a lot changes when you get off the plane

Life here is just not the same. We have a saying in our family that has been repeated by all many times in the last 8 days. "This is an adventure". Each time we step outside our door, I whisper words to the Father and expect to be surprised and amazed with each new experience.

There is so much in my head all the time and I am not sure how to get it out in comprehensible order. The mood changes are often, sometimes extreme, and continually exhausting. There is good and bad with each day and new experience.

We are kind of learning our way around our section of the city. Yesterday we set out to find the school where the kids will be attending so that we could see what it looked like and get a feel for that neighborhood. We did not have an address, but we did know the general location. We got in an auto rickshaw and off we went in the rain. As you ride around, the sights and sounds are captivating and sometimes entertaining. The boys were able to touch the cars on either side at the stop light.

We found the YMCA building where the school is located. Each accomplishment feels huge. Then we wanted to see how far it was to the neighborhood in which we have been looking for a place to live. We found it without too much trouble and let the kids play in the park (I use that term loosely) nearby. I noticed a girl (around 14-15) kept poking her head out to watch us and our children. I smiled, went closer to her and began a conversation. Most people, do speak British English, especially if they have been to school. Not too long into the conversation, she asked us to have tea with her. I met her mother, who offered to bring tea (chai) and biscuits (cookies) out for us. She was so kind. The daughter said that she had never met an American before and we had a great time with her.

We ended the day with ordering in Pizza Hut (crazy!) and a family game of Rummikub.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Seth and Dakota rode on the back of a motorcycle with a realtor looking at housing. Dakota loved his first motorcycle ride and that is all that I am going to say about that :) - they did come back in all one piece.

Another day and another adventure.

First Impressions

We have been in country for about 36 hours and here are some of our observations:

-It doesn't smell as bad as we thought it would

-Driving on the opposite side of the road is very hard to get used to and we aren't even driving yet

-Crossing the road when traffic is going different directions that what you are used to is like being in the game "Frogger"

-There is lots of honking and Karley jumps every time

-We have ridden in a car, the metro, and a rickshaw (three wheeled bike with a big seat on back), an auto (a rickshaw with a moped engine)

-Dakota was excited to go downstairs and buy vegetable from the man selling them on a cart in the middle of the street and he doesn't even like most of them (veggies that is)

-In the stores we been in, there are at least 5 men willing to help you

-The above translates into one man following you around the small grocery store asking how he can help

-There are less cows in this city than originally advertised

-Dominoes delivers and it was really good

-We have heard that you can get just about anything delivered to your house

-A city of 20 million people divided into many neighborhoods makes for a complicated auto rickshaw ride home (especially when you don't know the language)

-Poverty is a very difficult thing to deal with on a daily basis

-Hearing our son say that he is ready to learn the language

-Seeing another son give the guard at our building a high five every time we come and go

-God is with us

-He hears us when we pray

-We are expecting Him to do great things in and through our family

-He is at work all over the world