Our Home in Bangalore (#2)

We have another nice home here in Bangalore and thought we would show you our latest digs. It's a two story house and from the outside it looks pretty plain, but the inside is more than enough to provide comfort and space to entertain and have company so come to visit us! Below is a picture of three of the guys (about eight students in total helped) who helped us lug and load our belongings. The truck was fairly small but we were able to make our move in just two loads which was a tribute to Marie's good packing and the fellow's good loading. The only damage we had during our move was a result of Marie's 'careful' packing. She thought she would take the glass doors out of the TV cabinet to keep it them from breaking during the move and in the process she dropped one of them and broke it. Our hats are off the fellows who took great care to help us and smiled throughout the process and to the girls who mopped floors in both the old and the new house and went home very tired as a result.

The living room and dining area all run together...all one open space which gives the downstairs area a much larger look.

Our kitchen...
And, of course our bedroom.

The amazing thing is that we also have another bedroom with bath and two large rooms that are currently empty because we don't have furniture for them. There's a lot of potential but we're waiting to see what God has in mind. Asyou can see, God has once again provided over and above what we could have thought to ask.

We are very thankful to be closer to the seminary and the stores. We can now take a brisk walk in the mornings to get our exercise in the cool of the day instead of walking in the heat with loads of groceries to carry.

Christmas Trip to Kerala
During our December break we spent a week in Kerala with friends from Bangalore. It was great to get out of the big city and see a little more of life in India. The first two or three days was spent at weddings. Our friend has a LOT of friends and it seems like every year around Christmas time his friends kids are getting married. So off we went to a couple of Muslim weddings. We were warmly welcomed everywhere we went and we ate and ate and ate. The family time, food and dancing are the main attractions at these special events.

The pictures included here are of Cheriyan and Asha (our friends and traveling companions) and ourselves with the bride and her parents, the men making the marriage agreement and the all-male audience witnessing the agreements made. The women were not allowed inside (including the bride) and were outside the tent looking over the walls. Then the bride and groom were presented and people made sure to have their pictures taken with them so they would be on record as having been there.




















After the festivities we drove about an hour to "Malampuzha Dam " and stopped at a lovely place where we spent three days. It was absolutely wonderful to relax, take early morning walks and eat good Indian food and we had serious thoughts of staying just one more day. But we would have had to switch rooms because the rooms we were in were already scheduled so we decided that since we had to pack anyway we should probably just return home, which was a good decision because Sam had lots of work to do to prepare for classes.


With all these unique experiences and the great fellowship with our friends, our Christmas flew by.

I'll close this blog with pictures of the beautiful Kerala scenery and a sunrise and sunset. This is just a meager taste of the beauty we observed on our morning and evening walks. What a delightful gift from God!

Our Mark Twain Adventure
During the month of May, we had a great time on a houseboat in Kerala State. Kerala is a one night journey by train south of Bangalore where we live. We traveled with friends; Cheriyan & Asha and their boys, and Lambert and Ansu and their girls; from Bethel Baptist Church. It was a great pleasure to get out of the big city and float down 'dat big ole riber', an experience that made us think of Tom Sawyer's adventure with his friends on the Mississippi River in America.
Hope you enjoy viewing some of the sights we saw along the way.

Our home away from home. The houseboat had a bedroom for each family and each bedroom had a bathroom and air conditioning for which we were

VERY thankful.

The dining area on the lower deck (note the captains wheel and chair in the upper right)

The upper deck where we lazed away our days and watched the world go by.

Our bedroom

Favorite pastimes... sleeping, playing games, fishing, eating...

...and watching the sights of everyday life along the river and the glory of God's creation.

Herding ducks down the river. Have you ever seen anything like this before?

The water was filled with water hyacinth

The storm clouds were as big and beautiful as the water.

Our happy group at the end of a day on the water.

Camels on the Street!

This is just too good not to tell! Recently I heard the quiet sound of bells...little, jingly bells...that I had never heard before. So I ran to the window and discovered two men leading camels past the house. I grabbed the camera and a little bit of $ and ran for the door for a good photo opportunity. After giving my rupees to one of the men, I stepped back to take some pictures and he began urging me to get on for a ride. I told him I was a bit nervous about that, but he continued to urge me and I felt my resistance weakening. Before I knew, I was climbing on (just to sit) and then he told me to hang on tight and despite my protests he made the camel stand. What an amazing journey from ground level to camel height!

As the camel stood (hind legs first) I found myself suddenly facing the dirt below and hanging on for dear life. With a bit of terror edging my voice and at the same time experiencing the fun of the moment, I asked the man to take me one way (away from the people so I wouldn't be such a spectacle) and he proceeded to turn the camel and start me down the street past all the houses so everyone could see the silly lady who had gotten on his camel. We s-l-o-w-l-y walked two full blocks while everyone came running out of their houses to watch and laugh as I came by.

It was embarrassing but fun and I can now say that I have had a camel ride...right on the street in front of my house. One of those fun moments in India!

Craft Day At The Seminary

A great time was had by all one day as we got together and worked on flannelgraph backgrounds. The students had recently attended a weekend workshop where they learned to use flannelgraph figures. Then the challenge was helping them learn to make the backgrounds. We are able to purchase flannel and oil pastels here in India, so they had the supplies they needed but lacked the know how. During their Christmas break, everyone who was able gathered together and spent a fund day working. The dining hall looked like an art classroom and the front door looked rather strange with the pattern taped to it. But it made for a fun day with lots of smiles, chattering, and laughter.

Tracing and coloring

Enjoying the finished product!

Our Christmas in India

We have just completed our first Christmas in India and much is the same except the stores in India don't start selling Christmas items before Halloween (which they don't celebrate) and the weather is balmy with blue skies. The sun is shining brilliantly and the temperature is absolutely perfect. December is quickly becoming our favorite time of the year here. If anyone wants to visit us in India, December is definitely the month to do so. We'd love to have you come for Christmas!

We have had many Christmas experiences and are posting a few photos so you can see some of the events of our lives during these past few days. So here goes...

We enjoyed time at Divya Christian Fellowship on the Sunday before Christmas and again on Christmas morning. . The day after Christmas we had special company from friends we had met in the States , Sathish & Helen Divakar and their son Jessie and friend Anderson. We had a wonderful day catching up on all the news of the years that had happened since we had been together. We laughed, ate (believe it or not we discovered that people here love fruit cake - plum cake as they call it [pictured below]...a traditional Christmas treat), laughed, played games, laughed some more and thoroughly enjoyed our time together. Old friends are precious and we are thankful for the ones God has given us here in India.

Than came the New Year. We spent New Years Eve with our Divya Christian Fellowship family playing games, singing songs, and watching a video about John Huss (a 15th century martyr) and sharing a meal together. Everyone got home before midnight, and we were thankful to be safely ensconced in our cozy home before all the revelry broke out into the streets.

The morning of January 1st was spent with the seminary guys. We intended to show a video and then have lunch, but the power went out for several hours, so we played games while we waited for the power to come back on (hopefully) and when it finally did the fellows sat down and watched the video while they ate lunch. It was a fun morning that worked out perfectly despite the challenges.

So you see, we have had a wonderful Christmas in India. No matter where we go, our Father gives us friends who are family to us and with them we had great times of fellowship.