Thursday, May 7, 2009

A Brief Encounter with a Possible Complete Disaster

Yo Yo party people.  Jayson and I are in a total snack mode...  and there is nothing in the house that is ready made.  I was thinking about pudding.  Chocolate. But I would have to make it... I know all of you can identify with this particular conundrum that we are facing.  Time zones do not separate the evening munchies.  


Update on the bruiser.  James is healing very nicely.  Stitches are out, and it looks great.  The ace bandage comes off tomorrow.  Which is welcome relief in many categories.  Especially because he has not had a fully immersed bath in two weeks.  That’s a bit frightening for a 4 year old boy who plays hard from sun up to sun down.  


We celebrated Cinco de Mayo this week.  We had some friends over and their parents who were visiting.  It was a yummy feast with very little mention of Mexico’s victory over France, but we tried.  I made Pico de Gallo and because there are no tortilla chips here - well maybe there are, but it would cost about $1000 to buy them - we scooped with Pringles.  Not an exact representation of the much loved tortilla chip, but it crunched and it scooped - a lovely combination.


So, Monday, I had a brief encounter with a possible complete disaster.  It was raining quite a bit, no, a lot.  Like really, really hard.  Well, I have only ever driven in a downpour on flat surfaces, not on steep hills like the ones we are now surrounded with. And when rain comes down hills...it’s quite whooshy.   I’ve never been to Universal Studios, but I have seen commercials of the movie set that all of the sudden has a river coming at you... Well, that is what it was like.  And our car/van/can, as mighty as it is, could really get swept up in the mass of water.  And we do not have any sort of defrost.  And I always drive with the window down, because the horns on vehicles are not just for sport, they are crucial to staying alive.  So, here I am, trying to avoid serious rivers, wiping off the inside of the window with a rag, while having the window down a titch (being splattered with rain) so I can hear if another vehicle wants to tell me something.  Meanwhile, having the thought of, maybe I am not supposed to drive in this...  


Hey everyone. I’ll (Jayson) give you a quick Freedom Firm update. One of my projects right now is overseeing the Roja aftercare house building project. They’re digging a well (Roja hasn’t had water all month), building a security wall and making ground usable for a garden.  So I’ve never even heard of a “diviner” before last week. But in order to find water, they have this guy come to the land, coconut in hand, and walk. (Oh, and a diviner’s blood type needs to be O+. Is that an India thing or worldwide?) So he told me to watch, he walked, and as he came to the area where they had found water, the coconut moved. It moved! Everywhere he walked, the coconut pointed toward the same spot. Crazy. 


Each week I get to do lunch with all the staff and rescued girls. This week there was a huge cake on the table when we arrived with the name “Mary Magdalene” written on it. As it turns out, one of the girls decided that she wanted to separate herself from her hurtful past, so she asked if we could give her a new name (which she picked herself). It’s an amazing story of change and growth for one of our girls. 


Well, that’s it folks.  I hope you’re doing well.  I hope the kiss of spring has finally met you all.  We do appreciated all your blog comments and emails sent.  As much as we are glad we are here, thoughts from “home” continue to encourage and fill us up.  Oh, and just so you are not tossing and turning tonight, wondering what snack we decided upon, Jayson had a cinnamon and sugar tortilla with a cup of tea and I had curd “yogurt”and mango with a cup of hot cocoa.  Pudding called for corn starch...  and there was not a trace of corn starch to be found.  

7 comments:

Sarah said...

just LOVE the Palm updates. It really makes me feel like I am in your living room. And not having ready made snack foods would be really hard. I am admiring your endurance and flexible spirit! Glad you are still alive, Tarrah, to write this week :) Missing you in Minnesota.

Adam said...

Driving in the rain there sounds so exciting! Ah I wish I could have the chance!

Your mention about the purpose of a vehicle horn there in India is SO TRUE! Driving requires one hand on the steering wheel and one on the horn AT ALL TIMES! One of my most vivid memories of our trip was falling asleep at night to a symphony of unique simultaneous horn sounds. High pitched, low pitched, siren-like, musical, and many more! Even more amusing to me was waking in the morning to the exact same sounds!

Haha, I'm also reminded of the many different messages that the "India-Honk" conveys!

"I'm approaching you from behind."
"I am currently behind you."
"Move over, so I can pass you."
"I'm about to pass you."
"I'm currently passing you."

and of course the often underestimated...

"Watch out!"

I'm tempted at times to adopt such a horn strategy here...hmmm

Anonymous said...

Hey Palms,
Okay, here is my experience with rain this week. I left a window cracked and got a wet butt. (no one honked!)
So what is worse, driving in the rain or driving in the Crucial Elephant Habitat? I think I would take rain.
Love the weekly update. Do you have popcorn?

Anonymous said...

I for got to sign. By now you probably know Anonymous is Aunt Sue!

Kara said...

Oh, life without tortilla chips - I am sorry! OK - I always wondered about those diviner people. How cool that you actually got to see him do it. I now believe. And you have me curious about the 0+ thing. hmmm.... wow, you have stories to tell, Palms. thanks for sharing with us!

Anonymous said...

Wish I could drop by with some munchies! Can you get peanuts. In Viet Nam we used to roast them and make our own peanut butter in a meat grinder. Our Sunday night snack was always bread and homemade peanut butter. (Sorry, because of the french influence in Viet Nam, we could buy fresh baquettes easily.) Anyway, the peanut butter was delicious!!!

Tarrah, as always we pray for your safety and glad people were praying while you drove.

How can we arrange the proper time to skype? Would love it!
With love,
Glenda

Juli said...

so my fav part about reading your post is your voice tarrah. who knew it would translate so well to the written word. well done. so am kind of tossing around in my head a trip over to india, sans kids and husband, to visit you guys and my aunt and uncle. it wouldn't be until next year. but am thinking about it. hmmm... would love to drive your car/van/can.