79 Loads of Bedding

Happy first day of school kids.

Sydney in her P.E. kit. So proud.

Three green lights are on, one more to go. When all four lights are shining brightly, that means we have internet. In our very own house. On our very own computer. Pretty dreamy, right? Since the frying of our modem/phone line in April, followed by our phone cord being ripped out of the telephone pole by the bus, we have tried in vain to get it back up and running. Oh no, it’s down to two green lights. This isn’t looking good folks. Anyway, some might say that the first blog back in India is off to a pretty slow start... I will probably agree, let’s see if I can amp it up a bit.

I last left off back in Minnesota, and we were heading down to Mel and Mike’s wedding in St. Louis. “The wedding of the decade”, I think that is how I described it. Well, we had a most fabulous time, the location and people were gorgeous, with Mel taking the lead in the gorgeous category. I am pretty sure that is was the hottest wedding in history. At least my history. Heat index (don’t we love the heat index, it makes the temp sound much more dramatic) was at 115 degrees. And it was an outdoor wedding. I didn’t give a rip about how hot it was, because I was just so glad to be there, and not having to watch it on video in India.

After we sweated all day, we danced all night. Then we hopped into the car - jammies on and caffeine in hand - and drove through the night up to Minneapolis to catch a plane to fly back to India. The trip was super uneventful. Planes, waiting, expensive airport food, endless trips on the moving sidewalk with the kids, jammed vehicle with luggage and people, and dosas and idlis for breakfast in Gundlupet.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Sadly for the kids, the final McDonald's meal.

Spotted deer near the tiger reserve on the drive back to Ooty.

Our first encounter with our house was that we were locked out. That was awesome. Second encounter was walking in to a musty, musty, musty house (sneeze, sneeze, sneeze), also awesome. Third encounter was with mildewed bedding and clothes...mold creeping, creeping all over. You guessed it, awesome. Fourth encounter was whilst I was throwing one of 79 loads of bedding into the dryer, the dryer didn’t work. No biggie when it’s not the monsoon, but it’s rainy and cold all the time right now. So, all this transpired over about three hours. One would think that I would have packed up the family and headed straight back to the airport. But for some reason I was as calm as a spring breeze. It’s like my body and mind were saying, “This is how we roll here. If it were different, then it wouldn’t be my life in India... Welcome back, Tarrah”.

Our temporary dryer: A heater and fan in the bathroom.

In trying to dry out our home, we're using the fireplace for hours each day. But this time of year the wood we purchase is all wet, so we need to dry it in front of the fire before putting it in.

We are back to three green lights. Progress, maybe. Jayson is looking rather annoyed. Wishing that a guy in a smart looking uniform would come and do this for him... My husband is patient. Way more patient than I.

I have gotten flashbacks this week to our first weeks when we moved here originally. The jet lag that has almost defeated us. The mornings that last forever since we all were up at 3:00 a.m. Burning all sorts of food items when cooking. The feeling of being very alone, a world away from everyone and everything that we love... None of these are very positive feelings. The great thing though, is that most of those feelings passed within a few weeks. I definitely struggled with loneliness throughout the last two years, but the feeling of being very alone is different, to me, than loneliness. Being alone is similar to “ghost town with tumbleweed blowing through” type feelings. And that passed.

Guess what folks, the internet is on. Can you believe it? I can’t. I am sad to admit that I got butterflies in my tummy when I saw it connect. I am so obnoxious. Sorry. It’s the same feeling I had when the dryer was fixed only five days after they said it would be.

We found that the trick to getting the internet working is that the phone needs to be off the hook and we need to connect to the internet within 10 seconds of the "internet" green light coming on. Seriously.

Well, folks, I promise next week’s is going to be a little livelier. Stay with me, keep on reading, I have loved writing and sharing with you all about our life here in India. Until next week...

Complete and Utter Travel Envy

An ode to our birthday girl, who just turned two last Saturday

9:04 p.m., Tuesday, August 10, 2010. I am sitting on my parents couch whilst my parents and Jayson watch the Minnesota Twins and the Chicago White Sox and eat Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake. I am feeling so “All-American”. Oh, a bald eagle flew by. And Betsie Ross and George Washington are having a conversation at the kitchen table. Hamburger and fries anyone?

Another all-American activity - the county fair

Ani's dream...being the seven-year-old girl she is gazing at in this picture

Okay, enough of my nonsense. I have two favorite parts of my day. Let me tell you about them. First one was between 10:00-11:30 a.m. this morning. A little background, today is the big pack up day, we take off at noon tomorrow. Okay, back to today, I pretty much had to talk Jayson off the ledge, several times... Yes, that’s my first favorite part. I know that can be traumatic for some, but not this ole’ girl. The kids were repelling off the furniture and each other and it looked like a big monster ate the stuff that we were supposed to be packing and then threw it back up and I could see Jayson slowly backing out of the house trying to make a run for it. So, I lassoed Jayson back in the house, gave him a pep talk about how life is messy, and this is one of those times, and the day will get better and he had to hang with me. Look how far we came today... Twins game and all. Aren’t you so proud of Jayson?

My second favorite part was when I was sorting through a suitcase that was set aside for St. Louis (Mike and Mel’s Wedding), and I was looking for a few sets of clothes for yours truly that were not for the important events (bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, wedding), but all the in-between clothes --- hang with me folks, this is getting a bit tedious, I promise I will tie it all together --- and I asked Jayson if he has seen them. He looked at me with complete innocence and said, “I packed them.” “Where Jayson?” said I. “In one of the 10 bags that are packed for India.” And then I slowly said, “Awesome.” I looked at my orange shorts and blue hoodie and told him to get used of this outfit because this is all that I have for the next five days. Underwear and all. He breathed deeply, and then went out to the mountain of bags and started looking, lightly, because, well, that’s all he had in him. I didn’t push it, and said, “Well, I guess we’ll just roll with it.”

9:27 p.m. So, our last few weeks in review. We had a great time spending a few weeks at my folks, doing northern Minnesota type things, which included a wonderful 24 hours spend with the amazing
Wolfe family, friends from Texas. Then we spent a week in Minneapolis with our church participating and teaching at Vacation Bible School. Definitely a great highlight of our summer. Doing life together every day with the people we love and miss so much. And now, the last three days, we have been shopping, sorting, passing-on, packing, etc. Tomorrow, Wednesday, we travel down to Minneapolis, spend the night at Sarah and David’s, and then bright, shiny and early Thursday morning, we head down to St. Louis for the wedding of the decade. All six of us are in the wedding, which is totally fantastic and I am curious, just curious, how quickly my children who will be donned in white, will get dirty at that outside wedding. Will it be 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 31 minutes...? Hmm.

The Wolfe and Palm kids, minus one Wolfe. Photo snatched from Sarah's blog: Pack of Wolfes

A bit of "Northern Minnesota type things" going on here. We think it was a lemonade stand.

9:41 p.m. On Saturday night, after the wedding, we will shove the kids in the car (like Jayson did with my clothes) not letting them out until we get to Minneapolis. We’ll drive through the night to get to the airport in Minneapolis by 9:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Then we’ll fly for endless hours back to India. I know, I know, complete and utter travel envy.

9:48 p.m. Well people, we are going back to India. Are we ready you ask? Ready like a woman just before giving birth. It’s all a bit painful, but you just need to do it. (Yes, there are some flaws in my analogy, but just go with it.) And likewise the packing and goodbyes and re-entry is all a bit messy, painful and tiring, but we have work to do, a great big work. And after a restful and filling two months, we are ready to jump in, to keep on coming alongside girls that long for freedom but don’t have the resources to do it on their own. Peace to you, see you in India.

Twelve bags. Packed and ready to go.

And we're done.

Where We Last Left Off

"Palm Kids" flag...the newest addition to the Lake Side Treehouse

We are driving through Hannibal, Missouri. Their water tower has “America’s Hometown” painted on it. I think they painted that phrase to try to convince themselves and others to think of that phrase more than Hannibal Lector, crazed, fictional murderer. Good try team, I still think of crazed, fictional murderer.

Well, I think the best bet right now is to start where we last left off. Profound, I know. After Minneapolis, we went back up to Bemidji and got ready to head to Canada for the Fourth of July weekend. My aunt and uncle have a place in Lake of the Woods (click here for Google map) and we try to go up there with my folks every summer. It’s a lovely, relaxing, fish-catching, blueberry-picking type of place. We also invited Jayson’s sister, Mel, and her fiancé, Mike, to join us. We have spent zero time with Mike, as living in India does get in the way of meeting and spending time with fiancés. So why not go to an Island in Canada to do the whole big brother, protective, checking the fiancé out thing? Perfect. We had a great weekend doing the things we love there, had fun watching Mike dive right into our family of six, and so look forward to standing up with them when they get married in a month.

Congratulations on catching the big one from Auntie Mel and Mike

On July 5 we headed down to Rockford, Illinois, “Jayson’s Hometown” (not necessarily on the water tower, but true nonetheless). I so love the mutual exchange of glad emotions in seeing family and friends that we haven’t seen for at least a year and half, if not upwards of three years. Also in Rockford, I met something that did a number on me. Possibly love at first sight... Our friends the McIntosh’s, who were out of town and graciously opened their house to us, had the washing machine and dryer of my dreams...

Pretty spicy dreams, eh? Anyway. The picture speaks for itself, but I must tell you the best part of the whole washing experience was, when the dryer finished, there was this lullaby like melody that sounded - not the abrasive dying goat/duck bleat that usually transpires. So, I looked at Jayson, with stars in my eyes, while petting the machines and asked him if I could have these when we move back. Pretty please?

On Friday, the 9th, we headed in to Chicago for the little girl mecca that beats all little girl meccas, American Girl Place. With their American Girl dolls in arm, Ani, Sydney, Mary, and Emma (their cousins), shopped and dined all afternoon in sensory overload. It was such a great memory made with all the Palm girls and cousins. Thanks Lorraine for a wonderful day.

On to St. Louis. Saturday, the 10th, through this morning, the 15th. St. Louis houses - among other people - Jayson’s sister, Julie, her husband, Chad, their girls, Mary and Emma, Jayson’s folks, Jay and Lorraine, and (moving in a month to Nashville) Jayson’s sister, Mel. His family are great hosts of fun and cousin frenzy. We zoo’d, we swam, we children museum’d, we partied, we dined and we just always wish that we lived closer. We are so glad that we don’t have to say goodbye, but that we all get to see each other at Mel’s wedding. Whew, goodbyes can be dreadful. Glad not to partake quite yet.

Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, is in 15 minutes. If I were to choose to live in Mt. Pleasant or Hannibal, I’d choose Mt. Pleasant.

I am very conscience of the fact that I am not doing any sort of reflecting in this blog. It’s more like a laundry list of our whereabouts. Other than a few moments here and there, we have been all people, all the time. Which is absolutely marvelous and I wouldn’t want to change it. But the all people, all the time thing, does lead me to little reflection, therefore, in this blog there will be no deep thinking allowed.

So, in six hours we are to arrive at my Grandma’s for an overnight stay. We will take her house from a sweet Sunday afternoon drive to the European Autobahn in about two seconds. Six more hours of peace Grandma, soak it up.

Jamba Juice and Lake Calhoun

Photos of our time in the States to date...

One day after Jayson and the kids arrived, four families began arriving for three days of camping at Tarrah's parent's house in Bemidji.

We had two birthdays to celebrate right away! Tarrah's birthday cake, June 20

Sydney's birthday cake, June 19

Grandma and Grandpa have had so many special things lined up for the kids. Here's Grandma hosting a tea party for the kids in the treehouse

Root beer, grapes, snickerdoodles, mini-sandwiches, and then tea...what a great time with Grandma!

Ani got her ears pierced. This picture...pre-pierce.

Post-pierce was a bit sad for Ani. But now, she loves having her ears pierced.

I am sitting here in my friends Anna and Eric’s living room. The house smells really yummy. I have shorts on. I was able to go to our home church the morning, The Mills Church. I had lunch with friends. Then we all went to Jamba Juice and Lake Calhoun with a different friend and Anna is currently doing something with puff pastries and brie. My life is really good right now.

Prep for an amazing meal, Anna Schaberg style

Hospitality oozed in our direction while staying with Eric and Anna Schaberg


Playing at the park with the Schaberg kids

Let’s talk about all the things I am wild about as I end my third week in the States (in no particular order, so please do not read into it). Interstates. The Mills Church. Walking paths/sidewalks. My parents. Unending and uninterrupted electricity. Grape Nuts. Watching Jayson watch the World Cup. Long conversations with friends. Going to Sarah’s kid’s baseball/softball games. Berries. My cousin Chelsea’s hand-me-down clothes for yours truly. Cheese. “Camping” with friends. My dad’s fish fry. And let’s go back to berries for a second. I am loving them so much that I am contemplating eating my weight in berries this summer. I will let you know how that fares.

Jayson watching the World Cup - a wonderful pastime for him to unwind and enjoy

Am I sounding a little gushy-gushy about my time in the States? Yes. Will I compare the States to India. No. They are two very different countries and if I try to compare the two then I will do a disservice to both countries. I will say this though, this was my home for 30 plus years and I am absolutely wild about being home. Every day holds something fabulous. I am so thankful.

Has it been overwhelming to be here? Sometimes, but that’s okay. I should be overwhelmed at times. But I am just going with it. Why fight it.

Jayson has been working/speaking for Freedom Firm a decent bit since he got in. Not every day, but enough to feel the weight of the fight against human trafficking as we share with anyone who will listen.

Last Thursday, we started the summer “never ending road trip”. From this point on, we will not be in any spot for more than five days. Other than the fact that I may rename our family from “the palm six” to the “perfect storm”, we are actually quite favorable house guests, being that we live in a third world country usually. We are pretty much wowed by anything that anyone brings our way.

What a Palm family U.S. road trip looks like from the front seat

Also what a Palm family road trip looks like. At this point, Sydney had tried five different "potty stances", none of them quite working.

I am certain that this time in the States is necessary for our sustainability back in India. To revive. To connect. To sort. To drive.

Okay, it’s time to be done, for there is a delectable meal to be enjoyed and wonderful conversation to be had. Cheers for now.

Simply Couldn't Go Faster Than 30 mph

A great photo of our fam taken just before Tarrah and the girls left last week.

Read this plaque from the Fern Hill Palace (and old palace in Ooty) carefully: "The marriage of His Highness Sri Brijendra Sawthi Brijendra Singh Sahib Bahadur Bahadur Jung Maharaja of Bharatpur and Princess Srijayachanadammmmmammmiarbr of Mysore."

I am wondering what it will be like to write the blog from this side of the world. “This” being Minnesota, USA. Will I sound different? Will I be a bit less raw? Will I be more raw? Who knows. Let us not be in suspense any longer.

My little girls, Sydney and Jovie, are my heroes. They traveled with graciousness and endurance. I, on the other hand, found myself having total underarm body odor at hour number two of our journey. Great start Tarrah. Let me refresh you on our itinerary. We had an eight hour drive from Ooty to Bangalore. Then a nine hour flight from Bangalore to Frankfurt. Then we jumped the puddle from Frankfurt to Chicago. Then a wee baby flight from Chicago to Minneapolis. We then got whisked away in my parent’s minivan and traveled up to Bemidji for the last four hour leg of our journey. Sweet. I wish someone would have paid me a dollar for every time that I had to go through some sort of security. I would be able to buy many a latte. Frankfurt won the prize in security. They also won the best pilot speech. When we were on the tarmac, taking off, the pilot got on the speaker and said, "Ladies and gentleman, there is going to be a slight delay, engine number one is not starting automatically, so we are going to have to manually start it. The mechanics are on their way over, but don't worry, this is the only time we are going to need to start it..." Awesome.

The girls just might be enjoying their time with Grandpa.

I mean commooonnnn! Does it get any cuter?

It must have been done before, but if not, I must recommend that someone produces a documentary about a day in the life of an airport. When I was in O'Hare, I missed my flight. Because of the delay in Frankfurt, I arrived in Chicago a little late. I had 20 minutes to try to get through passport control, transfer my luggage, move down four terminals, re-check-in, and go through 12 security check points. Needless to say, I didn't even try... So, I spent about five hours in O'Hare, just sitting or following the girls. And the emotions observed, when one is delayed or missed a flight, is a bit overwhelming. In the short hours I was there, I watched one couple melt down because they couldn't get a connecting flight to L.A., so they could get there other plane to Korea to get their adoptive daughter; another person had an autistic child that was sick at home and needed her; one missed a day of canoeing in the Boundary Waters because of the delay. All the while I was become delirious with tiredness and just started to go into some sort of standing coma. When the time came for us to get on the plane to Minneapolis, both girls were out cold on the floor and you should have seen the circus act of me trying to get them onto the plane. I was trying to look all breezy, like I had everything under control. One can only imagine how ridiculous I actually looked.

Jayson and I have chatted a few times. I hear sounds of our normal life in the background and am sheepishly thankful that I am here. This past week at my parent’s has been great. My parents rolling out the red carpet, my friend Sarah and her daughter Shiloh coming up for a sweet visit, three trips to the grocery store, a few meals spent with extended family, and simply just being. There are things that are hard about here (and likewise in India), but currently I feel like I have just taken five pound weights off my legs and arms and I am now walking a little lighter.

Am I feeling any sort of "culture shock"? I guess in small ways. Like I had to set the cruise control on the van. Not because I was worried about going too fast, but because I simply couldn't go faster than 30 mph on my own, because that is as about as fast I ever go in India. I could have kissed the county license center gentleman for renewing my license in a mere 10 minutes. I think when our friend Ryan got his driver’s license in India, it took him about eight hours. I also feel quite happy about the rules of driving. Blinkers are used, lanes are observed, and there are actually speed limits. Hallelujah! I also feel like I am a little slower when I am going about my business in town. I think deliberate would be a good word. And where are all the people?

Hi everyone. That was your word from America, here’s a word from the flip-side of the globe. How am I? Well, I thought nights to myself would be fantastic, but I’m finding they’re not for me; time with just two kids is great in that we’re playing lots of “bigger kid” games and laughing together a lot; but tiring in that I don’t have anyone to say, “Tag, you’re it”; and the house is far too clean, I feel the need to spill apple juice, dump out all the Polly Pockets, and throw the kid’s clothes all over the floor in order to feel more normal. We can’t wait to get home to see so many of you - after, of course, giving monster hugs to and spending time with Tarrah, Syd, and Jov. We’ll be home soon!

One more reason Tarrah and I make a good team...someone else to take the photo.