Pirate's First Rat

Clearing debris from the driveway after a major rainfall is messy business.

Good evening to you. I totally acknowledge that this blog will reach everybody at varying parts of their day, but the greeting of “good morning” or “good afternoon”, is really comforting. Like I am out on a twilight walk, on a tree covered boulevard and I meet my neighbor Henry, who is 88 years old and takes his Scottie dog for walk in the evenings, and he tips his hat to me, and says Good Evening and I say Good Evening back. Its cozy, comforting, friendly and makes me feel like I am not a Ka-Gillion miles away. Thank you for enduring that possibly painful journey in my head.

Side note: Bolouvard, bolourvard, bolovard - these are the first attempts at spelling boulevard... don’t make fun of me, I seriously cannot remember the last time I spelled boulevard - do you?

I do have the most exciting news to share with you. My dear friend Sarah and her daughter, Ellie (who is Ani’s dear friend), are on their very long plane ride right now to come and visit us. I am absolutely over the moon. When I told Ani that they were coming she started laughing and crying at the same time. I am not quite sure how to put it, but I will try my best. I am feeling like I need some grounding. I need someone from home to give me some perspective on my life here. Someone to tell me, “No, Tarrah you are not crazy to think that, or to say, I can totally see how that would be gross to you.” I am not sure what she is to say, but this friend of mine is a girl who was a “daily” friend of mine in Minnesota. We did life together. And so, it feels awkward for me to have her not know what my life is like here - so now, she will...

Ani and Ellie about 6 years ago.

I felt like a proud, but very grossed-out parent on Wednesday morning. I went in the laundry room to throw in a load of wash and, to my surprise, Pirate had dragged in his first rat. He had dragged in a mouse before, but this was his first rat. The big daddy. He demonstrated the reason why I’m okay itching my eyes now and again and blowing incredible amounts of snot out my... oh, that’s probably enough information. We threw a party, had balloons and cake, invited the neighbors. You could not find prouder cat parents in the greater Ooty area.

A job well done Pirate

I had my first parenting class this week with Sita* and Sajni* (the two rescued girls who are moms in our Ooty aftercare program). I was really encouraged. I started out by asking what their three favorite parts of being a mom were and what the hardest parts were. I was struck that some of the favorites were similar to what any of my friends in the States would say - just stated more simply. And the hardest parts were things that my friends and I will never encounter. It was really good to hear them talk about it - and with such emotion. Our primary topic this week was nutrition. I was amazed at how I take things as simple as the food pyramid for granted. I need to figure out how to boil things down to the most basic concepts and then try to communicate them. I mean Sita has such little education that when I asked her to write the word “fruit” in her first language, she didn't know how. The social worker was telling her how to spell it and she didn't even know how to write some of the letters. I am struck by how little framework they have in the physical aspect of learning. God created us with wonder and a desire to learn, but at the same time learning is also taught at such an early age at home and at school that I didn't realize how much the "learning" muscle needs to be worked, stretched and grown to be able to even be taught as an adult... does any of that makes sense? I am very much in process about this and there are many people out there who have more experience about this. But this is my observation as I have worked with these girls over the past few months.

Well friends, I do hope this email greets you all well. I need to give a shout out for the first snowfall in MN last night. Whew!

* Not their real names