Christmas Program

Last Saturday night, Danielle’s school held a Christmas program. What I didn’t know was that Danielle had a leading role! It was great! After that, the kids had their youth meetings…this time one at our home followed by a sleepover of Danielle’s friends (see picture).

We are finally completely out of the old apartment. It is cleaned and the keys are with the owner. We are glad we are out of there. Several of us have made comments that it smelled like Merrilea’s parents’ home which burned down in 2001. We are glad to be away from that smoky place. It was a good home for over 3 years, though.

On Friday we had a Christmas Open House for some of our local neighbors and had a time of sharing about the real significance of Christmas. We gave out plates of cookies to each of our new neighbors along with a Christmas card and letter of why Christmas is meaningful to us. It was a great time to introduce ourselves and to get to know those around us, including Hindus, Muslims, and Parsis.

Our Christmas Plans: We are having a simple Christmas Eve celebration at our home with our family and friends. We will be remembering you as we celebrate Jesus’ first coming in the warm climate here in Pune.

Our Trip to Thailand:
We’ll be heading out on a late-night flight on the 26^th from Mumbai to Bangkok, then catching a morning flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai where we’ll stay through Jan 6. We’ll be in meetings and then we’ll spend a few days r-n-r. We’ll join another family on the beach for a week!

It’s our 15 year anniversary so we thought we’d splurge and take our family on a short holiday before returning to our work. We hope to upload pics from this holiday for you!

This will probably be our last update for 2006!

Bill for the family

Coffee Jar!

Our friends have started their coffee shop called Coffee Jar, in the same area of town we are in and they surprised Bill with a birthday breakfast of waffles with strawberries & cream and their first coffee, and cake! It was the best cake we’ve had in India! (They have not officially opened as things are being delayed for one thing or another…mostly contractors not fulfilling their end of the agreements).

If you ever come to visit us, we will take you to there!

On another note, our washing machine broke down on Monday and we’ve waited 3 days for the correct parts to arrive. Then, the day they did arrive we had no electricity for 15 hours! We finally got it fixed by Friday evening….guess whose doing laundry!

Nafisa is growing curious these days and is taking things freely from table tops, desks and shelves and placing them back… virtually anywhere….we are still looking for our air conditioner control. Hope we find it before hot weather arrives! We can’t turn it on without it!

This is a picture of a sunrise outside our bedroom window. Notice the fog/smoke on this cool early morning.

The kids have been eagerly baking cookies to give to others for Christmas and Danielle just had her last day of school for this year. Her school Christmas program is Saturday night.

On a cool evening in Pune,
Bill for the family

Where’s CompUSA When I Need it?!

This afternoon the inverter (batter backup system) guy was here installing our old inverter from the old apartment. Since electricity goes off here frequently (sometimes 6-8 hours on Thursdays alone) we have a battery back up for the computers, lights and ceiling fans. BUT, when the electrician came, he found he had to rewire the breaker box and in so doing, the electrical issues appeared to mess up my wireless router. It wouldn’t work, so after a few hours I was on the phone and out the door to every computer store I could think of (where’s that CompUSA when I need it!!!) to look for one. After about 1 hour on the road and waiting for 3 hours, I was back at the house with the new router.

Then, after fiddling for another hour, I actually got the old one to work again! Go figure. So, now, after a few days work, our house is wired: my computer, the kid’s home school computer and Merrilea’s laptop…and, best of all, the printer is now on the network so I can simply press ‘click’ and my document prints in the other room! I used to save my documents on a thumb drive and walk back and forth between rooms to print out things (try 8 times yesterday alone). If all remains the same, we are wired and ready to go! Thanks Lord!

On anther note, here's Maria practicing.....whose eyes are closed? ;-)

Moved In!!!

I can’t say all is moved out of the old place, but we are in. There’s a bit more that we have to go through…and hopefully get rid of. Wednesday night was our first night at our new apartment.

I think next time we’ll pay the big bucks and have someone else move us! We are weary of moving…literally. Every day Merrilea went to the old house to pack and direct the helpers what to put on the truck. I was between the two making sure things were getting done/errands made, phone line hooked up, etc. Internet was up and running last Monday! Our washing machine still needs hooked up (we are looking for just one little piece in all the things that were brought over…just one little piece to hook it up!), but our fridge is here and we had our first home cooked meal here on Friday!

The kids love it. Joseph was a BIG help, traveling with the small truck back and forth with some local guys we hired to help. Maria helped unpack and arrange things. About 11:00 Thursday night as we were unpacking, Maria, Joseph and Nafisa and I put up our Christmas tree! There still remains lots of stuff in boxes, but we’re in.

Work continues:
On Thursday there was a multi-state-wide strike as some civil unrest over political and communal issues swept through the area. Danielle was let out of school at noon and most shops were closed the whole day. On Friday a popular commuter train was unloaded and burned in protest. Things have settled down to business as usual today but this is the context in which we live.

Currently it is in the upper 70’s and the sun is shining. Danielle has friends over playing. Nafisa is wearing someone else’s shoes. More from our family in the days ahead.

Thanksgiving Week

This week has been INCREDIBLY HECTIC!

We are about 40% moved into our new apartment. Painting finished Monday, cleaning on Tuesday and we began moving Wednesday with one small truck. The plumber showed up and the electricians today along with another small truck today. We took off on Thanksgiving, spending the morning making mashed potatoes for 30+ people! We joined several other Americans in our city to celebrate together. We even watched the 2006 Rose Bowl game with Texas and USC on DVD! What a game! I usually am not a Texas fan but it was great…all in the last 6 minutes of the game! (We don’t get live American Football over here, so even watching American TV with commercials is cool!...actually seeing a car commercial…in American English!!!!) We hope you all had a good time with family, celebrating together. We sure did.

Over here in India, unless you pay the big bucks, moving is tough. Even when you pay the big bucks, like we did a few years ago, things get broken and mishandled and scraped up pretty bad. So, this time we decided we’d ‘direct’ the moving process with hired trucks/drivers. It is VERY cheap to do it this way in comparison but it turns out to be a bit of a headache…directing the moving of bookcases so the walls don’t get scratched and so the furniture doesn’t get scratched either…all in Hindi! Great language practice, though that is not what Merrilea and I were thinking this morning. :-)

As I was sitting discussing business with some of the local people we came to serve on Wednesday, this move took on a whole new perspective for me. Yes, it IS a hassle and we all are VERY weary, but God has given us a love for the people here making the hassles worth it.

We’ll be totally moved by Wednesday we hope. I’ll be making a full pot of coffee in the morning to start packing more things into boxes! More after the move!

Bill for the family

Week of Training and Flat Painting

The week of training was well received. Time will tell if what was taught is applied. We had a great surprise when a guessed arrived whose been doing similar things as I, coming from Great Britain. His gave 4 practical examples for those who came for which I am very grateful.

A major highlight for our children this week is their youth group. The younger children meet at one home and the older meet at another. These are youth from at least 2 different organizations that meet 2x per month. Danielle couldn’t stop talking about it when I picked her up. We are supposed to have it at our home next week…and we’re to move beforehand. Ought to be interesting! Danielle’s school went on a picnic. See if you can pic out our children from this picture.

The painting of the apartment (here called a 'flat') we’re going to move into should be done by Monday. Then it will need a thorough cleaning. We’ll try to move in prior to Thanksgiving Day but we’ll see. Then there are window screens that need to be installed. I’ve already applied for a telephone connection and Internet. I’m told it will take less than a week. When we first came here it took 3 Months to get a phone line. Now, due to privatization, it’s taking lots less time. We’ll let you know.

Happy Birthday to both our mothers; Amy and Bob, Bill’s sister and brother and Melodie, Merrilea’s sister. They all had birthdays over the last 2 weeks.

Love you all,
From the Flip Side,
Bill for the family

Back from the Beach

Our family vacation in Goa was a big success. Some good sun, sand and ocean waves.
Nafisa really does use the sign language signs to let us know if she’s hungry or thirsty, etc. It is great! She’s picked up on Maria’s ‘wow’ expression, too.

We went to the beach in the mornings and afternoons and played games in the evenings, enjoying our time together….eating the fresh catch of the day…shark, barracuda, red snapper and pomfret. We rented motorbikes and Maria got to practice driving! Joseph was a bit anxious to drive himself after seeing Maria drive around the parking lot with it.

Though it’s good to be back, we’ve got a busy week ahead. Danielle returns to school, I fly out for Bangalore on Tuesday till Friday and we have to get ready to move. BUT, we have electricity, the internet is up and running and we have water (having all 3 consistently is exciting for us!)

This Week

Nafisa is learning sign language for these words among others:
Drink
Cat
All Done
Eat
Please
Thank You
Help
Apple
Boat

Her favorite word this month is “NO!” (Now where did she pick that up?)

Joseph and Danielle got their bicycle tires repaired at a shop about ½ mile from our apartment. They are eager to use them now that the rains have ceased.
This is the season for Hindu and Muslim festivals and fireworks so, in anticipation of Danielle’s BIG 10 Birthday (Oct 31), I purchased some fire works and we lit all of them off tonight from our roof. It was great. No burns and lots of smoke but it was fun.

We are leaving for a week’s holiday at the beach in celebration of Danielle’s Double Digit birthday. One of Maria’s special friends, Alison, will be joining us. This trip is sandwiched between very busy work days. I actually signed the lease on an apartment tonight (28th)! Painting will begin on Monday and we’ll begin moving in the week of November 18 (Happy Birthday Amy!).

We’ve been missing family. Wish you all were here.

Some events of the day: Service center did not have the hardware for the TWO car door handles that broke this week. Flat tire this morning. Headlight went out on our motorbike as I was riding it the evening.

Book I’m reading this month: Failing Forward by John Maxwell.

Love from the Flip Side,
Bill for the family.

Away . . .

For the past week I’ve been in Nasik with visitors from South Carolina. Nasik is 5 hours north of where we live. We have been very fortunate that it has not rained at all while our guests are here! Our translators have been such a great help as well. While I’ve been having a great experience with our visitors, meeting and talking with local people, Merrilea and the kids have been battling pink-eye, congestive illness and home school. Danielle came home from school with pink-eye two weeks ago and it’s been making its way through our family. Having called Merrilea today, things are looking better. Here are some of the team with our translators as we are about to enter into the community.
On the home front: Due to pollution problems, we’ve been searching for a different apartment. We are grateful to have found one just before I came to Nasik! It will even be closer to our friends here. If all goes well, we will move the last 2 weeks in November. We hope that the lease agreement negotiations go well. Before we move my schedule is pretty full: traveling to Bangalore for a training, to Goa for Danielle’s birthday on the 31st and then back to Bangalore for another training. After that I’ll be meeting with some local friends for a weeks’ long training back in Pune. ….Life goes on.

Maryland Friends Gone, South Carolina Ones Coming

We have had a wonderful adventure with our friends from Mount Airy, Maryland!
They explored areas of the city, interviewed local people, even went into a Mosque just before the local Muslims broke their fast that night. Merrilea was able to show proper hospitality to the ladies who came over by offering several rides on our motorbike! They were able to see first hand the needs of the surrounding communities and we brainstormed about businesses that could challenge local people to do what is right in the eyes of God and man. We cherish the time we could spend with them and their participation in our work here in India. We said goodbye to them today. They are going to see the Taj Mahal on Saturday. On Monday we welcome another group of visitors from South Carolina to do similar cross-cultural project in Nashik, just north of where we live about 5 hours. They will be here through mid October.

Maria’s leg is doing better. She goes in for an X-ray on the 10th so we are hoping this will show good progress. Danielle got pink-eye last week so she was stayed out of school 2 days and now Joseph has it. Nafisa had her first fall and has a good bump on her head from 2 stairs she missed. Gravity is hard.

There are a few guys here who I get together with weekly. We knock around some ideas and we challenge each other to be more than we are, holding each other accountable to be who we know our Creator has made us to be. I am so grateful for their input in my life…as is my wife!

More when I get a chance to update. Our ISP was off for 3 days this week so we are not able to be more consistent in e-mail.

Visiting Guests from Maryland

We have 4 guests from Maryland staying in our city with us. It has been a very fast and full week. Even our children have gotten involved with them! We are grateful for there work with Bill and for Mount Airy's gifts to us! We've been able to share our work and vision together and are looking forward to another full week with them.


Nafisa is enjoying all the attention these days, too. Danielle's school just had a concert tonight where she shared some Indian music and poems in various local languages. We are so glad she is part of a good local school where she has made some really good friends.

More in the week to come!
Bill for the fam

Cast From Maria's Perspective

Hi!
Well,
I got my cast off yesterday and it was so scary! We left Joseph, Danielle and another guest in the car while Ali, me and my dad went into the doctors office. They directed us immediately to a room and one of the guys there put a piece of tarp under my cast. Then he got out a box with a drill sort of thing and a circular bade on the end. he used that to first slice one side of the cast and then the other. It was so scary! I was on the bed and holding Ali's hand and my dad was standing there watching. Every time I moved suddenly for one reason or another, Ali would practically yell, " Did he cut you!?". After about he fifth time she did that she made my dad nervous and he told her to stop. I was so scared! Finally he was finished and he pried the cast of my leg. I am not going to describe my leg to you because it was really gross. It looked dead! Anyway, we were then transferred to another room and waited there for about forty-five minutes. We were so bored! (while we were waiting we : threw coins around the room, sang songs, and gave each other a makeover)[NOTE, Maria did NOT give me (Dad) a makeover!]Finally the doctor came and looked at it a bit. then he put a bandage(you know those stretchy kind) and said I needed to keep it on when I was up and about, I could get it wet now, I could put weight on it gradually, as I felt comfortable, AND... that I should come back in two weeks for one last x-ray... And that is what happened. I can't wait to actually walk on it but now i am a Little uncomfortable with putting weight on it.
later,

Maria

Our Family Happenings

Merrilea and Nafisa are away this week in Delhi for a meeting leaving us at home alone. Maria and Joseph and Danielle are busy with school work and playing around in the evenings. From 1-5 Monday – Friday a tutor comes over to help them with their schoolwork and to correct their assignments. She even reads books to our kids which is great!

Maria is to get her cast off on Friday! She will be relieved. She’s been sleeping in our guest room downstairs as climbing stairs is a bit much.

We have a team visiting us from Maryland next week and then in October we have another joining us from South Carolina. We should be pretty busy for the next month!

Today, one of my closer friends here had heart by-pass surgery in our city. He had 5 blockages! He’s out of the surgery and in ICU now. The next 2 days should tell us more. Two other friends and I went to the hospital to donate blood last Monday for the doctor to use for this surgery. We’d appreciate your prayers on his behalf. It is great to know that the country’s #2 hospital for cardiology patients is here in our town.

Things here in India are gearing up for festivities. The Muslim month of Ramadan begins next week and many Hindu festivals will have been going on and several more will occur in October and November. Just like we have holiday sales in stores every fall around Thanksgiving, they do it here around these festivals/holidays.

The daily temperature is running back up into the 80’s and will remain that way till mid November where it ought to dip back down to the 60’s at night for 2 months. Rainy season continues here and we’ve had literally double the normal amount of rainfall. It is amazing how much water accumulates in a short amount of time. Streets turn into rivers for several hours.

More Next Week
Bill

“There and Back Again: A day in the life…”

It was raining the day we were to travel by train a week ago. The taxi didn’t come on time so we hopped into 2 rickshaws Joseph brought from outside our apartment complex. After piling ourselves and luggage into these ‘bullets on wheels’ we drove through the traffic to the station arriving in the nick of time. The train was delayed so we had enough time to go to the proper track at the station. Merrilea even had time to purchase some food from the main vendor and walk back to meet us. The train arrived but we knew it would only stay for 5-10 minutes. We found our proper train couch and got in and found our seat numbers - which were spread out. After settling ourselves in the seats we began asking if some men would change seats with us so we could all be together (a common practice). After some talking, they agreed.

Finally all was OK till the Tickemaster came and said we got on the wrong couch. We were supposed to be in the next one over! So, I slowly moved our belongings and us over to that one. We even talked with the Ticketmaster and he agreed to change our seats so we could be all together. I don’t make mistakes like this often but my family had mercy on me! We were all tuckered out.

Finally all was OK till Maria broke her leg. That would take some pretty tricky work getting on and off the train on crutches when the train only stops for 5 minutes in the train station. We made sure we were got at the right spot where the train would come. I made sure we got there early enough. I think the rest of our family thinks we got there WAY early. About 30 minutes BEFORE the train was to arrive it pulled in…on the OTHER side of the station! We had to bolt with our luggage and Maria on her crutches over the tracks on a bridge, find our couch and get in, all within 5 minutes. All of us scrambled to gather our stuff and ran…well Maria hobbled with Merrilea. Joseph, Danielle and I got in the train just in time as it started pulling away from the station! The kids and I kinda freeked.

In each train couch there are metal cables to pull to make the train stop in case of emergency … well, I did it. Merrilea and Maria were helped onto the train. Someone had helped them with the one piece of luggage Merrilea was carrying...thump, thump, thump down the stairs of the bridge over the tracks. That bag held the new router for the computer. (My hat is off to Linksys…it took a beating but still works!) Through the window, I saw a policeman with a clipboard and some people gathering so I went out and explained in their language what happened. They were ok with it.

Finally all was OK till they told me that our train comes 2 times through this station – once coming to the city and once leaving after about 30 minutes! We had got on the train at the wrong time! So, if we had simply waited another 30 minutes the train would have come to our side of the station without our crazy experience!
We’ve been here for several years and never stop learning new things all the time.

PS
This last week we had guests but very little water pressure in our plumbing. The humidity from the rains make drying clothes take about 2 days. Water pressure has returned to normal now!

No More New Pics :- (

Our digital camera just died so I'll only be able to send pics from before today for the forseable future.

Our washing machine was repaired, computer router installed and our battery back up for electricity outtages was serviced...all today! Getting so many things to happen in one day is VERY rare.

It is so humid now during the monsoon season that our clothes take 1 full day (or more) to dry. Clothes driers are not used in this country very much at all. I've never seen one for sale and only know 1 person in the whole country who owns one!

Joseph is waiting for me in the car...to deliver birthday party invitations. He's turning 12 on Aug 27th! Gotta run.

On the Flip Side,
Bill for the family

Break a Leg!

As I was teaching on Thursday, August 10, Maria was out playing in the front yard of the place we are staying in in the city of Bangalore.

She hopped from one granite bench to another and then missed …. falling with all her weight onto her left foot, causing a break in her bone and growth plate of her lower leg. I’ll try to scan the x-ray when we get back home so you all can see Maria’s handiwork! Her spirits are high, especially as she is calling her friends to tell them all. We will appreciate your prayers for our train trip back to Pune on Sunday and over the next couple of months as Maria remains incapacitated. No more bike rides nor rickshaw rides across town for a while!

The doctors have given a good to fair prognosis that it will heal well and not interfere with her normal leg growth. Where we are staying is very close to a hospital, so it was very convenient that she broke her leg now rather than other times or places where we usually are at least a 30 minute drive away.

We are schedule to leave Bangalore at 3PM on Sunday for a 20 hour trian ride back to Pune. There are 'berths' on the train so she should have an ok time laying down but the movement of the train may make it difficult to keep her leg stable. Getting on and off the train could be a challenge as the trains don't stop for more than a few minutes in the train station. :-)

We'll let you know how things pan out.

August 4th Update

Joseph and I just returned from a 4 day trip north of our home. We left last Tuesday for a 5 hour drive. It did not rain till we got to our destination: Nashik city. No rain made highway travel that much easier/safer. We are having a team come here in October so we went to set up some of the logistics for the trip: hotel, translators, etc. During one meeting we had on Wednesday we heard that there was a riot in the city over someone desecrating a statue of a very renowned historical figure. Many in the area actually worship this historical figure as a deity, so when news spread, people got angry and started throwing rocks at cars. Our hosts advised us to stay inside their home for another hour or so till things settled down. We called our hotel but there was no problem there. We prayed and waited and then went back late in the afternoon. We did see a large presence of police but no evidence of violence.

Such is the context of our lives in India: an undercurrent of hostility exists over protecting that which people here hold dear.

Back home, Merrilea is unpacking from her trip to Korea last week. She went to meet up with her brother, Jonathan, as he went to visit some very special people there. They had a wonderful time!

We are off to Bangalore on August 8 by train. It’s a 20 hour journey and the kids love it. We get to stay in bunks in an air conditioned coach. I’m told India has the largest railway system in the world!

Current Weather: overcast, humid and 75 degrees. Our inverter (battery back up) just quit, so when the electricity goes out...so do we.

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Back to India

We made it back to India without a glitch. All our luggage made it with us and it was the speediest ever through passport control. The lines are usually looong but they are getting better all the time. We were out of the airport in record time! The long ride back by road was uneventful as we all were dosing off. We arrived home at 2AM on the 20th. The children have been helping get things back in order as there was mold in a few places due to the heavy rains AND we had to clean our fridge due to maggots! Either someone was trying to “help” us by turning off our electricity while we were away or there was an electric spike that tripped that switch. Either way, what an incredible smell/sight! :-(

Main challengeI received from our church meeting on Sunday John 12:1-11:
“Give my best in every moment I’m given to make it count for the Lord.”

Today (24th of July) is Maria’s 13th birthday! She celebrated it with another friend turning 13 on Saturday evening with a big party! Lots of kids, games, noise and food. We are sooo glad the Lord has provided friends for our kids on this side of the planet!

We've made a new decision regarding Danielle's schooling: She's back into the local school for this year. Her admission was fast-tracked (2 phone calls) as it is a very small school which our family has been a part of in the past (Emanuel Mission School). She started this morning but the tricky part is we are waiting on her books to arrive. When I asked her this morning about going back to a 'real' school she was very excited. Merrilea and I both feel its the best for her at this stage.

Current weather: rainy, overcast skies, 77 degrees. Coffee will be made shortly.

On the Flip Side,
Bill

OUR New Blog

We will soon return to India after being in Thailand for the last 3 weeks. Bill's 10 year visa came through and we should be picking up his passport on Monday! We are so grateful to have received such a long visa this time!

We miss not being with our extended families... missing brothers and sisters, cousins, Aunts and Uncles and grandparents. But, God has given us a love for the people in India and thus we stay as long as the Lord permits.

We appreciate hearing from you so do please write us and let us know how you are doing! We'll update you on news and family happenings as the days move along.