity, we've been given additional power every day. In fact, for the last two days, we've been without power for less than 2-3 hours each day. It has been wonderful, but we just don't know what to do with all this power!

Join us in being thankful for plentiful rains that might make a difference in the survival of this year's crops.

Why buy toys?

2010-02-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

In the last two weeks, I've come to realize that it is almost totally unnecessary to buy toys for a toddler because the simplest things are incredibly interesting to them. From straws to locks to bottles with caps, our little girl enjoys them all. She's fascinated with trying to lock our trunks using straws and other random objects shoved down into the lock hole. How she figured out they need locks, we have no idea. These fascinations, however, pale in comparison to one of her most recent interests--poop.

Last week, she was playing in the backyard and discovered a pile of poo left by our neighbor's cat. When she saw a green fly land on it, she walked over, squatted beside it, and exclaimed, "Ooooohhh," as she pointed excitedly. If this were to happen on just one occasion, we might not find it as funny. On Tuesday, we were visiting a historical site in the city, and a few feet from where I stood, there happened to be a pile of dog poo. She slowly approached the nastiness, pointed at it, and said, "Oooooohhh." Why the fascination, I don't know. Maybe she was trying to tell me, "This thing is in the wrong place, Mom." Whatever her motivation, we both had a good laugh at her expense for sure!

What!?!

2010-02-20T07:26:00.000-08:00

Living in South Asia is full of surprises... especially on the roadways. The first time you see a a bus full of people with another 30 people on the roof it's a bit of a surprise, something to laugh at. We see families of 5 all on one 100cc scooter sitting comfortably, two guys on a bike with a full sized goat in the middle, and two guys on a motorcycle with a full 4'x 8' sheet of plywood standing on end in between. All of which are pretty routine these days. We get desensitized to the comedy of it all. We don't even laugh anymore when we see a 60 lb. Labrador riding on the front of a scooter. A guy on a motorcycle holding three dozen chicken by their feet driving down the road? No, not that funny these days. It's common everyday stuff. But, every once in a while we see something new. Something that breaks away from the ordinary, if you can call it that. Yesterday I was riding down the street on my bicycle. A motorcycle began to slowly pass me on the right, and then I saw the white butt laying horizontally across the passenger's lap! No, no it's not what you think. I am not sure how exactly they transport mannequins in America, but in South Asia they do it by motorcycle, one at a time. As the motorcycle pulled in front of me, I began to laugh as I rode my bicycle. Two South Asian guys on a motorcycle, and the guy in the back has a white, naked mannequin lying across his lap driving down the road. It doesn't get much better than that. Sometimes I feel sorry for all of you back home with nothing to look at while driving to work but the same old cars and the same old trucks. The next time you are sitting at a traffic light just picture a few motorcycles beside you. One carrying 5 people, another with a sheet of plywood or maybe a goat, and a third with a naked mannequin. It will make your commute much more interesting!

What Would You Do?

2010-02-05T21:24:00.004-08:00

Imagine you're driving to see a friend when you cross a bridge. On the bridge a large crowd is gathered, peering over the sides and pointing into the river below. Out of curiosity, you stop to see what the fuss is about, and find that the object of all the attention is an unborn baby that has been thrown from the bridge, discarded like a piece of trash not worthy of any dignity. What would you do as everyone stood there staring?

This happened to a friend of ours this week, and he sent a message louder than any words could have said. He walked down to the river bank and waded into this body of water that is scarcely more than raw sewage to pull that little child out of the water. He buried the tiny baby on the river bank to give that lost life even a semblance of the dignity he or she deserved.

These are the things people live with every day here. In the U.S., it's almost a hidden horror because we do not see that loss before us, but here it is laid out in the open for all to see. Is one really better than the other? Of course not. Let this be a reminder for us to lift up those everywhere who are struggling to realize the value of human life. They need to know there is a loving One who created them and has a plan for every child. This view of the life of the unborn child somehow being less important has even permeated the local fellowships here and needs to be broken by the only Victor who can.

This awful experience our friend had just reminded me that no matter what happens here on Earth or how messed up humans can be, every one of those lost children will have the very best Parent of all for eternity, and to Him they are treasures in whom He delights.

Relationship Building

2010-02-03T02:00:00.000-08:00

Whenever you move to a new place it is important to make new friends. Luckily we have moved to a very friendly country, and for the most part, making new friends is easy. But, for one of the three of us, making new friends is even easier. The other day we were in a shoe store buying new shoes for Nay. I had just put on a pair of shoes for her to try out, and she took off walking down the aisle in them. Just then another little girl, about 2 years old, came around the corner. She looked at Nay walking down the aisle and immediately walked up to her to give her a hug and a kiss! In the course of the next two minutes these two little girls hugged 2 more times. It was one of those times I really wished I had a camera with me. They were very cute together.

Now it is very common for random strangers to smile at me, say hello, even walk up and ask my name or where I am from, but no one has immediately hugged and kissed me. Come to think of it, I get the most smiles and hello's when I am carrying my little girl. There is a very good possibility that if we didn't have her we would actually have no friends. So I guess she really does pull her own weight!

Relaxation... well kind of.

2010-01-18T03:07:00.000-08:00

This past week we left the madness of the city for a little oasis of peace, serenity, and 24 hours a day of electricity. We went to a resort with 48 rooms set on four beautiful acres, and the only sounds we could hear were those of nature or the human beings around us. No honking horns, no diesel engines--just the sound of the little creek running through the property or the horses neighing as they happily ate. On top of all this, we had constant electricity, constant hot water, and all of our meals were provided at one of the on-site restaurants. The perfect week of relaxation, long walks, clean air, and good food... well almost.

We were at this beautiful resort to help out with another organization's youth program while they had their conference. A week of teaching, singing, leading crazy games, and being around 13-18 year old youth may not sound like a relaxing week for many of you, but for us it was just what the doctor ordered. Our schedule was pretty light, and we had a few nights free plus all of our afternoons off save for the occasional game of Ultimate Frisbee. Plus, believe it our not, I like spending time with 15 year old kids, maybe because their physical age represents my maturity level. We still enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, and the break from cooking and doing dishes. We spoiled ourselves with the ability to turn on a light any minute of any day, and because the water was boiling hot, I believe I spent most of my free time in the shower baking my skin off. It was a wonderful week. Naomi enjoyed herself in the open outdoors and thought that the horses were the best doggies she had ever seen.

Now before I get a bunch of emails telling me we need to take a real holiday or a real time of relaxation, don't worry because we do take care of ourselves. We are nowhere close to burnout, and we do have some real times of relaxation planned for when both of our parents come this year. For where we are at now, this past week was just what we needed.

It Feels Like Christmas!

2009-12-15T03:34:00.000-08:00

4 out of the past 5 years we have lived in countries where Christmas is not widely celebrated. It is very surreal to leave your house on Christmas day and realize that it is business as usual for most of the population. I don't know what it will be like here on Christmas day, but in these weeks leading up to Christmas, one thing is very different from our previous years: It feels like Christmas!

The feeling began when the weather suddenly turned chilly inside and outside our house. Then, of course, there was the traditional Thanksgiving gorging that left us feeling pleasantly satisfied and really in the spirit of the season. The real fun came when we bought a box of Christmas decorations from a family who is leaving and set up our tree. We've experienced that excitement all 3 times we've set it up! Yeah, cats and baby... need we say more? Our little one has loved playing with the Play Mobile nativity set we have since she can't break it and she can chew on the baby in the manger. We keep telling her, "We don't eat babies," but she doesn't seem to understand.

This weekend we enjoyed a really cool Christmas bazaar at a hotel. There were hundreds of people, but to add to the feeling of the season, it felt very much like a family of many people we knew. The whole expat community feel is very different than what we experienced in other South Asia locations. Maybe it's related to how small it is. Nay had a great time being passed around by many of our youth group members and other friends. Anyway, there were booths with Christmas goodies, bonfires, caroling, bands (surely we can find a photo of P.J. in his afro and sequined top to post), hot chocolate, and a pig roasting on a spit. Now that's a holiday celebration! The following night we enjoyed a lovely cantata. Two nights from now we'll be participating in a cookie decorating party, and Friday we'll be making our own Christmas treats. All in all, this is shaping up to be one fantastic few weeks!

Scary Woman

2009-12-06T02:19:00.000-08:00

Today I discovered that I am not a woman you would want to corner on a street. There is this slightly off creepy man who regularly tries to talk to me on my road. I always ignore him as that is usually the best policy. After lunch today, however, I was talking on the side of the main road with my friend when he walked within inches of us and just stood there. This would never happen if we were two local women so clearly there is a major overstepping of cultural norms for him to do this. I became very angry and felt threatened so I loudly shouted, "Go! You go now!" It sounded more like what you would say to a pesky dog than a person. Anyway, he just smiled and continued to stand there so I stepped a few paces back, picked up a rock, and threw it at him, below the waist like any respectable dodgeballer should. That wiped the smirk off his face promptly, and he slowly backed away giving me a window to begin my speedy walk to my house. He did attempt to follow me, but my friend and I walked fast enough that we lost him.

As I feverishly walked back, I reflected on how this is something I would never do anywhere else, but desperate circumstances call for desperate measures. If you act like a dog, be prepared to be treated like one. And definitely don't mess with me!

A Rescue!

2009-10-16T09:05:00.001-07:00

When I (Lizzy) embarked upon a grocery shopping trip today, I had no idea that I would protect someone from serious bodily harm. As larger shopping complexes come up here, a relatively new people moving feature is the escalator. They remind us of the many conveniences in our former world, but they seem to incite fear in the hearts of locals as people carefully place a foot onto the moving stairs. When Nay and I were standing by the escalator at the grocery store while P.J. was paying nearby, this older couple prepared to enter the escalator. The husband stepped on without any hitches and reminded his wife that all would be okay if she just stepped forward. Unfortunately, escalators don't work that way, and you do actually have to put your foot on a step.

Right when the woman boldly set her foot down on a step, I noticed that she stepped on the crack between two. As the front stair lifted, everything went into slow motion, and this poor lady started falling backwards. That turned into an awful spectacle of falling, crawling, squealing, and struggling grab anything as the machine continued to move. Of course, it was really only a few seconds, but it seemed like forever! Since I grew up with escalators, I knew I had to push an emergency button to stop it. Thankfully, locating it took just a second, and I pushed my way in front of other rescuers to stop the escalator. Poor Nay was screaming hysterically, but the move allowed the woman's husband to pick her up. Amazingly enough, she stood up with grace (and even a smile on her face!) and proceeded to climb the staircase to the next floor as though nothing had happened.

While the rescue seemed dramatic, the funniest part was watching the locals try to figure out how to get those stairs moving again. They repeatedly pushed the emergency button, telling each other, "You have to push that, it's the 'On' button." When I couldn't stand it anymore, I told them in the local language, "You need a key." And then, everyone reassured their neighbor, "Yes, you need a key." Only here... : )

#1 The Adventure Begins

2009-10-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

My friend asked me to join him on a 10-day trip to visit different villages and spend some time teaching and encouraging our brothers and sisters in those villages. His sales pitch was lacking appeal: he told me there would be long days of travel, long hours of walking, nights sleeping on the floor, and meal after meal of the exact same food. Despite all those luxuries it was still a very difficult decision. I would have to leave my wife and beautiful baby girl for 10 days. In the end, we decided as a family it was right for me to go for a multitude of reasons.

So last Monday my friend and I loaded up at 6:00am for a long road trip. 11 hours and one flat tire later, we arrived at our destination where we met our local companions that would be traveling with us. Day two was eventful but not very newsworthy. We visited a young congregation, and I spoke to them in the morning. In the afternoon we had a small leadership retreat. Day three we were on the road again, heading into the mountains, and luckily we had no flat tires or any other problems. We arrived at our destination around dusk. We could go no further by vehicle since there was a river with no bridge separating us from the village we planned to reach. In the dry season they build a floating pontoon bridge, but we are in the tail end of monsoon season so no hope there. We had a short 30 min walk to the place we would sleep for the night, which was situated on a little peninsula jutting into the river that was connected to the mainland by two suspended walking bridges.

The “hotel” consisted of a ground floor eating area with kitchen and an upstairs open room with five single beds. We put our packs down and headed down for dinner. All the kids were excited to see two giant white people in their little town and were asking us to tell them a story. We were excited to tell them a story from the Truth, but before we finished our food, the electricity came on and all thoughts of a story went out the window with the switching on of the television. The television, oddly enough, was located in our room. So after dinner we joined the entire village already seated in our room for a little entertainment. Not long after we sat down a little boy put a new DVD in which turned out to be the absolute strangest movie I have ever seen in my life.

The plot started out simple enough. A rich family in the capital city has their only son kidnapped on his way to school by a group of jungle hooligans who all seem to operate on an I.Q. in the single digits. The kidnapper demands a steep ransom, but before they can make the exchange, the little boy escapes into the jungle. The scene ends with the little boy running into the jungle, and the very next scene opens up with the little boy sitting in a jungle tree-house with a beautiful woman from the city and a fawn. By fawn, I don’t mean a young deer, that wouldn’t be that odd, but rather there was a half man half goat just like in Narnia sitting in the tree house with the little boy. Where this fawn comes from, or for that matter the woman from the city, we never know. How did they meet up with the boy? That’s never explained either. Those are only minor details in the story I guess.

The movie proceeds without a plot of any kind for the next 30 minutes as the fawn, gets himself into funny situations after the woman from the city takes both the fawn and the little boy home to her mansion in the capital. The fawn tries to eat plastic fruit, shoots the T.V. with an arrow after a lion came on screen, eats an entire tube of toothpaste, and inadvertently sees the girl naked in the bathroom. All the typical things fawns do when faced with civilization. Then they take a trip to the zoo, and while at the zoo, they are spotted by the jungle hooligans who recapture the little boy and the woman with the fawn in hot pursuit. Ah, back on plot.

The movie ends with the boy’s family showing up to pay the ransom, but they never have to pay it because it turns out the woman from the city and the fawn seem to have black belts in Taekwando so they defeat the 10 kidnappers with ease. The father gives his heartfelt thanks to the fawn, and then the beautiful woman, who seems to have fallen in love with the fawn, says a tearful goodbye as he swings up into the vines and off into the jungle. Maybe she realized the city was no place for a fawn. It was a really touching moment. The T.V. was switched off, the village left us to sleep, and moments later I was laying in my bed thinking, “What in the world did I just watch?”

#2 Head in the Clouds

2009-10-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

3:30 the next morning I was being shaken awake and told it was time to leave. I sat up not knowing what time it was and saw my buddy glaring at me from across the room. In the fogginess of my brain I thought “I must of said something bad about his mother in my sleep.” He came over to me and said joking, “Just so you know this is all your fault.” I was confused. Thankfully he added “You do know it’s 3:30, don’t you?” I didn’t, but then it all came back. The night before we were told we couldn’t get on the bus since it was a main holiday and every last inch of space was already reserved. So we would have to walk 10 hours to the village, and it was suggested that we leave between 6-7. They turned to me and asked if that was O.K., and I said “It doesn’t matter to me, we can leave at 4:00am.” It was a joke, but it was not taken as a joke.
So off we began our “10-hour” walk at four o’clock in the morning. It was still dark and very foggy, and we began to climb. 90% of our walking turned out to be uphill, and when the sun came up we were already above the clouds and would stay above or inside the clouds the rest of the day. We started off with purpose, mentally prepared for a long 10-hour trek. The scenery was, as it always is here, beautiful, and we were in high spirits despite our early departure.

At 10:00am we had been walking for 6 hours and hoped we had reached the halfway point. We asked some locals how far it was to the village. They looked us up and down and said “You’ll never make it.” Wow, that’s encouraging. An hour later we asked someone else. They again sized us up and replied, “You’ll never make it.” Our guide told us it might take five or six hours more. By this point we had been walking for seven hours, and the thought of five or six more hours was just deflating. Amazingly enough it was our local companions who were lagging behind and slowing down the foreigners. We trudged on up the hill. Around 5:00pm, 13 hours after we started walking, it began raining. I was already soaked with sweat, although it was only about 60 degrees, so I wasn’t worried about getting wet. The rain brought two problems, slippery trails and leeches. So there we were walking in the dark, slipping and sliding up and down the hills with our feet and ankles covered in leeches. At that point we didn’t care if we made it, we just wanted to stop.

At 8:00pm we proved everyone wrong. We made it! 16 hours after we set out from the river town, we arrived at our destination, a village situated on a ridge. We had covered 50-60 miles that day, by foot. I took off my socks and shoes and left a pool of blood on the ground from pulling off leeches. I didn’t care, I was sitting down, and there was no more walking to be done. That night I was reminded of the Scripture, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news.” Mine may not have looked beautiful on the outside, but what we brought with us was.

2009-10-02T02:26:00.001-07:00

#3 Bathing in Concrete

2009-10-02T02:26:00.000-07:00

The day after our 16-hour trek, day 5, I taught in the morning on “washing” in preparation for the “dunking” of 20 people. Then we headed downhill to a small river to accomplish the task at hand. Easy enough, right? Well, not on this trip. After walking 45 minutes downhill with the sound of the river growing louder and louder, I was dismayed at the sight of our selected body of water. The water was gray from all the rock and sediment that had been washed down from the mountains. To make matters worse, it was really fast moving, and the terrain was very dangerous. In our company we had a range of ages from 1½ years old all the way up to a few ladies in their 70s. So we headed upstream to find a smaller creek that was supposed to be cleaner and fed into the grey river. It was cleaner, for about 3 minutes before it began to rain. Not just a sprinkle, but an all out torrential downpour. So our clean river was now muddy brown, and the little pool we had selected was quickly filling with gravel and mud.

The main river on the other hand had turned to the consistency of concrete. The force of the concrete was so strong that it was throwing boulders the size of T.V.s down the river. I had taught just two hours before about the symbolic death to self, but this river would make the symbolism very real. So now our company of 40 or so people began walking downstream to yet another creek. 45 slow-moving, treacherous minutes later, we reached a crystal clear creek and found a place to build a small damn. All in all the day turned out to be a wonderful celebration of new life. Now we just had to make the hour walk back up the hill on very sore legs!

#4 My First Time in an Ambulance

2009-10-02T02:16:00.000-07:00

The next day we walked four hours over to another village to spend some time with a different group of people. We had a wonderful time there that day as my friend talked about the cost of following Him. We had a great response, but by the afternoon, we were very tired from the past couple days and very happy that we had decided to stay in that village for the night. We were showered with hospitality and enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing and visiting with the people there. After a good night's sleep, we woke up to hear that a vehicle had been found for us to travel back to the other village so we could save our strength for the next two full days of teaching. So what was the vehicle? That’s right...an ambulance!

My thoughts were along these lines: "This should be good. An ambulance driver should be a safe driver used to carrying delicate cargo. There should be no safer way to drive around winding mountain roads than in a 4x4 ambulance right?" Wrong! About 10 seconds after the last door was closed, the clutch was popped, and the neck breaking adventure began. Keep in mind this is a dirt road that is heavily rutted from tires and the monsoon rains. There were several stream crossings, several large boulders in the road, and hundreds of chickens, goats, and people along the way. None of these things slowed down our driver. His cargo, that would be us, was tossed around like rag dolls in the back. I thought I would have whiplash for sure. My friend sat in the front seat and said that on one sharp turn we hit 32 mph. Next time you are driving, take a 90 degree turn at 32 mph, and then picture yourself on a dirt road with a 500 foot drop awaiting you if you slip off the road. Let’s just say I was preparing my soul for eternity. We arrived, but I don’t know if safely would be the word. We just arrived. Hopefully that will be my last time in an ambulance, but if nothing else at least my last time in an ambulance on a dirt road in the mountains!

#5 Home Sweet Home

2009-10-02T02:12:00.000-07:00

We had two great full days of meetings. Each day held for us over 12 hours of work, and we definitely felt poured at the end. It was time to go home, and we were both excited to get there. We knew we had two long days of travel ahead of us, but we were ready to endure them to reach our families. Instead of our 16-hour trek, we took a 7-hour bus ride crammed into a space far too small for two 6’3” guys. Uncomfortable as it was, it was much easier on the legs than 16 hours of walking. We arrived back at the river town, made the 30-minute walk back to the car, and drove five hours back to our local friends' house. After a long day of traveling, we collapsed on our beds to recharge for our drive home the next morning. Once again at six o’clock, we set out on the road. We did kill one chicken on the way, but other than that our trip was uneventful. We even shaved three hours of our time off from 9 days earlier thanks to the empty roads!

As we were approaching the city, we finally crested the hill that overlooked the valley. The city had never looked so wonderful and welcoming before. Our trip was over, and we were nearing our wives and children. We thanked our Father for such a wonderful trip. Despite all the hardships, the work that was accomplished was very rewarding and very, very fruitful. Lives were changed, and that’s why we are here. I can’t wait to do it all again, minus as much of the danger as possible, and hopefully next time with my little girl and beautiful wife by my side.

Worst Ever Brand Name

2009-09-29T08:23:00.001-07:00

I just saw a commercial on television that outraged me. They've recently begun marketing emergency contraceptive pills here, and unlike I've seen in the States, apparently they're allowed to market them on TV. Want to know the brand name for the new "morning after" pill? Unwanted. What! Well, they certainly are saying it loud and clear, aren't they?

A Shrew!

2009-09-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Some insight from our friend Paul and a little research reveal that the "not mouse not rat," noisy rodent is a shrew! Now I know why cats never actually get down to truly catching them--they are fierce fighters.

Really? That's my evening?

2009-09-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

So tonight, the night after my bday celebrating, I was looking forward to an evening of eating, relaxing, and having no paper to write. Just as I was finishing Nay's bath, I heard this crazy screeching, not something I was unfamiliar with but certainly louder than usual. I walked with naked baby to the kitchen to follow the sound, and found the cat, Sahara, crouched in front of the washing machine. Seconds later, a squeaking rodent (not a mouse or rat) ran down the hallway with the cats in tow. I screamed and frantically ran behind trying to close all the important doors so it wouldn't go inside. I locked the cats into a room with it and promised to join them later.

After putting Nay to sleep, I grabbed my broom and headed for the destruction room where I hoped to find an already dead rodent. Instead, I found two cats looking extremely puzzled amidst a huge mess of things on the floor. So, locking myself into the battle zone, I proceeded to move everything so they could access the little fellow. It was actually really hilarious to watch him be chased around and around the same box for about 5 minutes, squeaking all the way! I was really amazed that he could get his body flattened enough to fit under a heavy cardboard box. So, what ultimately happened to this little fellow the cats did not seem to want to kill?

Now you know I've lived in South Asia too long: I brought an empty cornflakes box from the kitchen, ripped off the tab of a cardboard box, laid it on the floor, caught him, and did what? Threw him back outside ALIVE! Boy have I grown over the years.

Efficient Transportation

2009-09-07T03:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you could say that this nation has gone "green." The pollution levels here seem to suggest differently, but one of the main things that environmentalists stress is the need for people to use public transport or carpooling. You may be feeling that you are doing your part by sharing a ride to work with three other colleagues in your spacious 4 four-door sedan, but trust me, according to South Asians, you are wasting space and gasoline.

Every day I take what is called a "tempo" to my language class. A tempo is a battery powered tin can about the length of a sub-compact car that carries, legally, 13 people. That may sound insane, but actually I prefer taking those because they are more "spacious" than my return trip transportation. On the way back I take what is called a "micro-bus." A micro-bus is a 15 passenger van that drives a set route just like a regular bus. Unfortunately, the micro-bus operators didn't get the memo from the manufacturer that these vans were meant to hold only 15 people. They usually contain many more than that. The other day I was returning from class when I was unusually cramped so I started counting people. I was sharing the 15 passenger van with 37 other people. For some reason, I couldn't find my seatbelt. Why did God make me 6'3"?

Difficult Days

2009-09-07T02:47:00.000-07:00

Our intentions with this blog are pretty simple. We try to give you an insight into what our lives are like here. We try to make you laugh with the things that make us laugh here on the other side of the world, although I think we may only have a 50% success rate. We rarely bring up deep topics, or even inform you of our needs. We save all that stuff for our email updates which you can subscribe to by sending an email to us.

With that all said we do have difficult days here. Many days we have what we now call "minor" annoyances such as having no water or no electricity. Or days when it seems that no one understands a word you say. Sometimes difficult days come because this world is full of fallen humans who do you harm when they cheat you, steal from you, lie to you, or in general put their needs over the thousands of others' needs all around them. God has blessed us though. He has prepared us and strengthened us up so that we allow these things to roll off like water off a duck's back.

There are some things though, that God doesn't and shouldn't callous us against, especially the suffering of humans. Last week I was on my way to school when I saw a mother with her child on the street begging. Beggars are nothing new to us, we are quite used to them. I don't believe Jesus would feel moved with compassion for the beggars who claim to need money for food but have thought it wise to spend their money on a pack of Marlboros so they can smoke while they beg and listen to their iPod like many we encountered on the exit ramps in Chicago. This was a different situation. I don't know what this woman did or didn't do that put her in this situation, but I know for sure that the little girl, about Naomi's age, laying on the cardboard did nothing to deserve this. Her little face was covered in sores, her clothes were filthy, and her lungs were being filled with toxic fumes all day every day. My heart broke.

We are here to see lives changed. Really difficult days are those when you are confronted with the truth that not every life here is going to change. Difficult days are when you realize you can't save everyone. As you read this, your heart may be feeling heavy, but just imagine how much this breaks the heart of this little girl's Creator and Father.

The Colony

2009-08-10T22:51:00.000-07:00

Many people often ask us what it is like to live here. It’s a very hard thing to describe because everyone starts with a preconceived idea in his or her head. Some people who support us envision us in some sort of thatch-roofed hut in a small village where we have to hunt for our food. There are a few places in the world still like that, but I would have to guess it is a small percentage of the world’s population. In many countries people have traded in their straw huts for something I think is even worse: little concrete and tarpaulin hovels lined up in rows of thousands all around the developing world’s major cities (think Slumdog Millionaire). Other people though seem to envision us in a slightly poorer version of America. They are surprised to hear we have huge water, electricity, and gasoline shortages. They can’t imagine that most people don’t have refrigerators, central heating, clothes dryers, ovens, or even clean drinking water. After all, how do you live without those things? With the exception of the drinking water, amazingly, you can live quite well without all those “necessities.”

The other day we were watching the first episode of a show called “The Colony.” It was a free download on iTunes, and I can’t pass up something free. It’s a Discovery Channel show that is an experiment to see how 10 strangers manage living together in a post-apocalyptic world. They suppose a major natural disaster, terrorist attack, or epidemic disease has wiped out the vast majority of the world’s population, and now these ten volunteers are going to live in an abandoned warehouse for 10 weeks to see how they survive. They have to scavenge for food, live off the grid, and protect themselves against attacks from roving marauders (of course, on motorcycles). As we were watching the show, a surprising thought came into our heads, “Hey, this is like living in South Asia!”

So here are some similarities:

- They made the 10 volunteers arrive at the warehouse sleep deprived. Ever travel half way across the world? 20-22 hours in an airplane, another 10 hours in airports going through security checks? That’s sleep deprivation.
- They have to collect water from the polluted L.A. River to wash their clothes, cook with, and to flush their toilets. That’s pretty much how most of the world gets their water, except many of the rivers in the developing world are much more polluted than the L.A. river.
- The volunteers have to filter and boil all their drinking water. Yeah… us too. For more that just ten weeks. How about all the time?
- Since there is no electricity, the colonists gather together a bunch of car batteries and a power inverter they just happen to find laying around to run some lights in their warehouse. That is called an Uninterrupted Power Supply system or U.P.S. Many middle class families in South Asia have those for their houses. After all we do have 16 hours of no power every day in winter months. Oddly enough, we don’t have one because they are too expensive!
- On one of the first couple days of the experiment, the survivors were blessed with a heavy rain, and they scrambled around filling containers with rainwater. We fill up every bucket we have every time it rains, and just like on the show, we also put buckets under the downspouts.
- The roving motorcycle marauders attack the colony and try to steal their resources. Every week we hear about another foreigner getting their laptops stolen. So every night we have to secure our perimeter and keep all our valuables locked up. Who knows, maybe the thieves here also drive motorcycles.

All these things made us laugh. I kept thinking, “I would do really well on this show.” Then, the colonists cracked open a branded can of Spaghetti-O’s with meatballs and complained about their dinner options. Are you kidding me? Some days I think I would give my left arm for a family-sized can of Spaghetti-O’s!

Our Disappearing Neighbors

2009-08-07T22:27:00.000-07:00

South Asians wake up early--way to early for me! Every morning the city comes to life shortly after five in the morning. By six o'clock, the little lanes around our house are alive with people fetching water, and there is a great symphony of the sounds of dishes clanging together, dirty laundry being beaten against stones, and the loudest of all dogs barking for the sake of barking. By 6:30, some kids are already on their way to school or to their extra "tuitions" (study groups) before school. All this happens everyday without fail for about nine months a year, but during the monsoon things change.

We have had a very poor monsoon this year, but on those occasional days when it rains all night through the mid morning, a drastic change happens to the morning routine. Two days ago I was standing out on our terrace at about eight o'clock (the earliest I would ever like to be out of my house) as a light rain was continuing to fall on the city. As I looked around, I noticed every house had its doors and windows tightly closed up. Our neighborhood was quiet. There were no traffic sounds. No washing, cooking, or water fetching could be seen or heard, and even the dogs mercifully had ceased their barking. Plus, our naughtiest cat decided to take the morning off for a sleep-in as well!

Now that's what I call a good morning.

Fridge Clean Out

2009-07-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those days where you just need to eat all the leftovers in your fridge? Ours tends to be either Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. So, what was on the menu today?

Lunch: Cream of Chicken/Tomato Soup & Taco Salad
Dinner: Chicken Stroganoff/Leftover Pot Roast Vegetables & Pancakes

Random! We feel great knowing that the only thing left in the fridge is our lunch for tomorrow.

Be Still

2009-07-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

A few evenings ago, I sat on our balcony some time just before sunset. As I sat there gazing at the beautiful colors painted across the sky, I began to notice other finer details in the world around me. A gentle evening breeze that swayed the trees and flushed away the heat of the day, a small dog yipping in the distance, a neighbor's pans clinking as she washed them in the sink. In that moment, all I wanted to do was be still, to be quiet and rest before our Great God. I began thinking of how often my life, our lives, are filled to the brim with junk, busyness, and noise. When was the last time we switched everything off in order to listen to Him in the stillness? If you recall, when the Lord came to Elijah, he was not in the wind, the fire, or the earthquake, but in the still silence. Perhaps all the things, they may even be inherently good things, inhibit our ability to listen. I've often wondered what the song "Take Time to Be Holy" really means. Does it mean to be more careful to be perfect? I think maybe sitting quietly before the Lord is taking time to be holy, allowing Him to mold us in His presence.

After my own reflections that evening, I wanted to challenge others to listen, to switch off the television, radio, computer, and all other distractions, and just listen. Take a quiet walk one evening or sit on your patio to think and to listen. Resist the urge to plan, organize, or do anything else but listen. Maybe we'll hear what we've been waiting for.

The “Five Second” Rule

2009-07-16T23:54:00.000-07:00

Recently, in a conversation with a friend, I discovered that the “five second” rule is not only prevalent in our home country, but also in this part of the world. Apparently, doctors even believe in this magic rule, as a physician is the person who told my friend about the rule. I explained to the lady that we also have the same funny practice, but most people know that it has no validity, especially if they’ve seen “Food Detective” with Ted Allen on the Food Network. They tested the theory and found that it is generally only applicable to dry, hard candy.

A few days after we had this conversation, the same lady and I were chatting in my kitchen when she accidentally knocked a bag of Cheetos-ish chips onto the floor. Since the bag had already been opened, the little puffs shot everywhere across the room. This lady’s face was priceless. With excited big eyes she bounced down to the floor and exclaimed, “Quick, quick! Five seconds!” in the local language as she feverishly collected the scattered chips. Then, she rolled the bag back up and returned it to its place. I tried very hard to suppress my laughter and nearly forgot about the incident until I remembered the story a few days later. As I began telling P.J. and his mom about it, I discovered that he finished the bag of chips shortly after the incident without knowing they had once been strewn all over the floor. Yuck!

So…I guess the rule applies somewhat after all since he’s still with us.

July 4th on American Soil

2009-07-05T02:33:00.000-07:00

Most American embassies all around the world open their doors to American expatriates every July 4th to celebrate the independence gained over 200 years ago. Yesterday we had a fantastic time with our fellow Americans celebrating that independence with barbeque, watermelon eating contests, live music, football (and yes, I mean real American football), and a lovely array of imported American goodies like Doritos and Cherry Coke.

About 500 of us gathered at the embassy's American club situated in the heart of the city. Once you step through the gates, and the very serious security, you are officially on American soil; and it feels like it. Large open fields of beautifully manicured grass, nice wide sidewalks, a proper parking lot with spaces marked off with white lines (the only one you will find in this country), and even its own grocery store full of American goods.

It was a nice break from life here. Today is the 5th, and it's back to work. Only 364 more days till the next time we step back on American soil on July 4, 2010.

On another note, Naomi has now officially lived longer outside of the U.S. than in it. She has adjusted well to her international life. Hopefully her little brain is learning two languages at the same time. She enjoys the local food and loves all the attention of the local people who don't see many little white babies. People gush over her and call her things like queen, dolly, and princess. They buy her things when we are at stores (such as apples) and love to carry her around and take pictures of her on their cell phones. We are just worried about when we come back to the U.S. and she is no longer the center of everyone's attention wherever we go; now that will be culture shock!

Harley-Davidson's V-Rod

2009-06-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

Harley V-Rod: Now that's a manly motorcycle name. Or Honda Goldwing, or a Harley Dyna, Softtail, or Sportster. They aren't trying too hard. They are good, solid--even iconic--motorcycle names.

So why am I talking about motorcycle names? I hope to inspire the South Asian marketing and development departments of Honda and Yamaha. Driving in South Asia is extremely exciting. The roads are as narrow as sidewalks in the U.S. If there are rules, no one obeys them, and the greatest game played on the road is "how many vehicles can we fit into one lane." These are prime conditions for motorcycles, and because of this, they far outnumber cars.

So what's the problem? The newest motorcycle names coming out these days sound like great names for little girl bicycles, you know the ones with the pink tassels falling from the handlebars. So let me share some of these names with you. Honda has a few sporty new bikes out like the Glamour, the Splendor, the Passion, and the Karizma. I mean, seriously. Who wants to say "I ride a Glamour." These are all bikes marketed towards 20-30 year old men, and it works since there are thousands of these here. Yamaha isn't much better. They have the Alba (What like Jessica Alba?). They also have the Libero. Honda definitely takes the cake with the Honda Unicorn! Unicorn!?!

It sounds pretty manly to say, "Yeah, I think I am going to take the ol' V-Rod out for a ride." You sound like an eight-year-old girl to say, "I think I am going to take my Unicorn out for ride."

If you are listening to me, marketing departments, remember that if all else fails, keep it simple and follow Yamaha US's lead. Just name bikes things like the R1 and the R6; not amazing names, but at least they don't sound like you are riding off to a tea party with stuffed animals.

Double Knots, Please

2009-06-16T01:19:00.001-07:00

After some prodding, I, Lizzy, have decided to share my most recent embarrassing moment with everyone.

The local dress here includes a pair of drawstring trousers that are made to fit nearly any female body type from a size 12 or so down to a 0. They're covered by a long dress-like top with slits on the side. After several incidents, I have discovered that these pants are not so great for people with children, for little fingers seem to find a way untie those pants at the worst possible moment. Three times now I have stood up after having Naomi on my lap only to find that my pants were very close to dropping in public. On Saturday, I had the closest, most embarrassing incident yet. I stood at the back of a bus to make my way to the front before we hopped off. What I didn't realize was that my pants had already fallen well below my rear and were only hanging on out of luck. This means that everyone on the left side of the bus had already seen my pants falling off before I did. In my very embarrassed state, I struggled to hold Naomi in one arm while clinging for dear life to the drawstring holding the rest of my pants up and while trying not to topple over in the moving bus. When I got off, I thought, "Boy, I'm really glad I will never see those people again!" and promptly reminded myself that in the future I must always double knot those pants.

A Trip Back "Home"

2009-06-16T00:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, we are horrible bloggers we know... This is actually P.J. this time. Usually Lizzy writes most of the blogs (She is more gifted at it than I), but I have chosen to write one to hopefully inspire/shame Lizzy to write more often. Although it is a weak excuse, our new work has kept us quite busy the last few weeks.

Since our last blog in April so much has happened. We made a trip "home" to the last city we lived. A place that we grew very fond of and have people we consider family living in it. It was much anticipated and enjoyed greatly, but at the end of two weeks, we were ready to return to our new home. That is a good sign of our adjustment.

Our old home had many benefits like fairly constant electricity, fast internet connections, good water supply, and wonderful tastes of home like McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and KFC, not to mention some truly world class restaurants. Our new home tends not to have things like electricity, fast internet (or internet at all sometimes), water, or anything at all resembling KFC (We do have good Mexican food though... something we couldn't find before). All those things aside there are benefits to our new home. The population here is much smaller, which means life here is much quieter, more friendly, and generally nicer to live in. It is much cooler here with temperatures peaking in the low 90's and generally never leaving the 80's as opposed to months spent in the upper 90's or even crossing that dreaded 100 degree mark. If you have ever laid eyes on me, you will know my body was not meant for temperatures such as those. The natural beauty here is incredible. We have extremely noisy screech owls, little green parrots, and real cuckoo birds sharing the tree outside our living room window! The city has climbing vines covering many of its walls that blossom with many different colored flowers. All this is framed by the gorgeous, snow-covered mountains we can see on clear days.

So we love our new home, as we have loved this country for the past 9 years. There are definitely many unlovable things about it, but we love it anyway. Living in a different country is always a challenge, but we try our best to focus on the positive aspects of our new country, and there are many. Of course, if asked what is the best part about living here, we would answer "the people." They are among some of the most warm-hearted, loving people we've ever met, and that's saying a lot!

Things in the Pool

2009-04-29T05:57:00.000-07:00

I sincerely apologize for the lack of content on this blog recently. It's not that we haven't had content because we have. We've just been struggling to make time to record things. Tonight's entry is a must, though, just so that we do not forget it.

Those of you who know our daughter well know that she LOVES bath time. Two nights ago when I was giving her a bath, she leaned back in her ducky tub nice and relaxed, and what pops up? A little baby log. Yep! Her first experience dropping kids off at the pool. Then, the next night...a few more logs for Dad. Then, the next night...you guessed it...more logs at the permission of her father when the official bathing process was over. All this is strangely reminiscent of a little boy, formerly known as Scooter, whose mother kept a Cool Whip bowl beside the tub to quickly grab the floaters before they contaminated her other children. Scooter, this little gal must have some of your genes!

Bites and Sound Bites

2009-03-11T08:20:00.001-07:00

So I woke up on Saturday morning with a crazy looking mosquito bite on my collarbone. It was itchy, but it wasn't a big deal. A few hours later, the mosquito bit looked like the size of one of those smashed pennies you make at tourist places and had a small tail coming off. The next day, it had an even longer, more wiggly tail coming off and was bright red...not to mention itchy as all get out. Then, it had a pink line all the way to my arm pit. At that point, we decided to put a pen mark where the line stopped and watch it. When I woke up the next morning, the line was still there, but had gone no further. Today it Wednesday, and it looks like someone slapped my collarbone. I have no idea what bit me, but apparently, it wasn't a mosquito.

As for the sound bites, I just wanted to tell you a few things that I read from the packaging of the pillows we bought the other day:

1) They are good for: "Pillows Cushions Blosters" (What's a bloster?)
2) They are very "heigenic"
3) They are made with "100% holo fiver filled cotton" (They're filled with $5 bills!)

Okay...now you can have your laugh.

Speedy Delivery

2009-03-11T08:02:00.000-07:00

Last week we had the very exciting experience of purchasing a fridge. The one that came with the apartment had some annoying problems so we couldn't wait to purchase one that actually worked for us, especially one that could retain cool for quite a long time with the power cuts. We found the perfect two-door model that stands about 4 feet tall! How's that for super size? Oh, but wait, it gets better.

Since we have no vehicle, we asked the store to deliver it to our home after about an hour. We were still shopping on our way home when this random little man came up to us in a store saying, "Freeez." We thought he was a beggar saying, "Please," so we acted like we weren't interested. Again, he said, "Freeez," and handed P.J. a paper. Again, we said, "No," when we realized he was actually saying, "Fridge!" He was very early for his delivery, but he spotted us on the side of the road. Still, it gets better.

Lizzy walked with him to where the fridge was sitting on the side of the road, and then the guy proceeded to put the fridge on his back using a head strap. He walked behind Lizzy the rest of the way to our house and up three flights of stairs with a fridge suspended from his head! It was absolutely amazing and ended a very exciting day in an exciting way.

Green Yogurt

2009-03-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Just thought you might like to know what it's like to buy yogurt here... At the corner store where we do most of our staple food purchases, we kept seeing these shallow clay pots with white paper over the top of them. I wondered, "What are they growing in there?!" A few days later, I sent P.J. out for some yogurt to go with our dinner, and he returned with one of those small potted plants. Little did I know the plants were actually terra cotta pots filled with yogurt. Somehow the pot keeps the yogurt cool and also helps it not get too watery since it is somewhat porous. It tastes great and leaves us with perfect little planters for our personal use later. Their yogurt really is "green!"

One of Those Things

2009-02-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

Whenever you move to a new country, it is inevitable that something will go ridiculously wrong in your first weeks on the ground. Our first week in India, it was an explosion of very hot spaghetti sauce of the top of our blender onto every surface in our kitchen, including P.J.'s body. We were silly to think we could move here unscathed. Just last night as we were preparing dinner, we had such an incident. To get our drinking water, we use a water cooler type system that has a large inverted jug on top of a small collection container. The pressure regulates the flow so that the top one never over fills the bottom one--that is, unless a candle falls over and burns a hole through the top jug causing major spillage from the bottom. Of course, this annoying little thing could not, no would not, have happened in the light (since we wouldn't have needed candles in the first place!). Needless to say, it was a challenge to clean up the massive leakage that was all over the kitchen floor and counter tops, as well as inside the drawers in the dark. What will happen next? We're sure more adventures wait just around the corner.

Lady What?!?

2009-02-25T06:20:00.001-08:00

Just today, our sweet neighbors began feverishly preparing for the weaning ceremony of the baby in the house. We've yet to determine if the baby is a boy or girl. They set up a huge tent in the empty lot between our houses, and cooks set up pot after pot of delicious food in the yard as well. Around 5 P.M. a DJ showed up and began testing his music. The first on the list? Snoop Dogg and the Pussy Cat Dolls blasting loudly into our back door. The remainder of the evening brought us loads of entertainment as our dinner hour was filled with lovely sounds of local music intermingled with songs recorded from Kiss FM radio with Ryan Seacrest in the U.S. The thing that really topped off the evening and showed us that the neighbors likely had no idea what they were listening to was the song "Lady Humps" that was blasting as these innocent locals celebrated the weaning of a sweet baby. I'd say some of the anatomy to which the song refers might have been appropriate for a weaning ceremony, but the remainder of the song really, REALLY didn't fit.

Day # 2

2009-02-22T00:20:00.000-08:00

While this was technically, the first morning waking in our new apartment, it was our second one in it. I woke at the crack of dawn with Nay and managed to make a horrible pot of chai that P.J. graciously drank anyway. The power was on one hour early so I made the tea while I washed dishes. After I showered and nearly froze because of the bathroom window that intentionally has no glass panes, P.J. rigged up a few pieces of cardboard from the TV we bought yesterday. Priorities, people! (American Idol…Wednesdays and Thursdays). Hopefully, the cardboard will stay until it’s warm enough to take it down.
After our morning routine, I set out on my own for a few hours for the first time. I enjoyed coffee while using the internet and picked up a few more survival supplies. When I returned home, however, the real work began. I began very intimate with hand washing clothing once again, only it was far more difficult this time because baby clothes really add up! It took me about two hours to wash all of Nay’s clothes and our bath towels. The towels left us looking like fuzzy blue Cookie Monsters so I decided a wash might help. Aside from being quite a spectacle for the other ladies washing clothes on their rooftops, I seemed to get back into the groove quite quickly. Speaking of laundry, I better go bring some in now.

Night #1

2009-02-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

On Thursday morning we moved into our new apartment. P.J. quickly got to work running about town to acquire those bare necessities that would enable us to survive at least one day without leaving the place. He was literally gone most of the day, only popping in to drop off bags between stops. I busyed myself with the task of cleaning the bathroom, since apartments here are generally not clean to my standards prior to moving in. It has something to do with not sweeping out the good luck when you leave. I also managed to kill a spider the size of a silver dollar that was lurking on the bathroom curtain.
We most enjoyed being able to prepare a meal at home, although we did most of the prep work by candle light, waiting to do the actual cooking until the power came on so the hot plate would work. At the moment, we’ve not yet purchased a gas cylinder that would allow us to cook at anytime regardless of the electrical load shedding. Hopefully, we’ll get that soon.

Welcome to the Madness!

2009-02-12T23:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we arrived to be reminded of just how wild South Asia can be. Here are just a few of the things that have been interesting just to start us off:

1) No task is too small for someone who really wants a job. Yesterday in the visa line, there was one man who walked around stapling people's photos to their visa applications, and it took three others to take payments and process visas for one line.

2) You may run into all kinds of cargo at the airport. There were about 10 crates of chicks peeping like crazy at the baggage carousel when we arrived. Run from the avian flu!

3) Honking solves everything. Nothing else needs to be said.

4) No matter how crowded an electrical pole looks, you can always add more wires without any safety equipment required.

5) Expect a parade at any moment that's complete with a marching band dressed in uniforms.

6) The massive unemployment rate becomes very real when you can look around at any time of day to find at least 20 guys sitting around doing nothing.

Okay. That's about enough for now. Welcome to South Asia!

Almost Famous

2009-02-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

For those of you wondering what traveling with a baby is like, we’ve certainly had plenty of experience in the last 36 hours to tell you. When we got on the first flight, Nay cried until takeoff and then slept through landing, a train ride, and a second ticketing line. She was amazing during the flight to Korea, maybe because she’s too young to know the difference.

To get to the fame, though… people barely noticed her on the flight, but once we arrived in Korea, it was like we carried a small superstar. Small groups gathered around her and oooed and aaaahed. The best part was when the cell phone cameras started coming out. Now her picture is in the phone of many people from random strangers on subsequent flights to the airport security guards! In fact, as I began writing this post, a Korean woman on the flight came up with her camera and asked if we would take a picture of sleeping Nay for her. Despite her new found fame, she took it all in stride. We, on the other hand, need to now get used to being completely ignored because of this cute little girl. But that’s a small price to pay for someone so lovely.

Confirmations and Moves

2008-12-26T08:49:00.001-08:00

Well, it’s official. We have purchased tickets to leave the U.S. on February 10th. Having confirmed tickets leaves us with a feeling of satisfaction and excitement, knowing that new adventures lie just around the corner. Many people have asked us if we are worried about taking a new baby overseas or if we’ve ever doubted the call since she was born. Our answer is a confident “No.” We trust the Lord with our lives and with our daughter’s life as well. Though we trust Him, He still has sent one confirmation after another.

Over the past week, we have received generous, unsolicited gifts from people we hardly know. We had an amazing time with our fellowship in Chicago that left us in awe of His goodness and incredible provision. There have been moments when we wondered how He would meet our needs for our outgoing budget and living expenses at home. Time and time again, He provided more than enough after pushing us to the point that we had to rely totally on Him. What a faithful, trustworthy God we serve. Please continue to remember us as we walk with Him on this exciting journey.