Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Here's our sweet Elijah and Elise's Christmas pictures. 

There's always the funny pictures...gosh I love their laughter!

Christmas Dinner at Neal's Friend's House

Neal has been spending a lot of time with his new friend 'Em'. He comes to our house five days a week to help Neal with language. He's great with the kids as well, and they in return love Em like family. Whenever he knocks on the door Elijah does his excited question face and runs to answer the door.

Em's mom has wanted us to come visit her home. She's been to ours once before, and as well we've been to hers, but she wasn't home. So, she asked if we could come one evening this week because she wanted to make us a Christmas dinner since she knew our holiday was coming soon.  

 Elijah always enjoys going to visit people, especially exploring new places such as every room, climbing the stairs to go to the roof, etc. He doesn't like to sit much these days...unless he's watching something. So, whenever the food is being served, or we're wanting to have conversations Neal's been letting Elijah watch a movie on his phone, as you can see in the picture. 

 Elise, on the other hand, is obviously not yet running around, and therefore enjoys being held and playing with people. She's always my happy girl!

She will go to just about anyone...and always show them affection. (She's with one of Em's brothers in the picture.) Everyone has welcomed our new little girl with such love and we're so thankful to God!

Em's mom was so sweet to make some great biriani for us, which I was thankful for because that's one of the few Indian foods I like. She also made the famous Eid dessert for us because that's the dessert they have for their holiday, so she made it special for ours. They're a precious family. We felt so blessed and honored to be in their home. 

India's "Silver Bells"

Here's our rendition of Silver Bells for our context.

Only in India # 48

Only in India can you get your shirt and pants made to fit on the side of the road!!

It only takes a day or two!

Beat that corporate and suburban America!

Shoot it takes a week to get a pre-made  tux from Men's ware house!

Elise making friends

Elise loves making friends with whomever will drop in...

Neal's language helper friend.

Our press walah... clothes pressing friend.

Very sweet!

His son.

She never complains and is always happy! (said my language helper).

They always enjoy seeing our little sweetie!

Only in India #47

Only in India...

 do you go out on a date and get asked if it will be a snack or dinner at 7:30 at night!!!

Neal enjoying the assortment at date night.

We are eating at the new hotel in town... it is the classiest place around. 

A friend watched our kids for us. 

We also were asked whether we wanted a more secluded spot...

(this is mostly for secret relationships-  Indians are supposed to wait for arranged marriages). 

Needless to say I told them we were married, so no thanks. ;)

The water tasted funny and it turned out that the water cleaning machine wasn't working 

at the restaurant! "Why didn't you tell me that beforehand!!!" We settled for a bottle.

Naan bread, dal and chavel (lintel curry and rice), and at the bottom is the 

chef's special: Afghani chicken curry... 

it is quite mouth watering if you get used to it. 

(it is a chicken cooked in a tandoori wood oven and then was added to a curry

to give a unique twist.)

Yummy, messy chilly and butter chicken... makes my mouth water... (says Neal),
"Makes my stomach hurt to think about it" says Kristen... :)

Only in India #46

Only in India do you tell the carpenter you want a table that's just a solid piece of wood. You over emphasize how much you DO NOT want any designs, and you do not want any glass. 

Two weeks later this is what you get... 

...though it's really nice looking, again it's not what you asked for, at all. 

To top it off, literally, they asked if we wanted glass on top, which we said (again) we didn't...

...and here's our new table with lots of designs and glass on top :)

The Breaking of Our Table

When we moved into our new home back in May, 2012, we bought a glass dining room table. Glass has become pretty popular for tables here. We liked this table for numerous reasons, the main reason being that lots of people could fit around it. 

Elijah always loved playing on the wood that held the table because it swooped under the table.

In January of this year I (Kristen) had set a hot pot on the table and created a little crack on one side. The crack wasn't very big, so we didn't think it was a problem. Just in case though, we moved that part of the table to an area where few people sit.

A week after returning with our new born at the end of August, Neal and Elijah were sitting at the table. Elijah had his elbows resting on the table and his knees in a chair. Neal sat on the opposite side with his elbow resting on the table as well...his elbow was resting on the crack, which again we didn't think was a problem.

Then out of the blue the whole table cracked and broke into pieces. 

With the table, Elijah fell as well right into the middle of all the glass. His hands and face were resting on the wood beside the huge piece of glass that was still intact, and he was screaming. Neal was on the opposite side holding the large piece of glass to keep it from falling onto Elijah. Thankfully Elise was down for a nap so that I was free to run and grab Elijah from the wreckage. 

Our neighbor who was visiting saw the whole thing and went to get our gatekeeper. He quickly came in order to check on us and help clean up. We were so thankful for him that day, like we are many days.

Elijah's face had two bad cuts and his arms were cut up a little. We praised the Lord when we cleaned him up and realized his cuts weren't deep enough to need stitches. God no doubt had an angel watching over our sweet boy...that angel gets his workout for sure! Elijah's face is much better now. We kept bandaids and Neosporin on it for about two weeks. It healed as much as it was going to, although he still has a little scar from the bigger of the two cuts. His scar is in the same spot as Neal's scar...so of all the places to have a scar I guess that's where the Bond guys have theirs.

In the midst of cleaning Elijah's face and calming him down I didn't even realize Neal's hand had been cut. Then I noticed drops of blood all over our floor. Neal was bleeding pretty bad, but of course he didn't put himself first. Once his wound was cleaned we saw that it wasn't too big, but it was pretty deep. He went through numerous bandaids because they'd fill up with blood. His hand has healed well though, thank you God.

Our next table won't be glass!

Bukra Eid (round 2)

It was a wild one... It seems like every year this holiday turns out to be more eventful than the last. I think next year there will have to be fireworks and appearances by Bollywood stars to outdo this year.

Of course it is a holiday, and it is supposed to be a comfortable experience, but the past two tries I have either gotten sick from viewing blood or been apprehended by the police... yes I said apprehended by the police. That story is coming now...

For those who don't already know, Bukra Eid (or Goat Eid) is a holiday that all Muslims celebrate in remembrance of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son (Gen. 22). On this day many discussions take place about God's mercy and Abraham's righteousness. The slaughter is followed by a feast of tasty goat's meat.


So we have a good friend who is an excellent photographer. We both planned to go and take photos of the special morning prayer for Bukra Eid. Last year I was late and missed the event. This year we were right on time. We got some great photos of the men all dressed in white, preparing for the great slaughter. We were asked by the police to take photos on the far side of the mosque so we kindly moved and snapped these photos...

This shows some of the men sitting waiting for the namaz (prayer) 

and listening to the sermon.

My Bukra Eid "beard". Ha!

The many devoted sitting patiently in perfect lines.

This photo is so compelling. Prayers are offered with hands opened because God 

is a God that gives generously.

When the prayers were finished we were greeted by a host of the faithful wanting to

shake hands and gave us warm greetings. It was really sweet. Everyone was so happy.

It was like they (the minority of this country) were finally getting their story told.

Everyone was asking where I was from and what channel they could watch the documentary...

I didn't have the heart to tell them that I wasn't a professional photojournalist.

We were even invited to go and meet the head of the Mosque and he gave us

the full story of Abraham's sacrifice. It was a good event.

Then as we left, I was feeling pressure suddenly from a policeman to come and show our 

passport and papers. I clearly told them earlier that I didn't have them.

I told him that it was no problem and we began to leave. Then suddenly I hear them yelling 

at me. I turn around for a moment and then suddenly I am being lead by my arm toward the compound.

We stop at the entrance and I kindly ask what the problem is.

Then I'm asked to present our passports again. I calmly explained that they were at home and 

inquired what was the purpose of this investigation. I tried to walk away again and then I am essentially

drug back to the compound entrance.  There was no good reason for any of this. I could sense some jealously and hopelessness to the situation. "What? Why is this happening?" I asked.

By this time a crowd had formed. "We want to see your papers."

"I already told you that our papers are at home and that is all!"

"No you must always have your passport on you" he replied.

I then asked him, "Do all the foreign college students that live here always have their 

passports on them when they leave the house?"

The obvious answer was no, but that wasn't enough. I tried to walk away a 3rd time, and this time 

one of the guards put his arms around me so that I could not move.

I was shocked that this was actually happening, to an American guest.

"Fine, I'll come." I was really disgusted that this guy was treating me this way.

It was like they knew that the holiday feast would begin soon and that I wanted to go.

But they persisted. "Please I just want to go to be with my friends!"

To make a long story short, we were taken into an office and offered tea (supposedly 

to calm us down, but we all knew that they were delaying).

They then asked if I had registered, to which I replied yes.

Then they asked who was the man with which I filed.

"Hold on, I'll find him". This took a while because I couldn't remember his name.

Finally after a voice raising discussion they asked who my friend was and if he could come.

I called him and to my comfort he came with 2 family members. 

It was real comforting to see my friends come and vouch for me in the face of 

strong opposition. It really affirmed our friendship to me.

Finally the Foreign Registration officer came and gave the papers for me and we were out 

of there (2 hours later).

These are the faces of the men who inquired:

I sense that I was in the middle of a struggle bigger than me.

After escaping (with my life), I hurried out... feeling both gladness of my escape and anger

over the injustice that I was shoved into.

By now I was sure I had missed the sacrifice, but I was shocked to find 

that the whole family had held off to wait for me to arrive.

Some of the guys in the family as well as some neighbors... everyone loves a good bloody show. :|

There were 6 kills all in a row. Just what you want to see after a stressful situation !

(I laughed and told them that I felt like I had escaped a slaughter at the station.)

But the laughter and invitation, friendship in the room helped calm me down.

This is my friend's brother. We had very good conversations together.

I then got a call from the registration worker wanting to meet me at my home.

I obliged after some time and then returned to my friend's house late in the afternoon.

This was the second year in a row that I actually missed out on the fresh meat only to

eat goat liver because I was late! Blah!

The next day we visited another friend as a family.

Our friend's brother and kids.

They wear eye makeup to cover them from the "evil eye".

It is a folk belief about others having envy and gaining what you have.

Here is the guys eating and enjoying cake.

Not a bad spread. The chocolate treat was tasty.

Elijah playing outside with the kids after eating the meal.

Overall we were really struck by opposition early that tried to ruin the holiday,

but we still were able to have a good time and connect with friends.

The Family on the Scooter

Here's how our family travels...the scooter. Our family is quite small for a scooter actually. The scooter is basically the mini van of India, so families can get up to six people and still ride together. 

The woman in Kite City sit side saddle because it's not modest to spread your legs, so that's what I do as well. 

I'm thankful for the pouches we can put the kids in because it's a little more safe that way. We're the only people I've ever seen wearing something with the child strapped to them (besides our American friends), so we stand out a little more...but we're used to standing out and we don't really care. 

Only in India #45

Only in India do you take your scooter to be serviced (that's an only in India by itself because who drives a scooter :) and you find this inside the body of it...

...yes, that's a dead mouse.

Fun Times with Saj!

Some days after Saj cleans our house she will hang out for a while to talk or play with the kids. This particular day she stayed for almost an extra hour playing a game that made the kids laugh. The more they laughed, the longer they played.

At the time I started taking pictures the game was Elise sitting on her knees and bounced like a horse while Saj said some rhyme.

 Then the game changed from the horse to wrapping my dupota around Elise to make her look like a princess.

 She tried to wrap Elise's whole body like she was wearing a sari, but she didn't like it very much. Elijah, on the other hand, wanted to be wrapped. He felt so silly, especially when he tried to walk around, which was difficult because he was wrapped so tight.

Thank you God for blessing us with such a wonderful friend, and a faithful and trustworthy woman. I couldn't have asked for or imagine someone more precious.