Aurangabad Pictures

Who is the tallest person in this picture? :-)

Somebody is on her tip-toes!






Joseph and His Rock!
At the Buddhist Caves which are hundreds of years old.
Climbing on the hills
Talking with some friendly people

Community Challenge

The team from South Carolina has no translator for Saturday’s work! Apparently the translator's had prior obligations that day.
This will force our team to rely on other members of the community.

Joseph and Maria continue to do their home-school work while in Aurangabad. Joseph called and told me he got 100% on his grammar test today! Ata ‘boy Joseph!

I’m really looking forward to joining back with my family and the team on Sunday night. This week's meetings in Bangalore have been very profitable, ensuring I am equipped with the right skills and tools for my work.

More when I hear more about the team!

Bill

On the Train

Our team from South Carolina is now on the train with Merrilea, Maria, Joseph and Nafisa. The train left around 4:30PM from south Mumbai and they'll arrive around midnight tonight in Aurangabad. New sights...new smells, new tastes!

Latest Update: About 6:30pm today I spoke with Merrilea as her train was chugging along the Indian countryside. The children were doing great, though Nafisa was tired and screaming. I’m sure our South Carolina visitors are a bit tired with jet lag. They should arrive very soon to their city and be in bed in about 2 hours from now.
All is well!
Bill for the fam

South Carolina Team has Arrived!

Tuesday Night March 6th
I just got a phone call about an hour ago from Merrilea that the team has arrived in Mumbai. They are awaiting the bus from the airport to the hotel.
Soon they'll be rested and enjoying a train trip to Aurangabad!

More as the week progresses!
Bill

Lunar Eclipse

Pictures taken with Canon Powershot S3 IS with tripod.

(Thanks team from MABC!)

6:05 AM
6:15 AM
6:19 AM
6:27 AM
6:32 AM

I went out with Maria and Danielle a few blocks from our apartment. (Merrilea and Joseph wanted to go back to sleep). It was great but a bit cool in our pajamas. We are back home now...it's just after 7am here...about 8:30pm EST. Hope you all have a great night while we get on with our day!

Bill for the fam

Maria & Joseph's Turn

Maria and her close friend, Meesha making cookies…or playing with chocolate…? Meesha stayed over last night. I don't think they quit talking till about 1 AM...or at least that's when I fell asleep.

Joseph: Tell me how, while coming down a slide, his head hit his friend Matt’s knee? Gotta like his Rocky pose. He’s fine…just looks bad. He REALLY wanted to pose for this picture with Meesah. We love you Joseph!

From Bill - the one who is enjoying being a Dad.

PS
We've got some visitors coming from South Carolina joining us next week for 10 days. We'll all be going to Aurangabad (5 hours north of our home city) so we may not be updating this for a bit. We sure are looking forward to their work with us. Also, we just found out that we may have a young couple joining our work in July! They will be with us for 2 years. We are very grateful for their partnership with us.

A Day in the Life...

Danielle and friend Esther making shapes with home-made eatable play-dough today March 1^st after school. PEANUT BUTTER!

A glimpse into Maria’s life: board at her desk

Language Intensive

From 9 to 5 Monday through Saturday we are in a Hindi intensive class.

Maria and Joseph have taken a break from their regular schooling to join this as well. Danielle is still going to her school so she comes home every day to see us hard at work!

Here are some Hindi idioms we’ve picked up:

• In English we say, “I passed (or did something) by the skin of my teeth.” In Hindi, it’s “Bal-bal bajna” or “I passed by my hair”
  

• In English we say, “Have some food.” In Hindi, the meaning is the same but it comes out “pet pooja kar leejeeay” literally translated, “Please do stomach worship” (Now there’s something to talk about!)

• In English we say, “I’m starved.” In Hindi, we can say the same thing this way: “There are mice jumping in my stomach” or “Pet may choohay kood r-hay hay”
  

• In English, we can describe something negative as leaving a “sour taste” in our mouths. In Hindi, we say “sour grapes” “Angoor katta hay”

Note: Be careful how we spell and say words:

• Kana is food
• KHana is a one eyed-man

• PyaR is love
• PyaZ is onion

Book of the Month

Finally, I've read this book and loved it.

"The On-Time, On Target Manager: How a Last Minute Manager Conquered Procrastination" By Ken Blanchard and Steve Gottry

It's suggestions are very practical and doable.

3 P's

• Priority: Triage Everything
• Propriety: Bill of Rights:
• Do the Right Thing
• Do it for the Right Reasons
• Do it with the Right People
• Do it at the Right Time
• Do it in the Right Order
• Do it with Intensity
• Do it for the Right Results
• Committment:
• "I Gotta Wanna"

Deep Thought for The Week

It will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me or nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much can you take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!

From Rocky Balboa the movie

Merrilea is delayed and I’ve got to fly to Bangalore

Merrilea’s trip is delayed due to snow appropriately for this time of year… but I’m due to fly out of our city shortly after Merrilea would have arrived …so….

I’ve recruited a friend to watch the kids Friday night (THANKS!!!).

Maria is old enough now to watch Nafisa and be the head honcho for a while. She’ll enjoy the few hours of glory while waiting for our friend to take over around supper time. Merrilea ought to be here on Saturday by 3AM. If her flight is delayed, I’ll be making some phone calls from Bangalore!

In the meantime, I’ll sure miss seeing her. I’ll fly back Sunday about midnight.

Bill from the Flip Side,

PS
Nafisa taking some Z's in the Bean Bag...

11 February 2007

Danielle’s school had their annual ‘Jog-A-thon’ yesterday.

Nafisa and I joined for a few laps, though Nafisa only wanted to be held, so I got some good exercise as did Maria. Joseph stayed home as he invited a close friend over to play legos.

All is fine at home. School work is being accomplished, Nafisa has cut several more teeth. Speaking of teeth, we went to the dentist on Thursday to get our pearly whites cleaned. All is fine. Danielle has a few cavities and Maria needs a baby tooth pulled. Our kids are learning the importance of daily brushing. Nafisa has not complained about Merrilea being gone. She calls out for Mommy some times. I correct her, saying I’m Daddy. She smiles, says ‘Daddy’ and then says ‘Mommy out.’ I’m eager for Merrilea to return. We all miss her.

I’ve had some very good phone calls this week regarding work. Things are progressing.

Bill

Merrilea Gone till the 16th

Merrilea has gone to New York to be with her family for her sister Valerie’s wedding so I’ve got the kids till the 16^th. So far, so good. I’m able to spend more time with the kids…it’s fun, though I feel a bit frustrated as I’m not able to get as much work done.

Danielle had a day off from school this last week due to local political elections. Nafisa has had her friend, Sofia, over a bunch, too.

Biggest event since Merrilea’s been gone:

When no one was looking ….

Nafisa got to painting her fingernails with nail polish. By the time I got to her, she was playing with the nail polish remover. Just glad she didn’t try to eat it!

Surviving without Merrilea….for now.

Bill

All that move...for what?

I went back today to check on our old apartment's mailbox and to meet some students from the country of Oman. After collecting some mail and a fun discussion with 3 guys from Oman (positive mind you), I talked with my old neighbor. As it turns out, the slum which burned all that trash is gone....completely gone!

The huts are gone and all that is there is a leveled field of dirt! I’ve been after the employers of the slum dwellers who promised me years ago that they slum was going to be moved. Now, less than 2 months from the time we leave…they are gone!

For some reason God had us move out of that complex…on our part it was solely because of the pollution. I’m just thinking He’s got his reasons for the move and we are supposed to be at our new location. It will be exciting to see why in 2007!

But it sure makes me just smile. Things change here daily!

Life on the Flip Side,

Bill

DELIRIOUS

While I (Bill) was in Bangalore, a large city in the southern part of India for a week, our kids went across the street from our apartment complex and down about 3 blocks to a concert. DELIRIOUS came to Pune on Friday the 19^th. They are a Christian band from the UK. I got great reports from the kids about it. It is very rare that these kind of things happen here so we try to make them into really big events for our family. Joseph said he was yelling/singing so much at the concert his throat hurt! Lots of our kids’ friends went, too. The Picture was taken from our apartment.
Instead of going, Danielle went to her youth group with a bunch of other kids her age. She had a blast!

We want to congratulate Bob and Shamira, as on the 17th, Luke was born...one more person to carry on that van den Akker name!
See their blog at http://flvda.blogspot.com/
(See link to the right)

Back from "Vacation"

Maria writes:

We’re back from our “vacation”. You ask why it’s in quotation marks? Well, it wasn’t exactly restful, Nafisa, Mom and eventually pretty much everyone in our family got at least a cold. We went to an island named Ko Lanta with another family that lives in our city. And besides being sick, one of our most important suitcases (it had most of our swimsuits in it and new blankets from Oma) got lost or something by the airlines and we got it the next day. ALSO it rained about three of the four days we were there.

That isn’t the only thing we did while we were in Thailand though. While Mom and Dad were in meetings I hung out with some of my friends, Danielle and Joseph went to childcare. Joseph and I went with some friends to go paintballing and we had a blast. It was Joseph’s first time, by the way. After Dad and Mom’s meetings were over we went over to another hotel to stay for a few days.

We are now are taking some rest from our “vacation” back in Pune.

Here are some pics from our trip:
At Kho Lanta Island











Bill and Joseph at a scenic view while biking the Island











Danielle with her friends singing Christmas songs along with the hotel band. They were much better than ELVIS who appeared every night!












On the ferry to Kho Lanta Island

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.