Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Rainy Days

Hey everyone, first of all thanks so much for all your prayers! As our stay at Happy Home is drawing close to an end, we all have felt the Lord's presence and heard Him speak to us in many ways. Yesterday, during our devotional time, we all clearly felt the Lord realigning our focus with His heart, breaking our hearts for what breaks His. The selfless work that Irene, Roshan and the staff do everyday is amazing and tireless. The Lord is truly doing a great work here at Happy Home.



Our day started out with half the team arriving early to help wake up the kids. The morning chores included brushing teeth, washing, and moping floors. The monsoon rains returned full blast and poured down heavy all morning. The rest of the team came at 8:00 and we joined the kids in some praise songs in the classroom. We were excited to welcome back a little girl that had left a few weeks ago because of Tuberculosis. Roshan told us that this little girl and her two sisters had been rescued from being sold into the sex trade. All of us felt so thankful that they were safe and in a place where they are loved and valued.

After many waves, hugs, and high fives, we sent the older kids off to school. We all thought it would be fun to come up with a treat for them in the afternoon so, after creating quite a long list of supplies, we sent Roshan and Mike off to the market to get some fruit and ingredients to make "no bake cookies" (a good American treat). When they got back, some of the girls came together to cut up the fruit and prep it to make a huge bowl of fruit salad for the kiddos. We all thought it was pretty ironic that the apples in fact came from Washington state, a little taste of home. The kids could smell the wonderful fruit and kept trying to get in the door :) Here are some photos of us serving the fruit and the kids eating:





Next on the agenda for the day, Kellie and myself roasted peanuts to make homemade peanut butter. The 'no-bake cookies' reicpe calls for peanut butter, but India markets don't seem to carry this essential product. Therefore, we decided to make our own. Roshan bought us the peanuts and we got to roast them. After much stirring they were finally ready, and they tasted really good if I do say so myself. :) Tomorrow we are going to grind them and hopefully come out with something similar to peanut butter for our cookies.



The rest of the day was filled with playing and loving on the kids. Because of the monsoon rains, the older kids were sent home from school for today and tomorrow. It was nice for us to be all together to play! Towards the end of the day, the guys had to venture off to try and fix some leaks in the roof, which also caused some of the kids to have to sleep in the classroom. A few of the kids are getting sick, because of the weather here, so it would be amazing if you all could pray for their healing. Although there were many power outages and lots of rain, it was a great day altogether. Even though some of the children are sick. the team as a whole is healthy and happy to be here. We miss you all and are excited to see you in a week!





-Kellie and Emma

7 comments:

Dave and Vickie Hughes said...

Hi Everyone! How sweet of you to make those special cookies for the kids. It must be hard to know you only have a few days left with them. The pictures are so sweet! Terry Rathkey called us at the beach to read the blog to us so we wouldn't miss anything. We're still praying for you a few times every day. Thank you for keeping the blog going. We love hearing about all you are doing. Are you staying healthy Jordan? Mom

Danielle Higginbotham said...

Kellie- Your such a home maker! Your future husband will be proud!I've been praying for you and will continue to do so! I know that your doing an amazing job over there.Yyou have such a sweet and gentle heart, I know the kids adore you. Keep up the good work! The girls and I miss you and are excited to hear all your exciting stories!! Love yea!

Danielle

Lisa said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lisa said...

Sorry, my comment accidentally got deleted! Just wanted to say hi to all of you and tell you how much we all love reading your blog! It amazes me how God continues to show you more and more of his heart through the people there and I know it will forever change each of you! Emma - I love seeing you in your "element" with children, you are such a natural caregiver! Enjoy the rest of your week and stay healthy! Lisa Acheson

Simon said...

It's great to hear about the day. Where was the group photo taken - at Happy Home or where you guys are staying? Everything looked delicious. Simon Acheson

Allison Newell said...

I'm glad you're going with "no bake" cookies because last year (Tiff you remember this?) we attempted to make an apple pie. Pre-baked it looked GREAT, but when we asked Reema if the oven was ready she said "Yes, right here." And pointed to a little microwave or toaster oven thing ha. It was interesting. After much help from Roshan and a wrench, we got the real oven to work. So good luck:) I'm so glad you're giving these kids some fun American treats!

Take advantage of these last moments with the kiddos! And have fun... train time is soon:) :)

Love ya guys!

Allison

Dave and Vickie Hughes said...

Hey guy's...been praying for you all:

Praying for good health and strength (as I am sure there are times you are weary!)

Praying for your last few days in Shimoga...and time with the kid's.

Praying against the Spirtual battle which I'm sure wages on around you each and everyday.

Praying for your train ride...that it would be a great to share with each other what God has taught you all thus far (someone please take a picture of Jordan so I can see how he fit in one of those little sleeper areas on the train :-)

Praying how God will use next!!!

Jordan...regarding your elephant shot on facebook...the elephant appears to be laughing at you...as if to say "I could break this branch so easily."

Craig....regarding your love of bat's...bring one home...dog's are overrated and I believe we need something to live'en up the 9 AM service on Sunday mornings! :-0

Later,
Dave (a.k.a. "Jordan's Dad")