On the road again (or planes)

Well, we leave Bangalore in about 2 hours. Both of us are sick. I feel really terrible because my last day was spent sleeping. I have a fever and cough, so I didn't want to spread it to the children. Sam did a great job playing for the both of us though. I could hear the children laughing a lot. My last meal was masala dosa at lunch time and then I just couldn't tolerate anymore food. Sweet Esther came over and massaged my achy joints. I kept telling her that she didn't need to do that, but she said this is what she likes to do for the ones she loves.

At 9:00 o'clock we said our goodbyes to the kids. The boys were already in bed so we had to wake them up. I cried like a big dork, which unfortunately made the girls all cry. Sam and I prayed with Esther and I cried again. Man, I wish she could come to the states to meet my family. At 10:00 o'clock we got in the car with Alex, Reny, Benjamin, and Bensen. Now we are at the airport and awaiting our flight. Keep us in your prayers. God Bless.

One more day

I feel a heavy burden on me at the end of this trip. Last time I was ready to come home, which I am this time as well, but there is also a strong part of me that wants to stay and help these people. I see a need for more affection and time spent with these children. At times, I'm disappointed in myself for not doing more. For example, today we went to the market to get gifts for the children, but we waited until the children were already home from school. That means I lost 3-4 hours that I could have spent playing with and loving on the children. When we got back, I went to spend time with them during their studies and ended up scolding one boy (Sanju) and getting the rest yelled at by Alex. I'm just frustrated now. I hope I can be more of a positive influence/role model tomorrow.

Miyami's 10th Birthday is today. She got to wear a nice new dress shirt to school and she was very excited. Avinash, Sam and me took Miyami to the store last night and I told her to pick out two large bags of whatever candy she would like to share with her class. I let her take them up to the counter and pay (I gave her the money), and you would have thought I just gave her the best present. She was all smiles.

I worked in the library and then went with Rajan to pick up the children from school. We were trying to chat on the way to school and I think he was telling me about his money troubles. I don't know if I responded properly because he just got very quiet with me after that. This last throughout the day.

I did get a chance to print some photos for the children and Ester. I have to go back and get some more tomorrow.

My heart is breaking tonight. I made two of the children cry because they know Sam and I are leaving in three days. Plus Ester shed some tears for the same reason. I told her she can't start that now because I'll be a wreck. Sachin keeps telling me "I am very sad" when I asked why he told me it is because I will be leaving. Ouch. I wish I could take them all with me.

I gave a message today about the flavor of God and used a green chili as a prop. I was slightly disappointed that the chili was not a spicy as I was expecting. I wanted to make a point about having to mature into new flavors. I guess I have adjusted to quickly.

We will be doing a cook out tonight with the children. I used some of the funds which were given for the trip to purchase a smaller grill. Now when they to the day trips with the college, they should be able to save a little money. I am doing grilled chicken legs. We made an east meets west marinade. Olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, salt & pepper combined with masala, tomato puree, and chili powder. Hopefully it will be delicious. Sam bought chicken sausage just incase.

We had a fun day today. This morning I worked for awhile in the library and then traded with Sam. In between shifts we walked to Papa John's and ordered 16 pizza for the mission home. When we got back I set up the volleyball net with Avinash (he came home early from school with a stomach ache-it didn't last very long once he saw us playing outside). Sam, Maung Hang, Avinash and I played volleyball for awhile and then the other boys joined us. I was sweating profusely but it was totally worth it. While we were playing the children came home begging for sweets as usual. I gave them a biscuit (cookie) and then we all played until lunch time.

After lunch all the foster home children loaded up in the car and we drove to the mall. Sam, Reny and I took an auto rickshaw. Wow was that an experience. I highly recommend it to anyone that comes to India. I took a video of it for anyone that is interested. We took the children to a bowling alley/arcade. This was a first time experience for the majority of them. Ester told me when we got home that it was the first time she has ever been on an escalator. I took some of the girls to the restroom and had to laugh because they didn't know how to use the toilet, turn on the sink, or how to get the soap and towels. I was really cool to experience that with them. When we got home most of the children were car sick, so we just relaxed for awhile. The pizza were delivered at 7:15 and we all sat down together to eat. Avinash and Benjamin (from the foster home) packed away the most pizza I have ever seen. I think they had six pieces each.

I have to preach tomorrow so I better go over my notes now. It's 10 o'clock. Help me Jesus!

Good Night :)

We made contact with the missionaries acrossed the street today. They are from Texas, and have been in India for the past 4 months. They say that they will stop over on Sunday.

Sam and Alex are feeling much better today. We went to a chinese restaurant called Chung's for lunch. I ordered Dragon rolls with garlic sauce and Chicken Koithai. Mine was a little spicy, but then I tried some of Sam and Alex's spicey chili chicken and prawns. WOW I was sweating and all kinds of red. On the way back from the restaurant, we saw a small boy (maybe 6 0r 7 years old) naked from the waist down and squatting to do # 2 on the side of the road. I've seen poop in the road before but I always blamed it on the millions of wild dogs around here.

Our picnic plans for tomorrow have been canceled. We were supposed to take a trip to Mysore and spend the day with everyone from the mission; however, it is supposed to rain a lot that day and apparently there is some kind of strike going on that is blocking our root. It was decided that the trip will be postponed for the children. Instead we are going to hopefully take them children to a play center in Bangalore. Afterwards, we have planned to get Papa John's pizza for everyone and just have a funny day of playing. We went to the Metro and purchased a grill, sodas, chicken sausage, chips and KitKat bars.

A lot of the plans for this trip have fallen through. The beds still are not finished, the library data tooks several days to fix, the Mysore trip was cancelled, and so was the pastor's conference do to rain, illness and a wedding. It's kind of a pain but at least it has been fun with the children and the Bible college students.