Funny Faces

Last year I got to go over to Beau and Laynie Snider's house. They had done a great job decorating but I have to admit my favorite part was the collection of pictures they had on their refrigerator. They had taken pictures of all their friends and family making "the ugliest face that you can." I thought it was so hilarious and have wanted to do it ever since.

When we were setting up for our Christmas party we tried to take pictures looking really disgusting. They are pretty funny so I thought I should share them with you all...

Who do you think looks the funniest??

Christmas in India

We had a unique Christmas this year.  I wouldn't ever choose to be away from my family during the holiday season but we did manage to have a good time.  We tried to incorporate everyone's holiday traditions into a week of fun.  We baked and decorated cookies, opened presents that the WET team brought from our families, and had a hot chocolate bar.  We ate so much food it was crazy.  We had two gift exchanges with our team: one with a two dollar gift (100 rupees) and one with a good Secret Santa present.  Stephen got a box full of 100 rupees worth of bananas which I personally think is the most hilarious white elephant gift ever.    Get excited too because we got a Wii!!  Stephen did not know about it so it was a huge surprise!!  We are still searching for a transformer so that it will not blow up in India's weird electricity but we can not wait to use it!!  I'm sure we will have hours and hours of fun - I'm thinking that we need to do a team golf tournament sometime soon!!  I do not prefer being away from my family on the holidays but we were blessed with another great Christmas.  

Nothing too Exciting...

Right now I feel like there isn't anything too exciting to write about. The most exciting events are to come. Right now several of our friends are on their way to visit us in India!! Megan, Pam, Heather, Jason, Ray and Dave are all going to arrive in Hyderabad on Tuesday morning. We are so excited to see some new faces.

Imagine spending 24 hours a day with the same 9 people for an entire year... We love each other and are building some lasting friendships but it is going to be so refreshing to see some other Americans. It will be fun to have someone to tell a story to who hasn't heard it 5 times already.

I am nervous though. Because our team spends so much time together we have just developed a way that we interact with each other. Most of it involves inside jokes that will not be funny to the normal person. Hopefully we can still socialize like normal human beings.

Random fact of the day...
You can not get regular cow milk in India. Although we have a grocery store with lots of stuff, India is seriously lacking in the dairy department. We have found two choices of goat milk: box or bag. I had forgotten that box milk is weird until I was talking with mom and Billy the other day while making pancakes and they saw it. We have tried it from the bag because it is a lot cheaper but it is so difficult to manage that we have settled on the box.



You can thank my self-timer for this amazing pic.

Thanksgiving Pics

I just realized that I hadn't posted any of our pictures from Thanksgiving...

Our team plus Saji and his family gathered around the turkey!

Saji and Blake making sure Stephen was carving the turkey correctly.

It would not be Thanksgiving if Brittan and I didn't peel 1000 potatoes!


Everyone getting ready to feast!!

We have so much to be thankful for!!

Electricity

There are three stores in Hyderabad that sell imported products. They import the strangest things (example: the tins of sardines that have been there for the entire 6 months we've been here) but also things that can make your day (example: Funfetti icing.) The 99 Rupee store is probably my favorite. It is close to our house in City Center, the nicest mall in Hyderabad.

Last week we went in to try to gather up the ingredients you need to make a Thanksgiving feast. We needed evaporated milk, pie crust, french friend onions for green bean casserole and cream of mushroom soup. We park our car and head into the mall only to find out that the store is closed in the middle of the day and noone could tell us why. Usually in India this would not surprise you but in this mall it was odd.

Today the 99 rupee store finally reopened after 10 days!! When we asked why the manager told us it was "because we didn't pay our electric bill."

Does this happen in the US?? I don't think so but I am not sure.

Black Friday

A November without Thanksgiving is sad. The good news is that we were able to have a great Thanksgiving meal! Our entire team worked together to make quite the feast. All of the dishes were a little different than normal but still amazing!

A November without Black Friday is even more sad than one without Thanksgiving. India does not have Black Friday shopping. This really is a bummer. I love shopping the day after Thanksgiving. You see, finding great deals is one of my passions in life. The day after Thanksgiving is the best opportunity for a woman of my talents. My skills were wasted this year.

One good thing is that the women who taught me all that I know about shopping, my mom, annie and kel are shopping today in Louisiana. They have been calling to find out our needs. For example, "24 Season 4." Mom just called to inform me that they found it and purchased it for us. Yea!! Get ready for more addiction!!

Another good thing is that I found that Amazon.com has some black friday sales. I was able to order Brittan's Christmas present "Punk'd Season 1" for a great price!! We both love that show. It is hilarious!

Well Happy Black Friday to you all!! Do some major shopping for me!

Fashion Show!!

There is a house being built right next door to our house here in Hyderabad. Here it is common for the people who are building a home to live in the unfinished house until it is finished so we have several families who live right by us. The kids of those families have been such a joy to all of us since we arrived. They do not speak English, do not go to school and only eat one meal a day but they are always smiling and so full of life! There are three boys Shivaji (11) Rajesh (9) and Nani (5) and two girls Ranuka (8) and Vasenta (6).

Stephen's mom sent us a package with several little boys shirts, tons of socks, underwear and a pair of shoes. I wish all of you could have been here to see their excitement. We had them come onto our porch and just started seeing what fit who. These were the first pair of socks that each of them have ever had. It reminded me of Christmas morning as their faces lit up. They tried on every single item at one time!

After distributing the clothes we had them pose for several pictures. Right after the picture is taken they all run to me to look at it. We are the first people who have ever taken their pictures. We love being a part of their lives.

Twenty-four

Have any of you ever watched the show 24? Stephen and I fell in love with 24 a couple of years ago. The show is incredible. We began watching Season 1 with Bryan and Ashley Smith when we were all living in Norman. We were immediately addicted. There is something about this show that makes you abandon all other evening activities.
One night the ending of a disc was such a cliff-hanger that we had to get the next one immediately. We drove to the Blockbuster down the street only to find that they did not have the disc. There are two other locations in Norman which also did not have the disc. You can imagine our panic. After mapquesting all of the locations within a one hour drive we found a blockbuster in the ghetto of Oklahoma City that had the disc!! They held it for us and we were able to get it!! We finished season one that night.
Stephen and I watched seasons one through five in the US. Danica sent our team an amazing care package that included Season Three of 24. We started watching it for the second time and it is still sooo good. Our team is hooked.

It is such a fun show to get addicted to on DVD but I do not think that I could watch it in real time. It is just too intense. Do you have any shows that are like that for you?

Some Things Never Change...

There are some things that you get used to as you adjust to life in a foreign country.

I have gotten used to the noise, the auto filled roads, the constant honking and girls being over an hour late to meet me for lunch.

I have gotten used to the fact that it is still warm here, that I am constantly around only 8 other Americans, and that I get stared at everywhere I go.

I have gotten used to having someone cook my dinner, that the dollar is worth 48 rupees, and hearing Enrique Iglesias blaring at every coffee shop.

And until today I thought I had gotten used to the water buffalo...

Becca and I were walking through our neighborhood to catch a ride in an auto-rickshaw with one of our favorite kids, Shivaji. As we were getting close to the dump (naturally there is a dump on the way out of our neighborhood) we noticed that there was a small herd of water buffalo eating some lunch. We have passed these animals many times on this road but today they were really scary. They all looked at us as we approached. We freaked out and hid behind a cement truck. Shivaji, a 9 year old, ran up and scared them away.

I guess there are some things that you just don't ever get used to.

The Lord's Supper

Tonight was a very good night. We had invited all of the Indian followers of Jesus over to celebrate the Lord's Supper together. For most of them it was the first time to partake in this command of Christ. We set up our take of the upper room. We sat the tops of our kitchen tables on the ground and surrounded them with pillows. We light the entire room by candle and served the Indian food family style. As we were eating the meal Blake told the story of Jesus' last night.

On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to prepare the Passover supper?" "As you go into the city," he told them, "you will see a certain man. Tell him, `The Teacher says, My time has come, and I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples at your house.' " So the disciples did as Jesus told them and prepared the Passover supper there.

When it was evening, Jesus sat down at the table with the twelve disciples. While they were eating, he said, "The truth is, one of you will betray me." Greatly distressed, one by one they began to ask him, "I'm not the one, am I, Lord?" He replied, "One of you who is eating with me now will betray me. For I, the Son of Man, must die, as the Scriptures declared long ago. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer. Far better for him if he had never been born!"Judas, the one who would betray him, also asked, "Teacher, I'm not the one, am I?" And Jesus told him, "You have said it yourself."

As they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread and asked God's blessing on it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "Take it and eat it, for this is my body." And he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. He gave it to them and said, "Each of you drink from it, for this is my blood, which seals the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out to forgive the sins of many. Mark my words--I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom." Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

It was such an amazing experience to take communion and remember Christ's life and his death with these students for the first time. To remember the physical and emotional sacrifices He made to endure death on the cross. We could tell that it was incredibly impactful for each of them and for each of us. Sometimes we can take communion for granted but tonight I realized what a special time it really can be. A time to remember what I daily base my total faith in.

Chocolate Chip Cookies...

My entire life my mom made chocolate chip cookies but somehow I did not enter into adulthood remembering the recipe. After getting married I decided to venture on a quest to find the best cookie recipe in the world.

Because I am a lazy cook this journey only involved a couple of hours scanning all the recipes on allrecipes.com.
*Side note: this recipe site is amazing. It has recipes for everything, tons of reviews and great suggestions. If you have not tried it you should!! Only use 4 or 5 star recipes!

I have tried a bunch. Yesterday I made a batch that I liked. I still am not satisfied. Here is the recipe that I followed...

Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie


INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely

What do you think about this recipe? Do you have a good one that I should try?

Our Day of Rest...

Like I said in my last post, Wednesday is our day off. Our Sabbath. I am still in the process of sorting our exactly what it means to take a "day of rest." I know that it is Biblical to take a day of rest but I am still not sure what that looks like lived out.

Sometimes I can fill my Sabbath doing absolutely nothing. I can sleep in really late and still miss my quiet time. I can watch hours of television and eat whatever I want. I can just lounge around the entire day. Now I am not trying to say that any of these activities are bad all the time (queso and a movie are too dear to my heart) , but for some reason I always end the day feeling even more exhausted than before.

Today was the exact opposite type of Sabbath. I woke up at a decent hour. I made
Stephen and I some oatmeal with bananas and brown sugar (we must get creative here so
we have found 20 ways to eat oatmeal.) I spent some time with the Lord and then started writing responses to emails. I dealt with some business about running our house. Then I ran to grocery shop for our teams dinner. No, we do not have a Wal-Mart, so this trip was made up of three different stops and a whole lot of Indian traffic. This trip took so long that Stephen was starving and we had to make a stop to fill his belly. After delivering the groceries to the house I left again to go pick up my fixed computer! Once again, a very long trip. I arrived home at 6:15. Once again, exhausted.

Last spring a guy named Kevin Little gave a devotional about using your Sabbath as the Lord intended. He challenged us all to not live it our selfishly but by doing things that honor the Lord that refresh us.

Instead of missing my quiet time on my day off ~ spending extra time reading stories about the miracles of Christ in the New Testament.

Instead of eating like a complete pig ~ inviting someone that I love to come over for tea or diet coke.

Instead of rushing around town on errands ~ spend a few minutes to write all I need to do on my calendar for other days in the week.

Instead of sleeping the day away ~ waking up at a decent hour to go for a walk and praise God for His creation.

After a very busy day off, I was reminded of why he gave that talk. Today was not my best day of rest.

A New President...

Wednesday is our day off here in India. When you focus on relationships with college students you have to work your schedule around theirs. Here they have college for half a day on Saturday and are usually free for the rest of the afternoon which makes it the best day to hang out with students. So, we simply switched our Saturday with our Wednesday. This system is taking some getting used to. It still feels like Friday night should we fun night so we have to fight ourselves to go to bed. On the other hand, Tuesday definitely feels like a work night and we have to fight to stay up late!!

This Wednesday Stephen and I woke up, ran into turn on CNN to watch the poll updates. We assumed that there would still be several hours of states lighting up red or blue as their numbers came in, but we were wrong. One minute after turning it on, McCain walked out to make his speech in Arizona congratulating Obama. We were so surprised. Not that Obama won, but that the election was already over.

I have to admit that although I have read up on their policies and listened to their debates I am definitely not the most informed voter. If I would have been in the states I probably would have cast my vote for McCain but I will say that I can not help but be drawn to Obama's charismatic way of speaking and really do think that I would like him if we met face to face. I will not say that I agree with all of his politics but I do support him fully as our president. Ok, that is all I have to say about that. I hate to talk politics but I could not leave it off of my blog, because missing an election and coming home to a new president is a big event in this India experience.

Indians were huge Obama supporters all during the presidential race. Right after he got elected, word began getting out that his policies are less friendly to outsourcing. Some are beginning to question their excitement.

The day after the results came out Brittan and I spent a good (embarrassing) amount of time reading everyone on facebooks status updates concerning the election. There were some good fights and some pretty outrageous statements. We decided to put a couple of our favorites on our pages...

Cheesiest: Let's forget about the red and blue and get back to the red, white and blue.
Funniest: Well, I guess that means no more Tina Fey as Palin...that's a bummer.

Great Expectations...

Todd Craig from Asbury UMC in Tulsa called a couple of weeks ago asking if we would like to be involved in a sermon series called Great Expectations. The entire series is through the book of 1 Thessalonians. He wanted us to share about how God does not always do what we expect Him to do. Our story will be told along with a couple sticking it out in a difficult marriage and another couple who recently had a still-born baby. The stories will be told over the three weeks leading up to Christmas as they light the advent wreath.

Week one- What expectations we had of God.
Week two- What happened that did not meet our expectations.
Week three- The struggles and blessings we have faced as a result.

Stephen, Brittan, Brittany and I all filmed the videos. It was hard thinking through our ideas about what this year in India would be like, all the feelings and hard things that happened the week of the accident and also all of the emotions we have sorted through as a result.

If you live in Tulsa try to make it to the Asbury service to see the series. It sounds like it is going to be a good one.

Candy for Breakfast

Even though I hate to admit it, at 25 I still get so excited for Halloween!! I love candy so much. I always have. Halloween is about dressing up in creative costumes and carving jack-o-lanterns but an excuse to eat candy all day is the best part of October 31st in my book! This morning I woke up, ate a jolly rancher with my coffee and then a couple of mini reeses cups (thanks Fitzgerald family!!) Then I experienced a sugar high and was running into everyone's rooms singing "Candy for breakfast, candy for breakfast." One problem is that my stomach started hurting after about an hour so I had to eat a regular breakfast. But I did decide that if we have kids I want to start a tradition where the day after Halloween our kids can eat all the candy they want for breakfast!! Don't you think that kids would LOVE that??

Humbled...

Until yesterday I was pretty proud of my blogging skills. I had figured out how to use the system and was blogging fairly consistently. That was until I visited my friend Megan's blog. It puts my blog to shame. Now I am a bit embarrassed.
So, I have began my quest of figuring out how to blog creatively. I mean, who wants to read a boring blog... no one! I am sorry if my blog has bored you in the past. As you can tell by the new look, I am going to really start trying.
Another thing that was a bit embarrassing was the amount of people who commented on all of her posts. Right now I am lucky if my mom comments (thanks mom!) so I'm not sure if it is just my mom reading my blog or what. So, if you read this blog will you comment and let me know so that I can know my audience!!! Even Annie has figured out how to comment, so I know you can do it!! Hahaha! Love you Annie!

Things we love in India...

Tonight I was sitting on the roof with Stephen, Erin, Brittany, Brittan and Rob. Erin thought it would be a fun idea to list off some of the things we love in India as we enjoyed the fireworks of Diwali. I thought I would share a few that I can remember with you.

- that we are still wearing jeans and t-shirts at night and completely comfortable
- the ambiance of the amazing restaurants here
- that we have a wonderful cook
- auto-rickshaws are on every street so you are never without transportation
- fireworks have been going off non-stop for hours
- we can communicate via skype fairly easily
- you can wear a whole outfit that is bright pink, orange, green, purple or blue
- the kids who live next door to us
- we get to workout several times a week
- fifty rupees per dollar!
- fun times with our team

Well we had several more but these are all that I can remember.

Happy Diwali

What does it mean when traffic is crazy, everyone is buying gifts and new clothes and people are generally in good spirits...HOLIDAY SEASON. We are currently entering into festival (holiday) season here in India. Tuesday we will be celebrating Diwali which is the largest festival in Hyderabad. "Diwali is the festival of lights," in the words of Michael Scott from the Office. It is filled with good food, little lanterns lit everywhere you go and tons of fireworks. The celebrations began tonight. Stephen had the great idea of going up to sit on our room and watch the fireworks. Here there is not a big city-wide fireworks ceremony but every individual family gets together and puts on their own fireworks display. It was so cool watching all the crackers, as they call fireworks here, from every direction in the city. There will be more fireworks tomorrow night and, from what I've heard, I will see more fireworks on Tuesday than all of my 4th of Julys combined! It is really a fun time here in India. We are enjoying all so many once in a lifetime experiences.
So, from us to you...HAPPY DIWALI!

Day by Day

October 6th - Fly to Delhi and arrive at 9:15 in the evening!! Find a roach in our hotel...uh oh... go to bed.

October 7th - Shop at the amazing market in Delhi. We got the most amazing scarves!! Then we went to this crazy market where you can buy western clothes!! It was heaven because it reminded me of NBC - a lot of digging for cute shirts that cost about $2!! My most prized purchase was a cute calf length gray dress!! Get ready Thailand!! In the afternoon we go to Max hospital to visit Ballgame. He informed us that he had just walked to the American toilet for the first time since the accident!! Our team is freakishly close!! Yea for his recovery.

October 8th - All day trip to Agra to see the Taj Mahal!! It was so amazing. It really is all that it is cracked up to be!! We rode little buggies pulled by horses up to it even though our tour guide was dying for us to take a bus. Our team took about one thousand pictures - the typical ones (jumping over the taj, holding the point, etc) and even some creative ones!! How fun!


October 9th - Another fun day in Delhi! Stephen, Brittan and I went up to the hospital to spend some more time with Ballgame. He found out that he is probably going to be going back to the US this coming weekend to start physical therapy!! Then Brittan and I went to lunch with the Millers and shopped a little at the expensive mall!! At 10 pm we leave to begin the longest bus journey of our lives!! We were told the drive to Manali was 12 hours but it ended up taking 18!! Wow!

October 10th- Happy Birthday Stephen!! Spent the morning still driving but arrived halfway through Stephen's 29th birthday!! We were able to celebrate in the Himalayas so it made the drive totally worth it!! We ate lunch at Chopsticks (our whole teams new favorite restaurant) and walked around the city. It is an amazing place!

October 11th- Paragliding in the Himalayas has to be the coolest thing I have ever done in my life!! Our drive up the mountain was hilarious because about halfway up the mountain we ran into an extreme traffic jam. Turns out, a bridge was under repair for about an hour. Well the cars on both sides piled up so it took us forever to get up!! Typical life in India right (You can imagine that we were all praying big time as we crossed the newly repaired bridge) Well we finally made it up then we were off...running off the mountain to see the most amazing view of our lives!!

October 12th - Happy birthday Matt!! The good news was that Matt got to spend his birthday in the mountains, the bad new was that he was sick all day. He was a great sport about it though!! Stephen and I went for a little alone time and had brunch at a cute German bakery. We talked about all of the experiences we have had as a couple since we got married. It was a really fun time! We also did some shopping!!

October 13th- Happy birthday Erin!! Back in the van for the trip back to Delhi!! Our trip home was a bit more fun than the night trip because our bathroom stops were a little less shady!! It's amazing what a decent bathroom can add to a road trip. We all talked about our trip a lot and had a good time together!

October 14th- Fly home. It was a great trip to say the least!!

We're Home!

We made it safely home from our North India trip this afternoon around one o'clock. It was a little strange to feel relieved to fly into the Hyderabad airport because it is beginning to feel a little like "home." Don't take this the wrong way, we all still miss home a ton but there is something to be said for sleeping in your own bed and not living out of a suitcase after a long trip!!
Our trip was AMAZING. We got to experience so many "once in a lifetime" moments on this trip. I will post more pics and tell some stories later

Our Favorite Restaurant and Cake in the Face

Last night was a good night. We went to our favorite restaurant, Barbeque Nation, last night to celebrate Blake's birthday. I know you might not trust our judgment since we have been living here for 4 months now, but it is a seriously amazing place. Every table has an opening for a grill. The servers bring out skewers of chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, green peppers and potatoes that are 90% cooked and place them on the grill. Then you brush marinades on them and have many different dipping sauces to choose from. This place is amazing!
We got home and Blake opened his birthday gifts (a tennis racket and new tennis balls) and hit the golf ball pinata that we made for him out of paper mache. Our friend, Bala, showed up at the house with a chocolate cake at 11:50. Blake teased him that he was ten minutes early but there were trick candles on the cake so he didn't end up blowing them all the way out until midnight! Bala cut the cake a served Blake the first piece Indian style. Here they smash the birthday cake in the birthday boys face and smear it all around. Then Bala grabbed the second piece and smashed it in Matts face (his birthday is Oct. 12), the third piece went into Stephen's face (his birthday is Oct 10) and then chased down Erin for the fourth piece (her birthday is Oct 13.) We are going to be in North India during all of their birthdays so he didn't want to miss the chance to smash cake in their faces!!

Our North India Trip

We get to go on a trip to see a some of the coolest places in India in one week and two days. We leave the Tuesday October 7th and will travel to New Delhi (the capital of India.) The very next day we will spend a full day traveling to and seeing the incredible Taj Mahal. I am sooo excited to see it!! I mean I get to see one of the 7 wonders of the world! The third day we will spend shopping like crazy in Delhi. We have heard that they have some of the best shopping in India! I am hoping to buy a cute scarf and maybe some jewelry. From Delhi we head to a wonderful place called Manali. It is in the Himalayan mountains and looks so beautiful. I posted one of the pics we looked up online. Brittan and I have been thinking of what all we need to pack for this trip (keep in mind that it does involve a 12 hour drive.) Post a comment if you have any fun vacation packing ideas!!

A small little friend

Last night I was talking with my mom on skype for about an hour. She was making fun of me because I was swatting at mosquitos the entire time. We have not had too many problems with mosquitos until now. This morning I woke up and one had attacked my ankle. I seriously hate them but they love me. If there is one mosquito in our house it is guaranteed that it will find me. Do you think that there is something scientific behind this or that it is just something that is in my mind? Even Stephen will admit that if we are outside for the same amount of time, sitting in the same spot, I will end up with all of the mosquito bites. Isn't that strange?

It was so good to talk to my mom. We got to see each other and talk for a long time. I can not believe that if I would of come just a few years ago it would of been a huge deal for us to talk on the phone every once and awhile. I am so thankful for skype and almost free long distance communication.

Cute New Sunglasses!

Yesterday I was in my room cleaning up when the girls told me to come upstairs right away because we got a care package!! Meredith and Kristyn had sent us a care package with 5 pairs of cute sunglasses to sport while we are in India. It is amazing how excited we were about sunglasses!! They also sent SweetTarts, Twizzlers and Rice Krispy cakes!! We drew numbers to see who got to pick their sunglasses first and I got to pick first. I chose the cute pink glasses and am so excited to wear them!!

Also, I'm including a picture of my first bicycle rickshaw from our weekend in Delhi. We only had about one block to travel but decided to ride in style!!

Visiting Ballgame!!

Friday afternoon we flew to Delhi to visit Ballgame at the hospital. Traveling up there we were excited to see him but also nervous about telling him about Justin. We wanted to make sure he was completely awake and aware when we told him but also did not want to lie to him about why Justin wasn't with us. Friday night he was on some pain medicine so only Stephen and I were able to go in to see him. We were still so encouraged to see all the progress that he has made in the past two weeks. Saturday morning we went back up to the hospital as soon as we were allowed in. Stephen and I, along with Mr. and Mrs. Miller, broke the news to him about Justin early that morning. He was extremely sad but said that he still wanted to see everyone. Ballgame gathered all of us around his bed for a little speech where he told each of us what he loved about us and encouraged us to keep laboring in India. He told us that he is going to come back as soon as he is healthy. We had anticipated the trip to be focused on comforting him but that afternoon he encouraged each of us so much.
Saturday night we all went to eat at Bennigans!! In the states, my family has only had dinner at Bennigans once and we always make fun of it. But in India it was such a treat...funny how life works. Brittan and I ordered a Monte Criso and a Crispy Chicken Salad. They were sooo good!!
Sunday we all spent a lot of time talking about Justin. Ballgame began processing the loss of a best friend. He told us that even though he was in more pain than he has ever faced that he is glad that he was on that bike with Justin so that he did not have to go through the wreck by himself. I was so touched by those words.

Skype Date!

Today we got to skype face to face with Ballgame!! It was so encouraging to talk to him. We had been nervous about how far along his memory was but were pleasantly surprised.
He remembered "Ganesh" this guy who cuts all of the guys hair and give a killer head massage.
He remembered Brittan's hilarious dance moves from our cruise.
He remembered that Matt loves to drink coffee and decided to drink his first cup with him tomorrow.
He remembered the cute girl from Vish and asked if we had been hanging out with her.

He told us with a huge smile on his face, "I've made a goal, I'm walking out of this hospital in one week."

One hard part of the conversation was when he asked us "Where is Justin" We were not able to tell him because his parents are worried about his health. We just said "He isn't here."

We were able to tell him that we are visiting him this weekend! He was so excited!! We will probably be telling him about Justin this weekend. It will be difficult to tell him but we also think that he is well enough to be told.

What an amazing miracle that Ballgame is alive and well. We are still praying for a full and total recovery.

Believing God

I have just recently started reading thru a devotional book called "Believing God" by Beth Moore. I have been wanting to do this study for some time now but am just now finishing my last book. The first week talks about five motivations for believing God.
1. Incomparable Power (Eph 1:19_
2. The pleasure of God (Heb 11:6)
3. Reward (Heb 11:6b)
4. God will often act according to our faith (Matt 9:29)
5. Believing God is credited to us as righteousness (Rom 4:22-24)

It has been so cool to read thru these passages about faith and believing in God's power in light of what we have seen Him do in the past month. We have truly seen God work a miracle in John's life. I have never been a part of so many answered prayers. I have always believed that God has the power to do anything but seeing Him specifically answer prayers to heal specific parts of John's body has been amazing. Because my faith is small, it feels like I am surprised when God moves in big ways. Does that make sense?
We are going to get to see John this weekend. I can not wait! I know that if I am ever tempted to doubt the power of God that He will point me back to what I have seen him do in John's life. Not that He will always answer every prayer but that He is good, He loves us and we can trust Him.

My 25th Birthday!!

I had very low expectations of my birthday this year. Like I said in my previous posts we have been going through a tough time, so I figured my birthday would be pretty sad but my husband, sister and team made my day very special. I woke up to a french toast breakfast in bed from Brittan. What a sweetheart! Then we did a few sessions of grief counseling, which was pretty hard but very good for us all. After that they let me pick where went to lunch...guess what I choose...KFC!! Pretty funny, right? After lunch all of us girls went to get pedicures at Bubbles!! It felt so good and my french pedicure looks great! Blake and Matt showed up at Bubbles and told me that they needed to take me somewhere for a surprise. They had me close my eyes and when I opened them I saw Stephen and Rob standing there with a camel for us to ride around our favorite park in India. This was such a thoughtful gift because three years ago, when Stephen and I came on a summer team, we had the chance to ride a camel together. It is a fun memory that we always look back on. We had a blast together again. The evening consisted of queso, funfetti cake, diet coke and presents! They also put up 25 things they loved about me as wall decorations...I can't think of a better choice of decor!! At some point during the day, Rob taught the street kids who I talk to every single day how to sing Happy Birthday. They kept yelling "Happy birthday to you LICEY" My team is amazing. Yea for birthdays!

Justin's India Memorial Service

Although we got to see Justin's amazing memorial on the internet, we wanted to have a memorial here for his Indian friends. We think Justin would of really loved it. It is amazing the impact he had here in only two months. Kevin (the India director) led it and opened by sharing about Justin and how he had trusted Jesus as his only God, then we sang some worship in Hindi, then Matt and Rob shared stories about Justin's character and then Kevin shared the gospel by telling how we know that Justin is in heaven with the Lord.

Three Weeks

The past three weeks have been the toughest either of have ever experienced. Our great friends and teammates, Justin Magers and John Miller, were in a motorcycle accident on August 17th at 10:15 p.m. Justin did not make it and John is in critical condition. I may write more about this at some point but I don't want to quit writing just to avoid writing about this.
There is an amazing tribute on line for Justin that I would encourage you to watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVaRuxyEH6E

Drive Thru

One thing that we have been missing out on here in India is the convenience of the drive thru. Stephen and I are not huge fast food people but we do enjoy an occasional Taco Bueno or even just a DDP from the comfort of our vehicle. Well today we had a break thru in this area. In Hyderabad there are colonies, what we would call neighborhoods in the USA. As you turn into our colony there is an amazing man who sells bananas. We love this man and visit him almost daily. You give him a few rupees and he will give you a few bananas. We are still not sure of the exact price of each banana but we do know that it is a phenomenal deal. Today we were driving into our colony when Becca asked to stop by the banana man. We pulled up, she rolled down her window, handed the banana man several rupees and he handed her the bananas. Moral of the story is this: on the days we are missing fast food we can stop by for drive thru bananas on the way home = )

Independence Day!

Today was Indian Independence Day. All of the schools and businesses were closed, everyone was celebrating with their families and the Indian flags were flying everywhere. But it was a little strange to be in a country that is not your own, to be celebrating a holiday but it does not feel like a holiday to us. Now I know how our Indian friends in the US feel on the fourth of July. It was a fun day, the city was full of excitement and life, but also a day that I felt a little like a foreigner. Does that make sense??

Playing Catch Up

We just celebrated our two month anniversary of living in India. The time has flown by and I have to get this blog going before there is too much to catch up on!! So I might go back and update you on things that have already happened but I might just try to start updating weekly from here on out!! Life in India is good. We are getting to experience things that are honestly once in a lifetime. Daily there are cow and water buffalo walking down main intersections like it is nothing. It has also been incredible getting to share about Jesus with girls and guys here. For most of them, it is the first time that they have clearly heard about God's love, God's Son and the amazing grace based relationship that He offers each of us!! What a great reminder for each of us about the simple truth!!

Welcome to our Blog

We are so excited to start this blog to keep everyone up to date with our lives. This is new so be patient as we try to figure this out. It has been such a blessing to visit everyone in Tulsa this past week. We are so grateful to have each of you in our lives. This is a picture of our India team. We have bought our plane tickets for June 9th so it looks like we are really going!!