High School Musical

Breakfast in bed for the birthday boy

  

The second Freedom Firm Awareness Program. Vijaya again did an amazing job sharing her story.

That's Vijaya in white in the middle of all the girls. We're so thankful the students were so moved by her story. 

It is 2:11 p.m. on Friday, January 28.  I am not sure if I can write a blog in the daylight.  I am thinking the moonlight usually helps the blog flow.  I also think the evening tiredness helps - I am a bit more loose with my tongue and say things that I was curious about in the morning.  So, you can all expect the highest degree of congeniality out of me.  

Currently, my mom and the kids are outside working in the garden.  I know I have told you this before, but my mom is this magic fairy cleaner/organizer/work horse.  In just one week she has scrubbed and painted our patio railing, cleaned and organized my laundry room and refrigerator, organized closets, and done 1,042 loads of laundry.  She is now trying to sort out all of our flowers.  I look at flowers/shrubs and say, “Oh, that looks pretty,” or “Oh, that looks pretty awful.”  And leave it at that.  I kind of get overwhelmed in the conquering of flowers and such.  But my mom is fearless.

Grandma's little helpers

Oh, and what about her back you ask.  Wasn’t she laid up for three days at the beginning of her stay with us?  Yes friends, yes she was. When I last wrote to you all, I was hiding something from you... So, I think I wrote you on a Saturday night.  At that point she was barely able to walk.  Back up a few months, my mom wanted us to plan a beach holiday while she was here.  So, we had planned that the Sunday after she got here, we would hop on a train and head to the beach.  Jayson and I waffled back and forth about whether to cancel or not, but my mom was determined, determined she was.  I was a bit nervous about the whole thing, wondering if we actually got my mom on the train, was she going to be able to get off, picturing my mom endlessly traveling back and forth from Trivandrum to Coimbatore day-in and day-out because she simply couldn’t get off was a despairing thought.  So, I just didn’t tell you all that part, lest you all get nervous with me.  So, I kept it to myself.  And thankfully, she did great.  And by the second day that we were at the beach, she was digging in the sand with the kids and doing back flips into the pool.

Jovie sleeping 2011

Jovie the consistent little girl, this is her sleeping on vacation with Grandma LAST year. 

My favorite bit of our whole five-day-long trip was heading up the mountain to Ooty in the last few hours of the trip.  We were unsuccessfully trying to avoid getting travel sickness, so the driver pulled over.  All the windows were down because for some reason more wind in the car is better for trying not to chuck.  Then all of a sudden a monkey jumped onto the edge of the window.  Ani was inches away from the monkey, with James right next to her, and then Jayson realized what was happening, he looked at the monkey, and just bellowed at it.  I think he was trying to shout him out of the car. I know you are all tired of my monkey stories, but I almost wet myself over the whole ordeal. 

I had Jayson draw a picture of the situation, especially the part about him shouting at the monkey.  Enjoy.

We just passed the two year mark of our time in India.  Can you believe it?  I still feel like such a newbie here.  For me, I am not sure that feeling will ever pass.  I still feel like a newbie at parenting, marriage, life, etc.  I look at the teenagers on High School Musical and feel like they are way more mature than I am.  I still feel new at cultural things, like what all the different clothing or different kinds of foods are called and all the Hindu/Muslim practices.  I still feel new at being intimidated by monkeys and dogs when I go on a run or walk.  I still feel new at the depth and scope of what it means for a country this size to support over 1.1 billion people. I still feel new when I try to get my head around how to help girls have a fuller and healthier life after they get out of the brothels.  And last, but not least, I still feel new and in disbelief that when I search high and low in all the shops in Ooty and I cannot find a single Diet Coke anywhere.

My mom heads back on Monday night.  So sad.  If you see her on February 3, wish her a happy 60th birthday.