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!)