A few of you have inquired as to my well being. As of now over 3,000 people have been killed in the state next to mine, which I was visiting this past weekend. I am doing fine...it seems to me that many, many things are happening in the world right now that have spiritual significance...I won't go into this now as I need to finish getting ready for the trip I leave on tonight. Please just be in prayer for those who live in my area of the world. Ask God to reconcile their hearts to the Truth. Ask Him to use this tragic time, as so far over 14,000 have died as a result of this earth quake, leaving behind families whose hearts will surely be searching for answers, for His glory.

I will be visiting some of the areas that have been effected by the earthquake over the course of the next month. Pray I will be used as a light in the darkness.

I love you guys...

Merry Christmas!! What a day for my e-mail not to be working! For all of you whom I would have e-mailed today...MERRY CHRISTMAS!
I had a good day. I will say it was pretty weird to be HERE on Christmas day as not many were about Christmas. It felt good though to celebrate Christmas for what it should be instead of the commerical holiday it has become at home. I hung out with two families here that I really like and then headed to a Christmas party with a whole bunch of expats. I have now officially joined the ranks of those who have seen White Christmas.
Rick,

Ben and I missed you today! "The Christmas I NEVER KNEW!" and "NAM A STAE" will live on with laughter forever...
One more picture:

God bless us every one.

My weekend in Kodai was fabulous! God makes all things cool and just works things out only the way He could. Here are some pictures to try and nutshell the time:
At the train station while trying to find a taxi to take us up the 3 hours into the mountains, Mandy and I were met with R800 as the cheapest price. I turned and said lets ask that group if we can jump in with them. One lady turns around, removes the hood from her hoody sweatshirt and there you go. An 11 hour train ride away from home and I run into a lady whom I am in Bible Study with. We, Sundeep her husband, Sudha my friend, Mandy, and I jump in a taxi and head up the Mountain for hours of fun, and some serious talk about the Lord and the Hindu faith. Are they not SO cute!
Yes, it may be holy but it eats trash. They all do frankly...We saw this gal in town....We ate some Tibetan food for lunch...MOMOs!!

We rented bikes for R10 and went riding...

Yes, I can still shoot after all these years...thanks Dad!

The Sunset...

Ran into Shilpi and Neha on the way up the hill to get some ice cream...we talked of taking a trip together to some fun place in the future...

The next day we joined a tour to take in the forest. Yeah, this was our mobile...

Mandy and I ran away from the group because everyone kept warning us to stay away from the edge because we could fall...and we came upon this view...it was great...

I took a seat...it was amazing...I wish I could have sat there longer...God is a master craftsman...

There is a lake up in dem hills...

Mandy frolics because of the joy of pine...

Then I catch her in the act! Weren't we coming up here for some FRESH air?? AND uh hum, I always did wonder if she could read...I guess not...Can't leave her alone for a minute...

We concluded our tour...had some MORE Tibetan MOMOs and sacked out for the nite.
The next day Mandy and I went on another tour, with some fun folks on our bus this time!
We met this newlywed couple...he lives in Hartford...it took him to say Connecticut before we realized that we were both trying to figure out where his city was in India...we have been here too long...

2nd stop was this really cool pine forest...not enough time here but it was neat...

We flew by some spots on the bus and were told there was a short cut to Kerala but we were not allowed to drive that road because of robbers, bandits, and smugglers...geesh.
Next stop was Suicide Point...the last statement heard on the bus "if you are sad please stay ON the bus"

Checking out the Valley View at our next stop...

Next stop Guna cave...yeah, psych...you get to see a fence, a TON of monkeys, and catch a glimpse of Indian fashion...just so you all know what goes on around here...

And our last waterfall...

We ended our tour, got some more Tibetian MOMOs, and started our journey back down the Mountain. It was a great weekend! I have acquired a new word after hearing it used SO often on my trip...for those of yous who speak to me...IRIONICAL IS a word!
Oh yeah, if life could be any more random. Had lunch with a Thai monk today in a Muslim run restaruant where I had a steak burger as the holy cows ambled down the street outside. The part of the convo that made me laugh so hard, "beep beep beep beep beep", the monk in response to what he thought of India. This in reference to the amount of horn honking that occurs in this country..."beepbeep beep beep" and he giggles. Priceless.

A mosquito just committed suicide in the boiling water on the stove. SUCKER!

And what is also great is that  I entered the house and found that the GARGANTUAN ants that have invaded my house, yet I have refused to kill as long as they just wanted to crawl around and not bite me, have been falling to their own, but sweet, death by succumbing to their weakness of trying to get a sip of the little bit of coke I have left in a cup on my table. They are drowning in their pursuit of happiness. Too bad Jolly Ranchers don't provide pools of sweetness for them to drown in...other wise I would willingly give them some in order to save myself from further massive crawlys. Instead I stow my treats away in the fridge with all the other candy blessings that have been brought to me or sent to me from the States.

Now if I can figure out the weakness of the gecko who left his dropping of poo on my piece of paper that I have hung on the wall of my office next to my desk...

Number of men using public walls/side walks as a urinal in a 2 km stretch: 5

Think I want to watch a movie...sure wish I had some new ones though...

Funny how perfectly timed the Word is even when you open it at random to read for a few minutes...I guess just because I am random doesn't mean that God is.

If mechanization came to India hundreds of millions would be out of a job. This I figured out as I was taking the clothes out of the washer to hang them on the line. As I was doing this I watched the lady on the roof of the house behind mine beating her boss's laundry on a cement block to clean it. At first I wondered why her boss who can afford SO much won't buy their servant a washing machine to make her life easier. I mean HELLO! Then I realized why. Life WOULD be easier for her work wise...because she would be out of a job. THAT is why manual labor will always exist in the state it is in in this country...one more mouth fed. That is why the man built the HUGE and seemingly ridiculously massive palace with an extravagant maze when the people were dying from lack of food and money because he wanted a way to provide for their needs by giving them work. Not that I am saying that conditions could not be improved around here, because I am not saying that AT ALL, but sometimes I realize that my way of fixing something really could cause greater detriment. People would rather have a job instead of no job. If people did their own cleaning then all those jobs would be lost. If people used a machine to dig that ditch then all those people would be out of a job. If people did their own ironing people would be out of a job. If people drove themselves people would be out of a job. IF IF IF IF...this society.

I am taking a train into the mountains tomorrow for the weekend!! Wooooo whoooo! I am excited! I need to relax a little and enjoy some un-spoilt nature.

I should go before night falls. A visiting doctor told me that in her 3 week visit at the hospital here there were 7 cases of Cobra bites. They are nocturnal and as I was walking through the high un-cut grass here the other night after dark I was imagining one of them being disturbed by my foot step! Ugh!

Level of annoyance caused by person I am sharing office with: You venture to guess

Person who seems to be grouchy today: MMMMEEEEE!!!! 

Good thing I have Bible study tonight...something needs to kick my tail OUT of this mood...

Good thing Jesus forgives for this mood is definetly not honoring to my King

Side note for those of you who did not previously know: the apostle Thomas came to India in 50AD...The thumb print of Jesus theory is an interesting one to ponder...

Number of languages spoken by occupants of the homes on my street: 5
Number of these languages I speak, yet in my American English way: 1.2
Number of people I actually had even a slightly sucessful convo with in neighborhood today: 0
Number of PATHETIC sounding 7-10 piece marching-ish bands outside of office window: 1 (What ARE they thinking?)
Number of times have laughed out loud at marching-ish band: 5
Number of half empty glasses of water on desk: 2 (the aliens might be coming)
Number of things crossed off my To Do list because someone else did it for me: 1
Number of leaves on the plant on my desk that are brown: 2
Number of Company e-mails in inbox that I don't feel like reading right now: 8
Number of people in the office who argue we never REALLY had men land on the moon: 2
Number of e-mails in inbox that made me laugh: 1
Number of times have used butter knife to fix space bar: 2, OK, make that 3
Number of threats supervisor said I should have made to man harassing her: 1
Number of mint chocolate bells from America eaten: 3
Number of times power has gone out in office today: 3
Number of things getting accomplished that are on To Do list: 0

Some thoughts from my trip:

"There is too much urinary freedom in this society." This phrase pops into my head frequently as I observe Indian men making every public wall/side walk their urinal. What I find curious is that unless you are Indian, it is culturally inappropriate to urinate publically and any where and every where. I ask you, is that fair?? What about my guy friends who just so happen need to go just as much as their Indian counter parts, yet have to hold it, while passing by a plethora of Indian men who are making their lives more comfortable when ever they feel the need to relieve themselves.  I will admit, I encouraged a guy friend of mine who was squriming uncomfortably in the back of the tata, while we were stuck in late night traffic, in the middle of no where, to jump out and have a go at the urinary freedom act which is a right of every Indian male. He came back high with energy and frankly a little giddy.  

All though, I will also admit that when a new American friend shared with me this week, after stepping in a pile of holy "poo" as he calls it, that he relieved himself in the ally in which we were walking, that I found it pretty gross! Eeew! I think I will always prefer that men use the restroom unless in the wild where there is none. Anyway, my point is that most of the time Indians operate on a double standard, for example, that we are also expected to be on time while they rarely are. YET at the same time I am expected to abide by clothing rules. SO, when do I know when to apply double standard and when do I apply compliance?

How do eskimos bathe without catching phenomonia? I think I might never bathe if I was an eskimo.

Why is it that no matter what I can not escape the pollution that follows you in Delhi? They say it is like smoking two packs a day...right now I would have to agree as my throat is sreaming at me. I will recover just in time to return to the crisp fresh air in Delhi in two weeks.
Some pictures from my trip to Delhi:

The Red Fort-which might just be the first litter free place I have been to in India. They throw all trash on the ground here. Try getting used to that. I have yet to be able to contribute my trash to the ground here unless having been forced by an Indian. I guess some things are just instilled very deep.
The street full of cycle rickshaws. You will only see these in parts of Delhi. It is fun to hire one for Rupees 10 and take in the streets.







The traffic at an intersection. Can you see the pollution in the air? And the chaos of traffic?









Another picture of what it is like to be on an Indian street.









A beggar girl who found my cycle rickshaw and ran beside it with her hand on my leg begging for food. What do you think this expression portrays?




And finally, the spare tire on a truck I was next to in traffic! How about the quailty of that bad boy?! Indian standards are just not the same. I have seen tires on buses that look worse!
I had to rescue the 40 year old lady I was traveling with from a man who was foaming at the mouth and hitting her, yelling in some language that neither of us understood. That kind of stuff is always fun. Hearing someone you are traveling with yelling your name for you to come save them from a degranged stranger...And why exactly did the presence of a 16 year old looking girl change the course of events? Who knows, but I managed to take her by the arm and drag/steer her to safety.
So anyway, most of the time my job is pretty fun, and at times it seems the only thing that could make it better would be the presence of the best friend to go with me. Some one who was not different from me in EVERY way and with whom I could just laugh at things...Someone to share my journey with and know they will always be around to share the memories with...oh best friend where are you?

Indian sighting that stayed with me as I walked to the main road to catch an auto to work: the man who lives down stairs standing in his man skirt (lungee) and wife beater, holding his son, greeting me in surprise as I descended the stairs. I have seen many a man skirt in my days but for some reason this sighting made me feel akward... 

How cool are these 3-D sonograms of my first niece! Little Isabella is due the beginning of Janurary  I will be an aunt...Aunt Barb (for REAL instead of it being what my kids called me at the Ranch)...the Aunt who lives very far away in the mysterious land of India...For her first months anyway...













I leave for Delhi here again in a few hours...Thusly starts the next months of me being OUT of town WAY more than being IN town...Oh bed, will you know me? Swivel chair will you beckon a new occupant? Oh somosa man on the corner, who will pay you my 24 rupees a week? 

I spent the afternoon and evening with my landlord's family yesterday.  I am so thankful to have a family like theirs that looks after me like they do. I have really grown to adore them.


Ever since I have been in a funk. Well, FUNK, more accurately. I think I was on the edge of funkiness yesterday morning but now it has fully on set...

God transcends culture right? So how do we determine what things are right personally, socially, or culturally when the world is so diverse?  I feel as though there are days when living in this culture battles with EVERYTHING I have ever known. But what is it that makes this "this" culture and not "my" culture? Geography. How come I was born in "the land of the free"? How can 1 billion people live according to the ways of this land and I sit here in the middle of it all, so different? It seems that life tends to be a lot easier when you are born and raised without a knowledge of the fact that your way is not necessarily THE way. Well, the one area of "my" way being "the way" is Jesus as the way to God, but other than that? When you never move beyond where you have always lived or what you have always known you are free to do as you always did and are more than likely never challenged to see...and find out for yourself.  I feel as though I can adapt to this culture in many ways externally, but internally will I ever adapt to it? Or should I?
Imagine being the bearer of the knowledge at the age of 7 that you are promised, through arranged marriage, to marry the boy who lives next door that is 7 years your senior.  Imagine this boy is the son of your father's sister. Should this bother me? And if it does, is it because of an air of arrogance that "my" way is better than "their" way? Should I let it bother me that people here look down on me because I am living here single and, even worse, without my parents? Is there anything I can do about that?

What got a raise out of an eye brow today?

"Don't worry about those poems, they are bullshit." My out spoken and highly confident 60 year old language guru, Sree Kumar, in response to my statement of "I will read these poems in chapter 8 while I am out of town next week to practice my reading."  ALL riiighty then.

This day has started off on an introspective note...I am not sure why but while walking to language class today I was dwelling on the fact that my good friend Rumpita called me late last night to tell me she was engaged...she met him on Tuesday and decided last night she would accept the engagement. She started off the conversation with "it is because you prayed". Well, ok, I have been praying God would bring her a great Christian husband after hearing of the not so successful previous arranged marriage prospects,  but gosh...I have a hard time accepting that "it was because I prayed".  Praise God he is a Christian, because she comes from a Brahmin Hindu family and when parents arrange a marriage it is usually same caste, meaning also same religion.  It turns out that this time it was not her parents that arranged the marriage but a lady who I actually know, who is also a great Christian lady...BUT it works THAT fast? Someone wants you to meet this guy whom they know, so you do, and you like him enough, so 2 days later you are engaged to be married???? Why does this whole concept send me reeling each time I experience it???

Here is a "snap" someone took of me and Rumpita one day while we were waiting on the bus. She had brought me a guava with chili powder on it...so she laughs as I eat it...and you know, I think it tastes better with the chili powder.

MAYBE we "love marriage" people have it all wrong....MAYBE marriage is all about pure commitment to the institution and it is you and your mate that determine the quality of your life there in... MAYBE arranged marriage forces you to accept things about someone that love marriage people make a BIG deal out of when they are actually petty things, without much hesitation, because you know that you are committed to them and must work it out... MAYBE love IS a choice...MAYBE marriage is just about "the time" (being ready for the commitment) more so than it being about "the one"...MAYBE something else in this world that we make so complicated is actually pretty simple. maybe...maybe...maybe...maybe...maybe...maybe...maybe.....???

There is a gargantuan ant doing the backstroke in my coke...
Why am I writing in here when I need to be studying??? Studying to be done...that is precisely why. A verse from this morning just popped into my head...it says "For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting as busybodies" 2 Thes 3:11...hmmm. This morning I was praying for more discipline in my life...I also remember asking people to pray for me to be more disciplined at the beginning of my journey...Don't get me wrong...I have moments of good discipline...this is just clearly not one of them...studying language on a Friday night! Pish!
Do you ever have one of those times when you are about to encounter something of great magnitude yet you have no excitement concerning the endeavor? Maybe it was because I had seen SO many pictures and heard so much about it; that the Taj Mahal, one of the most famous pieces of architecture in the entire world, brought no elevation of my desire.

I found myself on a trip, which began at 5 AM, in the back of a Tata, a sports utility type vehicle, bouncing along India’s roads, headed to becoming, one of the many in this world to take in the sight of the Taj Mahal.

After arriving at 8:30 AM we found out old President Bill Clinton was there, (what are the odds of that??) meaning the Taj would be closed until 2 PM! So, what does a group of young Americans do to pass the time? We did what a group of 20 somethings in India would do, had coffee, explored a fort, some rode camels while the rest of us told stories and entertained some of the oh so consistent street vendors with our miniscule Hindi vocabulary, until it was time to head into what my Indian friends here call the "jaundiced" Taj Mahal.

Here is the story:

In 1612, Arjumand Banu Begam, better known by her other name , Mumtaz Mahal was married to Shah Jehan (then Prince Khurram), the fifth mughal emperor. This marriage, although the emperor's second, was a real love-match, and Mumtaz was her husband's inseparable companion on all his journeys and military expeditions. She was his comrade, his counselor, and inspired him to acts of charity and benevolence towards the weak and the needy. She bore him 14 children, and died in childbed in 1630. Overpowered by grief, Shah Jehan was determined to perpetuate her memory for immortality and decided to build his beloved wife the finest sepulcher ever - a monument of eternal love. It was Shah Jehan's everlasting love for Mumtaz that led to the genesis of the Taj Mahal.  After twenty-two laborious years, and the combined effort of over twenty thousand workmen and master craftsmen, the complex was finally completed in 1648 on the banks on the river Yamuna in Agra.
So finally, after many hours of fun to distract ourselves from the waiting, we were able to gain entrance to the Taj Mahal. It was magnificent! It was exciting to walk through this BIG stone gate and to see the Taj Mahal through a darkened arch in front of me. This pic is from that moment...

I can not put into words how it struck me, but I did come to a realization while spending time at the Taj that I thought I would share. As I stood and looked up at this magnificent piece of architecture it amazed me to hear our tour guide speak of the love which motivated this man to build such a structure. The intricacy of the building is astounding. It’s sheer size over whelming. If you look closely you can see the humans at the base of the Taj...to give perspective.

It has now become a symbol of God’s love to me. If someone could build something so amazing, motivated by human love alone, how much more amazing is God’s love for me? This structure pales in comparison to how much He loves me. A friend who was walking beside me said “kinda makes me think of how in the Word it says how Jesus has gone to prepare a place for me”. So true! Seeing such amazing work of human hands makes me long to see The works of the Father. It gives me something to look forward to as well as reminds me that His love for me is amazing...  

And one day, God will bring me my husband, who will love me with a love greater than the love that built the Taj Mahal. Awesome!

Why do we have dreams? It sure would be great to understand this inner working of the mind. Why is it that this psychological phenomenon can ruin a perfectly good nap, and well, the next, after waking, hours.
"Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae.  The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.  Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by itslef but the wrod as a wlohe."

Application 1:  God sees us the same way.  The first "letter" is our sin condition; the last "letter" is our salvation condition. Our life in-between those letters can be a total mess but He can still use us because He sees us as a whole - wholy cleansed; wholy saved.
 
Application 2:  We can see God the same way.  He is the Alpha and the Omega.  He began the world; He is the One True God.  He knows the end of the world.  I may not understand everything that happens in-between, but I can still read God's writing in every situation.  He is Sovereign.