Life... New, fun and sometimes bizarre

We've been in India for 6 weeks now and are very thankful to already be pretty well settled and finding a good routine to life. Some parts of our days feel so normal.. and others are just crazy! But the strength and joy of the Lord meets us each morning for whatever that day holds. 

We are knee deep in learning language! We meet with a Hindi tutor Monday through Friday and have learned around 500 words so far.

This is part of our collection of toys/ fake food etc that we take to class with us. 

Thankfully our tutor only lives a short auto ride from us because although the metro is awesome.. sometimes it is packed! 

We carry Ezra around town in this carrier a lot. It is so helpful for long trips! 

Ezra is finally at the age to really appreciate play grounds. This was his first merry-go-round. 

But definitely one of our favorite times of the day is bath time. Its become a sweet family time after dinner that has brought lots of fun and laughter. 

There were a couple of hard weeks with Ezra when we first transitioned here but he seems to be settled now. He was very clingy and upset for a while but now he has a budding sweet, peaceful, fun personality. I can not express how thankful I am! 

Another normal occurrence.. maybe too normal.. is family ice cream dates :) There are a couple little shops a short walk away. We don't let Ezra have too much but he sure does love it! 

I was really nervous about being able to find groceries, make meals and get a good dinner schedule down before we came because I know we were pretty much limited to chicken, a little dairy and no boxes/cans. I've never been able to cook from scratch but I'm learning! I usually do food prep of cooking chicken and cutting up veggies for the week on Sunday. I have been able to make mexican, chinese, italian, barbecue (chicken) and every night I make a meal if feels like such a victory! haha 

It really has not been nearly as a big of a deal as I thought it would be. Today we made chicken noodle soup from scratch (like whole chicken and all) and it was SO GOOD.. better than Campbell's... so I'm feeling like a rockstar. haha

For Valentine's we were able to meet up with some sweet friends who were in town. These dear people were my youth leaders 10 years ago and the first ones to hear how I felt God leading me toward this life.. It's amazing to see how He works!  

This is a really great park I found with Ezra the other day. It has three parts, playgrounds in each. Its surrounded by a walking path and is about the size of football field. This is such a blessing for our little guy!! 

That is a some what random glimpse at normal day to day life for us.. so far.. 

Then in-between the normal life of language class, family fun and learning to do life here you look out the window and see a guy with a cart full of pineapples... and hear your husband calling out to him for one.. it was really good! 

You also find yourself eating dinner out.. at the vendor your husband swears is really good.. and sanitary.. :) 

You travel to the "posh" side of town and find a small miniature Michaels.. WOO HOO!! 

They actually are a supplier for Michaels.. haha 

You pass a bull with really big horns and your Indian friend promises they don't ever bother people.. I don't want to be the first.. so I walk a good distance around that big guy.. 

And you notice a tent truck pull up to the park outside your house.. and they build a tent.. make lots of food.. play REALLY loud music for hours on end and celebrate a wedding. 

This is actually going on right now as I type.. haha 

At least they haven't shot off fireworks and Ezra is used to sleeping to music.. :) 

There is still so much more to show.. but this is just a quick glimpse at our new life :) 

Our New Home!

It might just because I'm a bit nosy but as friends have moved overseas I have wished so badly to have a little tour of their house, just to see what life in a different country looks like. So.. for all those curious friends like me (and to make sure we have a record of our first home in India) I went thought the house tonight to give my best effort at a tour :) 

Welcome to our new home! It is truly a HUGE blessing from the Lord!! 

This is our front door. We live on the "first floor" which is actually two flights up.. the bottom floor is our landlord. Our landlord is a really nice older lady who was a doctor and has her eldest son, daughter-in-law and grand daughter (Ezra's age) living with her too. They have been very available to any questions or concerns but not to intrusive.. a very hard balance to find here.. the first of many blessings! 

When you come in you walk into the dining room. There is a really nifty built in shelving/cabinet thing. We haven't quite figured out how we want to decorate it but now that we have all the necessities that will be our next step.. and a fun one! We just put up a "in everything give thanks" word art from hobby lobby - it's a very good reminder! Also note the shoes by the door. For the most part people take their shoes off by the front door because it is really dirty outside and you don't want to track that inside. 

As you walk in you see the dining table. There are four chairs and a bench on the back side so when we have friends over for dinner we can line up the kids on the bench.. haha  

To the right there is another neat built in shelving thing and another hobby lobby wall decal. I was able to walk to the market and get the frame custom made to fit around the decal in 15 minutes for under $10.. too cool! The door on the right is a bathroom. 

On the left is the living room. The rooms are divided by a neat glass/wood half wall. Ezra loves playing with it. The big doors in the back go to a long skinny balcony that overlooks the street and a park. 

Indians like very flamboyantly fabriced couches.. as in - big gold flowers and bedazzled. These were the simplest ones we could find.. haha Above them are the canvases I had in Ezra's nursery.. I grew to like them so much that they've been upgraded to the living room :) 

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If you walk left from the front door you pass the kitchen. This is a miracle. I had prepared myself for a small dingy kitchen because that's more common but God so outdid himself in providing this wonderful kitchen! It has modular cabinets, granite countertops (super cheap here.. haha) and two windows! 

We can't drink the water from the tap here so above the sink we have a water filter. Above the cabinets you'll see a water heater - we turn it on to get hot water for washing dishes. Also inside the sink is a bucket of veggies sitting in water, vinegar and hydrogen peroxide to clean off the pesticides. After about 30 minutes I can clean them off and put them in the fridge. 

Electric stoves with an oven like most American homes is not common in India. There is usually only room for the fridge. So.. this is our gas stove. Fire makes me nervous but I'm getting pretty good at it! 

My one requirement for the house was room for a bigger fridge. Most fridges are about 200 liters.. like a large dorm fridge but I was told by wise women to get a large one.. so we splurged and I'm so thankful! Beside the fridge is our on the counter oven. It works just like normal oven but it's in Celcius.. I always have to google the difference from F to C. The microwave and coffee maker are normal. Though the microwave does have the ability to be a convection oven too.. pretty neat and totally over my cooking understanding.. haha :) 

This is Ezra's room. He loves to climb up the stairs and slide down on to his letter mat - with me standing right behind him of course! He sleeps in his little PeaPod tent.. it's been great! And he'll use that until he is ready for the big boy bed. 

Our third bedroom is pretty empty. We were actually given this bed and this desk.. so that's there.. It's pretty low on my priority list. The door goes to the back balcony where Ezra's swing and our dryer is. A dryer is another rare thing in India but God is so good to have provided one for us and man are we already SO thankful! 

On the other side of the house is our room. We were about to watch a movie so Luke had the projector set up when I walked in to take pictures . 

Luke waiting patiently for me to stop taking pictures :) 

He doesn't understand why people would want to see our house.. I told him it's a girl thing.. haha 

I have always wanted a chair in the corner of our bedroom and we finally have a room large enough for one. I'm so thankful to have built in closets in every room because we didn't have to buy dressers or armoires. Next to the closets is the bathroom. 

The fact that we have a wall around our shower is really rare too. Most showers just run out into the floor and the water (hopefully) runs to the drain. 

We don't have a big water heater.. instead every bathroom has an individual heater that you turn on about 30 minutes before you want to take a shower and it will warm up water. It saves energy. 

The light switches here are crazy! For every outlet there is a switch to turn if off and on.. does that make sense? 

Two other interesting things... there is no central heating or ac so here is our little but powerful heater we use sometimes. We'll ACs later in each bedroom and the living room. And this orange machine is awesome! It is used to zap mesquites.. haha Mosquitos here can give you diseases so they are the enemy! 

I hope you feel like you've come over :) If I could serve you chai tea and cookies I would.. (that's how Indian's welcome guests). This is certainly not how every house in India looks. Homes range from slums to mansions.. It's crazy! We have a nice apartment because these are the ones that have electricity, showers, western toilets, american style kitchens etc. I am so very thankful for how God has provided for us! 

Soon I'll gather photos of our neighborhood too because there are definitely some sights to see! 

Our first few weeks in India!

We have arrived to India! The 16 hour flight was not fun but whew.. we made it :) 

We endured jet lag and were back to normal in about a week.. which is record timing for me. The last few weeks have been such a whirlwind but we have really felt God's blessing with each step. We spent the first several days getting oriented to South Asian life and then began the adventure of getting to know our new neighborhood and buying everything needed for our new apartment. 

To get around town we usually ride in auto rickshaws. There are also cycle rickshaws for short distances and a great metro for longer distances around town. 

The boys have had fun putting together furniture.

That first week we didn't have any furniture or the necessities in a kitchen to cook so we ordered dominos 4 times.. Yes 4 times! They started recognizing us when we called.. haha But thankfully we now have a dining table, all the kitchen necessities and I've made lots of home cooked meals. 

We have been so blessed with the housing God has provided. We have such a sweet landlord who lives on the bottom floor with her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter that is Ezra's age. They are so willing to help us and answer questions. She says we are like her children so she has to take care of us. :) So sweet! 

Our apartment is the building behind the boys - I'll put more pics of it up soon. 

There is a park right across from our apartment which makes a great view from our balcony. Every afternoon some neighborhood kids play cricket. :) 

We have walked around and visited with lots of our neighbors. Some speak as much English as we do Hindi so our convos have been short but others know English well and have been very welcoming. 

Right down the street is a very large market. It was chaotic to me at first but I've gotten used to it now and really enjoy walking around. They have almost everything there.. just today I went out looking for a frame for our wall and found a guy who made a custom frame for under $10 in 15 minutes.. Score! 

One of my favorite things about the neighborhood are the fruit and veggie carts. They are on almost every street and have such great produce for a great price. Awesome! They have also been a helpful place to practice language. 

Speaking of language... we have started language class. We go to our language teacher, Pankaj's house four hours a day, Monday - Friday. After every lesson we record the new vocabulary to watch later for homework. It's a lot of work but we're seeing slow progress :) 

Ezra has been transitioning really well. We put a swing up for him on the back porch and he loves it. He is really getting big these days! He has started to walk really well which has been great because 20 lbs is a lot to carry all day. :) 

Ezra is obsessed with stairs! So our solution was to get him a slide with stairs.. He loves it too. It is so nice to finally be settled in a place and have real toys to entertain him. 

We have only been in our apartment for 2 weeks and we have already gotten pretty much everything we need for it! God has blessed us!! It usually takes months to get settled.. finding an apartment, figuring out the markets, choosing what to buy.. but he has provided above and beyond and we are SO SO thankful! 

There is so much more I want to share with you about our new home! I can't wait to share more about our new apartment, neighborhood, and life here in India. I know there may be days ahead when culture shock will come knocking at my door but so far I have felt so blessed and provided for by the Lord. There have been moments when I feel upset about something but the Lord keeps bringing to mind the simple statement.. "Jesus asked me to" and that has helped clear away doubt and bring back my joy each time. He has done more for me than I will ever truly know, so I'm so thankful to walk the path he has planned for us and excited to share it with you. 

Cruising, Christmas and Birthday Cake!

We have finished training and leave for South Asia tomorrow!! 

Months ago Luke's parents told us they wanted to take us on a cruise right after training.. we gladly accepted and were quite excited for the fun ahead with family. The day before we left Luke's mom got really sick and wasn't able to come but they insisted we go still and they'd see us when we got back. We were a bit hesitant because life on a boat with a 1 year old can be a bit stressful without wonderful grandparents to lighten the load but decided to go and had a blast. 

We went on the Navigator of the Seas.. It was so nice and we loved all of the staff that we got to visit with and share the Good News with. 

This is the view from our balcony on one of our port days. It was just beautiful! 

Ezra's favorite thing on the ship was putt-putt.. he is his daddy's boy! haha 

By the end of the week he was able to hold my hand with his left hand and hold the putter in his right and hit the ball. I was amazed! I think we have a little golfer on our hands!

Ezra LOVED the beach! This is him playing in Honduras on his 1st Birthday!! 

He didn't get a big party... but he did get a beach.. not such a bad trade-off.. :) 

Luke and Ezra chilling at the beach. To the left is a miniature zoo with monkeys that loved Ezra and Ezra loved too! They would come right to the fence and follow us as we walked. 

On another excursion we took an "adventure tour".. Ezra is SUCH A TROOPER!! haha 

It involved a ride through Belize.. a safari zoo that felt like walking through the jungle with animals a feet from you.. then a boat ride down a river.. an all-day adventure that was a lot of fun and he did great!! 

We had a really long balcony that was great for Ezra to play on and for me to read on while he napped! He was pulling up like an all-star and now he is able to walk several steps .. then he falls. But he is making ALOT of progress :) 

This is one of the professional shots from the cruise. We are having a canvas made of it to bring with us to South Asia for our bedroom. I love Ezra in his little bow-tie. Too Cute!! 

Everyone in the dining room sang to Ezra for his Birthday and they brought him a big chocolate cake with "Happy Birthday Ezra" on it.. he had no idea what was happening but he liked it! 

We cut him some cake and let him go to town! He was a BIG FAN! 

When we got back from the cruise we still had a whole week to celebrate Christmas with Luke's family. Ezra has been a bit clingy in all the transition (which is understandable). While we were making Christmas goodies in our Santa hats and aprons, Ezra wanted to be held so I strapped him to me. He was happy and I was able to bake. Win.. Win! 

Opening presents on Christmas day. He didn't quite understand the unwrapping part yet but liked playing with the presents afterwards! 

Family Christmas photo in our pjs - We took a photo with Ezra here last year and it is crazy to see how much he has grown! 

We've been making some GREAT memories these last few weeks.. and tomorrow we'll be making them in South Asia.. crazy but amazing. God has been so faithful in preparing us and keeping us at peace with all the transitions. I'm so very thankful to be walking through this life with Him and these two sweet boys he's given me to love.