Fall 2015

Fall is upon us! And although it is still 90 degrees outside, I have very excitedly decked our whole house in a ridiculous amount of fall decor. It is so festive and wonderful. :) 

These last months have been a blur of work and play. We're learning a lot, teaching a lot and playing a lot. Its a really good combination! 

Since we are more busy, we try to make our together times more special.. such as making smores on the gas stove. I intended it to be family fun and introduce the awesome treat to Ezra, but the fire really scared him so he ditched us for his toys. Madelyn was already asleep so it became a delightful surprise date night in the kitchen to talk about life and eat way too many smores. 

Madelyn is growing so big and strong. She is now 5 months old and still joyful as always. 

Her and Ezra are starting to play together. He's excited about it now but I think when she starts stealing his toys he won't be so happy unfortunately. The price of siblings.. it'll be worth it in the end. 

My birthday was last month and man was I spoiled! It was a lazy day full of a professional massage, an afternoon nap (coveted by all moms of little ones) and ending with a big dinner with friends. And my mom and Luke's mom sent tons of special treats in the mail! Ezra was just as excited about them and didn't want to wait for Luke to get home to open them.. haha. 

Ezra has been growing up so fast these past months. For his "terrible twos" he is doing pretty good. He's more emotional but he doesn't throw tantrums. He actually says the words, "I cry..." haha. It was cute the first few times. 

He is more adventurous, playful and helpful than ever. He LOVES to help in the kitchen. He comes from a line of professional chefs so maybe we're grooming him to take over the family business. haha. 

He goes to play school now and has been learning so much! 

This is Ezra and his class.. so cute! 

We've also started a Monday night tradition of baking together. We add in a craft if there's time because Ezra is a fan of crafts too. He has a lot of hobbies. This particular Monday we tried out no-bake-cookies and an Ezra sized scarecrow. Ezra loved making both. Madelyn is a really good napper and she likes to sit in her swing and watch us cook so I'm so thankful to still easily have one on one time with Ezra. 

He loves to paint. So we usually print off alphabet or number coloring sheets to review what he's learning in school. He has fun and I feel like I'm doing my part in his education. It's a win-win. 

We are coming up on 2 years in India! It has been such a crazy, wonderful, growing time. Every day there are little surprises that you only get here.. such as cute photogenic cows right outside your door.   

We've made huge strides in Hindi and can really have in-depth conversations with friends and neighbors. There are still mistakes and there's progress to be made but being able to communicate has been such a blessing!   

Recently I've been reading Harry Potter 1 in Hindi. It's been great for learning and interesting to read but I'm so slow.. haha! Right now I'm at a 3rd grade reading level, but I figure at the end of this I should be a great reader. 

I've also been learning to make Indian food. My friend's mom is a really really great cook so my friend is teaching to make food like her mom. And we do it all in Hindi so its double learning. 

Ezra LOVES Indian food so he's very happy. 

And those are the recent happenings around our house. Fall is my favorite time of year because we get to pause to see our many blessings, praise the Lord for them. 

He's certainly blessed us beyond measure! 

Praise the Lord! 

15th August, 2015

15th August is India's Independence Day. It is a day celebrated with family, food, music and lots of kite flying. We joined in with some friends and had such a fun day!! 

I dressed both kids up in orange and green in honor of India. 

It is crazy how many people live in our city and how congested they live. But on events like these, it makes life really fun! 

The view of the street outside their house. It seemed picture worthy. 

Making pakoda and chai with the ladies. 

Ezra loved watching the kites and even got the fly it a little. 

I tried flying it too. The goal is to get your kite super high in the sky and cut any near by kite's string.. making you the highest and longest reigning kite. 

Ezra and I made a paper Indian flag, which he loved and is now proudly displayed on the fridge. 

The beauty of this expat life is being able to celebrate holidays from both countries. Double the holidays, double the fun! 

Thailand 2015

We survived our first international vacation as a family of four and it was actually GREAT! I'm amazed at how precious and easy going Miss Madelyn is. And Ezra is getting more and more fun. 

We recently got the movie Planes from the market and Ezra really likes it. I usually watch it with him on the Hindi setting which is great practice for me and he can't tell the difference. Anyway.. He is very excited about planes and was over the moon about seeing the planes and riding one. I guess he doesn't remember he's been on over a dozen flights already.. haha. 

 Ezra wanted to make sure we didn't forget his Buzz and Woody dolls so he was stuffing them in the luggage. It was cute! 

While in Thailand we had some work meetings and visa applying to do but we also had lots of family fun! 

We went to the aquarium for the first time with kids. Everything is so much sweeter with little ones. Harder of course, but so fun and worth it.

Ezra loved the fish. I did too. I forgot how beautiful and relaxing aquariums are. Luke loves aquariums too so this resparked his desire for one in our home. 

Another day we went to the mall and there was a sports store. Luke and I have always really enjoyed walking around sport stores. We don't have any in Delhi so this was a treat to us and Ezra was estatic in the golf section.. haha. 

We also went bowling which is Ezra's current favorite sport. 

He is very adamant about doing it all by himself and actually does pretty well (with bumpers). Needless to say, he has gotten a lot stronger this summer from chunking 6 lb. balls every week.  

I grew up on a lake and Luke's family vacationed at the ocean often so we love to be near the water. The beach is definitely our favorite vacation spot. Between the sound of the water, the fun of swimming and the beauty of sunsets, its a great place to escape the city and rejuvenate.

We also made it to the golf course.. of course. It was so much fun! Ezra was such a big boy, hitting the ball with Daddy. We played with a sweet older Asian couple and they were very patient with Ezra. They had grandkids so they understood and I think they quite enjoyed our little ones.  

The kids almost made it through the whole course. About hole 16 they both fell asleep. I didn't play any holes but I cheered good shots, kept kids happy and made a great napping pillow apparently. Moms.. its what we do. :) 

We spent most of our time swimming and lounging by the pool. They had a large pool that was Ezra's height so he had a blast playing in the water. During our meetings there were other families with kids that we were able to meet and visit with everyday. It was great! 

We really liked Thailand. It is beautiful and the people are friendly. But after a couple of weeks we were ready to come home. 

So now we're back to the normal schedule of work, school and loving on kiddos. 

This is such a precious season with this precious little gal. I just can't express how much joy she brings my heart. We're definitely BFFs already. 

It's now the start of monsoon season in Delhi so we have been able to break out the rain jackets and umbrella. We love rain so its been nice to hear it splashing outside and we've enjoyed the cooler weather it brings too!

I'll leave you with this picture of Ezra.. eating his chocolate donut. It doesn't have anything to do with our Thailand trip but its still a sweet memory I want to keep. he's getting so big. He's thoughtful, funny, pretty obedient for a toddler and a very good big brother. 

A May Full of Memories!

It has been such an incredible month.. a month full of sweet memories!

We are praising God for helping us adjust to life with a newborn! It's crazy how much you remember from your first and how much easier it all is the second time around. Of course, Ezra has been such a trooper and Luke is incredibly helpful so that makes it all easier and sweeter as well. I have been trying to cherish each day of these first few months because I know they go by so fast and newborns have this unique preciousness about them. 

I am still on cloud nine that I actually have a daughter.. a sweet little future best friend that I get to dress up with bows and frills every day. I love my Ezra but oh the joy of bows.. :) 

It's very hot in India in May so we have spent a lot of time in the house. We like to watch our favorite old Disney movies with Ezra, like Toy Story, but we watch it in Hindi. It doesn't seem to make a difference to him and it's good practice for us. 

When we go to the market, I put Madelyn in my Ktan Breeze and people don't even realize I'm carrying a baby, which is good because culturally we aren't supposed to be outside the house until Madelyn is 40 days old.

 Ezra liked my carrier so he put his favorite lil sheep in his shirt to be like Mommy.. haha! 

The first couple of weeks we rode in taxis but now that Madelyn's a bit bigger we are back to our fun auto rides. Mostly because Ezra sleeps in autos and climbs all over the place in taxis. There are no carseats here.. he's going to have a culture shock when we go back to America some day. 

We also started back to Hindi classes! I love learning Hindi. It's so fun to discover new ways of expressing yourself and sharing truth. We are genuinely bilingual now which, for an American, is unique and really fun. Especially since the kids will probably be bilingual too so we all have a special language we can speak in around family.. hehe. 

God has really helped us get right back in to the normal swing of things.. sometimes it means you're holding the baby while chugging coffee and trying to finish reports while the baby is still happy.. haha. 

Ezra has taken on the role of "big brother" really well. I think the fact that he goes to playgroup in the morning has really helped. He has a routine that hasn't been changed by the baby and an outlet for fun. For Mother's Day his school put on a brunch so we got to go on a sweet little date that included games, food, and photo taking.

 I think I have become more of an extrovert this past year because I can't stay in the house for long without going crazy. A Wendy's opened up about 45 minutes from our home so we traveled out for a family date.. it was definitely worth it! 

Ezra's newest favorite sport is bowling- which is a God-send because there is a little bowling alley at our local mall. This mall is has great A/C, a good food court and a wonderful grocery store down stairs. It's been the perfect family date night location so we usually go a couple times a week. 

Ezra was also excited when we finally went back to our favorite donut shop. We used to have hindi class here everyday so the workers have gotten to know us well and were very excited to meet Madelyn. 

I just love this photo of our sweet little girl. She's getting chubby which makes her even cuter! 

For Memorial Day this year we made a big family dinner with all kinds of awesome sides. Please note Ezra.. who happily snatched the entire bowl of mac-and-cheese for his dinner.. haha. Toddlers. 

Our sweet Madelyn is starting to smile too. It is just precious to hold her and have her look into your eyes and grin really big. 

My other favorite is rocking her for her afternoon nap after my Hindi class. 

My mom came to India at the end of May and will be staying through mid-June. It has been so great to share our lives here, and have an extra pair of hands to love on babies. 

She brought Ezra letter/number magnets that stick to our metal front door. He is learning the alphabet at school so it's been cute to have him excitedly recognize letters. 

He also loves to play with play dough. He is growing in to such a smart handsome little guy and aside from the emotional roller coasters that two-year olds will have, I really love this season with him. 

It's crazy to think that it has already been a month since Madelyn was born and yet we've done so much that it seems like it's been longer. I'm so incredibly thankful for God's help this month. He has given us strength and grace to care for two babies, recover from delivery, bear through those awful baby blues, function on less sleep, start Hindi again, take our big Hindi test and adjust to our new norm. It's been a lot to take on but he sure does take care of us! 

Madelyn Jyoti's Birth Story

I’ve known for years that I would be living overseas one day and assumed that this would mean I would probably have a baby overseas one day. The idea of it was intimidating. What would differing cultures, differing languages and sub-par medical care mean for me as I gave labor- one of the hardest things a woman ever does?

But, even with all this in clear sight, we sought to have a child here trusting the Lord to work all things out for his glory and our good.

Our pregnancy was going great. Everything had been so positive until my 39 week pregnancy appointment. My body had so many aches and pains, I was sure that it was prepping for labor soon but was quite discouraged to learn that I had not progressed at all since my 37 week appointment and was still only 1 cm dilated. I was hoping for 3-4 cm. After having an emergency c-section with Ezra at 37 weeks because of pre-ecclampsia and an unprogressing induction, I had been praying for months, along with many wonderful friends around the world, that God would bless me with a VBAC. I knew how intense the recovery of a c-section was and how hard it would be to look into Ezra’s face for weeks and deny holding him while I held his new sister all day long. But, with no progress after 2 weeks and only 6 days left until my due date.. which was my induction date, which could lead to another c-section, I was definitely having to trust the Lord’s timing and his ways over my own.

We had been trying to go out and enjoy our favorite activities over the last few weeks and had visited almost all of them. It was Saturday night and we decided to walk around Connaught Place, a British built shopping area with good restaurants. As we were walking through an underground market in the center I began to have contractions but I had had contractions almost anytime I walked long distances. They were always Braxton Hicks and I assumed this was no different, though I hoped for more. We looked for a restaurant and stumbled across a Tex-Mex place called “Rodeo” that was so cute. The waiters were dressed like cowboys and the atmosphere was very much like the old hole-in-the-wall Tex Mex places we used to love in Fort Worth. I made sure to eat extra jalapeños on my nachos because spicy food is said to start labor, though I personally doubt that.

We got home late that evening and I was still contracting. They were about 3-5 minutes apart like my Braxton Hicks normally were but I did notice that these had some back pressure to them. That raised my concerns that this could be labor but they weren’t getting more intense and I could easily go to sleep. A trip to the hospital would mean calling our friends to come to our house so one would stay with Ezra and one would drive us to the hospital. After talking about it with Luke, he decided that when I was grabbing my knees because of the contractions then we would know that I was in labor.. I was only 1 cm dilated hours earlier so I agreed and went to bed. I was messaging with a friend during this time and told her that I just wanted to wake up at 3 am with contractions and have this baby and she said she would pray for that.

Prayer moves mountains. 

Because.. at 3:10 am I woke up with contractions and felt a little wet. I went to the bathroom and quite a bit of liquid fell on the ground. For a second I wasn’t sure if my water broke or if I was just so pregnant that I couldn’t hold my bladder anymore. But, the contractions were coming every two minutes and they were definitely “knee-grabbers.” My moans woke Luke up and he quickly called our friends. By the time they arrived I couldn’t stand or talk through the contractions. On the way to the hospital I sent messages and phone calls to all the people that should know we were in labor. The contractions were becoming very painful and very close together.. that’s when I knew.. I wasn’t getting an epidural. I wouldn’t let myself at this point because there’s no way I could hold still long enough. I started to panic.

I’ve never ever considered having a natural labor because I’m simply a wimp when it comes to pain. I didn’t think I was strong enough. When we arrived at the hospital we went up to the birthing floor. They began to monitor my contractions and sent Luke back down stairs to submit the official admission forms and hand over 40,000 rupees to be treated before they would really help me. Yeah… there are some logistical improvements that could take place on this side of the world. Let’s leave it at that.

Meanwhile, I was.. not a silent sufferer. I was totally that screaming pregnant woman in labor. When Luke got back up to the labor area the doctor informed him that he would need to calm his wife down. I was panicking a little. I had never experienced that kind of agonizing pain in my life. When we arrived at 4 am I was 4 cm dilated. An hour later I was at an 8 and they were rolling me to the delivery room. My doctor came to the hospital in that time and was there for the delivery.

In the delivery room I barely opened my eyes. I know Luke was on one side and some poor soul was on the other because with each contraction I squeezed their hands very hard. We had Gateway praise music blaring at my head from Luke’s phone and he was yelling at me to pppuuuussssshhhhh like a high school football coach. We were quite a sight for Indian culture.. but it was exactly what I needed to build up the adrenaline to push with all my might. Then they started talking about Madelyn’s heartbeat slowing and prepping the OR for a c-section. They had me signing papers in the middle of active labor to allow for a c-section if needed. That gave me even more strength to push with more than my might, with the might of Christ at work in me I pushed. Finally, with the assistance of an episiotomy and vacuum, with one last push at 5:45 am on April 26^th, our sweet Madelyn Jyoti was born.

Overall, the experience of having a baby overseas was wonderful. Labor was painful, hard, overwhelming.. but my doctor was so nice the whole 9 months. She really fought for me to have a VBAC (which is very rare here) and did everything an American doctor would have done. Medical care in India has lacking bed side manners... but God really blessed me! My doctor had such a sweet spirit and all of the nurses/aids that cared for Madelyn and I after delivery were incredibly kind. I was able to talk to them in Hindi and understand them perfectly well. Usually women in India are surrounded with family after they give birth and are expected to stay in bed for 40 days to recover and here I was, this sweet little foreigner who only had my husband (though he is amazing with logistical stuff and has been more than enough assistance). I think that caused them to give above and beyond kindness and care. Another answer to prayer. 

We had Madelyn on Sunday morning and were discharged to leave the hospital Monday afternoon. We explained that we had a 2 year old at home waiting for us so they handled the paperwork as quickly as they could. 

Since being home we have had so many sweet friends, both nationals and American colleagues, visit us. It has been precious to share this extremely exciting blessing with them. Luke is super helpful, Ezra has transitioned great, and Madelyn has taken to a schedule well. I really feel like we are experiencing Psalm 23.. we walked through a valley and yet the whole time God has been a shepherd providing all we needed at each step. I just can't express what a truly remarkable God we serve.. because he serves us..!?! He works all things our for good and I can trust him in all times. That is incredible truth and the more years I live, the more experiences he walks me through, I am gaining a deeper and deeper appreciation for how uniquely wonderful he really is. 

Meeting Madelyn for the first time

Our first day with our daughter, and our first picture with her together

When we got home, Ezra was so excited and totally understood that this baby was Madelyn who we had been talking about. He took my phone and wanted to take pictures of her.. haha 

This is my dear friend (and language teacher) who came at 3 am and took care of Ezra while I was in the hospital. She has been such an immense blessing to me this past year. 

This is part of my language teacher's family, which has become like our family here.

 They came over the next day to meet Madelyn. 

Ezra loves to hold Madelyn and kiss her head. 

Often when he leaves the house he will come give me a kiss and Madelyn a kiss goodbye. 

Our sweet Madelyn Jyoti, such a beautiful joy and blessing! 

P.S.-  Her middle name is pronounced J-yO-Tee. (very similar to Joe-T) It is a beautiful word in the Hindi Bible that means "light", which is used when Jesus proclaims himself to be the light of the world and all the various descriptions of light overcoming darkness in John 1. We wanted a name that was a quote from Jesus referring to himself as salvation that we could easily use to share the Gospel with anyone who asked her name. It has been such a great conversation starter already!