Arrival in India!

We arrived in India at 6 pm on Monday, February 20th! Wow, it's hard to believe that we are actually here in India!! Our friend picked us up from the airport and got a taxi van for all of us. I wish so much that we had a picture of the van, but surprisingly we didn't (shocking I know).  I'll paint the picture for you. The taxi van is a little smaller than the average mini van, however it did have a rack on time, thankfully. The driver just looked at us and the bags, and then he counted them all, thought for a minute, and then said yes.  Three big bags on top, two big suitcases in the back, three carry-on bags, Neal, Elijah, and myself in the middle seat with the stroller and two carry-on bags, and Josiah and the driver up front with Elijah's carry-on. Praise the Lord it all fit! I was very shocked, but this is India, which means more things/people in smaller places.

The ride was fun to say the least! There were lines on the road which stand for...um, I'm not actually sure...maybe suggestions...maybe. The main roads had four "lanes" with lines, but there were actually five to six lanes of cars, vans, buses, rickshaws, and the craziest part was all the people also included who were walking on the big 'interstate' road. Later we learned from a friend who's lived here a while the proper way to drive "nose ahead goes ahead", which means you're not being cute off, you just assume your place in traffic depending on where your nose of the vehicle is. This is also the reason why cars are always inching forward even when there seems to be no room.

We arrived at our flat and met the other couple whom we will be living with the whole time while we are in language school in Delhi. They are very sweet and they have lived here a month already and been taught where to buy things and how to prepare them, so they are very helpful! What a blessing! Here are some pictures of our flat.

Our flat is right above the sign to the automotive place. It's the second floor of balconies with the black metal fencing in front on the far right side. 

 This is our bedroom. Our flat has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room/dinning room, and a kitchen. We are all three in this one bedroom and the share the flat with another couple. It was all furnished and 'decorated' when we got there, except for the flowers which I brought from home, and aren't they beautiful! They've been commented on by four people so far asking where I got them. We have our own bathroom, which is nice. You can see the sun starting to set through the window in the bathroom. The shower, by the way, is in the middle of the small bathroom with no curtain. You just turn it on, get everything wet, and then you use a squeegy to scrap all the water into the drain under the sink. Welcome to India!

 This is obviously our little kitchen, and no the picture is not just showing half of the kitchen. The picture of our living/dinning room was taken from our front door so that you can see a little bit of both sides. Look how ornate the doors are - so beautiful! 

So there's our place until we move to our new city after language. We're thankful we have our own place to sleep and cook, etc. 

    

The Long Plane Ride

The plane ride from Huntsville to Chicago was only around an hour, give or take a little, so that wasn't bad at all. Obviously, the plane ride from Chicago to Delhi was much longer - fifteen hours! We had good seats in the front of the economy class, which was nice. Each seat had it's own TV in the back of the seat in front of it, which was also very nice. I'm thankful we didn't have the big TVs in the middle of the walkway where everyone had to watch the same movie. It was nice to change it up, turn on music, or just turn it off to sleep. Although the trip was good, it was still just really long. I (Kristen) tend to not do so good on long trips. My head and stomach usually start feeling weird, and then the rest of my body follows. Thankfully I just had a little bit of that this trip, and when I did Neal was very sweet (like usual) to take Elijah and hold him. Elijah did so good! He slept a lot and enjoyed watching the TV. The only part that was the hardest with him was his cold, which seemed to get worse the longer we were on the plane. However, all-in-all it was a good trip. God is good to us!

The first picture is Elijah and I listening to a kid movie through the headphones. The video is Elijah getting so excited while watching the same kid movie with Neal. The cutest part is when Neal turns him toward the camera to look at me and he turns his head back toward the TV and starts shacking his arms because he's so excited. Too cute!

Last days with our families

Thank you God for our families. It's always hard to know "this may be the last..." when it comes to things that are dear to your heart. This last week was wonderful! It was also a little exhausting getting all the last minute stuff finished, but our families were so sweet to help.

However, prior to our last week together we were all very busy packing up our apartment and all five of the suitcases (although they were unpacked and repacked a couple of times). During the packing we had a lot of help, not only cleaning out closets, the bathroom and kitchen, but with Elijah as well. I mean, who would want to pass up holding or playing with the baby? Even my nephew Jonas loved to entertain Elijah while we worked. (The little hat was too cute on Elijah! It reminds me of the kind of hat my dad always wore growing up, and now my brother Joel wears as well.)

 This picture of my dad holding Elijah in the pouch carrier makes me laugh so much! Dad was very sweet to feed Elijah, walk with him, rock him, etc. He decided to wear the pouch while walking with Elijah outside and it was too cute. Elijah loves the pouch, especially now that he gets to face forward and see everything. 

Here's the group that worked very faithfully for days getting things packed and our of our apartment. We were very grateful! Thank you Lord for the kindness of our precious families!

 Here we are with all of our bags! It looks like a lot, but it's really hard to pack your life into a few suitcases, so we did the best we could (or I did, Kristen, because Neal would have been fine not packing as many home things and things for Elijah.

After packing and visiting NC we stayed with our parents and enjoyed some time together. One of the first things our moms wanted to know was what we wanted to eat. You can't eat all of the same meals in India that we would eat in the states, so they wanted to know our favorites that we would miss. These three meals came to mind - lasanga, chicken almondene, and Bond burgers. Not only did we get some great meals, but great desserts as well!!

We got to see some dear friends while we were home, Dana, and Amy and Devin with their two kids. They both had a time of prayer over us. God has blessed us with great friends who we 

.will miss very much

At Elijah's Mimi and GB's house he got to hear the song Mimi wrote for him and GB played on his guitar. They always love to sing to him 

 The Bond crew minus Tori (above) and the Cothran crew (left).

Thank you Lord for the years we have had with our families. Thank you for all the things we have learn, times we have shared, laughs, cries, and great times together. We are truly going to miss everyone while we're away. But, the great thing is that they're all just a skype or email away. We will see each other again, but it's still hard to say goodbye for now.

Here's everyone who came to the airport to see us off. We'd already gone through security, which is why they were all behind the glass. Tears were still stinging my eyes, from giving last hugs and actually saying bye, but the TSA people helped to bring a little relief. I'm sure they didn't know that we were leaving for a few years, all they knew was the huge group of people who stood on the other side of the glass waiting, waving, and crying. Then all the TSA workers started waving to our family as much as they were waving to us as if they were so sad to see them go. It was great! I just laughed and felt a sweet peace come over my heart that I knew was the Lord. In the midst of sadness joy still remains.

Trip of encouragement - visiting NC

We were delayed a few weeks from going to India, so we decided to visit our friends in North Carolina. The trip was such a blessing of encouragement. Not only was it great to see all of our small group friends and friends from the places we worked, but it was great to have people get to meet Elijah and have them pray for us. Thank you God for a sweet time to get away, leave all we had left to do and be refreshed. Here's so pictures with our friends.

We stopped in Asheville on our way to Wake Forest and got to see Mamaw for breakfast. She and Elijah had a wonderful time together!

H 

 Herb and Cathy were so sweet to let us stay with them! They opened their home for so many of our friends to come visit, such as Kitae, Yiyoung, and Ruah.  Not only did they open their home, but Cathy always had some great meal ready for us and whoever the guess were. It was hard to believe that Ruah was almost a year old and this was our first time to meet - sad, but so much fun.

Kate, Rema, and Candie - gosh it was so good to see them. (It was weird not having Meredith there with us...I remember all the spontaneous dinners of burritos, movies, and prayers to get through school.) My heart rejoiced so much spending time with these girl, some of my dearest friends.  

Everyone loves Ms. Nancy (above)! She is always joyful and such a help at Neal's old work place.

Charlie (above right) and his family were very hospitable opening their home and serving us taco soup, which Neal couldn't even tell there wasn't any meat in it! Now that was good soup...maybe I could make it in India.







John, Shelbee and sweet Jordan are always a joy to see. I'm always encouraged by Shelbee's sweet spirit and her love for others.

On our way back to Alabama we got to eat lunch with Trevor, one of Neal's friends from school. We always laugh a lot when Trevor's around.

Thank you God for a little more time in the states to rest and be encouraged!

Christmas 2011

I always love Christmas time! Although I don't like the way America has made it into a time of shopping and Santa instead of Jesus, I still enjoy all the traditions. Honestly, this will be the time of year when my heart will probably long for my family and America when I'm in India. However, regardless of where we are, Christmas can and will always be celebrated as the precious day when, "The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14) WOW! It's a hard thing to fathom the deity of Christ. Thank you God for allowing us to see your glory through Jesus.

Getting ready for Christmas was quit fun. We stayed up late one night in order to get everything wrapped and ready. Neal took care of Elijah while I wrapped the presents. 

Elijah was actually the center of most of our presents as you can see from the array of pictures and photo albums. 

Elijah had a lot of fun with Daddy!

Each year we celebrate with Neal's family the evening of the 23rd and the morning of the 24th, and then with my family the evening of the 24th and all day the 25th. I've always liked that it worked out where we could see both families for Christmas. Having Elijah there made it even that much more fun! 

Christmas at the Bond's

On their Christmas Eve after getting back from eating at Red Lobster, seeing the lights, going to Crispy Cream, going caroling at a friends house, and reading the Christmas story from the big family Bible, we found out that Neal's dad got a job! We've been praying for this for almost a year now. Praise the Lord for providing!

 Before getting started with stockings and presents we had a time of reading the story of Jesus from the book "The Gift". Then we all prayed for one another, which was so encouraging. 

One of Elijah's new favorite things to do is grab and pull things, so it was perfect for opening presents!

Everyone enjoyed having him there so much. It's great how special little kids make things, even when they are just babies.

Christmas at the Cothran's

I love this picture of my dad with Elijah sticking their tongues out at one another! Elijah's tongue is so little you can barely even see it - so cute!








Our family tradition is to get pajamas on Christmas Eve and get our picture made in front of the fireplace.

(It was strange not having my brother Michael in the picture. This was his first year to ever be away, but I know he enjoyed being with his fiance.)

Before doing anything else we read the story from Luke of the first Christmas when Jesus came as a baby. Normally my dad reads the story, but this year Neal got to. Then we started a new tradition by singing happy birthday to Jesus. We had a candle for Him in a piece of cheesecake:)

With Christmas falling on a Sunday we went to my families church after doing our stocking and eating breakfast casserole. Sadly, I have to confess that I've never liked Christmas being on Sunday, which I know is horrible, but I'm just being honest. However, when we sang songs in worship of our savior Jesus, and listened to the pastor talk about the present from God is His presence, it was awesome. Seeing people you know and meeting new people was such a joy. I loved that time, and my heart was filled with thanksgiving to God for that body of believers, and believers in
Jesus everywhere.

On Christmas night my mom always does a big meal, and my brother Daniel and his family come to join us. She always decorates the table so nice.

 Here's the whole Cothran crew (minus Michael and Rebecca)

Elijah Loves the Lights!

Elijah's favorite thing about Christmas so far is all the lights. He loves to look at the lights on the tree and the mantle. He will open his eyes and mouth so wide when we hold him close to the tree. Even sitting in the living room he always wants to be facing the tree.

 Even if Elijah is a little upset you can usually take him to the Christmas tree to look at it and he will just calm down and stare. 

When we were doing our proclamation ornaments (which is 25 ornaments starting on Dec. 1st  and ending on Christmas that tell the story of Jesus through the prophecies of the Old Testament and scriptures of the New Testament) we were excited to do them with Elijah. Instead of getting excited with us it just put him to sleep. We'd actually gotten behind three days, so I guess there was too much reading that he couldn't stay awake. Neal still held him up to the tree to put the ornaments on.