A little Easter weekend walk

It's been a rough month back with a little bit of homesickness and a whole lot of physical sickness. Today, though, was a new day ... and the Father blessed us abundantly by giving us an opportunity to get out as family on this Easter weekend and share His love with whoever we happened to meet. We walked out of our gate and little did we know, we wouldn't walk back in until 6 hours later!!


We decided to walk down the street in an area we'd never visited before. Just outside our gate was this "coconut juice vendor." All the locals seem to enjoy this drink, but to us, it's pretty oily/salty tasting. We'll stick with water....

This is one of the many termite hills that we've seen here ... this one happened to be taller than Noah.

We found out later in the day that this yellow temple is referred to as the Golden Temple. Here's a picture of Elizabeth taking a picture of it.

We also met a couple different tailors along the way. These shops are no bigger than 3-4 feet wide and maybe 5-6 feet deep. This man had his 2 kids with him.

And then we met "whoever" ... the people that He knew we'd be meeting long before we knew. Two minutes into talking with these sisters we were invited to their home.

It ended up being another mile or so to their home, but the extra steps were so very worth it!!

What is so amazing is that we didn't have to work hard at this ... we just walked down the street and He did the rest!! We visited in the home of the first sister for about 30 minutes and was served some kind of lemon drink as well as some snacks. She also had 3 of her nieces and nephews in for a holiday visit. After speaking to the Father with this family, we exchanged contact information and hope to visit with them again very soon.

As we were leaving the first sister's house, we were then invited to walk over to the second sister's house. They were so warm and inviting ... and spoke no English. We were excited that we were able to speak enough of their language to have some kind of conversation. We were also excited that the teenagers of the home DID speak English! :)

One last look up to some of our new friends before going on to the next home ... such a blessing these people are to our hearts!

On our way to the next home.....

Instant friendship.....

The kids did great during this excursion ... some things were a little uncomfortable, but we have discovered that though there are many differences here, the one constant is that people just want to be loved. Today, He gave us an opportunity to love....

This is referred to as a puja room, which is where many rituals and offerings take place.

On our walk back home, we decided to stop by this shop to get Noah some new sandals. He has literally worn his out, and after looking at 12-15 pair, he finally found the ones he liked. The service in this shop, as is the case for most shops here, was above and beyond.

The shop owner on the right and a salesboy on the left!! We were able to share with the owner today and was excited to see how receptive he was.

As we continued our walk back towards home, our next agenda was to find a "whistle" or a "weight" for our pressure cooker. We'd never owned a pressure cooker before, but we pretty much use it every day. This shop owner didn't have what we needed, but he did have every other piece of stainless steel available.

We never did find out what happened to our "whistle", but the next shop owner searched until he found one. For a little over $3, we are once again in the pressure cooker business.

As we were walking out of this shop, we saw a very familar sight......

The more we walked, the more new things we saw....

Like this papaya tree.....

And yet another coconut tree, but this one for some reason seem extra neat!!

This vendor is set up to make home-made potato chips....

It was now getting close to what WE call dinner time. Dinner is actually not eaten here until 9-9:30 PM. We have now gone from eating dinner at 5:30 to sometimes as late as 7 o'clock. Today, however, we were having dinner when most people had just finished lunch. We had so much fun with the wait staff as they listened to our valiant efforts at ordering everything in the language we're learning!!

Since it was so hot, we decided to start with cold bottled water. For fun, some in the group decided it would be fun to do what everyone else here does ... and that's to "water fall" their drinks. This basically means that the drink is held a few inches above your mouth and then, well ... the water falls into your mouth. This is done in many places because you just never know where the cup, glass, or bottle has been. :)

A great family dining experience .... and yes, there's even some remnants of a water fall on some of the shirts!!

We have grown to love the food here (the jury's still out for Emma, but she's getting better). We eat what is called "veg food" every day for lunch while American food is still the choice for breakfast and dinner. Today, we ate a typical meal - various types of dosa along with rice and manchurian gobi (cauliflower) .... and a lot of water!!

Once again, the kids have just blown us away in the way they have adjusted to life here, including the food!! We tell them often how proud we are of them ... the rule is "you don't have to like it, but you've at least got to try it." Check out Emma's expression as Noah chows down!!

We ended with dessert .... you can take the people out of the USA, but you can't take the USA out of the people!! This is Elizabeth's "double sundae."

After eating dinner, we decided to drop by one of the local grocers and pick up a few things. As we were walking, we noticed what seems to be a mother and daughter washing clothes.

Before we made it to the grocery store, we made a pit stop at one of our favorite places for Jazzy's cat food. Ravi has turned into one of our favorite people here, and we even had an opportunity to speak to the Father with him.

After the pet store, we ran into a couple friends. This girl works at a tropical fish shop.

We then meet up with one of our flower vendor friends. We've not seen him since we've been back from the states ... and the first thing he did was give us some of his fresh flowers!!

We then see a "goat family" ... and who can walk by baby goats and NOT take a picture?! Don't answer that....

We FINALLY make it to the store. Here's the bread aisle ... much different than the Wal-Mart bread aisle!!

Discovering the bread is at the bottom of the sack ... under the maida (flour). They gladly exchanged for 2 more "unsquished" loaves!!

After 6 hours of being out and about, we finally made it back home. We feel so very blessed to live where we live, and we truly see it as a gift. There are reminders all over the place that He is here, most especially through His creation. The birds of paradise flowers are in full bloom ... and we just love them.

As hard as it was to come back after our unexpected trip back to the states, we know without doubt that we are here because we're supposed to be here ... and in that, He has given us so many new friends to help in the transition. We are thankful for friendly smiles, outreached hands, and hearts who just want to be loved. Yes, Father ... we are a blessed people!!