Are we settled?

From Tim:

Some of Seth's photo fun!

I keep finding myself telling people that we’re getting settled into our new lives here in India. But what does that really mean? As I sit here and think about it, I’m not sure how to best answer that.

We’ve unpacked all of our bags and trunks.  We’ve got some pictures hung and clothes hanging in the closets. The kitchen is mostly done now – just a little bit more work to be done. We have curtains hanging on most of the windows and as of this afternoon, new dust 

covers for all of the beds!

Our house is settled and feels homey to us all ~ I think.

For me though, I think being settled is more than just having our house in order – though that is certainly important to the kids and definitely to Karri as a mom.  I’m feeling a bit restless myself.  I’ve found myself on several occasions asking the question “what in the world are we doing here?”  Things are so very different. Everything – every part of every day is different. That’s probably the best way to describe it – DIFFERENT.

It is still very surreal being here!  We’ve been working and planning to come here for so long, but now that we’re here, it seems so strange.

Just today, we travelled into the city to do some shopping. As we were crammed into an auto-rickshaw for the 30-minute drive, the sights and smells came flooding in. All of these new things are still quite foreign.

We had a special treat for lunch today – Pizza Hut!  As we sat at our booth and ate our pizza and drank our Pepsi, it seemed like our ‘old’ life back in Ohio – a Friday night treat. But, as soon as we stepped out of the restaurant, we were back into a different world.

It is interesting – one of the definitions of settled is to ‘stop floating.’  I guess, based upon that definition, I’m not actually settled yet.  Don’t get me wrong - I’m not at 30,000 feet, but I don’t think my feet are quite yet on the ground!

I can see the ground coming closer – I think it will just take some more time.

Tiny Treasures

It was my birthday this week!  Though I have had 33 other birthdays before, I have never had one like this year’s.  So many of you, my friends and family, remembered and sent messages ~ that meant so much!  My new friends and family here surrounded me with kindness and rather spoiled me I must say.  And then we went to Ashirvad to treat the kids there to some ice cream (in India when you celebrate something special, you are the one to treat others ~ I like that :)

 During the whole time we were there child after child came up to me and handed me beautifully crafted and colored cards (they don’t want to waste a coloring book page by coloring it only once so they first trace the outlines of the picture and then color it in).  The cards were thoughtful gifts of time and effort!  And then some of these precious children wanted to give me presents ~ so they went through their small boxes of items (they each have a locker to keep all their clothes and things in) that they have saved and loved.  They gave me stickers (that have long since lost their stickiness), pairs of their earrings, little barrette clips & bobby pins, and small plastic flowers to put in my display case at home!  In short these orphaned children shared their treasures with me ~ what can I even say?!?   May our Father fill my heart with such generosity and love ~ I have a lot to learn here!

Hello from India!

We're going to try this out - to see if we can do better with updates from our daily life as we settle here in India.

We'll post more in the coming days.

Tim