randomness

i know it has been forever since i wrote on this blog but its been a really really full two weeks. its one of those times that is so full of stuff that I could write so much and feel overwhelmed so i don't write anything.
but some good news. remember A and B...those are the two boys that we got into boarding school. (beth's servant team know them!) well the boys have been in temporary care for the past 8 months at a boarding school rather far away...but now they got admission to the AG boys home. This is awesome. They will get to learn English, go to an amazing amazing school......they will have a future. The school is just outside the city so their mom, P, can go visit them (as well as us!!!) We have been waiting for this news for a really really long time. Wahooo!!!!
we had visitors....our friends Tammy, Dylan, Molly and Grant, all who now live in Bangalore. They were such an encouragement while they were here. They come here to stay with us for three days of their vacation.....and end up blessing us!!!! They had an amazing prayer time for us and i just feel once again God is longing for me to receive His love without having to prove myself.
and...hot season has started. it hasn't been so bad so far but for the first time in about 5 months on saturday when i was sitting in a chair my legs were sweating and sticking to the chair. just have to remember that its just a season!!!!

i love finding or being found by friends on facebook who i haven't talked to since i was in high school. it brings back such funny memories. i love that i got a really long email from a friend i haven't heard from in a couple months. i love that all my pillow cases are all different colors. i love that our friend charollette is going to have her baby any day now!!!

Oh Ma!!!

Well, my mom and aunt susie left last night. its sad. it was great to have my mom here. i think we got to know each other better here. its was like having all my worlds clashing at once for me. very rarely does that happen. my life in america is very separate from my life here in kolkata. i always talk about bringing kolkata with me to America but this time i was able to take america with me to share with my friends in kolkata. it was great. my mom and aunt did great. they had such great attitudes when they got tired and were willing to try most things (even eating with their hands). i was really really proud of them. i think it was my favorite part to be able to take them with me to the red-light area and SB. it was so great to introduce the most important people in my life to the most important people in my life. we got to go see the taj mahal, go on a trek in nepal, meet chris hueurtz, not go to sudder st.... even once (am proud of that), be so sore together we could hardly walk, bryiani with the SB ladies, go on a boat ride here, have tea on the streets, walk the line in the gatch and so many awesome things. however, today i am going to do nothing but watch TV and eat the Cheetos that my mom brought me.



me and the ma at the taj mahal..............
this is the view from the picnic bench at one of the cabins we stayed at on our trek
don't my aunt and my mom look so freakin beautiful!!! the ladies dressed them up in saris.
one of the little restaurants we ate at on our trek....note: this is before we actually had trekked and we are still looking fresh and ready for what is ahead.
beth and i keepin' it real nepali style

i love when my mom start laughing so much she can't control herself. i love that everyone that meets my mom likes her. i love that my aunt susie is her beautiful spunky self. i love that all three of us mush our ice cream. i love the comfort that can only come from family...especially my mom. i love that i got a huge from my mom when i went to bed here in kolkata. i love that my mom and aunt's heart hurt for the ladies in the gatch. i love that my family got to see why SB is such a hopeful place. i love my aunt susie. i love my mom.

Power Ballads

so my mom comes in two and 1/2 days!! can you believe it. i am so excited that i am having a hard time planning the details and staying focused about actually working.
however, i was in the coffee shop today and i heard the song "silent lucidity". do you guys remember that song? i couldn't remember who sang it so i went to i tunes and its qeenryche. do you guys remember them??? i found this amazing collection called "Power Ballads: The Basics" and if you are of my generation you have to take a listen. It brings back sooo many memories. Its middle and high school all over again.
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewMix?id=72318679&s=143441&wm=1
bon jovi, scorpions, bryan adams, poison....its so good.
i am a sucker for music that makes me remember.

had a good weekend. i have to admit out loud that yesterday i watched 7 hours of grey anatomy. wow. that is a lot of freakin television folks. and the thing is i don't ever want to own a tv because i tend to watch it all the time if i have it....but i guess it doesn't matter, tv, vcr, coputer....it all sucks me in!!!

i love grey's anatomy 2nd season. i love that my mom and i just talked for an hour about really nothing even though i am going to see her in two days. i love tha tmy mom is going to get to smell, taste, hear and experience india for herself. i love that my hair is cute and curly today. i love that my mom makes me laugh. i love that i feel like God is breaking off of me lies i belive about who i am. i love that i looked at an "us" magazine i found at a bookstore yesterday from jan and i didn't know any of the names of movies or the new movie stars.

a tiny modeling career

so here are a sample of my sweet moves while i was at the beach a couple week ago with the SB's ladies and the staff. (and i say tiny modeling career because i can't figure out how to make the pictures bigger. )
So...... if you are struck by the power of my ability to pose i am willing to offer courses on "acting natural: bollywood style". Just come for a visit and you can get the complete course. If i like you i might even give you a discournt. but until then just be inspried by the kolkata girls keepin' it real Bollywood style.



i love that my mom comes in 5 days!!! i love that we are going to stay at the Hotel Relax. i love that my room is organized like my mom organizes her house...lots of piles of random stuff. i love that i am unable to really concentrate right now on anything and just want to go have fun. i love that feeling after cleaning your room where everything is orderly, fresh smelling, pretty and i feel accomplished and somewhat in control. i Love people that appreciate farting.....Thanks Brent!!!

poverty sucks

words just feel so empty to write about my day. so empty to describe how rich, amazing, hard and life-giving life is right now.
spent my time between the gatch and my friend's house in the vilalge...M. if you know M...we have been friends with her for yeras and years. her sister got really sick after having her baby a month and 1/2 ago so she was admitted into the government hospital. she was septic. she died thsi weekend. If you know M's story at all its marked by lots and lots of sad stories She was trafficked, she has HIV, her father left her family. and nothing that has happened to her is fair or right. poverty sucks. there are layers upon layers of reasons why her sister died like she did and why M life has taken the turn it has.
we didn't get word that her sister had died until today. so we went to her home. and we got to sit with her and talk with her. her mother has taken down all the idols in her house. she talked about how she cried out to the gods and no one heard her. she said that she told the gods that if they saved her daughter she would be faithful to them. but her daughter died. but listen to this....the only thing she didn't throw out of her room...was a cross. it still hangs on her wall.
we talked with them both about how Jesus understands your suffering because he suffered. M remember when she was working at our friends business the movie she saw about Jesus and said she remembered. we didn't make any promises to her that God would heal her or make her life perfect and great....we told her that God suffers with her and He suffers with her and for her because He loves her.
she processed some things about her sister's death. she told us that she can only remember bad things her sister sad. she say she doesn't really believed she has died. most of the time she thinks she is at her mother-in-law's house and is coming home soon.
however, through this experience M wants to see a dcotor and start getting better and wants to work at SB or our friends business.
what am i trying to say........what i am trying to say is that sometimes Jesus is like a fart at a funeral. when someone farts in the most inappropriate times it sometimes bring laughter where there should be no laughter. it breaks the tension in a room and makes people remember good and funny things.
that is what today was like......Jesus showed up in an inappropriate place today. He showed up where there was no hope and gave hope. He brought an inappropriate joy to where there should only be sorrow.
and i know its such a crude way to talk about Jesus but it makes sense to me. and my words just seem to failing right now but i will just say it was a '"farting at a funeral" kinda day. and for those of you who understand....awesome and thank you.
i love that beth made me laugh really hard lots today. i love that M laid in my lap today. i love that farting makes me and my brother laugh more than anything else. i love when in the midst of such immense sorrow God can show me hope in the tiniest things. i love that you really can make a difference in this world. i love that for the first time ever in kolkata i realize how many trees this city has. i love that my nut obsession is finally going away.

a quote

“May God Bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.”

this is a quote that i took off my friend's tammy blog, who took it from a charlie hall CD and i don't know where charlie hall got it from but its awesome.

i love that i am home back in kolkata after an amazing, amazing amazing beach weekend with our ladies. i love the steet food we got t eat along the beach. i love that we now have a special memory time at 9:30pm with the ladies. i love that today i get to maybe look at some flat for sarah, beth, and I.

to the beach with 54 of my closest friends

well, its 10:47 and i am exhausted. we said good-bye to our dearest friends tonight charolette and Julian. it was of course a beautiful mix of sadness and joy. we are going to miss them so much. however, since so many other things have been taking my attention away our weekend away tomorrow has come up to quickly.
tomorrow the SB ladies and our staff are goign away to the beach for the weekend!!!! yes, 55 people in total. that is about 17 ladies, our staff, adn lots of kids. i don't think i have processes anything at all about this weekend...like how amazing it is!! we get to go on vacation with our SB ladies!!!! oh my goodness!!!!! wahooo!!!!
i love Charolette and Julian. i love that today kiran rocked my face off with how amazing she is. i love that i still haven't packed yet. i love that i bought a sweet spider man mug. i love that i ate the pez from my ms. santa pez dispenser that i got for christmas from my parents. i loev that my mom comes soooo soon.