Starting the New Year Right

The midwife we had for Nafisa has an orphanage a few kilometers south of town. They have water drainage problems in their back yard so Jonathan and all of us went to work to help resolve the problem by digging a large hole to be filled with large stones where the water should naturally flow. Here's just a glimpse of how dirty we all got!
The order of rocks didn't work out as planned so we still have some loose ends to tie up. I think we'll finish the project only after we come back from our trip on Sunday to Bangkok. We have to leave the country due to visa restrictions. Grandma and Grampa Schrack will be joining us!








After digging at the orphange.....

Christmas Day

A view of our city of Pune looking from the South side to the North


Christmas lunch with friends at a local church gathering

Want to know more? E-mail Merrilea and ask her!

Christmas night...oh what fun!

The Week Before Christmas

Nafisa's feet prints and hand prints make her into a nice angel...

Hip-hoppin at Adlabs Mall, Kalyaninagar, Pune


Hide and Seek in the kitchen...

Nafisa and Santa

My birthday last week...

Joseph at a Christmas party

For Nafisa's first 30 mins around Santa, she was very scared and cried...as most kids might who see Santa for the first time. Then, about an hour later, she gave him a hug. She saw him before in 2005 but didn't have a clue.

What we didn't expect

Red ants showed up just before Merrilea's parents arrived. So, like a good son-in-law, I called the exterminator who has a one year contract with us. He came and sprayed.... Oops.

What a smell! That shut down things in the house for about 3 hours. Everyone left. I was alone in the house, closed up in the office.

The kids didn't mind so much because they had to stop their school work and play outside! Merrilea's mom and I then washed the counter tops and floor so we could use them again. No more ants (for now). Glad the smell is gone!

For our Thanksgiving get-together, friends made this.... the closest thing to a Turkey this side of the Ganges River.

Last week...

Dad and Mom Schrack have been keeping busy - from helping around the house to planning trainings.... Adrian, a friend of ours, came over with his family on Saturday and is working with Dad Schrack, planning trips for January. Joseph enjoyed building the tallest tower he's built with Legos.

A Day in the Life of....

Maria Ann van den Akker

Here's the best way to describe it...from Friday night!

This Week

I've traveled back and forth to Aurangabad, some 5 hours north east of us while Merrilea, the kids and Merrilea's mom enjoyed time at home ... homeschooling, sorting old stuff we need to get rid of, etc.

Merrilea's dad went south 5 hours to a town called Miraj and visited a leper colony among other things.

Danielle and Maria went to a 'Princess Party' on Monday night and came back with facials and less eyebrows!

Most of our Christmas decorations are up! For the first time in 16 years of marriage (Dec 28) I have not had to put up our decorations! Maria, Joseph and Danielle did it all! I'm very grateful, guys!

I am also finalizing a lease agreement for a new guy from Oklahoma who will join us in January!

It's around 7o degrees right now and around 60 at night. For the first time since last Christmas I wore sox to bed last night!

Arrived!

Merrilea's mom and dad arrived safely from Pennsylvania via Mumbai. Merrilea and Maria picked them up in Mumbai and traveled by road to Pune, arriving around 3:30AM on Saturday.

Above is Merrilea with one of the many homeschool books Emma and Harold brought with them.
Below...doing family devotions tonight.

More family pics to come in the days ahead!

Thanksgiving

That which I am thankful for:

• Our Great and Wonderful Lord
• A wife who loves me
• Merrilea - a beautiful, good support
• 4 incredible kids
• Maria - a spry teen who never ceases to amaze me
  
• Joseph - a responsible teen who supervises plumbers well
  
• Danielle - a hospitable pre-teen
  
• Nafisa - keeping the comic relief coming
• A place to be in Pune as family
  
• A motorbike to cruise around on and any one of my kids to do it with
  
• A car for those rainy days (months)
• People in our company who help me be better than I am
  
• Friends and colleagues local and not local who are invaluable
• Our church
• Parents and In-laws who support Merrilea and I
• A brother and sister I love dearly
  
• A Godly heritage and upbringing
• Winning Spades with Alan 3 times in a row against Merrilea and Beth
• Good relationships with in-laws
  
• Homemade apple sauce
  
• Coffee
• Appy Fizz (carbonated apple juice)
• Our freedoms guaranteed by the United states Constitution upheld by our legal system
• 1620 when Plymouth was founded (place my folks now live)
  
• 1640 when Braintree was founded (place I grew up)
• Red Sox, Boston College and Patriots are doing so well! It's good to be from "up Nawth!"
  
• Lindt Chocolate
• Music of all kinds (but for bluegrass)
• For Shiloh and the memories and maturity brought on in the late 80's
  
• NPR programming available via the net
• K-Love Internet radio
• Ability to order things online and have them brought over by friends new and old
  
• Eggnog
  
• Lincoln Logs
• Legos
• Soap
• Usually consistent 24-hour broadband internet
• Hot water
• Burger King Whoppers with onion rings
• Dr. Pepper
• Turkey, though I can't remember the taste
  
• And the list goes on . . .
  

Smokey

This time of year in our city of Pune, people burn lots of trash and leaves. (uhm, when doesn't this happen?)
We tried a year ago to move away from this type of thing but we just can't hide from it! At night and at 5am peoples' home fires cause lots of smoke which stays around for hours.

This picture was taken off our bedroom balcony last month. It was a continuation of a fire that was started in the middle of the night. The smoke woke me up and I went out at 2:30 am with a few buckets of water to put it out. The smoke was coming in all our windows facing that area. Since we don't have water from midnight till 4:30AM I couldn't do much.

Goin to Goa

For Danielle's birthday on October 31, we usually try to head to the beach. This year we again went to Goa on an overnight train ride. We stayed on a southern beach (Benaulim Beach) full of waves, sun and sand.



We all rented bikes for under $7 per day. What a blast!



Maria lost her glasses to the waves. Thankfully, her stylish backups were there to save her day.
Joseph was not so lucky. No backups. His glasses were lost to the waves and he was able to get a new pair in 2 days for just over $50!

Maria's hair got wonderfully lightened by the sun!

Pics from Merrilea and Maria's trip to Delhi and Agra

Maria, Merrilea and Waheyda went to Delhi by train from Pune. Actually, their train was canceled out of Pune due to some other train hitting two buffalo. So, they hopped on a bus to Mumbai and then a train.

They went to a wedding in Delhi and then headed to Agra to the Taj Mahal and back. It was fun and exhausting. The train ride alone to Delhi is over 24 hours (one way)!