One more week to go...

I'm coming home in about 9 days! I've never understood why the end of something always goes by so fast, but it always seems to happen that way. This past week has been a blur. From spending days at DumDum to spending time every night with our friends here... it seems like we are so busy all of the time trying to fit in a little more life in the little time we have left here in Kolkata.

Our time at DumDum keeps getting better and better. I absolutely love those families there, and I know they love us. We met a boy who used to work with our friends there, but he's been gone since we got here on a tour of India. I met him the other day, and he told me they were all so excited to tell him everything about us. He told me that they said that while he was gone that met two angels. I almost started crying when he said that. I don't know if it's because we are leaving soon or what, but our time there seems to keep getting better and better. Everyday when we leave, all the kids walk us to the escalator for the Metro and just wave and wave and blow kisses to us as we ride up on it.... I think I may have to be carried up the escalator on my last day because I'll be crying so much. They ask us every day now when we will come back.. and to bring our moms and dads and sisters... I told them yesterday when they asked when I would come back that I would go home, work work work, save rupees, and then come to India maybe next year. I wish you could have seen their faces... they completely fell when I said it would be at least a year. It made me want to cry.. I felt terrible.

We know a lady at DumDum named Sanjasmita and she just had a baby when we were in Nepal. She isn't really that nice, but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that when we met her she was 8 months pregnant and now she just had a baby and has to sleep every day on the hard concrete. She has two other kids, Sonjana and Sanjay and they are sooo bad but only because they don't get any attention. Her husband, Bapi, is a drug addict and drinks all the time. She's probably one of the most unhappy women I've ever met in my life. Well, we got a package from America full of children's clothes and teddy bears and other things, so Shelly and I took a few things and went and got them gift wrapped for her and her baby. It was a beautiful package and we got a friend to write a card for in Bengali about how much we loved her and her family and would pray for her new baby Mongol. When we got to DumDum we couldn't find her, but everyone was freaking out about the gift (I don't think they had ever seen something so nice) so they all ran around the station trying to find her. She came walking up a few minutes later, just smiling. We gave her the package and she gave us little Mongol to hold, but she didn't even know how to open a gift. Everyone helped her, and she just loved the things inside. Her husband came up, and she showed him everything and read him the card and all. He's really never even spoken to us, but he insisted that we sit with them and then he gave someone all of his rupees to go and buy us some chai. I'm sure Sanjasmita has never received a gift before, and I know it made her feel so special to sit in the middle of a crowd (Indian people are SO nosy.. there were at least a hundred people gathered around her ) and open something from us. Please pray for little Mongol... he's only 3 weeks old and his life is already so, so hard. I wish we could do something like that for every single person at DumDum. They are all so special, and I really would give them the world if I could.

Shelly and I are still trying to plan something for our friends this last week. They are cooking us lunch on Monday and are so excited about it. Please pray we don't get sick... we don't want to spend our last week here stuck in our apartment. And please just pray that this last week they will know more than ever how much we love them. We pray all of the time that God would give us His eyes to see them and that His love would just radiate in all that we do there. We can't tell them about Jesus because we can't really speak to them, but I know that God's love is more powerful than just about anything in this world. Please also pray for Shelly and me as we get ready to come home. As much as I've hated India at times, it feels like home to me now. I'm going to be leaving a huge, huge part of my heart here, and I dread coming home just as much as I look forward to it. Thanks for remembering us here in India, and thanks for remembering our beautiful friends and family here!

Almost over...

I can't believe that in about two weeks I'll be heading home. It's so strange.... one minute I cannot wait to get on that airplane, and then the very next second something happens and thinking of going home makes me want to cry. I have absolutely loved these past few months in India. It's been so much fun... I've never felt more free or alive in my whole life. There have been so many frustrating moments, and so many times when I just wanted to pack my bags and take the next flight home... but I think that's just India. It's not the easiest place to live, but it's a place that I've come to love over these past few months.

I'm excited about these next couple of weeks. Shells and I have already made a list of all the things that we have to do and it's pretty long. We always talk about how much we will miss this or that, and how much we will not miss a lot of things (numbers 1-10 are all the smell of something). I've started dreaming about cheeseburgers and washing machines and actually feeling clean for the first time in months. Coming home is going to be great, but I'm going to miss India so, so much. Mostly I will miss the friends I've made here and the randomness of this crazy country. There isn't a day that passes where we don't say "This would only happen in India...." So that's where we are now... getting ready to spend a great last two weeks and getting ready to say a lot of hard goodbyes. Please pray for us as our time winds down... I know it's going to be so hard to leave!

On a side note, there's been an outbreak of scabies at DumDum. Every day we go it seems about two or three more kids have it. I know what you are probably thinking... don't touch those kids!! But with only two weeks left, there's no way we can go there and not hold these beautiful children that have become like our family. If you think about it, please pray that we wouldn't get scabies because well, who really wants scabies?? I can't talk about it much or I start itching... so that's all about that. I hope all is well back home... see you soon!

Beautiful Nepal!

We are back in Kolkata after a grand adventure in Nepal!! I don't have time to write much, but here are a few pictures from our two weeks that we spent in the most beautiful country! After about 48 hours on a bus and train, we made it back into kolkata this morning and were soo glad to get off of the train!

Nepal is really probably the most beautiful place in the world! My two favorite things we did were elephant riding and bungy jumping. We had the cutest/biggest elephant I've ever seen... his name was Mootie and he took us all over the jungle in Chitwan N.P. Mootie was really the biggest elephant I've ever seen... and after our jungle safari, Tharu Kahn(his driver) took off Mootie's basket and let us ride all over the village on him bareback. Then we went to the river for the "elephant bath" that really just ended up being us swimming with this huge, sweet elephant for about 30 minutes. I'm not sure I could ever explain how much fun this was... I'm trying to figure out how I can get my own elephant now!! Our last day in Nepal we rode a bus to the border of Tibet and went bungy jumping!! They have one of the highest freefall bungy jumps in the world... it was sooo scary but so much fun!! We don't have any good pictures of us jumping, but we have the DVD to prove that we actually did it! The mountains were incredible and there was a big river beneath the bridge.. it's definitely something I will never forget!!

We have a little less than a month left of our time in India... I can't believe it! I am excited because the end is usually the best, but it also always seems to be the fastest! I'm already starting to dream of sweet tea and mexican food... I guess that will make coming home a little easier!!