India - I'm Braving A New World

Our India experience could have been so different if we had had a reliable taxi driver from the airport to the YWCA. Instead we had a taxi driver who took us to the wrong place, made us lose our reservation at the YWCA, and 'helped' us find a passable hotel instead.

Fast forward 24 hours and we are happily visiting with our new Indian friends, Lali and Dinesh Bharat, and have established that Matthew has new Indian grandparents.

What happened in those 24 hours?  We were not happy at the hotel, it was far from any place we wanted to be, and we did not want to spend our time in India staying in a hotel. We checked with Airbnb, found Lali and Dinesh, and made contact. Matthew was especially eager to stay with them as he felt they looked like 'a grandma and a grandpa' and that is exactly what they became.

Thanks to Lali and Dinesh our stay in India was amazing in its lack of complexity. They found a cabbie to take us on a day trip to the Taj Mahal and helped arrange our travel and accomodation in Jaipur. From there with the help of good people at our hotel we made it to Jodhpur (by the way... think about it... guess where the name came from for those interesting pants that are worn by people playing polo? And... wait for it... the game of polo was invented in India and imported by the English. It's all about the learning!) Without Lali and Dinesh's connections and help, our time would have been more stressful.

I will admit that the thought of heading to both Nepal and India had me almost paralyzed with fear... it was the great unknown in every possible way, but as I am learning with every passing day and every situation that we have been in, God is taking care of us and putting great people in our path.

Nepal - New Horizons

Hel-lo. What your name? Where you from? Where you going? That your baby. What his name? Chocolate? Rupees? And so began the litany of questions from the children as we walked between the villages in the amazing Annapurna Range. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We arrived in Nepal on December 20th and realized rather quickly that my backpack had not made the same trip. With any luck it would be located and sent on the next flight. Happy New Year to me! As it turned out, my pack arrived two days later after much prayer, many phone calls, and a visit to the Etihad Airlines office. Turns out that had we only told the Nepal baggage claim desk that my bag was missing and had we NOT visited the airline office, I would STILL be without my bag. As the baggage fellow said to me when I claimed my bag two long days later, "How did you locate it? It is not showing up in the system at all." Faith, trust (wavery at times), a few tears, and a gracious answer from God helped right my world once more.

Back in the Annapurna Range, we hiked/walked for two days (who needs stairmaster?). We enjoyed the cleaner air of the country and the slow pace of the Nepalese walker. We met delightful school children and curious villagers. We observed a hard way of life and yet everyone we met had a smile. It is another world entirely.

Our positive experience in Nepal had everything to do with Kiran and Nirmala Karki. They opened their home and their hearts to our family and helped organize our stay in the Chitwan National Park and in Pokhara (the Himalayas). We also had an opportunity to meet the beautiful children they are helping at the orphanage. Without them we couldn't have had the wonderful experience in Nepal that we did. Their love of God and their faithfulness to His work is an inspiration to us.