the first four days.

So here's what I wrote on October 27th...and I'm finally posting it...yeah, I know it took forever.

Flying is fun with dramamine...no motion sickness AT ALL! Such a blessing. I left Atlanta on Sunday night the 23^rd and flew to London. British Airways was a great airline – I felt like I was being taken care of so well. It was really fun to eat meals on the plane and have tea and get my own personal video screen to watch. I was able to listen to the radio or watch movies – and I got to choose what I wanted to watch. (Clark & Heather – I listened to a lot of Fleet Foxes and Bon Iver…just because I knew y’all liked them and they happened to be available – I liked Bon Iver a lot.) I got to London around 10am their time. It felt quite surreal to be in London –it was hard to wrap my mind around. It didn’t seem like it had taken very long to get there and I kept thinking about how I had been in Greenville & Atlanta with my sweet people just a few hours before! I was SO sleepy at the London airport, though. It was funny to me – I had to keep walking around so I wouldn’t fall asleep. I was nervous about not being able to hear my flight info. That airport doesn’t post what gate the flights are leaving from until it’s almost time to takeoff – so I couldn’t go to my gate and take a nap. Bummer! But I was able to hang in there and just keep walking. I was only there for a couple of hours, & then we left for South Asia. The flight was almost identical to the London one – just a few hours longer.

In the plane going to London!

I had to take a picture of this for Clark - one of the first things I saw in the international terminal in London.

For all my Evergreenians!!! Looks just like a wolf in our animal room that had seen it's better days...

Clark, thinking of you during this entire photo shoot :)

Again, really? Clark Waite meets jaguar (you know he does that face!)

When we landed in Asia it actually felt less strange than landing in London – I think it was just the shock of being all the way in Europe by myself – WEIRD! I knew that I would be surrounded by amazing people at K-Homes & Daughters. I had a great expectation & hope about that – the Lord had promised that to me & I was taking him up on his promise. I wasn’t worried that it wasn’t going to work out. Ahhhh, such sweet assurance!

Dylan was at the airport to pick me up. It was about 5:45am & still dark. We walked to his Bolero SUV (they’re cool…kind of like a Land Rover) and I started to get in on the right – but he smiled & said “Wrong country” since the driver’s seat was on the right. So I got in the left front seat and we drove about 30 minutes to Molly & Dylan’s house (Guess what? You don’t have to have a driver’s license here – you just have to be 18 to drive.) We went on a regular 6-lane highway & then turned off onto dirt roads. When we pulled up to the house Molly was there to greet us. She had made strawberry muffins – my FAVORITE kind of muffin. So cool. We chatted for awhile until their kids woke up – Asher is 2 & Elijah is 1 (they are 15 months apart…so similar to Chapman & McCrady). 

Molly had told me that this week is a Hindu holiday for the god of light – and that there would be fireworks pretty much nonstop for 3 days. She wasn’t kidding – it’s hilarious to hear fireworks ALL the time. There are so many different kinds – loud annoying ones & big beautiful ones & sparklers & small ones that just stay on the ground. Both nights I have been here so far have been full of fireworks. On Tuesday night (my first night) I went to the roof with the little girls’ house – there are 9 of them & they are 4 to 10. We watched the fireworks and talked. It was great. They were so excited to be up there at bedtime.

my bed!

my cabinet COVERED in LOVE!

a close-up of how awesome it is

The inside of my cabinet!

my shelf with some of my favorite things from my favorite people!

more favorite things from amazing friends

the view from the bathroom

the view from the door

the bathroom...pretty normal

a view of the sink...just so you can get a picture of where I live!

Americans here with me:

Tammy – she’s the K-homes director

Molly & Dylan – they are married and are the directors of Daughters

TG – she is helping Tammy with logistics, emails, schedules, tutoring, etc. She is planning to stay long-term – she got here about 6 weeks ago.

Harrison & Taylor – they are married and graduated from UGA. They are doing lots of things for k-homes and will be here long-term (but they just got here in July)

Erin and Melinda – they are both from Georgia (Gainesville & Lawrenceville) and are here for 6 months working with K-homes (they are my roommates right now!)

There are also so many wonderful Indian staff who are here too – and who have been for such a long time. They are so dedicated to the children & to the vision of k-homes. There is a house parent for each age group of boys & girls, 3 cooks, & 2 men who drive the bus & fix things & do a whole lot. I don’t know all of their names yet – but almost!

I’m not having any trouble with jetlag. I decided that I didn’t want it to hinder any of this initial week – so I just pushed through it! (Dylan told me that the more I just went with the schedule of this time zone the better that I would be – so I took his advice.) That has been wonderful because I haven’t missed anything.  Sleeping at night has been easy – no problems there at all – even with the constant stream of fireworks all around (the fireworks will stop after Thursday night).

My first time wearing a kurta...LOVE them!!!

On Wednesday I went with Molly to Daughters. This is where I will spend every day. There are 17 women who have been taught how to use sewing machines, hand stitch, cut fabric, & make a variety of different textile goods. It’s an amazing operation! When I got to the Daughters building, the women were excited to see me. They smiled and said hello and welcomed me in. We started off the day (this will happen every day) with prayer, song, & devotion. So cool. I wish you could have heard these women singing, reading, & praying to the Lord in their native language. It really was so beautiful - & they are also so beautiful. The clothes they wear are magnificent. In fact, one of the projects we are working on at Daughters is making blankets out of old, second-hand fabric from the women's dresses. I will get to help pair up fabrics & choose coordinating thread colors. Love it! I also will be helping with quality of production, overseeing the women as they work, doing some office work, & just helping with whatever else needs to be done. The women loved laughing at me when I tried to pronounce their name or another word in their language. They also thought it was hilarious to watch me eat – and they definitely did watch me. I am going to like working with them!

On Thursday I got to help teach one of the 10-year-old girls, Monisha , how to ride a bike! Tammy told her and another girl, Logi, that they had to learn today. They had been scared of it and didn’t want to try to learn AT ALL. But Tammy insisted – and there’s no arguing with that! So one of the teenagers, Manju, and I spent about an hour teaching Monisha how to ride a cycle (that’s what they call them). She finally got it and was so proud. What a precious way to spend my afternoon. That night I ate dinner with the same little girls that I watched the fireworks on the roof with. Then I went up to the middle girls’ house. There are about 10 of them, and they are 11 to 15. I hadn’t even met some of them yet, so I got them to tell me their names and something about them. Oh my goodness, they are such talkers and most of them are into movies & singers & clothes – they are great. What fun we had just sitting around the table as they ate together, talking about a million different things at once.

I can't wait to tell you more!