The Surfing World

We moved to a coast almost 2 years ago... and in this time David has picked up a new obsession hobby. :) Vizag is a tourist town for our state. Nothing that would get us into a "lonely planet" or anything, but still...a beach! There was a group of guys surfing at one beach. Being the sporty guy that he is, he decided he'd join in the fun. And fun he has had! People ask me if I surf with him....when we moved here I had a 9 month old & two boys, added on being pregnant....and now a newborn.  No, someone has to watch the children! I have tried it once, when the Bustrums were here so there was adequate supervision on the beach...  I thought David was making me paddle out to deep-shark invested water (he says he was still standing but you never know...), then I did ride a couple waves in. On my knees and elbows. But, I'm blaming David, he didn't give me any further instructions after, "Paddle, paddle, paddle....take it!". My head knew that surfers do stand up, and I was telling by body to do so, it just wasn't happening. It was great fun, though, and maybe I'll paddle out to the deep, dark...waist high water once again. :)

Check out David's surfing blog: surfingap.blogspot.com
(That's "surfing AP"...as in Andhra Pradesh)

Fear God and nothing else.

Fear God and nothing else.

"If you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God." Proverbs 2:3-5

I'm inspired by the life of Daniel. Wow. What a guy! One comment from Beth M. about Daniel is "He represents a life God can use wildly in the worst of circumstances." He had so much integrity, purpose, and faith in his life...what a hero for us.

Recently at a women's retreat we were asked to share something we feel we had stepped out in faith and done. Something that maybe we had fears about but, in faith, knew it was what we should do. God hasn't asked me to stand up to a king or trusted me with vision of things yet to come, like Daniel, but he has asked and told me and my family to follow Him in faith.

In my group I ended up sharing something I usually wouldn't in a group of other women living over here with me. You know, people who move across the world for a purpose they feel strongly about are usually people that feel strongly about lots of things. With moms, a lot of that has to do with their kids. In the "web-world" people are even more free sharing what they feel is the "right" way to raise kids. I try to just do what we do and not make too much of a point about it...I try. But, I realized I feared and kind-of cringed inside when I read or talked to people who would go about raising their kids so very differently than us. Not a God-kind of fear but a fear that comes from pride and desire for approval. Not pretty.

So, I'll share what I shared. We have stepped out in faith by doing what we know God has shown us to do with our kids. They started in Indian preschools when we first arrived here and continue to go to a national school here in their 1st and 3rd grade. Its not always perfect, its not always the best education, it may not always be the safest even physically, but right now that's what He's shown us. And in the "world" that matters, if that is what He would like us to do, that's the best for them. "Safety" is definitely not our motto as parents, but integrity, purpose and faith just may be. I have robbed myself of the joy of knowing we are being obedient by fearing, not God, but man. It feels much better on this side.

We're all in this together. Right? We all want each other to follow in His knowledge, not the worlds. So be encouraged in what you are doing. Find your purpose and direction from Him. You may have to "call out" and "cry aloud", but He promises you will "understand the fear of the Lord" and "find the knowledge of God". And however you have, or are, stepping out in faith, keep at it. Its with that faith we can actually have lives, like Daniel, that "God can use wildly"!

Getting Started...from Doug and Heidi

Hinduism- up close and personal. After surfing the Indian coast line we toured the DeLaughter's neighborhood temples. We visited a large temple were people gathered for a religious festival and concert. The music would take a lot of getting used to but interesting and different. People seemed very devoted to their religious activities and prayers. We found their religious fervor intense. Many Hindus go to temple twice a day for more than an hour at a time. Lostness! So many people concerned with right action/devotion rather than righteous atonement.

This was an post from Doug and Heidi when they were here with us.

15 Month Cheese

(Selah, one day this past week, giving us more of a growl than a smile when we got the camera out. :)) She is fitting some of the pretty dresses from the Sahara, Bria, & Tirza, and loves for us to admire her in her new clothes. We have lots, really...lots of boys around the house these days and she tries to join in on some of the fun. We move furniture around to protect her from putting herself in the middle of the nerf "wars" and Jedi fights. She also has lots of time with us, just her, when the boys are at school. We go out, explore new parts of the city, shop, meet with people, go out for lunch, and even see a movie or two. She's running around now, and knows what she wants. She asks the house helper girls to take her outside when they go to leave (2xs a day) by putting both of her hands up and together, :), that's how she asks any of us to take her with us. She's realized she likes some food and not so much other foods...and that its pretty fun to throw it off the highchair when she's full. She can take her diaper off and will do it any chance she gets, so she always has something over her diaper....or else. After growing out of the baby bath we would just shower her off, this week she's decided its fun to sit down in a bucket and loves that. She said Daddy and Mommy the other day when she was in the bucket...but thats the one and only time I've heard it yet. She does a lot of talking, just nothing we can understand. She has quickly lost interest in her paci the past couple of months, its pretty much a thing of the past. Today in the car I was wishing it worked its magic like before. Her crib is in our room, we've yet to banish her to sleep with the boys in the other a/c room. We often put her to bed and we'll watch a show/movie on our bed (remember, one of the two rooms that have a/c), she slowly throws everything in her crib out (babies, pacis, blankets)...I guess just to make a point and then lays down to fall asleep. She spends a lot of time on our gated-in veranda, she can watch the road, lately lots of rain, and all the happenings of the neighborhood. While she's out there she unloads our shoe shelf by throwing all the shoes out the gate. She has a new love of curd, ate a whole small tub just plain the other day. She won't drink the milk here yet, though. Occasionally she likes to take a "drink" of her juice and then spit it out....and do that as she walks around the house. She's been known to bite. She expects to be taken to the bus stop every morning with the boys. All the kids on the bus wave to her and call her name. She turns the tv off and then snickers at us. She isn't interested in watching the tv at all yet. Her favorite toy is a clicking push toy. She gladly eats out of anyone's hand that offers her food. Literally, out of their hand b/c that's the only utensil. She loves the sand and the ocean, she walks right into it full speed ahead!

SWEET SELAH.

School Days Again....

Here are the boys in their good-lookin' new uniforms! They started school last week and have been loving it! They ride a bus to and from school, hopefully soon an A/C bus. The boys told me the driver says they will be home faster when they get the A/C bus fixed, not sure what the connection there is. They go to a private school that is a really good one here in Vizag. They are happy to have some "truly" international students this year....our boys and two girls that just moved here from Korea! The school uses a combination of the state syllabus and Cambridge curriculum. The boys both have Hindi class. (Isaiah had said he wanted to learn Telugu so we had him down for Telugu as his second language, well, last week one of the teachers who ride on the bus with them got off and told me he was upset that day and didn't want to learn Telugu, hmmm. I asked him and he said all HIS friends speak Hindi, and, I'm guessing, are in the Hindi class. If you know Isaiah, that means everything. We don't really care which he is in so told him we'd tell his teacher it was fine. We hadn't done anything but the next day he came home with a Hindi notebook and a page filled in with the first letter. Guess that was taken care of by Isaiah.... :))

Their school is in the middle of developing a big, new campus. They have the main building finished (enough) for the kids to come to school, but outside is still a work in progress. Eventually there will be all sorts of fun stuff. Tennis, swimming, soccer, playground. They said for now they play "indoor" games. Wesley was pretty excited, he said they have chess. :) It's always an adventure and we take each year and see how it goes. It's really great to be a real part of a community here and that the boys have such good friendships and relationships at school. I'm sure they'll be some exciting days this year!

The pictures below are on "our" main road. Just a minute or so from our house. David, Selah, and I were out the other day when the boys were at school and we saw this elephant. We have lots of animals around but, elephants, not usually. I told Wesley when he came home and he just looked at me and questioned my honesty! :) I told him to ask Dad... So, the next couple days I made sure I had the camera handy and there "he" was again on our road. Now I have proof! (OK, and I have never noticed the creepy sign that is behind the elephant in the 2nd picture....note that that is NOT the school we send the boys to!)